Admissions Blog

Penn reveals new supplemental essay questions, other admissions changes

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Craig Meister

Penn’s campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania announced today that its supplemental essay question in search of a 650-word response by applicants is no more. Students applying during the 2019-2020 admissions cycle for Fall 2020 admission will be asked two new questions instead:

How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected. (300-450 words)
At Penn, learning and growth happen outside of the classroom, too. How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how this community will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape this community. (150-200 words)

Students are still able to write up to a grand total of 650 words in their responses to these questions; yet, with the changes, applicants will now have the challenge and opportunity to deliver two distinct messages in response to two distinct essay prompts.

Also announced today is a new policy that would have kept both U.S. President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump (who both transferred to Penn’s Wharton School of Business as juniors) from ever attending or graduating from Wharton.

“From cycle year 2019-2020 forward, Wharton and Engineering will no longer accept external junior transfers. The College and Nursing will continue to accept junior transfers…We have made this change in consultation with our academic partners across campus. The curricular pre-requisites for transferring into Wharton or Engineering as a junior are both specific and extensive. As we reviewed Wharton and Engineering transfer applicants, we consistently saw that most applicants were unable to take the coursework necessary for a seamless transition into these schools. We hope this change will help applicants focus on the schools and programs that best align with their interests and preparation, and that allow them to successfully transition to our campus.” wrote Eric Furda, who currently holds the title of Dean of Admissions at Penn.

Ironically, earlier this month this site pondered how Ivanka Trump got into Penn back in 2002 and whether or not she would get in again today. It’s clearly a sore point with the powers that be at Penn these days that the current president of the U.S. and one of his top assistants both graduated from Penn. Whether or not this Penn admissions policy change has anything to do with the university’s current “resistance” to the leader of the free world is purely a matter of speculation.

Additional interesting tidbits shared by Furda this summer include:

-Penn will allow applicants to self-report test scores – as long as they are not athletes or international students. This means that certain students will simply be trusted to honestly report their highest scores on their applications and only send in official corroboration of their scores if they ultimately get into and deposit at Penn later in the admissions cycle.

– Penn is passive-agressively encouraging its IB applicants to take Math Analysis HL instead of other new math offerings rolled out recently by the IBDP.

– Penn will offer both regional and virtual information sessions during the year ahead and all of these will be listed here.

#1 Question Parents Ask Me

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Craig Meister

As you can imagine, parents are always asking me questions about the college admissions process and my service options; yet, there is one question that I am asked more than any other – by far. Today I share it with you and why I respond to it the way that I do.

The ‘reading advantage’ in college admissions

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Nancy Griesemer

In an increasingly connected world, reading beyond what pops up on a mobile devise is dropping to the bottom of priority lists for many teenagers. And for those of us dedicated to books and the power of reading to educate, inform and entertain, this is REALLY bad news.

It’s hard to think how anyone can build fundamental communication skills without dedicating significant time to reading, whether for pleasure or information gathering. And it’s not just about developing an interesting mind or expanding vocabulary. Students who aren’t readers often don’t write well. They have a hard time imagining as well as organizing thoughts, developing arguments, and articulating ideas.

For college-bound students, this is more than just bad news—it’s a crisis. Colleges not only care that you read, they also care what you are reading as well as what you have learned from the experience.

These concerns play out in many different ways in the admissions process, and the most successful applicants are often those who set aside time in their busy schedules to read. And not just what appears on your daily “feed.”

For high school students, being aware of the reading advantage in college admissions is key. Here are five excellent reasons you would be wise to make time for reading:

Academics: It’s no secret that many of the most academically challenging courses in high school require strong reading skills—the ability to absorb and retain a large volume of material in a relatively short amount of time. Advanced Placement (AP) as well as International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula in social studies, literature, and language are notoriously reading-intensive. And colleges want not only to see you’re taking these courses but also that you’re succeeding with good grades.

Summer is usually a great time to “study forward” by obtaining AP/IB texts and reading beyond what is assigned or expected by the first day of school. Get ahead and stay ahead of the reading. You’re bound to see results in terms of improved reading skills, better grades, and less stress.

Test Scores: You can pay thousands of dollars to the best test prep company in town, but nothing improves test scores like being an active reader. Both ACT and SAT are designed to challenge reading skills both in comprehension and interpretation. And those students who didn’t stop reading in middle school are bound to be more successful test-takers.

Push your reading level higher by mixing pleasure reading with more academic magazines, journals, or texts. Challenge yourself by not only reading from AP/IB course materials but also taking the time to annotate texts and look up vocabulary words. A little extra time devoted to reading can pay off in a big way in terms of improved test scores—ACT, SAT, and AP.

Applications: Colleges have learned that a good way to get to know a student in the application process is to ask about their reading habits. For example, one of the supplemental essay prompts required by Columbia University during 2018-19 asked, “List the titles of the books you read for pleasure that you enjoyed most in the past year.” In fact, Columbia asked three questions designed to probe applicants’ reading tastes and interests. Stanford, Wake Forest, Princeton, Emory, Colgate, Davidson and a number of other schools have their own versions of questions designed to probe reading habits.

Knowing these kinds of essay questions may be in your future, why not dive into a wide variety of literature? Don’t limit yourself to a single genre or to reading only fiction or nonfiction. Mix it up. Go a step further and read something that relates to potential career and/or academic interests. And be sure to keep track of what you have read noting best books or interesting magazines as well as favorite authors.

Interviews: If you’re applying to a college that either recommends or requires a personal interview, you had better come prepared with at least one favorite book about which you can knowledgeably speak. The “reading” question appears in many different forms, but the bottom line is that if you stumble here and can’t come up with a title or are forced to reach back to middle school, you could be in a bit of trouble. And you wouldn’t be alone. It’s shocking to interviewers how often students can’t remember the last book they read for pleasure or respond with cheesy middle school novellas. And worse, they might remember the title of something read for class, but they either have the story all wrong or simply can’t remember any element of the plot.

Avoid the embarrassment and read some good books as you have time. Take notes, think about what you read, and even talk over the best books with friends or family. Know why you would recommend a book. And get feedback on your recommendations. Don’t think you have to re-brand yourself as an intellectual by only reading great literature. Interviewers can have fairly ordinary literary tastes. And don’t try to “fake it” by suggesting a book you think will make you seem smart. If you’re honest about what you like, you might be surprised to find that you and your interviewer share tastes in authors to the point that an interesting conversation ensues.

Stress: All kinds of research shows that reading is way more effective at reducing stress than listening to music, drinking a cup of tea or even taking a walk in the woods. Significant side benefits include an increase in emotional intelligence and empathy—character traits increasingly shown to be wanting in adolescents. And reading also turns out to be a very good way to focus energy and improve concentration.

But if none of the above moves you to pick up a book, then focus on this: readers live longer! ‘Nuff said.

Coalition prompts won’t change for 2018-19—applicants are invited to think outside the textbox

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Nancy Griesemer

Courtesy Nancy Griesemer

The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success announced last week that Coalition essay questions will not be changing for 2018-19.

“As you introduce the college application process to new students and parents, please know that the Coalition Essay questions will remain the same for next year,” said Annie Reznik, the Coalition’s executive director in a message targeted to college counselors.

This announcement follows a similar one from the Common Application advising that prompts for the Common App personal statement would also remain the same in the fall. Not surprisingly, the decision not to make modifications to either set of prompts was most welcome in an industry that’s become increasingly exhausted by what seems to be continuous change.

In fact, the prompts for the two applications are not terribly different from one another. They seem to be trying to get at the same kinds of responses. AND both sets of prompts provide a “topic of your choice” option—a great fallback position for essays that don’t quite answer one of the questions posed.

But looks can be deceiving. The wise applicant will closely review the two sets of prompts and think about how differences in instructions and allowable format may have an impact on the way an essay appears or presents itself to the reader.

At a minimum, consider the allowable length. The Common App, last year, set essay length at between 250 and 650 words. This restriction was firmly enforced by limiting essay submission to a textbox, maintaining a hard word cutoff as well as inviting a handful of quirks and formatting issues.

The Coalition, on the other hand, allowed colleges to set their own word limits and choose whether to locate the essay in a textbox among college-specific questions or in the upload section of the application.

Note that not everyone is totally sold on the idea of giving colleges so much freedom to structure applications how they wish because it potentially causes confusion and/or may result in extra work for applicants. But others saw the Coalition as providing an opportunity for applicants to think outside the textbox and produce essays with attractive fonts, symbols, links to online media and illustrations.

With an upload, hard word cutoffs don’t really exist. Instead of word or character counts, the essay is generally limited by kilobytes (KB). The essay may be converted to a PDF, thereby guaranteeing that it looks the way the applicant wants it to look and allowing readers to click live links provided within the text.

The Common App used to do it that way, and the Universal College App has always given students the choice of whether to use the textbox or upload their essays. The Cappex Application provides for a similar choice. So while the Common App might be the most visible and familiar of the application providers, it’s clearly in the minority when it comes to flexibility in formatting the personal statement.

During the 2017-18 application cycle, about 55 Coalition members out of 102 with live applications used Coalition prompts and located the essay in the upload section. Only just under 15 members located personal statements in textboxes. A handful slavishly reproduced Common App requirements by not only locating personal statements in textboxes but exactly replicating prompts and word limits. And when asked why, colleges uniformly responded that they thought it was only fair to stick to one set of rules.

Agree or disagree with colleges giving students a choice of applications as well as application formats and requirements, it’s important to be aware of differences—advantages as well as disadvantages. While neither application has so far announced major platform changes for the coming year, it may make sense to begin considering the difference between an essay confined to a textbox vs. one that encourages creativity through an upload.

For the record, the 2018-19 Coalition essay questions are as follows:

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.
Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?
What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?
Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

The Blueprint of a Great College Essay

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Craig Meister

Today we are sharing a fun little exercise aimed at helping give a little perspective to those in the throes of college application essay writing. Students should take this as an opportunity to assess if they have paced themselves and structured their essays correctly.

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Examine the three key segments of three different drafts of the same college essay. As you read through the excerpts of the Good, Bad, and Ugly drafts, ask yourself why the examples in question are Good, Bad, or Ugly. Some reasons are obvious, some are not. Try to fill in the “…” of each section to actually complete the Good, Bad, and Ugly essays.

The vast majority of good college essays follow the same format. You still have control over the topic of the essay, but why reinvent the wheel if the most successful essay format already exists? Before you ever write an essay, really think about the question. Don’t just start writing. Make sure you answer the question fully by the end of the essay and have done so in a grammatically correct, structurally sound, and entertaining manner. Once you start writing, your essay should include:

The Introductory Paragraph

You don’t want to answer the question here. It would be too soon. Rather, you want to launch into your story full force. Weak essays simply repeat the question. Strong essays take control of the question by answering it, but without being hemmed in by dry, repetitive language. By the end of this paragraph you want to have a powerful thesis.

Ex Question: Describe a meaningful experience in your life.

Good: August 12, 2005 started out like any other day for me as I prepared for my duties as a camp counselor for disadvantaged city youth…It was the last time I would enter that coffee shop as a child because in the next two minutes I would learned the hard lessons of an adult.

Bad: The most meaningful experience in my life to date was when I crashed through the window at…Clearly someone had to do something, and I decided it had to be me.

Ugly: I have had many meaningful experiences in my life….Crashing through the window made me realize my past mistakes.

The Body

This is where you go in-depth and tell the riveting, meaningful story. Always employ the rule of “Show, don’t tell,” so you won’t create an essay that is too bland. You want to include only important details and describe them well. The body is the one to three paragraph section of the essay where you serve the meat – but make sure it’s lean beef. This is also the fly-over territory where it’s easiest to miss errors. Proof-read!

Ex. Describe a meaningful experience in your life.

Good: As I looked up at the menu, I noticed a tall man enter the shop out of the corner of my eye…By time lunch had arrived I had already been questioned by police, been on the local news, and interviewed by the third largest newspaper in the country. Yet, despite all of the excitement, I could only think about how much I wanted to be with my campers.

Bad: I hit the man over the head with the six-pack of iced coffee that the punk-rocker had just moments before placed on the counter (she was now unconscious by the bookstand)…The second reporter was even more blunt, “How does it feel to know you stood up to the Skokie Slayer?” I didn’t know what to say.

Ugly: This clearly effected me greatly…When I laid down the night before I never thought this is how I would be spending the morning.

The Conclusion

Tie it up in a nice little bow and make sure you have shown some sort of progression from the start of the essay to the end. This is the place it’s best to draw your own conclusions that go beyond, yet still support the thesis you posited at the end of your introduction. Bad essays have their thesis at the end!

Ex. Describe a meaningful experience in your life.

Good: Notwithstanding my prior derision at my “ordinary” summer job, I had learned there were far more important things in life than the exotic nature of summer employment…Standing up for right over wrong, showing courage in the face of adversity, and always looking out for those who can’t defend themselves are nice ideas, but it’s rare that we are actually asked to put them into practice. On that August day, I was proud to know that I not only knew the right thing to do, but that I actually did it.

Bad: I longed to be back at my regular routine helping children learn to play baseball… When school started again in September, nobody had such an amazing story of summer exploits and I realized that it never would have happened if I had not done the right thing – not just on August 12, but in May by taking the job at the camp in the first place.

Ugly: If I had had the chance to go to Argentina to act as a summer analyst or the opportunity to go to Costa Rica to rebuild the hurricane ravaged countryside, I never would have had this happen to me…I am thankful that this happened to me and I now, more than ever, believe in fate.

Note to Parents: Do Not Write Your Student’s College Admission Essay

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Sandy Clingman

Is it difficult for college admission officers to tell when a student has not written his own application essay?

No, it often isn’t difficult at all. Admission officers read thousands of college essays, year after year. It’s easy for them to tell the difference between a seventeen-year old voice and a forty-something one; a middle-aged dad with writing finesse sounds like a middle-aged dad with writing finesse. Natural phrasing and word choice are generation-specific and difficult to disguise. Even subtle differences will stand out to seasoned readers. And these differences are apparent even when they are only a few insertions here and there throughout an otherwise student-written piece. Suspicious readers, whether they are sure about subterfuge or not, will certainly be disposed to scrutinize the rest of the application more diligently or to add a comment to the student’s file.

In addition, remember that an application reader has a student’s grades from English classes in hand, as well as SAT or ACT scores; and/or writing samples from supplemental essays. There may also be a letter of recommendation from the student’s eleventh grade English teacher — a letter that will specifically address the student’s aptitudes and abilities. (Some teachers even provide a short sample of the student’s work.)

Furthermore, parents sometimes forget to conceal what they are doing, or simply don’t realize how obvious they are. For example, during their turn at impersonating Junior, we slips in for I, and me becomes us, as in: “We were so worried when I was in the emergency room; the doctor told us I was lucky we came in immediately.” There also tend to be notable references to what Mom or Dad did, thought or said — “Dad breathed a sigh of relief” or “My Mom was very anxious.” Spell check won’t catch those types of errors for you.

Besides being perceptible to others, when you take over you may as well be saying he can’t do it without your help. What’s more, a parent’s product stands a higher chance of being superficial, pedantic and boring. It may be grammatically correct, but a boring essay adds nothing to the application. It is, therefore, a wasted opportunity to enhance the student’s admission possibilities.

It’s also a wasted opportunity when students do not set aside some time before college digging deep in self-reflection. Taking this time to reflect helps students find structure in their life stories and meaning in the person they have become. The writing process can also help students articulate their interests and aspirations in this context of self-understanding — wonderful preparation for all those future internship and job interviews they’ll face. (Mom, Dad, you won’t be there for those!)

Working hard on and completing a thoughtful college essay can boost a student’s self-confidence and spark his excitement about starting college the next year. What more could parents want than for their college-bound teen to realize that he is his own best resource, ready to take on college and life as he transitions into adulthood? Do your seventeen-year old a favor and step aside… you may be surprised at what a genuine and heartfelt self-narrative junior will write.

Another Reason Why Your College Application Essay is So Bad

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Craig Meister

If your attempt at writing a strong college application essay is failing, you very well could be making this major mistake in the drafting process. Fix it and you will give yourself a fighting chance to write an essay that is actually decent. We gave the first reason your college application essay is so bad back in 2016, and it can be found here.

The Biggest Lie College Admissions Officers Tell

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Craig Meister

Call it false advertising or simply denial, but whatever you call it, don’t call it the truth. College admissions officers are often well-meaning and earnest individuals, but even college admissions officers can’t help but lie when it suits their purposes. Today we discuss the biggest lie college admissions tell themselves and you.

For the second biggest lie, click here.

For the third biggest lie, click here.

Part 2: even more 2017-18 essay supplements

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

University of Richmond

Colleges are currently in the process of rolling out essay supplements for 2017-18. And Erica Riesbeck, senior assistant director of admission for the University of Richmond makes good arguments for starting to work on these essays sooner rather than later.

According to Ms. Riesbeck, the top five reasons for getting to work on Richmond’s supplements now are:

You didn’t get your dream summer job and you have plenty of extra time.
Covfefe. Typos are infuriating and noticeable—build in extra time for proofreading.
Stress relief/parent relief.
Bragging rights.
Free tuition to the first admissible student who applies! NO—just kidding. Richmond promises to review your application for merit scholarships if you apply by December 1.

And the folks at Georgia Tech offer sound advice reinforcing this wisdom:

Get started early. Don’t wait until the last minute to complete your essays!
Write and edit your essay in a document editor. Once you have the final draft, you can cut and paste it into your online application.
Don’t overthink it. It may not be easy to write about yourself, but just write what you feel most comfortable with.
Don’t write what you think we want to read. Write what you want to say!
Don’t blow off the essay! We wouldn’t ask you to write it if we didn’t find it to be an important way to get to know you, and what you have to bring to Georgia Tech.

Now that the July 4th holiday is past, you can start checking college websites for essay supplements—required and optional. And note that both the Coalition Application and the Universal College Application (UCA) are open for business with individual colleges launching applications (and writing requirements) according to their own timelines.

In addition to those posted yesterday, here are a few additional colleges that have already posted 2017-18 essay supplements:

University of North Carolina

Carolina’s supplement will provide you with four prompts, and you will choose two. Each response will be limited to 200-250 words.

Tell us about a peer who has made a difference in your life.
What do you hope will change about the place where you live?
What is one thing that we don’t know about you that you want us to know?
What about your background, or what perspective, belief, or experience, will help you contribute to the education of your classmates at UNC?

University of Michigan

Essay #1 (Required for all applicants. Approximately 250 words.): Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

Essay #2 (Required for all applicants. 500 words maximum.) FRESHMEN APPLICANTS: Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?

University of Oregon

[T]ell us, in your own unique voice, something about you we cannot find elsewhere on your application. We purposefully do not prescribe any one topic for the personal statement, because we want you to share what’s important to you. If you need some direction, though, a few topics you may consider include your future ambitions or goals, a significant experience that is integral to your personal identity, or a special talent or unique interest that sets you apart from your peers (500 words).

Second Essay (optional; 50–500 words—choose one)

Describe an experience with discrimination, whether it was fighting against discrimination or recognizing your contribution to discriminating against a person or group. What did you learn from the experience? In what ways will you bring those lessons to University of Oregon?

The University of Oregon values difference, and we take pride in our diverse community. Please explain how you will share your experiences, values, and interests with our community. In what ways can you imagine offering your support to others?

University of Richmond

Pick only one:

Sometimes asking the right question makes all the difference. If you were a college admission counselor, what essay question would you ask? Please craft and answer your own essay prompt – in your response, reflect on what your chosen question reveals about you.
How will you use your Richmond Guarantee?

University of Washington

Short response (300 words): Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the University of Washington.

Optional: You are not required to write anything in this section, but you may include additional information if something has particular significance to you. For example, you may use this space if:

You are hoping to be placed in a specific major soon
A personal or professional goal is particularly important to you
You have experienced personal hardships in attaining your education
Your activities have been limited because of work or family obligations
You have experienced unusual limitations or opportunities unique to the schools you attended

Vanderbilt University

Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150-400 words)

Villanova University

Submit one Villanova Essay (of 250-1000 words) from the three choices below. Please note: the Villanova Essay should have a separate and distinctive response to that of the Common Application Essay.

Option One: At Villanova, we believe that it is our similarities that make us strong, but our differences that make us stronger. Please tell us about a relationship that you have with someone who is different from you and how that has changed who you are today.

Option Two: “Become what you are not yet”– Saint Augustine
When you daydream, who do you hope to become in the future?

Option Three: Describe a book, movie, song or other work of art that has been significant to you since you were young and how its meaning has changed for you as you have grown.

Virginia Tech

You may respond to up to three of the essay prompts (choose one, two, or three) as you feel they support your individual application. (250-300 words)

What are the top five reasons you want to be a Hokie?
If there is something you think would be beneficial for the Admissions Committee to know as we review your academic history, please take this opportunity to explain.
Our motto is Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). How is service to others important in your life?
We believe strongly in the Virginia Tech Principles of Community and the value of human diversity affirmed therein. Share a perspective or experience related to your culture, age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status that might explain how you will enrich the climate of mutual respect and understanding here.
Virginia Tech is one of six senior military institutions in the country. How will this setting contribute to your college experience?
Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

Please note that Virginia Tech will not be accepting the Coalition Application this year. According to admissions staff, the CollegeNet application will go live in mid-August with this new set of essay prompts.

Wellesley College

[R]espond to the following topic in two well-developed paragraphs:

When choosing a college community, you are choosing a place where you believe that you can live, learn, and flourish. Generations of inspiring women have thrived in the Wellesley community, and we want to know what aspects of this community inspire you to consider Wellesley. We know that there are more than 100 reasons to choose Wellesley, but the “Wellesley 100” is a good place to start. Visit the Wellesley 100 www.wellesley.edu/admission/100) and let us know, in two well-developed paragraphs, which two items most attract, inspire, or energize you and why.

Getting started: colleges share 2017-18 essay supplements

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

In what continues to be a challenging landscape for college applicants and their advisers, one ray of light may be the level of effort some colleges appear to be putting into updating their websites with application requirements for 2017-18.

And this includes descriptions of new policies and deadlines as well as posting essay prompts and writing supplements.

In all fairness, it looks like some schools have decided this is not the year to make major revisions in their writing requirements. Bringing on new technology or adding a new application option may be enough for one year.

Nevertheless, it’s helpful for some students, particularly those returning to school early or those with significant fall obligations, to be able to get started on essays sooner rather than later. And with many colleges adding early admission options and/or moving up deadlines to coincide with the October 1 launch of the federal financial aid application, the smallest bit of extra time can only help.

For the record, essay prompts and other application specifications are almost always found on college websites. The Common Application and the Coalition Application have already posted prompts for personal statements, although one sets a 650-word limit enforced by software and the other strongly suggests a 550-word limit not enforced by software.

The Universal College Application (UCA) gives the applicant freedom to write on whatever topic they wish and allows for 650 words. The Cappex Application offers a required 600-word personal statement along with a second optional essay.

For the Common App, the Coalition App and the UCA, member colleges are free to decide whether or not to require a personal statement and many will opt out of this requirement. Supplementary essays will be at the discretion of individual colleges and will either come as questions within the body of the application or as separate writing supplements. Note that the Cappex Application will not include additional writing requirements.

With luck, applicants will find supplementary essay prompts posted in advance of official application launch dates, which appear to vary from college to college. Some launched on July 1, and others won’t launch until October 1, 2017.

Here is a sample of colleges that have already posted their additional essay prompts for 2017-18 (University of Virginia prompts may be found here):

Dickinson College
Why have you chosen to apply to Dickinson? (There is no recommended minimum word count, although the Common Application does have a limit of 800 words)

Georgia Tech
[Y]ou will be asked to respond to the prompts below.

Beyond rankings, location, and athletics, why are you interested in attending Georgia Tech? (max 150 words)
Please choose ONE of the following questions and provide an answer in 150 words or less.
- Tech’s motto is Progress and Service. We find that students who ultimately have a broad impact first had a significant one at home. What is your role in your immediate or extended family? And how have you seen evidence of your impact on them?
- Georgia Tech is always looking for innovative undergraduates. Have you had any experience as an entrepreneur? What would you like Georgia Tech to provide to further your entrepreneurial interests?
- We challenge our students to “be comfortable being uncomfortable”. Tell us about a time in high school that you felt outside of your comfort zone and the resolution.

Georgetown University
Short Essay: Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (approximately one-half page)

Compose two brief essays (approximately one page single-spaced each) on the topics given below.

All Applicants: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Essay Two:

Applicants to Georgetown College: Please relate your interest in studying at Georgetown University to your goals. How do these thoughts relate to your chosen course of study? (If you are applying to major in the FLL or in a Science, please specifically address those interests.)
Applicants to the School of Nursing & Health Studies: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University. Please specifically address your intended major (Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, International Health, or Nursing).
Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service: Briefly discuss a current global issue, indicating why you consider it important and what you suggest should be done to deal with it.
Applicants to the McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

Johns Hopkins University
Successful students at Johns Hopkins make the biggest impact by collaborating with others, including peers, mentors, and professors. Talk about a time, in or outside the classroom, when you worked with others and what you learned from the experience. (Up to 400 words).

Princeton University
Short answer (1): Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (Response required in about 150 words.)

Short answer (2): Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (Response required in about 150 words.)

In addition to providing a few details, write an essay of about 500 words (no more than 650 words and no fewer than 250 words). Using one of the themes below as a starting point:

Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.
“One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.”
Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University and co-founder of Blackplanet.com. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University.
“Culture is what presents us with the kinds of valuable things that can fill a life. And insofar as we can recognize the value in those things and make them part of our lives, our lives are meaningful.”
Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and director of the Behrman Undergraduate Society of Fellows, Princeton University.
Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay.

And engineers: [W]rite a 300-500 word essay describing why you are interested in studying engineering, any experiences in or exposure to engineering you have had and how you think the programs in engineering offered at Princeton suit your particular interests.

Trinity College
You may select one of the following prompts and write an essay of 250-650 words.

We live in an urban-global age with more than half of the planet’s people living in cities. Trinity College is an urban liberal arts college deeply engaged with the local community and committed to making an impact across the world. How do you aspire to use your education to impact local and global communities?

Our mission states: “Engage. Connect. Transform. As the preeminent liberal arts college in an urban setting, Trinity College prepares students to be bold, independent thinkers who lead transformative lives.” Keeping the three pillars of the mission in mind, how do you see yourself contributing to the Trinity community?

University of Chicago
Question 1 (Required): How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to U Chicago.

Question 2 (Optional): Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own.

Choose one (required):

Essay Option 1: “The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.”–Joseph Joubert
Sometimes people talk a lot about popular subjects to assure ‘victory’ in conversation or understanding, and leave behind topics of less popularity, but great personal or intellectual importance. What do you think is important but under-discussed?

Essay Option 2: Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History…a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here: https//collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/academics/majors-minors.

Essay Option 3: Earth. Fire. Wind. Water. Heart! Captain Planet supposes that the world is made up of these five elements. We’re familiar with the previously-noted set and with actual elements like hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, but select and explain another small group of things (say, under five) that you believe compose our world.

Essay Option 4: The late New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham once said “Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life. I don’t think you could do away with it. It would be like doing away with civilization.” Tell us about your “armor.”

Essay Option 5: Fans of the movie Sharknado say that they enjoy it because “it’s so bad, it’s good.” Certain automobile owners prefer classic cars because they “have more character.” And recently, vinyl record sales have skyrocketed because it is perceived that they have a warmer, fuller sound. Discuss something you love not in spite of but rather due to its quirks or imperfections.

Essay Option 6: In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose your own question or choose one of our past prompts. Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.

University of Georgia
Here are the five essay questions, with Essay 1 being required and Essays 2-5 being four options from which the applicant selects one.

(Required) The college admissions process can create anxiety. In an attempt to make it less stressful, please tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself that you have not already shared in your application.

Choose one of the following four:

UGA’s 2017 Commencement speaker Ernie Johnson (Class of ’79) told a story from his youth about what he refers to as blackberry moments. He has described these as “the sweet moments that are right there to be had but we’re just too focused on what we’re doing …, and we see things that are right there within our reach and we neglect them. Blackberry moments can be anything that makes somebody else’s day, that makes your day, that are just sweet moments that you always remember.” Tell us about one of your “blackberry moments” from the past five years.
Creativity is found in many forms including artistic avenues, intellectual pursuits, social interactions, innovative solutions, et cetera. Tell us how you express your creativity.
Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
Describe a problem, possibly related to your area of study, which you would like to solve. Explain its importance to you and what actions you would take to solve this issue.

University of Illinois

Explain your interest in the major you selected and describe how you have recently explored or developed this interest inside and/or outside the classroom. You may also explain how this major relates to your future career goals. If you’re applying to the Division of General Studies, explain your academic interests and strengths or your future career goals. You may include any majors or areas of study you’re currently considering. Limit your response to 300 to 400 words.
If you select a second-choice major other than the Division of General Studies on your application, write a second essay explaining your interest in this major, too. Again, limit your response to 300 to 400 words.

Bonus: click here for even more 2017-18 essay supplements!