College Application Essay Prompts
University of Wisconsin System:
50. The University values an educational environment that provides all members of the campus community with opportunities to grow and develop intellectually, personally, culturally and socially. In order to give us a more complete picture of you as an individual, please tell us about the particular life experiences, perspectives, talents, commitments and/or interests you will bring to our campus. In other words, how will your presence enrich our community?
51. Tell us about your academic goals, circumstances that may have had an impact on your academic performance, and, in general, anything else you would like us to know in making an admission decision.
Pratt Institute:
The essay question is part of the application: Describe when and how you became interested in art, design, writing, architecture, or the particular major to which you are applying. Describe how this interest has manifested itself in your daily life. The essay should be 250-500 words.
University of Minnesota-Duluth:
If you have any special circumstances that may have affected your academic performance in high school (e.g., family, work, personal, or economic circumstances), please include an explanation on a separate sheet.
Flagler:
The college requires an essay, and considers it a vital component in the selection of students. Tell us something about your past experiences, present and future goals and how Flagler College fits into these goals. Be sure to stay on topic and write a carefully considered, grammatically correct essay with a minimum of 250 words.
Marquette:
Your writing sample is important. Please choose one of the topics below, limiting your response to around 300 words. If there is anything else you feel we should know about you, please add a personal statement to the bottom of your writing sample.
1. Why Marquette?
2. What is the best advice you have received? Why is it important?
Augsburg:
Tell us about yourself by writing approximately 500 words (11/2-2 typed pages) on the following topics:
Augsburg College strives to create a strong, rich, and vibrant campus community with students representing a large number of backgrounds, viewpoints, experiences, talents, and cultures. How will you enrich the Augsburg community, and how do you think it might enrich you?
St. Mary’s
Personal statement or essay for freshman applicants: Please type or legibly write a personal statement or essay of at least two hundred words on the topic of your vision for your future. In place of this personal statement or essay you may submit a photocopy of an essay you wrote and submitted for a class during either your junior or senior year of high school. Attach your statement or essay to this application.
The Common Application (Flagler)
Please write an essay of 250 – 500 words on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
1. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
2. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
3. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
4. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
5. Topic of your choice.
St. Thomas
Applicants are required to submit a writing sample (one to two pages). This writing sample may be on one of the topics listed below or you may submit a paper you have written for class.
1. Discuss a meaningful contribution you have made through involvement in school, church or community activities.
2. Describe an event, a person or an educational experience that has had a major impact on your life and why.
Hillsdale College
(1)Tell us about yourself and your interests; indicate your strengths and weaknesses; and describe your educational and career goals, the kind of person you wish to become and how Hillsdale College can help you reach these goals.
(2) Select one question from the four choices: (indicate your choice by checking the appropriate circle)
1. What is good character and why is it important? You may cite examples from literature, the arts, science, politics, history, athletics, business, education, or your own personal experiences.
2. What, in your understanding, are the liberal arts, and what is the goal of a liberal arts education?
3. Discuss how an event, novel, or experience has significantly influenced you or has changed your life.
4. Since Hillsdale’s founding in 1844, our efforts have been directed by the high purposes of the Hillsdale College Mission Statement. Please respond to this Mission Statement.
Wisconsin Lutheran
Our Admissions Committee would like to give you an opportunity to tell us about yourself by answering the following questions.
1. What led you to apply to Wisconsin Lutheran College? It is appropriate to mention individuals who influenced your decision.
2. What are your primary concerns regarding college?
Type of College Essay Questions: What Do Colleges Want to Know?
Generally, there are three types of questions: The "you," the "why us," and the "creative."
Top of Form
1. The "You" Question
Many colleges ask for an essay that boils down to: "Tell us about yourself." The school just wants to know you better and see how you'll introduce yourself. For example:
§ How would you describe yourself as a human being? What quality do you like best in yourself and what do you like least? What quality would you most like to see flourish and which would you like to see wither?
§ Creative people state that taking risks often promotes important discoveries in their lives or work. Discuss a risk that has led to a significant change (positive or negative) in your life.
§ Describe a challenging obstacle you’ve had to overcome. Discuss its impact and tell what you learned from that experience.
§ “To learn to think is to learn to question.” Discuss a matter you once thought you knew for sure that you have since learned to question.
Your Approach
This direct question offers a chance to reveal your personality, insight, and commitment. The danger is that it's open-ended, so you need to focus. Find just one or two things that will reveal your best qualities, and avoid the urge to spill everything.
2. The "Why Us" Question
Some schools ask for an essay about your choice of a school or career. They're looking for information about your goals, and about how serious your commitment is to this particular school. For example:
§ Why is _________a good college choice for you?
§ Please tell us about your career goals and any plans you may have for graduate study.
§ Tell us about yourself, your reasons for applying to _____, and your reasons for seeking a college education.
§ Describe your reason for selecting _________ and your personal/professional goals/plans after college.
§ We would like to know what experiences have led you to select your professional field.
Your Approach
The focus is provided: Why did you choose this school or path? This should be pretty clear to you, since you probably went through some kind of selection process. Make sure you know your subject well. For example, if you say you want to attend Carleton College to major in agriculture, the school will be able to tell how carefully you've chosen (Carleton doesn't have an agriculture major).
3. The "Creative" Question
Some colleges evaluate you through your choice of some tangential item: a national issue, a famous person, what you would put in a time capsule, a photograph. Here the school is looking at your creativity and the breadth of your knowledge and education. For example:
§ Do you believe there's a generation gap? Describe the differences between your generation and others.
§ Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence. (Common Application)
§ Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
§ In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge your generation will face? What ideas do you have for dealing with this issue?
§ What is the value and importance of community service in our society and tell us what it means to you.
§ You have just completed your 300 page biography. Please submit page 217.
§ How do you foresee your world twenty years from now?
Bottom of Form
Your approach
Again, you have something to react to, a way to show yourself and write about your real views. Just don't forget the importance of writing an informed essay. For example, don't write about a fantasy lunch with a famous writer and get the titles of her novels wrong. Also, when thinking about how creative to get, use common sense. Being creative to the point of wacky is a risk you may not want to take.
College Essay Writing Tips: Write an Effective Application Essay
A great application essay will present a vivid, personal, and compelling view of you to the admissions staff. In writing the essay you must bear in mind your two goals: to persuade the admissions officer that you are extremely worthy of admission and to make the admissions officer aware that you are more than a GPA and a standardized score, that you are a real-life, intriguing personality. The essay is one of the only parts of your application over which you have complete control, so take the time to do a good job on it. Check out these tips.
1. Answer the Question. If you miss the question, you will not be admitted to any institution.
2. Keep Your Focus Narrow and Personal. Your essay must prove a single point or thesis. The reader must be able to find your main idea and follow it from beginning to end. Essays that try to be too comprehensive end up sounding watered-down. It's not about telling the committee what you've done—instead, it's about showing them who you are.
3. Prove It. Develop your main idea with vivid and specific facts, events, quotations, examples, and reasons. There's a big difference between simply stating a point of view and letting an idea unfold in the details:
a. Okay: "I like to be surrounded by people with a variety of backgrounds and interests"
b. Better: "During that night, I sang the theme song from Casablanca with a baseball coach who thinks he's Bogie, discussed Marxism with a little old lady, and heard more than I ever wanted to know about some woman's gall bladder operation."
4. Be Specific. Avoid clichéd, generic, and predictable writing by using vivid and specific details.
a. Okay: "I want to help people. I have gotten so much out of life through the love and guidance of my family, I feel that many individuals have not been as fortunate; therefore, I would like to expand the lives of others."
b. Better: "My Mom and Dad stood on plenty of sidelines 'til their shoes filled with water or their fingers turned white, or somebody's golden retriever signed his name on their coats in mud. I think that kind of commitment is what I'd like to bring to working with fourth-graders."
5. Be Original. Even seemingly boring essay topics can sound interesting if creatively approached. If writing about a gymnastics competition you trained for, do not start your essay: "I worked long hours for many weeks to train for XXX competition." Consider an opening like, "Every morning I awoke at 5:00 to sweat, tears, and blood as I trained on the uneven bars hoping to bring the state gymnastics trophy to my hometown."
6. Don't "Thesaurize" your Composition. For some reason, students continue to think big words make good essays. Big words are fine, but only if they are used in the appropriate contexts with complex styles. Think Hemingway.
7. Be Yourself. Admissions officers want to learn about you and your writing ability. Write about something meaningful and describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do this, your essay will be unique. Many people travel to foreign countries or win competitions, but your feelings during these events are unique to you. Unless a philosophy or societal problem has interested you intensely for years, stay away from grand themes that you have little personal experience with.
8. Use Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose. If you are not adept with imagery, you can write an excellent essay without it, but it's not easy. The application essay lends itself to imagery since the entire essay requires your experiences as supporting details. Appeal to the five senses of the admissions officers.
9. Avoid the List. Many college applicants make the mistake of trying to include all of their accomplishments and activities in their application essays. Such essays read like what they are: tedious lists. Other parts of the application provide plenty of space for you to list extracurricular activities, so save your lists for the places where they belong. The most engaging and compelling essays tell a story and have a clear focus; your writing should reveal your passions and expose your personality. A thoughtful and detailed narration of a difficult time in your life tells far more about you than a list of competitions won and honors achieved. Your grades and scores show that you’re smart. Use your essay to show that you’re thoughtful and mature, that your personality has depth.