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New Dartmouth Essay Prompts Feature Football and Wild Chimpanzees

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Craig Meister

Dartmouth College has released its 2024-2025 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants, and while some prompts from the past make a return appearance, new options pay homage to wild chimps and a much-loved Dartmouth football coach.

Dartmouth’s writing supplement requires applicants to write brief responses to three supplemental essay prompts as follows:

1. Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer:

As you seek admission to Dartmouth’s Class of 2029, what aspects of the college’s academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?

This above prompt is a streamlined version of a very similar prompt that existed last year. 

2. Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

A.    There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.

B.    “Be yourself,” Oscar Wilde advised. “Everyone else is taken.” Introduce yourself.

The above two prompt options are exactly the same as last year. 

3. Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

A.    What excites you?

The above prompt option also appeared last year. 

B.    Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta recommended a life of purpose. “We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things,” she said. “That is what we are put on the earth for.” In what ways do you hope to make—or are you already making—an impact? Why? How?

The above prompt option also appeared last year. 

C.    In “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” Dr. Seuss invites us to “Think and wonder. Wonder and think.” Imagine your anticipated academic major: How does that course of study sync with Dr. Seuss’s advice to you?

The above prompt option is a more focused and leading version of a prompt that appeared last year. 

D.    The social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees have been the focus of Dame Jane Goodall’s research for decades. Her understanding of animal behavior prompted the English primatologist to see a lesson for human communities as well: “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” Channel Dame Goodall: Tell us about a moment when you engaged in a difficult conversation or encountered someone with an opinion or perspective that was different from your own. How did you find common ground?

The above prompt option is brand new this year. 

E.    Celebrate your nerdy side.

The above prompt option also appeared last year. 

F.    “It’s not easy being green…” was the frequent refrain of Kermit the Frog. How has difference been a part of your life, and how have you embraced it as part of your identity, outlook, or sense of purpose?

The above prompt is slightly edited from last year. 

G.    Buddy Teevens ’79 was a legendary and much-beloved coach at Dartmouth. He often told parents: “Your son will be a great football player when it’s football time, a great student when it’s academic time, and a great person all of the time.” If Coach Teevens had said that to you, what would it mean to be “a great person”?

The above prompt option is brand new this year.

Candidates applying for first-year admission to Dartmouth use the Common App, which goes live for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle on August 1, 2024.

Common App Confirms Essay Prompts for 2024-2025

Posted on February 29, 2024 by Craig Meister

The Common App, which is used by over 1,000 colleges and universities, has confirmed that when the next first-year application cycle formally begins on August 1, 2024, its main essay prompts will remain the same as those on this year’s Common App.

Thus, the seven prompt options first-year college applicants will have to carefully choose from in order to write one strong essay of up to 650-words will remain as follows:

  1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
  3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
  5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
  6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
  7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

As this site has previously pointed out, there are vast differences in popularity between prompts among all applicants, which smart and strategic students can and should use to their advantage. Ultimately, The Common Application serves (and exists) at the pleasure of its college members, as Common App is a non-profit organization that provides a standardized college application platform for roughly 1,000 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. The Common App allows students to fill out one main application form online and submit it to multiple colleges, streamlining the college application process.

While the application includes a variety of components, including basic information about the student, educational history, and an extracurricular activities page, it is the Common App’s essay page that has traditionally caused high school students the most consternation. Some colleges and universities require additional materials through their Common App supplements, such as supplemental essays or portfolios, which can be submitted through the Common App as well.

By using the Common App, students can save time and effort in the college application process and have a more organized and streamlined way of applying to multiple schools. Yet, it’s important to note that not all colleges and universities accept the Common App, and even some Common App member colleges may require that additional application materials be submitted after students submit their Common App. A handful of the biggest-name universities in the US have held off massive peer pressure to adopt the Common App: such colleges include MIT, Georgetown, and all colleges that are part of the UC system, such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara.

 

Common App Essay: Size Does Matter

Posted on February 29, 2024 by Craig Meister

Every year students ask me the same question:

“How long should my Common Application essay be?”

I am never shy about providing them with the response that best summarizes how they need to approach both the Common Application essay and the Common Application in general:

“Go Big or Go Home!”

Despite what the official directions on the Common App indicate, students writing a 250-word essay – the lowest end of the range that is officially acceptable to complete this essay – have a far lower chance of convincing college admissions officers of their admissions-worthiness than students who believe in the maxim, ‘bigger is better.” The official upper limit in acceptable length on the Common App essay is 650 words.

A well-thought out and well-developed essay of any true substance is not only not possible in 250 words, it’s barely possible in 450 words. This is why none of my students have ever submitted a Common App essay consisting of fewer than 450 words. With that said, the true sweet spot in Common Application essay writing, for this current year’s prompts and prompts going back over a decade, is 500 to 650 words. This was even the case a few years ago when the Common App limited students to a mere 500 words. That experiment lasted for such a short time because colleges were getting such transparently superficial essays that they were a waste of time and effort for students and lacking in any valuable insight helpful to college admissions officers.

Think of a 500- to 650-word essay as a smooth and enjoyable flight from D.C. to Disney World. In 500 to 650 words students have the space they need to achieve proper cruising altitude: writing a strong introductory paragraph that both grabs readers’ attention and clearly states the essay’s thesis. Next, just as one wants to have an enjoyable in-flight experience with the fasten seatbelt light off and flight attendants passing out drinks and snacks, so too does a 500- to 650-word essay allow readers to relax a bit. In 500 to 650 words students are able to produce non-rushed, non-turbulent, highly valuable descriptive and specific body paragraphs that go a long way toward proving the essay’s thesis. Finally, landing a plane takes great skill, as does writing a conclusion to a college application essay. It’s not a simple rehash of the lift off (inclusive of a thesis statement); it should be complementary to it. Students who have 500 to 650 words to work with are able to smoothly touch down in a way that nicely tops off of the entire flying/essay reading experience. At the end of the day, admissions officers read your essays because they want to fly the friendly skies with you into your world. 500 to 600 words allows you to give them a proper flying experience and gives you the words necessary to differentiate your world from the world of other applicants.

In order to produce a great final draft essay, your rough drafts should be even longer than 650 words. It’s very common for my students to create first, second, and third draft essays of nearly 1,000 words. Only through consistent and high quality editing can any essay be ready for submission to colleges and universities, and starting with too few words on initial drafts is a recipe for a puny little final draft essay.

So, the big take-away ideas on the Common App Essay are these:

  • Don’t do the minimum because you are officially allowed to do the minimum
  • Go big or go home – your final draft should be 500 to 650 words and your first draft should be even longer
  • In your final draft, ensure that paragraph transitions are smooth – just as a good pilot and great weather conditions allow a flight to be smooth from lift-off to landing

Before I share more extremely important Common App essay advice, let’s zero in on what students are going to be writing about on this year’s Common App. None of the essay prompts are easy, and all require a great deal of time, thought, and drafting before members of the Class of 2022 can confidently hit submit on their applications.

The 2024-2025 Common Application essay prompts are as follows:

Choose the option below that best helps you write an essay of no more than 650 words.

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Honestly, I miss the old questions that existed through the 2016-2017 iteration of the Common App. The current questions indicate that the people behind the Common App are less and less interested in reading essays from normal teenagers and more and more interested in pushing teens to appear exceptional, idiosyncratic, or downright eccentric for the purpose of entertaining application readers and putting on a show of some sort of diversity. I would be surprised if many of the admissions officers could portray themselves accurately with these prompts. But we take the world we are given; this is what students in the high school Class of 2025 applying to Common App colleges and universities have to work this admissions cycle.

One of my favorite Common App essay prompts of all time sadly got cancelled long ago: “Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?” I guess the great minds behind the Common App simply don’t want students to be too happy when reflecting on the content of and writing their Common App essays, because if they did, they would have kept that one. Oh well. If you insist on using the current #7 prompt, you could always write your essay in response to this put-out-to-pasture prompt.

Remember that it’s always better to start brainstorming sooner rather than later, and if your essay is still not where you want it after working on it for a while, make sure to check out why your essay may be really bad or downright awful. You should aim to wrap up your Common App essay no later than early August, which will give you plenty of time to draft and perfect your essays for Common Application supplements.

Remember, if you want or need help with any part of your essay brainstorming and drafting, I’m here to help you.

Good luck!

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Important Related Links:

2024-2025 Common App essay prompts: the best and worst for you

The Stats You Need: Most Popular & Least Popular Common App Essay Prompts

Why Your College Application Essay is So Bad

Why Your College Application Essay is Awful

Ultimate College Application Essay Brainstorm

Secret to a Successful College Application Essay First Draft

The Common Application

University of Maryland’s 650-character leap into lawlessness or a legal loophole?

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Craig Meister Leave a Comment

For years, University of Maryland College Park emphasized grades and scores in its undergraduate admissions review process for first-year applicants.

Then, a few years back, the university that Testudo the diamondback terrapin calls home added some innocuous and incredibly short answer responses requiring students to complete sentences such as, “The most interesting fact I ever learned from research was…,”  “If I could travel anywhere, I would go to…,” and “Something you might not know about me is…” In past years students have had as few as 160 characters to complete such sentences.

Meanwhile, in 2020, Maryland suspended its requirement that first-year applicants submit either their SAT or ACT scores in order to be considered for admission.

Then, this past June, The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that race-based preferences in college admissions are unlawful. Within hours, University of Maryland College Park’s President Darryll J. Pines and Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice published a letter on the Maryland website about the role of race in college admissions. In it, the two said the court’s decision was “disappointing” and that Maryland’s “already-unassailable commitment to a diverse and inclusive campus must strengthen and grow within the bounds of the law.” They added, “Our Enrollment Management team and campus administration have been preparing for this moment, and we are confident in our path forward.”

When the University of Maryland College Park supplement to the Common Application went live in Early August, the ‘complete the sentence’ prompts returned, but their responses were all given new 650-character count limits and they were accompanied by a new prompt unlike any Maryland has included on its first-year application before. The new prompt reads as follows:

“Because we know that diversity benefits the educational experience of all students, the University of Maryland values diversity in all of its many forms. This includes (but is not limited to) racial, socio-economic, gender, geographical, and sexual orientation. We are interested in hearing about your own individual life experiences. In a few sentences, will you please describe how you have learned, grown, been inspired or developed skills through one or more components of diversity.”

In summary, the prompt encourages applicants’ to show fealty to “one or more components of diversity” in up to 650 characters.

Then, in an email sent to counselors on August 11, 2023, James B. Massey, Jr., the director of Maryland’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, shared the following message:

“The University of Maryland remains committed to a diverse and inclusive campus. As President Pines has stated, ‘we will remain a national leader by encouraging and supporting students of all backgrounds as they apply, enroll and graduate from UMD. The educational value of campus diversity is one we will not sacrifice.’ Our office ‘will multiply our recruitment efforts focused on what UMD offers its students—a commitment to inclusive excellence where all have the opportunity to succeed.’ In addition, within our application we are providing an opportunity for students to share how they’ve learned, grown, been inspired, or developed skills through one or more components of diversity.”

Of course, the new short answer response about diversity is more than an opportunity; it’s a requirement. Since The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2023 that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race, a number of selective public and private colleges, now including Maryland, have added new required or optional questions or prompts to their 2023-2024 first-year applications, so Maryland is not unusual in this respect. Yet, Maryland’s new prompt is noteworthy because of the way in which it is worded and because applicants are limited to responding in only 650 characters to a prompt that is itself 487 characters long. The high prompt to response ratio, the content of the prompt, the kind of information it is seeking students to provide, and the email to counselors heralding the new prompt combine to make it certainly feel as though Maryland is attempting to use responses to this prompt as a means to “remain” as it was before the ruling. Pines’ and King Rice’s letter stated that before the Supreme Court ruling in June, race was one of “26 unique factors” the university considered in undergraduate admissions. As of October, Maryland’s admissions website indicates it now considers “more than 24 factors” when making admissions decisions, including “Breadth of life experiences,” “Extenuating circumstances,” “Socio-economic background,” and “Special talents or skills.” Is Maryland simply planning to subsume into one of these or other factors considered in its admissions review process a racial experience discussed in an applicant’s response to this new diversity short answer prompt for a student’s self-reported race, which Maryland considered before June’s ruling? And, if so, is that actually legal?

Maryland’s admissions leadership is clearly trying to inspire diverse applicants to write about diversity inclusive of how race may have shaped applicants’ perspectives, character, and overall value systems. Yet, in doing so, how far will Maryland admissions leadership go in taking information provided in applicants’ responses to this prompt to curate what it deems to be a sufficiently diverse first-year class?

Maryland, and all colleges in the US, if they intend to follow the letter and spirit of the law, must adhere to The Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, which included this critical paragraph:

“At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. See, e.g., 4 App. in No. 21–707, at 1725–1726, 1741; Tr. of Oral Arg. in No. 20–1199, at 10. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today. (A dissenting opinion is generally not the best source of legal advice on how to comply with the majority opinion.) “[W]hat cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The Constitution deals with substance, not shadows,” and the prohibition against racial discrimination is “levelled at the thing, not the name.” Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 325 (1867). A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

Maryland has not officially stated how applicants’ responses to this prompt will be assessed. So, I emailed the following questions to Shannon R. Gundy, the enrollment management leader at Maryland responsible for all undergraduate admissions:

1. How was the wording of (the new) prompt determined? Who/what offices was/were involved in drafting and approving it to be included in this year’s first-year UMD College Park application?

2. How are University of Maryland College Park application readers/admissions officers being directed to assess student responses to this new short answer prompt?

3. With only 650 characters to work with, students have to take their experience(s) with an important and serious subject and condense it(them) into just a few sentences; therefore, what will be considered a strong response versus a weak response to this new prompt?

4. It certainly feels as though Maryland is attempting to harness many tools, including this prompt, in order to remain as inclusively excellent as it was before the Supreme Court ruling on race in college admissions was released this past June. Will the way students respond to this prompt in any way influence their chances of first-year admission at Maryland? And if so, how?

Gundy did not respond to my email. After three days, I emailed Hafsa Siddiqi, Maryland’s media relations manager, with the same questions. Siddiqi also did not respond to my email.

Therefore, because it’s not clear how responses to this prompt will be assessed by the university’s admissions officers starting in November (Maryland’s Early Action admissions plan, through which the university fills the vast majority of its first-year class, has an application deadline of November 1), members of the public have no way to know whether Maryland’s supplement to the Common App has taken a 650-character leap into lawlessness or into a legal loophole to June’s Supreme Court ruling.

While the court has stated it would be unlawful for undergraduate admissions teams to give applicants’ essay or short answer responses higher or lower consideration based on the racial background or backgrounds applicants choose to write about, what has also become clear since June is that many working in selective college and university admission, and the lawyers and consulting firms advising them, are now doing all they can to draw a distinction between a student’s “racial status” and a student’s “racial experience.” In doing so, certain admissions professionals at selective institutions have publicly stated that Roberts’ opinion gives their institutions the freedom to consider a student’s “racial experience(s)” as much as these institutions would like when making admissions decisions as long as the colleges don’t consider a student’s narrowly defined “racial status.” This perspective may ultimately have its own day in court.

In the meantime, with so few words with which to share anything much of substance in response to Maryland’s newest prompt, the general public – and first-year applicants to University of Maryland College Park in particular – would certainly benefit from knowing exactly how Maryland will be assessing student responses to this new diversity prompt, as 650-characters doesn’t really give anyone the chance to show and tell much at all about an experience, lessons learned, or skills built. Instead, Maryland’s newest application prompt is a recipe for students to only be able to share superficial tidbits about themselves or their experience(s), many of which are likely to only be skin deep.

Did University of Maryland take a 650-character leap into lawlessness or a legal loophole?

Posted on September 25, 2023 by admissions.blog

For years, University of Maryland College Park emphasized grades and scores in its undergraduate admissions review process for first-year applicants. Yet, this August, when University of Maryland College Park released its supplement to the Common Application, the university added a new essay prompt about diversity for students to respond to in 650 characters or fewer. Considering the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down race-based preferences in college admissions, how the information provided in student responses to this new prompt is assessed by the university’s admissions officials will determine whether University of Maryland has taken a 650-character leap into lawlessness or a legal loophole to June’s Supreme Court ruling. Read the full article here.

Princeton wants to learn about applicants’ “lived experiences”

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Craig Meister Leave a Comment

Princeton University has released its 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for first-year applicants, making it the final Ivy League institution to do so.

The most notable change in Princeton’s supplement from last year is the addition of a new essay of up to 500 words responding to a prompt inquiring about the applicant’s life so far and how it has shaped the applicant in a manner that will allow the applicant to contribute to Princeton’s campus.

2023-2024 Princeton Supplemental Prompts

A.B. and Undecided Applicants Only

1. As a research institution that also prides itself on its liberal arts curriculum, Princeton allows students to explore areas across the humanities and the arts, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. What academic areas most pique your curiosity, and how do the programs offered at Princeton suit your particular interests? (Please respond in 250 words or fewer)

B.S.E. Applicants Only

1. Please describe why you are interested in studying engineering at Princeton. Include any of your experiences in, or exposure to engineering, and how you think the programs offered at the University suit your particular interests. (Please respond in 250 words or fewer)

Your Voice

2. Princeton values community and encourages students, faculty, staff and leadership to engage in respectful conversations that can expand their perspectives and challenge their ideas and beliefs. As a prospective member of this community, reflect on how your lived experiences will impact the conversations you will have in the classroom, the dining hall or other campus spaces. What lessons have you learned in life thus far? What will your classmates learn from you? In short, how has your lived experience shaped you? (500 words or fewer; new prompt and expanded word count length this year)

3. Princeton has a longstanding commitment to understanding our responsibility to society through service and civic engagement. How does your own story intersect with these ideals? (250 words or fewer; reworded from last year)

More About You

Please respond to each question in 50 words or fewer. There are no right or wrong answers. Be yourself!

4. What is a new skill you would like to learn in college? (50 words or fewer; returning prompt from last year)

5. What brings you joy? (50 words or fewer; returning prompt from last year)

6. What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment? (50 words or fewer; returning prompt from last year)

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Since The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2023 that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race, a number of selective colleges, now including Princeton, have added new essay prompts to their 2023-2024 first-year applications to inspire applicants to write about how their backgrounds – inclusive of race – have and/or will continue to inform their behaviors, perspectives, and priorities.

What remains uncertain is how such essays will be assessed by colleges’ application review committees. If keeping within the letter and spirit of The Supreme Court majority opinion, application review committees will not give applicants’ essays a higher or lower number of points based on the background or backgrounds applicants choose to write about in their essays.

The number of words students have in order to respond to Princeton’s new “lived experience” essay is also notably higher than any essay has been afforded on Princeton’s supplement in recent years when the highest number of words students could write in order to respond to any Princeton prompt topped out at 350 words.

As most high school seniors applying to Princeton do so through the Common Application, most Princeton applicants will also need to respond – and respond well – to one of the Common App’s main essay prompts in order to be considered for admission at Princeton.

Good luck to all those students applying to join Princeton’s Class of 2028. Start drafting!

Meanwhile, the 2023-2024 supplemental essay prompts for students applying to be first-year students at fellow Ivy League institutions Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, and Yale were all released in July or early August.

Northwestern University adds six new essay prompts to its application supplement

Posted on August 10, 2023 by Craig Meister

Northwestern University Deering Library

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has added six new essay prompts to its 2023-2024 supplement to the Common Application for first-year applicants.

At the same time, Northwestern becomes the most selective Common App college to no longer require submission of the Common Application main essay in order to be considered for admission. Yet, if a student applying for first-year admission to Northwestern wants the university’s admissions committee to review his or her Common App essay, he or she can still include it when submitting the Common App to Northwestern.

Regarding Northwestern’s supplement, students applying via the Common App or Coalition App must respond to only one of the six new supplemental essay prompts, and applicants can only respond to up to two of the others. This means that smart applicants who want to make their case through their words will be writing three Northwestern-specific short essays (up to 700 words total) in their attempt to earn admission into Northwestern’s Class of 2028.

2023-2024 Northwestern University Supplemental Essay Prompts

The following question is required for all Common Application and Coalition with Scoir applicants (optional for QuestBridge applicants). Please respond in 300 words or fewer:

  • We want to be sure we’re considering your application in the context of your personal experiences: What aspects of your background, your identity, or your school, community, and/or household settings have most shaped how you see yourself engaging in Northwestern’s community, be it academically, extracurricularly, culturally, politically, socially, or otherwise?

The following questions are optional, but we encourage you to answer at least one and no more than two. Please respond in fewer than 200 words per question:

  • Painting “The Rock” is a tradition at Northwestern that invites all forms of expression—students promote campus events or extracurricular groups, support social or activist causes, show their Wildcat spirit (what we call “Purple Pride”), celebrate their culture, and more. What would you paint on The Rock, and why?
  • Northwestern fosters a distinctively interdisciplinary culture. We believe discovery and innovation thrive at the intersection of diverse ideas, perspectives, and academic interests. Within this setting, if you could dream up an undergraduate class, research project, or creative effort (a start-up, a design prototype, a performance, etc.), what would it be? Who might be some ideal classmates or collaborators?
  • Community and belonging matter at Northwestern. Tell us about one or more communities, networks, or student groups you see yourself connecting with on campus.
  • Northwestern’s location is special: on the shore of Lake Michigan, steps from downtown Evanston, just a few miles from Chicago. What aspects of our location are most compelling to you, and why?
  • Northwestern is a place where people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world can study, live, and talk with one another. This range of experiences and viewpoints immeasurably enriches learning. How might your individual background contribute to this diversity of perspectives in Northwestern’s classrooms and around our campus?

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As most high school seniors applying to Northwestern do so through the Common Application, and most are applying to other highly selective private colleges that require the Common App essay, it’s likely that most first-year applicants to Northwestern will still want Northwestern admissions officers to read their Common App essay.

Since The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2023 that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race, a number of selective colleges, now including Northwestern, have added new essay prompts to their 2023-2024 first-year applications to inspire applicants to write about how their backgrounds – inclusive of race – have and/or will continue to inform their behaviors, perspectives, and priorities.

What is not yet clear is how such essays will be assessed by colleges’ application review committees. If keeping within the letter and spirit of The Supreme Court majority opinion, application review committees will not give applicants’ essays a higher or lower number of points based on the background or backgrounds applicants choose to write about in their essays. Northwestern’s new essay prompts use the words “diverse” or “diversity” three times, “background(s)” three times, and “community” or “communities” four times.

Previously, Northwestern’s one and only – and now retired – supplemental essay prompt read as follows:

In 300 words or less, help us understand how you might engage specific resources, opportunities, and/or communities here. We are curious about what these specifics are, as well as how they may enrich your time at Northwestern and beyond.

Good luck to all those students applying to join Northwestern’s Class of 2028.

Wake Forest Introduces Exclusive Early Action (EEA)

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Craig Meister 1 Comment

Considering how much the word “inclusive” is bandied about these days, Wake Forest University would, at first glance, appear to be taking a big risk by creating a new Early Action admissions option that will be the exclusive domain of only certain applicants based on their demographics alone. Yet, that’s exactly what Wake Forest is doing while promoting its new Early Action admissions option as a tool to promote inclusivity.

On June 29, the day when The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that race can’t be a factor in admissions decisions, Wake Forest University’s President Susan R. Wente wrote, “We write to affirm that Wake Forest University will not waver in its commitment to creating and sustaining inclusive, diverse learning communities; our mission and values have not and will not change. We will continue to recruit and enroll academically qualified students of diverse backgrounds who seek an intellectual home at Wake Forest where they belong and thrive, and in compliance with the Court’s ruling.”

Just a few weeks later, Wake introduced a new essay prompt for first-year applicants to complete during the 2023-2024 admissions cycle that invites students to explain how their identity or lived experience will help them contribute to the Wake Forest community.

Now, Wake Forest has announced a new Early Action admissions option “specifically for first-generation students to provide an additional pathway of opportunity.” Those who are not considered by Wake to be first-generation college students may not apply to Wake using this new Early Action option, thus making it the very definition of exclusive, which is why for the remainder of this article, and in order to differentiate it from traditional Early Action options that do not prevent certain students from taking advantage of them, Wake’s new admissions option will be referred to as Exclusive Early Action, or EEA. Wake’s new Exclusive Early Action applicants must apply by November 15 and will receive their admissions decisions by January 15.

For years, Wake Forest has met 100% of the demonstrated financial need of eligible admitted undergraduate students while also offering Early Decision I (students apply by November 15 and get their decisions by December) and Early Decision II (students apply by January 1 and get their decisions by February 15) application options, both of which are officially binding in nature (meaning a student must attend – in most cases – if admitted), and Regular Decision (students apply by January 1 and get their decisions in late March/Early April), which, just like its new EEA option, doesn’t require admitted students to accept or reject their offers of admission until May 1. Yet, three pathways to opportunity, all of which are open to any and all potential applicants, were deemed insufficient to those making executive level decisions at Wake Forest. Why?

From Wake’s perspective, offering Exclusive Early Action is a way to get “first dibs” on in-demand first-generation students and avoid having to directly compare a cohort of such applicants to applicants with the perceived advantages associated with being born to one or two parents with degrees from four-year colleges.

A critical paragraph of the June Supreme Court majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, included this line:

“…universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today…'[W]hat cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The Constitution deals with substance, not shadows,’ and the prohibition against racial discrimination is ‘levelled at the thing, not the name.’ Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 325 (1867).”

US Census data from 2022 indicate that the percentage of adults age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more was 41.8% for the non-Hispanic White population, 27.6% for the Black population, 59.3% for the Asian population, and 20.9% for the Hispanic population. Thus, being a first-generation college student is a real, though imperfect, proxy for race.

Presumably, the upshot for students of applying EEA to Wake will not be learning of their decisions early, as many, though not all, first-generation students will want to wait to compare all of their offers of admission and financial aid. Rather, the upshot for students is that it is likely that the acceptance rate for EEA applicants will be higher than the acceptance rate for those applying in the competitive Regular Decision cycle, as most colleges that offer Early Action and/or Early Decision have higher acceptance rates for such options relative to their Regular Decision options.

Thus, for someone who really wants to go to Wake Forest but who doesn’t want to commit to attending Wake Forest until he or she receives all of his or her admissions and aid decisions, Wake’s new EEA option seems like a great chance to keep one’s options open and increase one’s chances of admission to Wake – and potentially elsewhere since it allows such students to apply to an Early Decision college or two and unlimited traditional Early Action (EA) colleges concurrently – all in one fell swoop. Of course, a lot of high school seniors would like to get in on this. But only some will be allowed to: those considered by Wake Forest to be first-generation college students.

Which brings us to who exactly Wake Forest considers a “first-generation college student.” Colleges have not agreed upon a standard definition of the term, especially since two parents of a child may have very different backgrounds and not all children live with or have relationships with both parents.

Wake, in a statement announcing the new admissions option, and on its admissions site, defines first-generation as follows:

“First-generation students are those whose parents did not graduate from a four-year accredited college or university. First generation can also include the children of parents who earned a degree in another country, immigrated to the United States, and are underemployed in the U.S. Whether domestic or international, if the student resides with and receives support from only one parent, the ‘first generation’ classification is based on that parent’s education.”

Eric Maguire, Wake Forest’s Vice-President for Enrollment Management, in response to an inquiry from the author of this article, further clarified that, “an international student can be considered first generation if their parents did not graduate from an accredited university or if they meet all three of the following criteria: earned a degree in another country, immigrated to the United States, and are underemployed. We would determine ‘underemployment’ based on the accepted definition as found in Merriam-Webster: ‘having less than full-time, regular, or adequate employment.'”

In 2007, right before Wake Forest became ACT- and SAT-optional in its admissions process, first-year student enrollment at Wake was 84% White, 6% Asian, 6% Black, 3% Hispanic, and 1% Native American. In Fall 2022, first-year student enrollment at Wake was approximately 63% White, 11% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 7% two or more races, 6% Black, 2% unknown, and less than 1% Native American. Only time will tell if the latest adjustments to Wake Forest’s first-year admissions process alters the racial or ethnic composition of its future entering classes or inspires other institutions to offer their own versions of EEA.

Wake Forest’s new supplemental essay prompt builds on a trend and guest stars Maya Angelou

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Craig Meister Leave a Comment

Since The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2023 that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race, a number of selective colleges have added new essay prompts to their 2023-2024 first-year applications to inspire applicants to write about how their backgrounds – inclusive of race – have and/or will continue to inform their behaviors, perspectives, and priorities.

What is not yet clear is how such essays will be assessed by colleges’ application review committees.

If keeping within the letter and spirit of The Supreme Court majority opinion, application review committees will not give applicants’ essays a higher or lower number of points based on the background or backgrounds applicants choose to write about in their essays.

Yet, if an essay demonstrates certain personal attributes such as grit, perseverance, fortitude, superficiality, immaturity, or poor writing skills – all of which can be demonstrated by applicants of all backgrounds – such attributes can be cause to give applicants’ essays a higher or lower number of points.

The key, of course, will be for review committees not to assign certain attributes on the basis of race, but on the basis of reality, as in what the details included in the application demonstrate about the real character and disposition of an individual applicant. Any such attribute considered can’t simply be a proxy for race.

Enter Wake Forest University, which introduced test-optional admissions into its application process fifteen years ago. At the time, Martha Allman, then director of admissions at Wake Forest, said, “By making the SAT and ACT optional, we hope to broaden the applicant pool and increase access at Wake Forest for groups of students who are currently underrepresented at selective universities.”

On June 29, 2023 the day when The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that race can’t be a factor in admissions decisions, Wake Forest University’s President Susan R. Wente wrote, “We write to affirm that Wake Forest University will not waver in its commitment to creating and sustaining inclusive, diverse learning communities; our mission and values have not and will not change. We will continue to recruit and enroll academically qualified students of diverse backgrounds who seek an intellectual home at Wake Forest where they belong and thrive, and in compliance with the Court’s ruling.”

Just a couple weeks later, Wake revealed its 2023-2024 supplemental short response/essay prompts for first-year applicants, which includes a brand new prompt that guest stars famed American poet Maya Angelou:

1. Why have you decided to apply to Wake Forest? Share with us anything that has made you interested in our institution. (limit 150 words)

2. List five books you’ve read that have intrigued you.

3. Tell us what piques your intellectual curiosity or has helped you understand the world’s complexity. This can include a work you’ve read, a project you’ve completed for a class, and even co-curricular activities in which you have been involved. (limit 150 words)

4. Dr. Maya Angelou, renowned author, poet, civil-rights activist, and former Wake Forest University Reynolds Professor of American Studies, inspired others to celebrate their identities and to honor each person’s dignity. Choose one of Dr. Angelou’s powerful quotes. How does this quote relate to your lived experience or reflect how you plan to contribute to the Wake Forest community? (brand new prompt; limit 300 words)

5. Give us your Top Ten List. (The choice of theme is yours.) (limit 100 characters per line)

Of particular note is the new essay prompt built around a Maya Angelou quote that invites students to explain how their identity or lived experience will help them contribute to the Wake Forest community.

A relatively straight-forward approach many students may take when responding to this prompt will be for them to point to how their expression of their race, religion, or some other identity, experience, or value system will add new dimension or vitality to Wake’s campus; yet, by doing so, this has the potential (in cases where race is the focus of students’ responses) to come perilously close to students making an argument for Wake to do something Wake as an institution can no longer legally do – namely to admit someone on the basis of race.

In response to this prompt, I would encourage students write about attributes they’ve demonstrated that are not race-based, such as persistence, patience, and positivity so that they can be judged on these non-race dependent metrics. This doesn’t mean they can’t focus on these metrics or attributes in the context of discussing their race; race simply shouldn’t be the attribute at the center of students’ responses.

I wish Wake Forest admissions officers good luck with adhering to the law and internal directives when assessing these essay responses as part of their holistic review process, and I hope Wake reveals to the public how responses to this essay prompt will be assessed.

In related news, last week the university has announced a new exclusive Early Action admissions option “specifically for first-generation students to provide an additional pathway of opportunity.” To learn more click here.

Rice University adds new 500-word required essay to its application

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Craig Meister 3 Comments

Rice University in Houston, Texas has decided to add a new essay requirement to its first-year application that explicitly mentions race just weeks after The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that colleges can no longer admit students on the on the basis of race.

Previously, Rice only had two 150-word short answer response requirements on its supplement to the Common Application. Now, it also gives students a choice between responding to one of two new prompts in up to 500 words.

2023-2024 Rice Supplemental Essay Prompts

1. Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected above. Required (150 words max)

2. Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you? Required (150 words max)

3. Please respond to one of the following prompts to explore how you will contribute to the Rice community: Required (500 words max)

—

The two prompt options from which first-year applicants have to choose are interestingly phrased. The first requires the respondent to show himself or herself sharing traditions, experiences, or perspectives with fellow future Rice students, while the second only requires that respondents share perspectives shaped by their background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity that inspires them to join a future community of change agents at Rice. The reason this distinction is important is that it could be read as meaning Rice will be assessing respondents to the first option based on what they choose to share with future fellow students while assessing respondents to the second option based only on their choice of

“At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. See, e.g., 4 App. in No. 21–707, at 1725–1726, 1741; Tr. of Oral Arg. in No. 20–1199, at 10. But, despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today. (A dissenting opinion is generally not the best source of legal advice on how to comply with the majority opinion.) “[W]hat cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly. The Constitution deals with substance, not shadows,” and the prohibition against racial discrimination is “levelled at the thing, not the name.” Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 325 (1867). A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”

I wish students good luck as they draft their responses, and I also wish Rice admissions officers good luck with adhering to the law, internal directives, and their consciences when assessing these essay responses as part of their holistic review process.

As the vast majority of high school seniors applying to Rice do so through the Common Application, most Rice applicants will also need to respond – and respond well – to one of the Common App’s main essay prompts in order to be considered for admission at Rice.

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