Notre Dame is for first-year applicants through at least the 2025-2026 application cycle, which means that you don’t need to submit SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admission. This doesn’t mean that you should simply leave your scores out, though. Strong standardized test scores underline an impressive application. Like strong grades, they can entice an application reader to spend a little more time considering your candidacy, and in an era when you’re lucky to get more than five minutes of an admissions officer’s time that additional attention is critical. We encourage our students to submit their scores to Notre Dame if an SAT at or above 1510 or an ACT of 34+.

In this post, we’re going to address the unquantifiable part of your application to Notre Dame, though — the supplements. Notre Dame looks for top students with impressive grades and scores, but that isn’t enough to get in. In addition to having those grades and scores, you need to tell a story that clicks with the admissions officers as they look to add students to their community. Succeeding at this results in an acceptance, so let’s make that happen.

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Notre Dame wants to see more than your stats — they want to see you. The one short essay and three short-answer questions. Each requires thoughtful consideration, drafting, and time. Giving yourself the time to approach the Notre Dame supplements is critical, and is ultimately more important than any impressive accomplishment or leadership role. Titles and awards are great, but how you tell the story of these accomplishments is even more important than the number of trophies on your dresser.

Too many times to count, we’ve watched our students, with fewer awards but more thoughtful and story-ful answers, get into schools early that more objectively ‘impressive’ students are rejected by. We know this because those rejected students contact us asking for help in the Regular Decision round. In the end, it all comes down to how the application was crafted. The supplement is a key piece of this crafting, and we’re going to break it down for you below so you can get it right on the first try.

SHORT ESSAY

Everyone has different priorities when considering their higher education options and building their college or university list. Tell us about your “non-negotiable” factor(s) when searching for your future college home. (150 words)

This is an awesome prompt, and you need to approach it from a highly strategic perspective. We’re sure you have a list of things you really want in a school, but this isn’t a good place to share all of them. Instead, you need to pick one or two things that are both true to you — and true to Notre Dame.

Frame them within a story. It’s a short supplement, but 150 words is a full paragraph. Make the most of this space. Tell your non-negotiables through a short story, and you can write about faith here. You don’t have to, as you absolutely do not have to be Catholic or Christian to get into Notre Dame, but if faith matters deeply to you, it makes sense to include it here.

SHORT ANSWER

Please choose three questions from the options below. Your response to each short-answer question should be between 50-100 words.

These are short at 50-100 words, only a few sentences each. Every word needs to do work and serve a purpose. You also only pick three from the five options, so below we also guide you towards your best fit.

How does faith influence the decisions you make?

First, don’t pick this prompt if you mentioned faith in the first supplement. If you didn’t mention faith at the top, this can be a good option as long as you have something meaningful to say. If this prompt doesn’t immediately click for you, it isn’t for you. If it does click, lean into it. We especially love this prompt for students with strong religious or faith beliefs that aren’t Christian. This is not, though, a place to talk about crystals even if you keep quartz next to your bed. That’s not the Notre Dame vibe, so it could turn them off to your application, even subconsciously.

What is distinctive about your personal experiences and development (e.g., family support, culture, disability, personal background, community, etc.)? Why are these experiences important to you and how will you enrich the Notre Dame community?

This prompt lets you share a piece of yourself that won’t show up in your application otherwise. This is key. Do not answer this prompt with something you’ve said anywhere else. It can’t be in your college essay or an additional information section. Whatever goes here absolutely must be new. Beyond that, remember that you don’t have a lot of space so the stories you tell need to be simple. Or, at minimum, told simply. Let’s use the example of impaired eyesight or blindness. You will not be able to convey the whole story of not being able to see in 100 words, but you can talk about looking for a button on a new remote and having to maintain the patience necessary to find the solution despite massive amounts of frustration. This same concept can be applied to almost any personal experience. You need to communicate more than what you have faced, there must be a trait or characteristic that shines through.

Notre Dame’s undergraduate experience is characterized by a collective sense of care for every person. How do you foster service to others in your community?

This is a very important prompt for Notre Dame, and we encourage all of our students to include this as one of the three that they select. Notre Dame strongly emphasizes service to their community — and yours at home.

To write a strong answer to this prompt, pick one way that you have served locally and long-term. Tell a story that spotlights a particular moment that exemplifies why that service means so much to you. This should include you engaging with someone else, or a small group, and may include techniques like dialog and symbolism to increase impact in a compact package.

More than anything, do not position yourself as the hero of the narrative. You should be an impactful piece of a larger puzzle, not the captain of the ship.

What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

To us, this prompt is a dud. It is far too easy to come off as self-important, conceited, or blind to your flaws. It’s sort of like being asked what your biggest flaw is and answering with “perfectionism.” That never plays well, so don’t do it. Skip this prompt and pick better ones.

If you insist on selecting this prompt, and we hope you don’t, you need to be very careful with which compliment you pick. Make sure it is earnest, not manipulative, and shared through a story that underlines that earnestness.

What would you fight for?

This prompt is awesome, but they don’t mean “fight for” literally. They do not want to feel, after reading this prompt, like you are going to bring chaos to campus. They do, though, want to see and feel passion. To write a strong response to this prompt, focus on something that you are already doing and could build upon at Notre Dame — and with the support of their community. You should also be sure to focus on something that is collaborative. Isolating yourself is a bad thing, so look for opportunities to talk about working with others.

The Notre Dame supplement offers opportunities for passionate, driven, and community-minded students to spotlight how awesome they (you) are. Take advantage of this to get to an acceptance letter. And if you want a guide, we can help.

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Rice believes in standardized tests, but they don’t require them. To use , “Rice recommends first-year and transfer student applicants to undergraduate degree-seeking programs to submit SAT or ACT test scores, if available.” However, “students who are unable to submit test scores or prefer not to submit test scores will be given full consideration in the admission selection process.” To sum it up, the admissions team at Rice sees standardized tests as a useful measure of an applicant’s readiness for college and of recently accepted and enrolled first years submitted scores. This is why we encourage students to submit a score to Rice unless they fall well under the middle 50% scores for recently accepted students (SAT: 1540, ACT: 35). They do not consider the writing section for either the SAT or ACT. They do superscore, taking the highest score from each section.

In this post, we’ll be focused on the unquantifiable aspects of your application, though. The Rice supplement offers an opportunity to show who you are beyond the numbers, immersing the reader in what truly makes you special.

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The Rice supplement isn’t onerously long, but it is in-depth. With three questions and the famous “Box,” the Rice supplement asks for a fair bit of your time but also offers ample opportunity to spotlight different sides of yourself. Now, let’s dig into it. 

The Rice supplement offers you the opportunity to share more about yourself. This is your chance to tell us why you are interested in Rice and what you would like to pursue as a student here. We also want you to elaborate on your experiences and achievements to share what you would bring to our community.

PROMPT 1: Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected. 150 word limit.

This supplement (like the next, for the record) is short — very short. You only have 150 words, or about one fleshed out paragraph. That means that this supplement is all about efficiency, but you don’t want to be so efficient that your answer loses soul. They don’t just want to know the what, but also the why.

To do this, start with a story. This story should introduce the reader to the what through the why. We coach our students through developing a short vignette or scene that makes the reader feel connected to them as a student of the subject you want to study, and ideally not only in the classroom. We love stories that pull you out of the structure of school and show you engaging with the subject you want to pursue in the real world, or through an extracurricular.

Once you’ve set up the supplement, you need to go into some detail. What exactly do you want to study? And where do you see it taking you in the future? Slip in at least one detail about the program at Rice so that the application readers can tell that you’ve taken the time to make sure that what Rice offers is exactly what you are looking for.

Close by reframing the opening story and envisioning yourself at Rice.  

PROMPT 2: Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you? 150 word limit.

This prompt isn’t only academic, but you are also applying to college to go to school. So, while you might love a particular aspect of the social life or residential communities, we don’t love that as a focus for this response. We also aren’t fans of listing a bunch of things you like and cramming them into this 150-word supplement.

When you work on answering this prompt, we recommend picking one academic aspect and one community aspect to focus in on. Each of these could have multiple avenues for exploration and experience within them, but they don’t have to. Being focused allows you to go into detail about why these things are important to you, going beyond a surface-level rundown that doesn’t tell them anything meaningful about you.  

PROMPT 3: Please respond to one of the following prompts to explore how you will contribute to the Rice community:

For the third prompt, you have two options. The word count for each is 500 words, and consider each one — even if one of them immediately jumps out at you. Sometimes, your best option isn’t the one you’re most excited about on first read.

Option 1: The Residential College System is at the heart of Rice student life and is heavily influenced by the particular cultural traditions and unique life experiences each student brings. What life experiences and/or unique perspectives are you looking forward to sharing with fellow Owls in the residential college system? 500 word limit.

We love this prompt because it allows you to focus on something small and meaningful. This is not the place to try to mention awards or recognitions, or even to focus on leadership (most of the time). Instead, we encourage our students to commit to a supplement that is much more personal, without overlapping at all with your main college essay.

But what do we mean when we say small and meaningful? We love when students answer this prompt with a story that focuses on culture and community, whether that’s celebrating a meaningful holiday that you could share with your peers or giving back to those around you in a small, daily way that makes a big difference in people’s day.

Say you have mowed your elderly neighbors’ lawns since freshman year of high school, and now are looking for someone to take up the job as you move away for college. You could write about how small things can have big impacts, and envision what that might look like at Rice.

Remember that you have 500 words to work with, so you have the space to tell a fully-fleshed out story with a strong narrative. Use them all.

Option 2: Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders and change agents across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives shaped by your background, experiences, upbringing, and/or cultural identity inspire you to join our community of change agents at Rice? 500 word limit.

Your other option for this supplement prompt is also focused on community, and the only notable difference is that instead of focusing on the residential system you are invited to focus on service, advocacy, or leadership. Really, they aren’t that different, though — especially in approach. What you need to do is to tell a story. A focused story, a detailed story, and a story that connects with the application readers on a deeper level than, say, a transcript can.

The ’trap’ in this prompt, though, is that some students read it as a hardship test. It is not, for the record, a hardship test. Being the person who has faced the most does not get you into Rice. Being someone who contributes, however, does. We encourage students who want to write in response to this prompt to focus on an aspect of their life as the ‘frame’ for the essay, but to center the essay on a way that they’ve taken control and supported others in doing the same. You need to the be the protagonist of the essay, so put yourself in the driver’s seat.  

Rice Box

One of Rice's long-standing traditions is “The Box,” a question on our application where we ask all of our applicants to share an image of something that appeals to them. The Box gives you the opportunity to present us with an image that shares something about yourself, your interests or what is meaningful to you. This image is not used for evaluative purposes in the application, but allows you to put your stamp on the application about who you are aside from what you have achieved. Be sure to choose an image that speaks for itself and does not need an explanation. The Box must be a two-dimensional image that is uploaded in the Common Application or uploaded in the Rice Admission Student Portal.

The Box can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. The secret to is to not be too clever. Instead, use this space to give visual to something you’ve written about elsewhere. Don’t overthink it, and a simple, clean vibe is best. If you happen to shoot film, go with that and scan it in to upload. We don’t mean a video, though. They only want one, single image in two-dimensional format.  

The Rice supplement is exciting to us because it gives you room to be yourself. Lean into that opportunity and have fun with it while telling your story.

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Emory highly favors ED applicants, beyond what athlete recruiting alone would account for. The ED I acceptance rate is more than double the overall acceptance rate at 31%, and the ED II acceptance rate is just over across both the main Atlanta campus and the Oxford campus. This tells us that the Regular Decision acceptance rate is much lower to reach the sub-15% average overall. Applying Early Decision is, then, crucial, if Emory is your top choice. You should also know that Emory is , so you aren’t required to submit an SAT or ACT to apply.

Once at Emory, students 80 majors, 60 minors, and over a dozen preprofessional tracks. This post is about getting there, though. At this point in your college application journey, a lot of things are set. You can’t change your grades or your scores, you can’t change your activities, you are who you are. How you talk about yourself, though, can make a massive difference. In this post, we’re going to break down the Emory supplement so that you can write your strongest application possible.

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The Emory supplement is a mixed bag, but it actually all shakes up the same. There are two supplementals, and the first is required. The second isn’t required, but it actually is. What we mean by that is that you need to do the second supplemental if you want to get into Emory. Now, let’s get into both of them. 

What academic areas are you interested in exploring at Emory University and why? (200 words)

Okay, so this is a “why us?” question but they really don’t want to know about, say, future Thursday night open mics. Instead, it’s all academics. They do one tricky thing, though, that can set students on the wrong track right off the bat. While Emory invites you to write about multiple areas of academic interest, we highly recommend focusing on one or, at most, two.

Before you start writing, you need to do your research. Identify the major you want to pursue, and then learn as much about it at Emory as you can. Undecided is not an option. Remember, this isn’t writing your future in stone. You will have options in the future, but you need to apply confident in a path.

Start the supplement by setting up your interest in the subject — what led you to this major — then transition to how you would pursue it at Emory. That means courses you are excited for, a professor you would love to study under, and maybe an academic program or other opportunity connected to the major. If you have room left in the 200 words, include a potential minor. Only do this, though, if it is linked to the major in some way. Throwing in something that feels out of left field will not serve you.

Supplement 2, Pick one (150 words)

For the second Emory supplement, you pick one prompt from a list of four options, and answer it in 150 words. That is short. Very short, so it’s more critical than ever that every word counts.

Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community that you have been part of where your personal participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.

This is a super fun prompt because it offers you the opportunity to spotlight collaboration, teamwork, and — ideally — leadership. We advise our students to pick this prompt if they have been deeply involved in leading a club or team. This could be at school, or it could be a team as a summer or after-school job. Writing about fighting through robotics setbacks works for this prompt, as does writing about building the perfect ice cream sundae and building culture. Due to the limited space, focus on one story that is emblematic of larger experiences that may be visible in your activities section.  

Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.

We don’t love this prompt. Students who pick this prompt have an unfortunate tendency of coming off as elitist and privileged. They tend to write about traveling to far off places (which, for the record, does not improve your chances of admission), eating food they thought of as ‘weird’ (which only makes one seem sheltered or close-minded), or having a conversation with someone from a different culture (which, if it is notable, does not reflect well). This is all to say that we do not encourage our students to pick the prompt.

Emory University’s unique mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission of service to humanity.

Whereas the previous prompt is really hard to write a response to that doesn’t reflect poorly on you, this one offers an opportunity to talk about how you connect with others and expand your awareness without sounding, well, off.

We love responses to this prompt that focus on a piece of what you do not to improve the lives of others, and then dream of how that can grow into something greater with Emory’s assistance. Don’t think too big, though. Proposing that you can find a solution to world hunger is not a good use of space and will not improve your chances of acceptance. Instead, focus on small and local things that could be expanded further, but that you are writing about in a focused way in this supplement.

In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?

This is the “” question of the moment. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (heck, we’ve even said it in the New York Times—ayo!). More and more schools are adding this exact question, although they like to word it in different ways. It’s not inherently a bad prompt, but it can lead to bad answers.

Writing about having a conversation with someone who has a political perspective that is very different from yours is not a good way to answer this question unless you have something much more interesting to say than that they don’t agree with your politics.

A strong response to this prompt emphasizes human connection first and foremost. Do not spend 150 words explaining two sides of a disagreement. Instead, keep the disagreement part short and spend most of this supplement emphasizing common ground.

The Emory supplement offers wonderful opportunities to share who you are with the application readers. So, give them lots of reasons to say yes. If you can get the readers to feel connected to you, and to care about you, they will want to say yes. 

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Barnard their temporary SAT/ACT Test-Optional policy for students applying for the Fall of 2026, which means that it applies to you. It is an interesting choice as peer institutions have reinstated testing requirements.

As a test-optional school, it is up to you whether you submit SAT or ACT results. We like this flexibility, but we also advise our students not to take advantage of it unless they have really struggled on either the SAT or ACT over multiple attempts. Strong test scores underline an application, emphasizing how impressive you are. For Barnard, submitting an ACT of 34+ or an SAT of 1530+.  

In this post, we are going to focus on the key qualitative piece of your application, though, the supplement. As an institution focused on women, Barnard is very careful to assess applicants not only for their strengths — but also for their intentions. They only want to accept students who are passionate about the particular learning and community environment they offer. The best way to show that you have bought into the Barnard way of working is by applying Early Decision. The next best way is through the supplement. Below, we break down how to make the Barnard supplement a powerful piece of your application process.

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The Barnard supplement for 2025-2026 is only one question, and it is required. This is a change from recent years, where they had a few required questions.  

Rooted in a history of trailblazing women, Barnard College is a collaborative community of care shaped by bold women with a multitude of perspectives. Choose one woman— historical, fictional, contemporary, or personally significant— whose views differ from your own. Imagine a conversation with her. What would you discuss? How might her perspective challenge or shift your own? Share how this new mindset could influence your approach to learning and engagement both in and beyond the classroom at Barnard. (250 words)

This is a classic Barnard prompt, and actually combines a few different prompts Barnard has used in recent years into one condensed package. There’s a lot to include here. You are supposed to pick a woman, share an imagined conversation, and get into how it would potentially influence your perspective all in 250 words. To pull this off, you need to approach it strategically.

We love working off of an outline, creating a plan for your response before writing the creative fun stuff. Start your outline with picking a person. When picking a woman to center your supplement on, there are few things to keep in mind. Generally, we advise students to avoid current celebrities and to stay away from family members (living or deceased). Other than that, it’s basically fair game with one caveat: there should be a connection between the person you pick and who you want to become. It doesn’t need to be a direct line — if your dream is to become a medical researcher you don’t need to pick a researcher — but there should be some thematic tie-in.

For example, if you want to study history, you could pick a woman who influenced history, but she doesn’t need to be from the particular time period or geographic location you are most interested in. It is who she was and what she did, more than physical location, that matters most.

This is because the woman you pick acts, really, as a foil for yourself. She is a way of spotlighting a characteristic or two about yourself that you want to make sure is strong in your application. The best way to highlight that is through the imagined conversation. What you talk about shows what you value. Maybe you ask a heroine of yours about managing fear, or seeing through setbacks, or navigating difference. Whatever the conversation, it is not an interview. You aren’t asking them what they’ve done and why, but the how of it.

Remember that you need to link this back to Barnard. What would you learn or realize that you would bring into the Barnard classroom — and community — with you? Be as specific as you can be, referencing a particular class or program to bring your imagined future to life.

Barnard also allows students to submit a resume. We have in-depth guidance on crafting a resume that you should definitely read, but the quick version is that it must be one page and must be professional (like for a job interview).

If you are considering a gap year between high school graduation and starting your freshman year, Barnard asks that you respond to this additional prompt:

In the box below, please indicate if you are considering a deferral to Fall 2027 if you are offered admission for Fall 2026. Please note that admitted students will be required to submit an official deferral request form with a detailed outline of their plans by February 2026 (if admitted through Early Decision in December) and by April 2026 (for students admitted through Regular Decision). 

Being open to deferral by a year can increase your chances of acceptance, as they don’t have to commit to giving you a seat in the Class of 2030. It can also decrease your chances of acceptance if they feel like you don’t have a clear objective or direction with taking a gap year, which can undermine the strength of your application.

We love a gap year as an opportunity for growth and personal development, but it shouldn’t be an extended vacation. Barnard, for sure, does not want to hear about how you hope to spend six months island hopping around Greece. So, if you want to take a gap year and choose to answer this prompt, you need to be as specific as you can be while also emphasizing educational opportunities, personal growth, and, ideally, employment.

The Barnard application is simpler this year than it has been recently. There’s only one prompt, which is a nice simplification but also comes at a cost. Now, you only have one place to share more about who you are and why Barnard is your perfect fit. It is more important than ever that you make this supplement sing.

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Brown has requiring that all first-year applicants submit an ACT or SAT score as part of their application package. This was decided after an extensive data-based review in which they found that standardized test scores are useful in indicating college readiness. At the same time, they do account for inequities of access to things like advanced coursework and test prep services. If you are genuinely unable to take the ACT or SAT by the testing deadline, there are ways around the requirement, but you better have a real good excuse and other tests (like AP or IB) to back up your transcript.

In this post, we’re going to dig into a key unquantifiable aspect of your application, and the only one still in your control: the writing. More specifically, the Brown-specific supplement essays. Acing the Brown essays can make a difference in the way that a single point on your ACT or erasing that B in calculus can’t. So, let’s break down what it takes to do writing that works for you.

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The is intense. There are three fairly long short-answer questions, a series of ultra-short answers, and a few program-specific questions that only apply to a small fraction of applicants. They aren’t tedious, but they do require attention and time. Start early, give yourself time to try out a few ideas, and never repeat a story. Now, let’s get into it.

SHORT ANSWER PROMPTS

Brown's Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)

How you respond to this prompt is as important as what you say. Brown encourages exploration, and you want to show that you treasure that from the very beginning by starting this supplement with a story that brings together two of your interests that may seem divergent but that actually inform and build upon each other in practice.

For example, if you love doing watercolor, and have pursued art actively in high school, but want to study a lab science at Brown you could start with a story that uses color theory to illustrate a scientific principle.

Don’t spend more than 150 words on the story, though, as you absolutely need to spend a big chunk of this supplement going into how you want to explore these dual passions at Brown. This could include courses of study, classes you are particularly excited for, a professor you absolutely want to study under, or a research opportunity that would empower you to dig deep into something you love.

Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)

For the second supplement, you need to share an aspect of your life so far. This prompt is not, however, a hardship test. Writing the saddest story does not win you brownie points (ha, that’s pun-ish). They will not let you in because they feel bad for you. What Brown wants to see, though, is strength, resilience, community-mindedness, or ingenuity — or all of the above.

To pull off a strong answer to this prompt, you need to ground it fully in a strong and precise story. This should not be an overarching multi-year narrative, even if it’s an epic one. There isn’t space for that, so you need to lean on specificity. Tell a precise story that illustrates larger themes without having to use a wide lens. For example, maybe you now work at the day camp that you went to as a kid, which gave your parents time to work during summer (which is notoriously, the most stressful time of the year for any parent who works with or without paid vacation days). You could write about the experience taking your group photo for the year, and remember back to you in that same position as a young camper in one of those matching t-shirts.

Remember, though, that you need to include how this experience has prepared you to contribute to the Brown community. Don’t just say, “I’ll be nice to people.” Be specific by mentioning particular community groups, clubs, or aspects of the Brown experience that you feel you could be a positive addition to.

Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

This is our favorite type of prompt because it invites you to share a piece of yourself that is unlikely to show up on your application if you don’t put it here — and it’s what makes you, well, you. We’ve had students successfully gain admission to Brown writing about everything from sitting on a sailboat on a windless day to walking the dog to doing word puzzles with their grandparent.

The secret to a strong response to this prompt is to keep the scope of your supplement narrow, and to not get heavy-handed with it. Don’t slather on some big message or takeaway. Let it be what it is, and by doing that you will only further emphasize how much joy it brings into your life.

QUICK RESPONSE PROMPTS

These are super quick, but that doesn’t mean that you should write them fast. Take your time, and try a few different options for each.

What three words best describe you? (3 words)

We tell our students to start by coming up with 10, and that the best brainstorming companion is a close friend. Don’t ask your parents because their blind spots are miles wide. Then, narrow it down from there.

If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words)

This is fun, and the best way to pull it off is to write a few possible course names with short class descriptions. Write three, and find inspiration in the Brown . Then, narrow it down. And remember, you would be the teacher. Because of this, and the fact you are a high schooler, you might need to get really creative about what kind of a course it would be. We’ve had students successfully get into Brown with answers that range from teaching a course on basic first aid (the student is an EMT) to philately — that’s stamp collecting.

In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)

Whereas most schools with supplements make the “why us” the centerpiece, Brown puts theirs into a super cramped place at the end of the supplement and with only 50 words to work with. Fifty words is about two sentences. So, be pithy. Have fun. But keep it academic and be super specific. Maybe it’s all about one professor you want to take courses from, one tradition you can’t wait for, or one opportunity that, you feel, would be a cornerstone of your college experience. Show your personality in it, too, this is a great place to spotlight you, even with so little space.

PLME-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

If you are applying to the , you have two more supplements to do, but one of them has options.

Committing to a future career as a physician while in high school requires careful consideration and self-reflection. Explain your personal motivation to pursue a career in medicine, and why the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) will best meet your professional and personal goals. (500 words)

If you are planning to apply to the PLME program, you have a story that has led you to medicine. If you include it in your main college essay, you’ll need to rework something to avoid redundancy. Once that is squared, this supplement needs to make it really clear that you truly want to be a doctor — and that you know what you are getting into.

Having a parent that is a doctor may be a part of your motivation, but it can’t serve as the centerpiece of this supplement. The PLME program is exceptionally competitive to get into, much harder than Brown undergrad overall, and you don’t get in because your mom inspires you to go into medicine. You need to go deeper than that.

Based on why you are interested in the PLME program in the first place, you have probably worked towards a future in medicine already through the highest level courses you have access to in school, additional coursework outside of school, lab positions, or even certifications like EMT or Wilderness First Aid. Not everyone applying will have dealt with a medical emergency. In fact, most won’t have ever been that up-close to the medical field without being a patient, but there is something that has brought you to this point. Share it, along with specifics about the PLME program that make it particularly exciting for you.

Remember, though, that they ask about your personal background further down in the PLME supplement. This tells us that they don’t want this supplement to simply be a longer version of that short question. So, be specific. Share courses, professors, and opportunities that have attracted you to PLME in particular as a way of fast-tracking your path to a white coat.

Healthcare is constantly changing as it is affected by racial and social inequities, economics, politics, technology, and more. Please respond to one of the following prompts (250 words):

For this one, you have two options.

How will you, as a future physician, make a positive impact?

This is a good question, and you have a good amount of space to work with. With space comes responsibility, so you need to rise to the occasion. We encourage our students to think small even when the magnified impact is big. Being a patient-first doctor that encourages others not to cut corners can have ripple effects across generations. Choosing to work in rural communities, like the one you grew up in, can literally transform lives for people with lack of access to medical care.

There is one thing we discourage our students from writing about, though: international work. This isn’t because doctors aren’t needed all over the world. They are. Rather, if you’ve participated in international work that involves medicine already there are massive ethical issues with that, and Brown is very aware of them. And if you haven’t, they’ll still be asking why you don’t want to help those closer to home. If you want to write briefly about local service you’ve already done, you need to tie it in to where you are from.

How has your personal background uniquely shaped your perspective on the field of medicine?

Remember when we talked about not making these supplements about having a doctor for a parent? That applies here, too, but in a little different way. Strong responses to this supplement connect to medicine in a personal way. So, other than your own birth, what has been your strongest intersection with the medical field? It may be a beloved pediatrician, a childhood accident, a sick family member, or, possibly, watching a parent get home after a long shift at the height of COVID. Through the window, you see them change out of their scrubs on the doorstep, bag their clothes, and head straight to the shower. You know not to try to welcome them home until the shower is over and they are dressed in house clothes, reset done.

How you have experienced medicine so far in your life undoubtedly impacts your perspective on the field of medicine, so share that.

BROWN|RISD DUAL DEGREE APPLICANTS

The Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program draws on the complementary strengths of Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to provide students with the opportunity to explore and engage with diverse spheres of academic and creative inquiry. Considering your understanding of the academic programs at Brown and RISD, describe how and why the specific blend of RISD's experimental, immersive art and design program and Brown's wide-ranging courses and curricula could constitute an optimal undergraduate education for you. Reflect on how you might integrate or synthesize content, approaches, and methods from these two distinct learning experiences. Additionally, how might you contribute to the Dual Degree community and its commitment to interdisciplinary work? (650 word limit)

This essay is a big one, and this program is an exceptional one. The Brown|RISD Dual Degree program combines an Ivy League liberal arts degree with one from arguably the most famous design program in the world. Getting in is exceptionally difficult. Let’s break down the supplement to increase your chances of acceptance.

First, though, you need a story. You have 650 words, so there must be an overarching story that knits your response together by spotlighting how you engage with art today in a multidisciplinary way. This story should show up in the opening, and then wind its way through the next three sections.

Describe how and why the specific blend of RISD's experimental, immersive art and design program and Brown's wide-ranging courses and curricula could constitute an optimal undergraduate education for you.

Before you can answer this supplement, you need to do a lot of research. Simply liking the ‘sound’ of the program is not enough. Pull specific details about the program, from curriculum to facilities to instructors, and share how these will come together in a way that is particularly useful for you as a student and artist. 

Reflect on how you might integrate or synthesize content, approaches, and methods from these two distinct learning experiences.

Then, go further. You’ve identified what you like about Brown and RISD, but where do you see this taking your creative practice during your time in Providence? Focus on what you will do as part of the program, rather than projecting far into the future.

Additionally, how might you contribute to the Dual Degree community and its commitment to interdisciplinary work?

Brown is no stranger to students with big dreams and RISD regularly turns our new art and design stars, but what they are really looking for are applicants who want to be part of their unique communities. Give specific ways that you will engage meaningfully in and beyond the classroom, from Providence-area work to mentorship to bringing others into your multidisciplinary work.

The Brown supplements are amazing, but they aren’t designed to be done in a rush. It is critical that you start them now, and give yourself time for drafting, editing, and even rethinking if something doesn’t hit right on the first go. So, start writing.

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WashU Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision avenues for admission. And, as a first-year applicant, you can choose to apply to the school of Architecture, Art, Business, Engineering, or the most popular option — the School of Arts & Sciences.

The most important piece of your application are your grades, followed by teacher recommendations, and how you’ve spent your time outside of school. WashU is so you can decide whether to submit an SAT or ACT scores. While not submitting scores will not negatively impact your application, submitting strong scores can significantly improve your chances of admission. We coach our students to put in the time to achieve impressive SAT and ACT scores because they truly can make a different, although it is technically unquantifiable. For WashU, a strong ACT is 34 or above, while a strong SAT is 1550+, and of accepted and enrolled first years have submitted scores in recent years.

In this post, we’re going to break down an unquantifiable part of your application: the supplement. Whereas scores and grades are numbers, your supplements, like your college essay, let you become a fully fleshed out human and jump off the page. Capitalizing on this opportunity is the secret to getting into a dream school, and we can help you get there.  

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The WashU supplement has options, different avenues for expression, and it is also optional. We love that about it, but we also need to make one thing clear. Optional is not optional if you want to get it. Yes, they say that they won’t penalize you for not doing a supplement, but that’s actually a bit of a farce. When you complete a supplement, you are showing more of who you are and underlining your interest in the institution. Not doing a supplement…shows nothing. So, no, it isn’t optional if you want to get in. Now, let’s get into it.

WRITTEN SUPPLEMENT

The first WashU supplement is a written response, and you have two prompts to pick from. We’ll break each down to help you pick.

WashU is a place that values multiplicity of perspectives. We believe those perspectives come from a variety of experiences and identities. Respond to one of the following prompts to help us understand “Who are you?”:

WashU supports engagement in the St. Louis community by considering the university as “In St. Louis, For St. Louis.” What is a community you are a part of and your place or impact within it?

We love this prompt, because it gives you an opportunity to spotlight something that you care about and have invested time in. This should also be something that involves teamwork or collaboration. WashU is not looking for students who isolate themselves, or who are only interested in celebrating their own efforts. If you pick this supplement prompt to answer, it is critical that you respond with a story that spotlights an initiative or experience that you have had as part of a community that you have made a long-term commitment to. “As part of,” here is key, because they want to see you in concert with others.

This could be tutoring a younger student at your local library, executing an event for a community center or nonprofit, or rallying your neighbors together for a block party. Whatever your story, it needs to show the coming together that makes the community you are focusing on most important to you.

WashU strives to know every undergraduate student “By Name & Story.” How have your life experiences shaped your story?

This prompt isn’t bad, but we don’t like it as much as the first one. Whereas the first one insists that you focus on a community and your contribution to it, this prompt is more introspective, inviting you to dig into your life story. That can be great, but it can also lead applicants down a not-so-awesome road.

Often, we find that students read this prompt an immediately take it as a hardship test. They jump to answer with the biggest hurdle they have faced. We do not love this strategy. While many students have faced massive challenges, spotlighting the level of hardship you’ve had to overcome is not a great way of wowing application readers. There will always be someone who has had a harder life than you, so if you think a sob story is the way into WashU you are unfortunately wrong.

So, instead of a sob story or a hardship test, we encourage our students who want to pick this prompt to focus on something small but meaningful in their life that can be spotlighted in a way that is emblematic of a bigger theme. Maybe you watched your dad walk home from work from the window seat in your bedroom every day, a ritual that anchored your day. Or perhaps you built a frog pond when you were a kid and have trained your younger sibling to take care of it once you go to college. These are small stories, yes, but they show a lot about what you value in life.

VIDEO SUPPLEMENT

Next up is the video supplement. This, too, is optional. But it’s not. However, whereas grinning and bearing it when it comes to the writing is easy, videos are a different story. Most of the students we work with cringe at the idea of a video supplement. If it’s not their worst nightmare, it’s close. We spend a lot of time helping to prep our students such that the video becomes a massive and meaningful addition to their application.

All applicants have the option to upload a video to help the admissions committee get to know you better. This video is not intended to be a professional-quality production or rehearsed audition. Simply capture a quick video of yourself telling us about something important to you.

“Get ready with me while I tell you why I want to go to WashU.” (Jokes. Don’t do this.)

That’s just about all the guidance WashU gives you when it comes to the short video. It’s so open-ended that it is understandably overwhelming. When you can say anything, what do you say? We advise our students to share a piece of themselves that doesn’t show up in their application otherwise. Do not do a get ready with me.

This could mean demoing a dish you make for dinner every Thursday, performing a song you wrote all about your prospective major, or maybe showing off the juggling tricks you learned with your dad on the weekends. You can also simply sit in front of a camera and talk, and that’s totally fine to. WashU will, though, meet effort with attention. If you put effort into this video, they’ll take note.

As you prepare to apply to WashU, remember that applying Early Decision is the biggest boost you can get. WashU Early Decision I and Early Decision II options for admission, so if WashU is a top choice, but not your #1, it is a great backup if you don’t get into your tip-top school in the EDI round.

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It’s easy to let a deferral mess with your confidence, but please hear us when we say: this is not about your worth or your future. You are smart. You are capable. You’ve got big things ahead. Their decision isn’t a reflection on your personal value and character, it’s a numbers game, and Columbia’s numbers are brutal. Columbia loooooves to not tell us anything, but our extremely educated guesstimate puts their ED admit rate around 10-15%, while RD is around 4%. Unfortunately, we don’t know, and have little information to even estimate, how many deferred students are eventually accepted in RD. Schools, for some reason, keep that info locked up like it’s Fort Knox’s gold. They should release that info! Listen to us!

There’s a reason you fell for Columbia. It likely hit so many of your must-haves, and that’s why you applied early. But this isn’t over. You’ve got another shot, and now it’s time to take it. Once you’ve had a minute to regroup (and maybe eat some comfort food), let’s talk about how to make the most of the road ahead.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Columbia was your main focus this fall and you haven’t touched your other applications yet, now’s the time to regroup and get into gear. These next few weeks are make-or-break for your college strategy. First things first: assess your list. Is it well-balanced, with a realistic spread of reach, target, and safety schools? Great. If it’s mostly long-shot schools, just a handful of options, or maybe even still in your Notes app, it’s time to expand. Most students should aim for 8–12 schools, making sure their GPA, test scores, and course rigor stack up reasonably against admitted student data.

However, don’t just add schools because they’re impressive on paper and you think they sound good. You need to do your research, because you want to apply to places where you’ll actually thrive and achieve your goals. If Columbia appealed to you because of the Core Curriculum, an urban campus, or the intellectual energy, look for other schools that offer similar experiences. Maybe that means NYU, UChicago, Georgetown, or even smaller liberal arts schools in cities. Prestige matters less than finding the right environment, one that fits your academic interests, personality, and priorities.

Once your list is in solid shape, shift your energy to the writing. Your supplements are where you make your case to each school, and with RD deadlines coming up fast, you can’t afford to coast. We’ve got tons of advice on our blog about how to approach different schools' prompts – so once your list is done, that’s your next stop.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

This is the perfect moment to take a step back and critically assess your Common App essay. Ask yourself: does it actually reflect your voice, or could it have been written by any ambitious high schooler with a similar resume? Is it overly cliche, the kind of story admissions officers read 50 times a day? We’re not trying to slander the classic “personal growth” essay – plenty of students get in with those. But we are saying that our students who take the time to sharpen their essays tend to see results. In fact, every year, our long-term clients land at one of their top three schools, and it’s rarely because they wrote about the big goal, their grandma, or their academic prowess.

While we have a soft spot for Prompt #7 (the everlasting It Girl of college essays), you can write something compelling using nearly any prompt, as long as the story feels fresh and unmistakably you. The most common pitfalls we see, especially in last-minute drafts, are essays that rehash what’s already in the activities section, narratives that feel more like summaries than stories, pieces that spotlight external events over internal transformation, or writing that lacks the spark of personality. If any of that sounds familiar, it might be time for a rewrite.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

If you’re reading this in the narrow window between mid-December and early January, welcome to the busiest part of application season. The clock is officially ticking. Your first objective is to revisit and refine your Common App essay. This is your biggest chance to stand out, and there’s still time to elevate it.

Make sure to take a second look at your activities or additional information sections, too. Once that’s locked in, shift your energy to the supplemental essays. Take it from us: don’t flirt with those 11:59 p.m. deadlines. Submitting early means fewer glitches and a lot less stress. Seriously. Once you’re done with a school’s app, send it in, right away.

Only after all of that is squared away should you turn your attention to updating Columbia. If you’re planning to send a letter of continued interest, it should be thoughtful, concise, and sent after your RD materials are finalized.

Step Four: Update

Columbia famously loves to give us very little information on deferrals:

“If you are deferred under the Early Decision plan, a final decision on your candidacy will be made with the Regular Decision applicant pool, and you will be notified by April 1. We encourage deferred candidates to update us in the winter with mid-year grades and any significant new achievements.”

Go on, girl! Give us nothing! Talk to your school counselor, as you may need to gather/follow up on a few things:

• Mid-Year Report and Mid-Year Transcript

• Your school counselor will send these, but doesn’t hurt to follow up here

• Updated Test Scores

• If your ACT or SAT improved, make sure to send these in

• Additional letters of rec (optional!)

• Only if the letter will actually say something new and unique about you, or if the person writing the letter has a significant connection to Columbia – your mom’s friend who went there 30 years ago probably doesn’t count. 

• Your deferral letter, a.k.a., the letter of continued interest.

The Deferral Letter (Letter of Continued Interest)

A deferral letter, also known as a letter of continued interest (LOCI), is your chance to reintroduce yourself to Columbia and make it clear that you’re still all in. This is your post-ED encore: a short, confident reminder that Brown is your top choice and that you're even more impressive now than you were in December.

The goal here is threefold: reaffirm your commitment, highlight significant updates, and strike the right tone – enthusiastic but never desperate. No need to rehash what’s already in your app, and avoid writing about the vibes or your feelings ad nauseum. Stick to the essentials. Aim for 300 words max; if you’ve single-handedly cured cancer, fine, go up to 400.

You’ll be asked to either submit this through your Columbia applicant portal, or email it directly to admissions. Treat it like a professional, formal letter. Keep it polished, direct, and proofread.

Start with a respectful greeting. Use your regional rep’s name if you know it, if not, “Dear Columbia University Admissions Office” is perfectly fine.

Your opening should make your intentions unmistakably clear: Columbia remains your first choice, and you will absolutely attend if offered admission. You need to explicitly say that if you are accepted to Columbia, you will 100% attend. If you do not have a sentence that directly spells that out, this letter is not going to help you, because now that your ED application is considered within the RD pool, you are no longer bound to attend if accepted. They care about their yield rate, and they want to admit students who will say yes.

Next comes the heart of the letter: the updates. These should be new, substantial, and relevant. Think academic achievements, leadership roles, research progress or publication, new jobs or internships, additional coursework, or other meaningful experiences since you applied. This section should take up most of the space, and you should cap at 2-3 major updates.

Wrap things up with another direct and explicit affirmation that Columbia is your dream school, a sincere thank you, and a professional signoff. Upload the letter to your applicant portal or email to admissions and copy your regional counselor if you have their contact email – but only email it to them if you’ve had an ongoing relationship with them! Make sure to ask if there’s anywhere else you should send your letter and thank them for their time.

Step Five: Wait

Yeah, we know, this part stings. Waiting isn’t fun, especially after you’ve already poured your heart into the process. This is not the time to keep pinging their inbox or brainstorm another update to send. Resist the urge to follow up again and please, do not show up on campus asking to speak with admissions.

Look, you’ve done what you needed to do. You put together a smart list of schools, submitted a strong application, and sent a compelling, thoughtful letter of continued interest to Columbia. That’s everything in your control. Now it’s their move. Most final decisions will be released by April 1st, so for now, take a deep breath and focus on what’s next. The hard part’s done – you’ve put your best self out there.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

Whether you apply early or regular, submitting SAT or ACT scores . They emphasize that not submitting scores will not hurt your chances of admission, but we know from experience that strong scores underline an otherwise impressive application. High scores won’t get you into Swarthmore, to be clear, but they can help. Ultimately, of admitted and enrolled first years submit scores. We coach our students to aim for an ACT of at least 34 or an SAT of 1530+.  

As you prepare your application to Swarthmore, it’s important to start by in what makes Swarthmore distinctive as a small liberal arts college. Once you have a sense of the community and academic offerings, it’s time to dive into the supplement. In this post, we’re going to break down the Swarthmore supplement to help guide you towards your strongest possible application.

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The Swarthmore supplement includes two required questions that invite you to share who you are beyond your transcript. We love this, so let’s dig in.

SUPPLEMENT #1

Swarthmore College maintains an ongoing commitment of building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive residential community dedicated to rigorous intellectual inquiry. All who engage in our community are empowered through the open exchange of ideas guided by equity and social responsibility to thrive and contribute as bridge builders within global communities. Our identities and perspectives are supported and developed by our immediate contexts and lived experiences – in our neighborhoods, families, classrooms, communities of faith, and more.

What aspects of your self-identity or personal background are most significant to you? Reflecting on the elements of your home, school, or other communities that have shaped your life, explain how you have grown in your ability to navigate differences when engaging with others, or demonstrated your ability to collaborate in communities other than your own.

This is an amazing prompt — if you play it right. Some students read this prompt and immediately jump to either trying to come up with some way that they have experienced hardship or set-backs. Others create long lists of things that are ‘unique’ about them that they will try to pack into a small space. Neither of these are good approaches to this prompt. This is what we tell our students to do instead.

We work with our students to craft a compelling supplement centered on a single story that highlights a piece of who they are that is distinctive, but also something that they have taken control of. Writing about things that have happened to you in life is not compelling. Writing about how you have happened to life is much more compelling. How, then, have you been an active player in shaping or creating your reality?

This doesn’t have to be something huge, and is often even better if it is something focused and small. If you moved a lot growing up and want to focus on that, for example, you should start this supplement not by listing out all the moves but instead focusing on finding your locker in a new school for the eighth time. Most of this supplement would then dig into how these experiences have shaped your ability to build friendships and find community.

Or you could write about making a culturally significant treat with your grandmother, and use it as a way to tell a story about connection, coming together, and learning to make life delicious even when it isn’t easy.

As you brainstorm what small story within your life experiences you should focus on, remember that this is not a hardship contest. Sometimes it makes sense to write about a challenge, and sometimes it doesn’t. Do not, however, try to stand out for how much you have faced. There will always be an applicant who has had a harder start to life than you, so you need to stand out for who you are not simply what has happened in your life.

SUPPLEMENT #2
Swarthmore’s community of learners inspire one another through their collaborative and flexible approach to learning. Swarthmore students are comfortable with intellectual experimentation and connection of ideas across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and interdisciplinary studies through a liberal arts education.

Tell us about a topic that has fascinated you recently – either inside or outside of the classroom. What made you curious about this? Has this topic connected across other areas of your interests? How has this experience shaped you and what encourages you to keep exploring?

This is our favorite kind of prompt. Swarthmore is inviting you to be, well, you. In this supplement, you get to nerd out about something that you care about deeply. We advise our students to focus this supplement on a topic related to what you want to study at Swarthmore, but take it outside of the classroom.

For example, if you want to study engineering, the most popular course of study at Swarthmore, you could focus on something engineering-centric outside of school like a challenge at a robotics competition, a new bridge you watched go up in your town, or even where engineering and another interest intersect. If you are a bike nerd, you’ve definitely seen ways that biking and engineering are connected. You can write a supplement, then, that takes the reader on a bike with you or into your make-shift workshop.

The point is, really, to have fun with this. The reader should feel your enthusiasm and excitement. They should also see you envisioning your future. Where do you want to take this next? Take them on the journey with you.

The Swarthmore supplement offers lots of opportunity to share who you are with the admissions team — not simply what you’ve accomplished so far. To get into Swarthmore, you need to be more than numbers that fit on paper. You need to jump off the page. We can help make that happen.

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Now, if you are serious about Davidson this next stat is the most important. The early decision acceptance rate for that same year was just over 30%, or more than double the overall acceptance rate. Now, this can be a little misleading as it includes students enrolled through special programs like Questbridge as well as recruited athletes, but even with those applicants in the mix it tells us that Davidson heavily prioritizes ED applicants.

It's also important to know that Davidson is for first-year applicants, so you aren’t required to submit an ACT or SAT score as part of your application. This doesn’t mean you should skip taking the tests, though, or give up on a higher score. While students do get into Davidson without submitting test scores, about 50% of accepted students do submit scores. Strong test scores underscore a strong application, so we advise our students to aim to be able to submit an SAT of 1480+ or an ACT of 32+, based on .

In this post, we’re going to break down the most important qualitative tool in your application that can make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection — and that you have control over at this stage in the game. You can’t change what classes you’ve taken or what your teachers will say about you in recommendation, but you can shift the narrative through well-written supplements. That’s what we’re going to work on here.  

Impressive college outcomes require strategy. Get yours. 

The Davidson supplement isn’t onerous, but it also isn’t easy. They ask specific questions that require significant work — and fairly lengthy responses. This means that you need to start early, and give yourself time to work through a variety of ideas before settling on your strongest approach. We’ll help you skip the first few rounds of brainstorming by helping to guide you towards your best approach below.

There are just under 4,000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. Being as specific as possible, what interests you most about Davidson College? (250-300 word limit) 

Davidson knows that you have lots of schools to pick from, and if you are applying to Davidson — especially if you are applying Early Decision — they presume that there is a specific reason why. In this prompt, you need to share that with the application readers. However, it also needs to be through a filter. Davidson is a college, not a social experiment. They don’t want to hear about how fun it seems or how great the landscaping is. Complimenting the architecture doesn’t impress them, and neither do generic academic-focused answers that could have been copied over from any other “why us?” supplement prompt.

Instead, they want specifics. Start, then, with research. Find the specific name of the major you are considering, a professor within the major that you would love to study under (and why), two courses within the major — and beyond the introductory level — that you would love to take, and a possible minor or program, like study abroad, that you’d love to pursue. You should also identify an aspect of the Davidson approach that is particularly attractive to you.

How you deliver your research is just as important as what you want to share. We like to package this supplement in a story, framing what you want to do at Davidson, and why you want to be there, within an education-focused experience that illuminated your path. End the supplement by circling back to this story that you started with, providing a neat close to a strong supplement.

Davidson encourages students to explore curiosities in and out of the classroom. What is a topic, activity or idea that excites you? Tell us why. Examples may include hobbies, books, interactions, music, podcasts, movies, etc. (250-300 word limit)

This prompt is super fun for us. We love anytime a school invites you to share what you are enthusiastic about, but we can’t imagine why one would choose to write a response about a podcast or a movie, unless they are looking to study film — except that you would have already said that in the previous supplement and that would make this response redundant and thus a flop. Don’t write about a hobby or the media you consume, write about a passion (for the record, Love Island is not a passion).

First, take something you love immensely. It could be academic or totally not academic, just pick something authentic to you. Then zoom in. Then zoom in further. Zoom in as far as you can go and identify one little facet of the thing and write about that. For example, maybe you love wakeboarding. Don’t write about wakeboarding. Do write about putting wax on your wakeboard and the impact it has on friction and then be a super science nerd about friction.

Or maybe you love reading fiction. Don’t write about reading, a specific genre or author, or even a trope. Write about your favorite punctuation mark. Ours is the em dash. You could write about it versus the hyphen versus the en dash. Yes, the en dash is a thing and you see it all the time and probably never knew it had its own name.

Whatever you write about here should like in some way to what you want to study, but that link can be very loose. If could even be more thematic than direct. Like if you want to study math you could find the math within something else you love without ever using the word ‘math’.

A successful response to this prompt makes it your own. And, through that, highlights a key piece of what makes you tick.

The Davidson supplement is fun, light-hearted, and we honestly love it. So, get writing.

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The college is known for offering a learning experience that pushes boundaries in an intimate setting. Students are nurtured, but also pressed to extend beyond their perceived limitations. The student-to-faculty ratio is only , and 88% of classes have fewer than 30 students. There are 43 majors to pick from, and students have access to more than 6,000 courses through the .

Given how Amherst does things differently, it doesn’t surprise us that they have also thought about standardized testing differently for a while. The SAT or ACT is an piece of their admissions process, and it’s up to you whether you want to include scores or not. When deciding, remember that schools with optional testing policies tend to have higher score averages simply because students with low scores don’t submit them. So, what is considered a score worth submitting? Well, looking at shows us that you should be aiming for an ACT at or above a 34 or an SAT of 1540+. While you can get into Amherst with scores lower than this, they won’t strengthen your application so may not be worth submitting unless they serve another purpose on your application. Unsure where you stand? Let us know, as we help students make sense of their strongest strategy.

In this post, we’ll be focusing on a different aspect of your college application strategy: your supplements. Every piece of your application serves an important purpose. For Amherst, though, the supplements are truly critical. They only want to accept students who will thrive on their campus, and they know that their community isn’t for everyone. If you want parties on Tuesday nights and football tailgating, for example, Amherst is not your perfect school. If you want a place where hard thinking about complex subjects is basically considered a team sport, though, Amherst may be your perfect fit — and you want them to see that through your supplements. 

We help students find, and get into, their perfect fit school. Learn more. 

The Amherst supplement comes with . Maybe, we’d argue, a confusing number. There are three doors you can walk through: Option A, Option B, or Option C. You can only pick one, and you have to see the one you pick all the way through. Yes, that means that there are sometimes multiple things to do within an option. Below we are going to break down each option so that you can make the best choices for your chances of admission.

OPTION A

For this option, you need to pick a quote from a list of they provide and then answer the question matched to the quote. Your response is limited to 350 words, and your answer should not be a critical analysis of the quote. They do not want you to spend time researching the texts, and you don’t even need to refer to them in your response unless it serves the purpose of your story. What they do want to see are responses that are personal and original.

Prompt 1
"Hope and curiosity — these are qualities that are the foundation of what Amherst College means, of everything that we do here. Curiosity is at the core of a liberal arts education — a spirit of inquiry that shapes not only what our students do in the classroom, but also how they learn from and about each other." — Michael A. Elliott, 20th President of Amherst College, address at Amherst College’s 203rd Commencement

Prompt 1 Question: What does curiosity mean to you? How do you experience curiosity in your own life?

This quote, and the subsequent prompt, are all about curiosity. This makes it one of our favorite types of prompts. We coach our students to write a short essay (remember the 350 word limit) that is entirely centered on showing their curiosity in action. Explaining how you are curious is boring and unproductive. Showing how you are curious, and illustrating your curiosity in action, is a much better approach.

So, what makes you excited about learning? Ideally, this is something that is related in some way, but not too closely, to what you want to study at Amherst. For example, if you want to study literature you could write about the letters Nabokov wrote to his wife and collaborator Vera when she was seeking mental health support, and the often complicated lives of those who have created work of immense influence and merit. So, in this essay you wouldn’t be writing about a literature major. But you would be writing about words, story, culture, community, and the role of relationships in crafting great work.

Prompt 2
"We seek an Amherst made stronger because it includes those whose experiences can enhance our understanding of our nation and our world. We do so in the faith that our humanity is an identity forged from diversity, and that our different perspectives enrich our inquiry, deepen our knowledge, strengthen our community, and prepare students to engage with an ever-changing world." — from the Trustee Statement on Diversity and Community

Prompt 2 Question: In what ways could your unique experiences enhance our understanding of our nation and our world?

This is a diversity prompt, but with a lot of breadth. They are more interested in your experiences than demographic information, although sometimes the demographic stuff (race, geography, wealth, or lack thereof) has informed your life in a way that leads to unique experiences that make for a strong response to this prompt.

But there are loads of other unique experiences that can inform life, from outstanding opportunities with complicated outcomes — like maybe your dad won the lottery when you were 12 and your life changed overnight — to tragedy and hardship. The tragedy stuff is hard to write about well, though, because there needs to be a story that goes deeper than ‘wow, that’s horrible.’ Pity doesn’t get you very far in college admissions, and there will (nearly) always be someone with a tougher road than you.

Whatever topic you pick, this prompt needs to be answered with a focused story, not a mini autobiography.

Prompt 3
"We are working together to build a community that makes room for both true disagreement and true connection, one that practices the kind of recognition and robust negotiation that the everyday life of democracy requires, and one that explicitly prepares our students to work for the greater good in their professional and personal endeavors." — Presidential Priorities: Serving the Greater Good

Prompt 3 Question: Tell us about a time that you engaged with a viewpoint different from your own. How did you enter that engagement, and what did you learn about yourself from it?

This is the type of prompt we’ve been seeing pop up a lot lately. We were even quoted in the New York Times talking about it. Call it the ‘civil disagreement’ question. Basically, they are interested in whether you can talk about tough subjects in ways that don’t include, say, occupying a building.

We do not encourage our students to pick this prompt unless they have been heavily involved in social justice, politics, or cause-based advocacy/volunteering that will show up on their activities sheet and may benefit from nuance. If you have interned for politicians and lead a political or cause-focused club at school, for example, and especially if that politician or that cause is currently in the headlines, this prompt can be a useful way to temper your, well, temper. They don’t want to accept students who will try to overturn campus before they have even fully unpacked their dorm rooms, but they do want a diversity of viewpoints and perspectives. For students engaged in politics, this prompt can be a useful way to emphasize how they can bring complex thought, not conflict, to campus.

If you haven’t realized it already, the quotes for Option A are really irrelevant to the prompts. They could just ask the questions, but for some reason they’ve decided that it is necessary to bog down clear and direct communication with quotes that you don’t need to even read to do a good job. We find this annoying, but the prompt options are good, so we forgive them for it.

OPTION B

For Option B, you are invited to submit a recent graded paper, from junior or senior year, that you feel represents your “.” When they the paper, they are less interested in the grade (although an A is definitely preferred) than they are in the strength of your argument and how well you present it. What matters is how you think, and that’s what they want to see in your submission if you pick Option B.

OPTION C

Now, Option C is only few a small number of applicants who applied through the Access to Amherst (A2A) program. Students who applied through A2A can reuse that supplement for this spot, but you also don’t have to. We advise students to present new information whenever possible, and to avoid repetition in their applications. So, we wouldn’t recommend Option C to anyone, really.

The Amherst supplement offers a bunch of different directions and options, which can be overwhelming as a student but is also awesome. We help our students find their perfect prompt — and write their ideal essay.

It takes more than one good essay to get into college. We address the whole package. Learn more.

It’s a popular path for high-achieving students who are serious about business, but make no mistake: it’s also extremely competitive. Last cycle, UChicago’s acceptance rate dipped below 5%, and the bar for admission into business-adjacent tracks, like economics, is especially high. You’re setting your sights on the most popular major at one of the hardest schools to get into, so you have the ambition and drive they’re looking for. Now, it’s time to build the rest.

If UChicago is your goal, you’ll need more than a vague interest in business. You’ll need strategy, and that’s where we come in. In this post, we’ll walk through exactly what you should be doing now to build the strongest possible application for UChicago’s business and business-related tracks, like Econ, Business Economics, Data Science, and Entrepreneurship.

Is UChicago your top choice? We’ve helped countless students gain admission to UChicago and other top undergrad business programs. Our counselors are ready to provide expert, personalized guidance to help you meet your goals – reach out to us today. 

Get the Grades

We’ll start with the obvious: your grades need to be flawless. UChicago is famous for academic rigor and intellectual seriousness, and they expect to see that reflected on your transcript. That means taking the hardest classes available (AP, IB, or honors) and earning straight As – unweighted. Yes, a 5.0+ is impressive, but if you take away the weighting and it’s not a 4.0, that doesn’t help.

This applies to testing, too. , and they claim to have a “No Harm” policy, which means if your scores wouldn’t help you, they don’t consider them. Here’s the deal, kids, if it doesn’t add anything positive to your scale, then it’s not helping you. You need to have great test scores to be competitive. If the average UChicago admit is submitting a 1550+ SAT or a 35–36 ACT, your scores need to meet or exceed that range. We always recommend submitting strong scores if you have them, as it reinforces academic excellence and shows you can keep up in a high-octane environment like UChicago.

Build a Niche

You can’t just say, “I’m interested in business.” UChicago won’t buy it unless you show them what that actually means. Are you drawn to behavioral economics? Global markets? Data analytics? The school’s economics and business tracks are designed to help students specialize, and your application should reflect a similarly focused trajectory. And you need to start building that focus as early as freshman year of high school.

Let’s say you start out interested in finance. As you dig in, you realize what really interests you is venture capital and funding for sustainable startups. Then you discover the intersection between social impact and investment models. That’s the kind of academic and professional curiosity UChicago wants to see. Remember, this is the most popular major at this school, and a quick way to set yourself apart from the tens of thousands of other students applying is by being specific.

Courses and Reading

We encourage our students to explore business-related topics outside of the high school classroom. Online courses from platforms like Coursera or edX are a great starting point, and Open Yale Courses offers completely free college-level classes. Dive into economics, data science, or behavioral decision making, whatever you feel the most drawn towards.

Reading also matters. UChicago values independent thinking, and what better way to show that than through a well-informed, self-directed reading list? Look into works by economists like Richard Thaler (a Booth professor) or explore case studies in business ethics, market design, or global finance. Podcasts, journals, and current events can also round out your knowledge base. While there isn’t a place to put all this media consumption on your Common App, you need to do the legwork to find that niche, and bonus, it can help you talk confidently about your niche in your essays and interviews.

School Extracurriculars

If your school has a business or economics club, join it. If it doesn’t, start one. Join clubs like DECA, FBLA, the investment club, or build a group that hosts market simulations, invites local speakers, or takes part in competitions.

But don’t stop there, use your other activities to reinforce your business focus. Are you the editor of the school paper? Maybe you launched a finance column. In student government? Try managing budgets or running a fundraising initiative. Join the debate team to hone in on the public speaking skills you’ll need as CEO of the next big company. Show initiative, leadership, and problem-solving across the board.

Out of School Extracurriculars

Our clients work summer (and sometimes year-round) jobs. Our most successful clients take on this responsibility, not because it checks a box, but because it demonstrates ambition, hard work, and drive. Whether it’s retail, tutoring, or helping with a family business, showing up and doing real-world work goes a long way.

Internships and research opportunities are also key. Look for opportunities that align with your niche – marketing analytics, startup operations, research for an econ professor, etc. Consistency matters. If you say you want to study behavioral economics, but your resume is stacked with real estate internships, admissions officers may question the authenticity of your story. For behavioral economics, you might want to look at things like marketing, consumer economic think tanks, etc.

You might also consider pre-college programs, especially those with a business or economics focus. UChicago offers several programs that provide high school students with a taste of academic life on campus, which is beneficial for exposure and demonstrating interest. If the University of Chicago is your absolute top choice, we strongly recommend participating in their summer programs, since it gives you access to something we call ED0 (more on that later).

Start a Company

Saying you're into entrepreneurship is one thing. Starting something is another. We’ll be honest with you, when colleges see entrepreneurship all over an application, they see a dropout risk. Don’t be a walking red flag! At UChicago, where they value learning for learning’s sake, launching your own venture (even a small one!) can speak volumes.

Whether it’s a tutoring business, a reselling project, or a landscaping endeavor, what matters is that you’ve taken a concept from idea to execution. You don’t have to follow the elite-applicant-cliche and start a bogus nonprofit, in fact, the more tangible the work, the better. It shows you’re not just studying theory, you’re applying it.

And if you are interested in entrepreneurship, focus on tangible skill-building. That might mean learning project management, running marketing campaigns, or analyzing customer data. And then, when you go to apply, you can make one of those your focus in your essays – not the empty buzzword that is entrepreneurship. UChicago isn’t looking for the next dropout unicorn. They’re looking for students who are in it for the long haul.

Apply Early

UChicago loves students who apply early. They offer ED0, as mentioned, which is available to students who attend one of UChicago’s summer programs. You get to send in an application even earlier than ED and hear back even sooner. If that’s not an option, applying Early Action or Early Decision to UChicago can still give you a strategic boost. And if UChicago is your second or third choice, don’t be afraid to apply ED2. They’ve even been known to offer provisional transfer offers, although they don’t seem to publicize it. Word to the wise: if you’re applying Restricted Early Action to a school like Yale, Stanford, or Harvard, you cannot apply Early Action to UChicago, since it’s a private school. That’s why having ED2 in your pocket is especially valuable.

UChicago doesn’t release exact acceptance rates by application round, but historically, applying early does increase your odds. While they don’t release the specific data, we know they have the highest yield rate of top colleges across the board, 87.9%, which suggests that the vast majority of their incoming students come from early admission paths. More importantly, it shows commitment – which can help, especially at a school that values thoughtful applicants who genuinely want to be part of the university’s rigorous academic culture.

Long story short, if you’ve done the work, have the resume, and are confident in your application, applying early is absolutely the move.

UChicago is hard to get into, especially for business or econ applications. We’re not here to scare you – just to help you prepare. Building a competitive UChicago econ/business application means having excellent stats and a clear, cohesive narrative that connects your academic interests with real-world experience.

If UChicago is your goal, let’s start putting together a strategy that works. Don’t wait until senior year to figure it out. Reach out to us today, and let’s make a plan.

Need help strategizing for UChicago? Contact us now.

You’re a sophomore, and it is early to be thinking hard about specific colleges — but it isn’t too early to be strategizing. Starting now can truly make the difference between getting into a dream school or having to settle for a fall back. And grades and scores aren’t enough. You can be an outstanding student, and still not get into the school you were hoping for. Often, it’s not because your grades weren’t up to par, but because there wasn’t depth to your application beyond the success you found in the classroom. We work with our biology-minded students to build exactly the type of profile that leads to a dream acceptance, and the extracurricular activities they do play a crucial role in this.  

In this post, we’ll give you a peek behind the curtain of building an exceptional roster of activities. Follow these steps, and you’ll be on your way to exciting news senior year that launches you towards an even more exciting future.

We help strong students get into exceptional schools. Learn more.

If you are a sophomore interested in biology, there are a few activities you must be doing to set yourself up for impressive application outcomes. These aren’t extra add-ons just to fill your time. Rather, they are genuinely crucial things that you need to be doing if you have access to them. But what if you don’t have access to them? Well, then you get creative. For each of these activity ‘buckets’, there different approaches and angles based on your resources and the opportunities available to you. So, get creative. There are no dead ends, just curves. Now, let’s dig in. 

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD/QUIZ BOWL

First, you must be a member of a Science Olympiad or Quiz Bowl team at your school. If you are already a member, awesome. If you aren’t already a member, join today. Seriously, today. The first goal is to be successful at competitions and have awards and recognitions that you can point to as evidence of that success. The ultimate goal, though, is leadership. You want to be working towards becoming a captain by senior year, but if you can get an intermediary leadership position in the meantime that would be stellar. For example, maybe you could become the Head of New Member Recruitment or Biology Captain. We just made those up, so start by talking to the current club leaders about what their dreams are for the group and how you can best support them in reaching their goals.

But what if your school doesn’t have a competitive trivia-type team with a science bend? Well, it is time to start one. Start by recruiting a faculty advisor and a few founding team members with a diversity of interests and potential areas of focus. Your school will have a structured system for starting clubs, so you’ll want to go to them with your idea, initial membership, and advisor for approval. This can take some time, so start immediately and plan for it to take 3-6 months to be an official school club. It’s a hassle, but it’s worth it. This is especially true because you get to be the leader from day one. 

RESEARCH

A lot of sophomores don’t think about research as something that they should be doing right now, or even that they can be doing it. Not only can you be doing research, but we also argue that you have to be doing research to become a competitive biology applicant vying for a spot at an extremely selective school. We work with our students to assist on-going research and, our favorite, pursue projects of their own. Taking on independent research can feel overwhelming at first, but it’s actually an awesome opportunity to throw yourself into a specific subject within biology that you are excited about and take it as far as you can. All of the way, even, to regional and national science fairs and competitions. There are also many journals that publish high school research, and you should be aiming towards one as soon as possible for publication before you press submit senior year.

“But that’s so far away!” No. No it is not. Research takes time, and this isn’t something to be done as a rush job. We work with our students to start on research sophomore year so that they have time to do truly interesting work that stands out as scholarship beyond what most high schoolers take on.  

IMMERSIVE SUMMER PROGRAMS

Sophomore year is the perfect time to consider an immersive biology summer program that gets you into the lab or the field alongside working biologists and graduate students. As you consider a summer program, the most important thing is the quality of work you will be taking part in. We do not care about how many firepits there are, or how nice the dorms are. Those are irrelevant to the usefulness of a summer program as a learning experience that works towards your collegiate goals. What we want to see our students picking are programs that are immersive, intensive, and that prioritize college-level learning over lunch options.  

And, while it is important to go to a program that is fully-accredited and well-respected, don’t let the name of a dream school be the deciding factor. Doing a summer program at a dream school does not increase your chances of getting in. What makes a difference for admissions is picking a program that pushes you forward as a student and that underlines your passions.

INTERNSHIPS & EMPLOYMENT

Another crucial way of showing what you love, and why biology is one of them, is through internships and employment — yes, a job. Now, you’re not going to be working as a professional in a field related to biology as a high school sophomore. This is especially true if you want to go into a medical field. However, there is a lot that you can do for an internship or job that links to what you want to study while also emphasizing your leadership, teamwork, and collaboration skills.

We advise our sophomores interested in biology to look for a role at a local zoon, animal rescue, or conservation center. Contact local nature centers, science museums, STEM after-school program for elementary school students, or a STEM-related nonprofit. Do not, though, simply look at the website and rule something out because you don’t see information on internships or summer jobs. After identifying an option, you need to make it an opportunity. This means pulling together a resume, writing a cover letter, and proactively reaching out to inquire. It’s amazing how many students get internships from places that “don’t do internships,” simply because they present themselves well and ask nicely.

As a sophomore, there are things that you can do today (literally) that will make a massive impact on your college applications two years down the line. This is not the time to wait and dream, but rather it is the time to take action and turn your dreams into a reality. So, start now.

We help strong students get into their dream schools. Learn how.

Now, the core issue here for juniors interested in majoring in international relations is that most high schools do not give you a lot of ways in which to emphasize your interest through your coursework. International relations electives are rare, and so it really is up to what you do outside of the classroom to make it clear to your dream schools that you are truly confident about an international relations degree. Top IR colleges like Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and of course the entire Ivy League — as much for access to future international and political leaders as for the high caliber of coursework — want to be confident that you know what you are getting into with an international relations path, and that you’ve already been doing the work to engage with the field.

In this post, we are going to give you the tools and information you need to do just this. Through the right extracurriculars, you will be able to create a strong application that matches experience to enthusiasm. Below, we’ve outlined the key activities you must be doing to get into a dream school as a prospective international relations major.

Getting into a dream school requires a strong strategy. Get yours.

Below, we’ve created four crucial ‘buckets’ of activities that address the most important things top international relations colleges are looking for in applicants. We cover all bases here: leadership, scholarship, and service. There are, of course, many ways to check these boxes, but these are the activities that we have seen work time and again.

MODEL UN (or similar)

The first is the most obvious. You absolutely need to be part of a Model UN club, or a similar program that engages students in global affairs in a hands-on and collaborative way. We love that Model UN also has a lot of room for winning awards and recognitions, as well as for leadership roles.  

As a junior involved with Model UN, you need to already hold a leadership role, or be aiming for one senior year. If this isn’t something that is already likely given your experience and commitment to the club, schedule a meeting with the current club leadership. Don’t ask them how you can get their job. Instead, ask what you can do to further their vision for the club and work towards accomplishing their goals. By helping them, you are furthering the whole organization and strengthening your position for a leadership role next year.

RESEARCH

The biggest differentiating factor between two potential international relations majors with identical grades and scores is independent study. Pursuing things on your own that push your understanding of international relations shows curiosity, passion, and diligence.

Pick a specific international relations issue or concept to zoom in on, and then you want to find somewhere that you might want to publish your work. We love this list of , and selecting an ideal spot for publication is a great way to frame your research and writing project by pointing you in a clear direction.  

When picking a topic, build on your existing strengths. Maybe you specialize in something for Model UN, or perhaps you’re curious about an issue and want to explore it more. And when picking a publication, you need to take timeline into account. Many publications have a many months-long wait time for a decision after submission, and many others only accept submissions during certain windows of time during the year. And, of course, you are a junior, so you don’t have a massive amount of time. It’s time to get going.

SERVICE

It is super important that you are taking part in long-term local volunteering to support an under-served community close to where you live. Yes, your interest is international, but your service shouldn’t be. We recommend working with a food pantry, community center, or youth programs organization that caters to immigrants or refugees. This shows an interest in international issues, but also a commitment to your home community. It balances a global perspective with a passion for local community. 

Aim to work with an organization through your junior year, and into your senior year, spending at least 2 hours per week, ideally in-person. Fully online or remote volunteering experiences may be great for you, but they don’t serve our purpose as college admissions counselors. If you aren’t getting your hands dirty, it’s not doing much for you. If you are committed, focused, and working in-person, it’s a massive tool in your admissions toolbelt.   

COURSEWORK

High school students typically have limited access to international relations-focused coursework that goes beyond standard history courses and maybe a political science elective. This means that to underline your interest you have to think outside of the box. 

We encourage our students to take an additional course or two focused on international relations. We encourage our students to either take an in-person course through a local college or university, or to take an online course also through a college or university. As a junior, you are eligible to take a true college course at many schools. Gone are the days of dumbed down mini-courses aimed towards lowerclassmen. Instead, focus on a course or two that is truly at a collegiate level. Your classmates should primarily be college students, and this means you’ll most likely be taking any additional courses during the summer.

Getting into a dream school requires a concerted strategy, planning, and action far before the end of junior year. The college application process truly is a marathon, not a sprint to be rushed through during senior fall. Instead of trying to pack all of the work into not enough time, you need to be making moves now to check the boxes your dream schools are looking for.

We help driven students get into exceptional schools. Learn more.

They offer great degrees in subjects such as Agriculture, Climate Change, Biology, and Plants, among others. They also offer majors in Environmental Engineering and Biological Engineering. While most Big Red-bound engineers apply to the Cornell University College of Engineering (we even have a whole blog on it!), for some STEM applicants, CALS might be the better fit. When applying to Cornell, it is crucial to select the correct undergraduate school. You can only apply to one (however, once on campus, you can transfer to or take classes at another of Cornell’s undergraduate colleges). Once you have decided that CALS is the right school for you, the real work begins. It is a highly specialized school, meaning you need to be a highly specialized applicant.

There is a weird rumor that CALS is easier to get into than other Colleges at Cornell. That isn’t true. We suspect that this misconception stems from a rumor that they have a higher acceptance rate than other schools at Cornell. Two issues here. One, Cornell doesn’t publish specific rates from each school, so if you are seeing one, it is likely old or not confirmed. And two, CALS is a very specialized school looking for specific candidates. Even if they have a higher acceptance rate, it is because the pool of candidates is small; however, those candidates require a very specific profile to be accepted. TLDR: You can’t sneak into Cornell, and you should only apply to CALS if it has the right program for you. If you are serious about getting into CALS, you need to be a great candidate. Last year, Cornell’s acceptance rate was only about 8.4%. You need to be a top candidate if you hope to get in. But how do you do that? Well, let’s break it down.

Get the Grades

As with any Ivy League program, you need to have near-perfect grades to be a successful applicant. So shoot for that 4.0 unweighted. You also need to take the right classes. You should be taking honors, IB, accelerated, AP, or dual enrollment classes. While it is best to take as many advanced courses as you can, you should especially take any advanced classes related to what you hope to major in. For example, if you want to major in Biological Sciences, AP Bio needs to be on your transcript. Generally, advanced STEM courses will help you with CALS. You want to craft a competitive transcript. 

You will also need excellent test scores. Cornell is no longer test-optional for the 2026 application cycle. Take the following with a grain of salt, as Cornell was test-optional last year and only about 61% of applicants actually submitted scores; however, the 50th percentile was 1540 on the SAT or 34 on the ACT. You should try your best to get similar (or better) scores!

Build a Niche

An academic niche is really just a fancy way of saying having a specific academic interest and a history of academic curiosity and involvement in that interest. It is always important to build an academic niche, but it is especially essential at a specialized program like those offered at CALS. Their majors range from Animal Sciences to Landscape Architecture to Information Science; it should be clear just from your application which major you are applying for. There are a couple of important steps you will need to take to build a strong niche. 

Courses and Reading

The first thing you need to do to build a niche is find out what you like. Early in this process, you need to learn as much as you can about your academic interests. A great way to start is by reading books. We know what you're saying, “but I am a STEM kid.” Trust us, there are books about STEM topics. A lot of young people don’t read outside of school, so reading books can really set you apart. Reading not only gives you more knowledge, but also makes you a better writer and better at talking about your interests. You can supplement your book list with journal articles, podcasts, and even magazines, but books need to be on it.

You can also sign up for online classes. Many colleges offer pre-tapped, often free courses through third-party resources, such as Coursera. Online classes are a great way to learn more about your academic interests. You can also take courses at a community college or a college summer program.

in-School Extracurriculars

You need to look for clubs that fit with your niche. This will help you start to build a strong resume. For CALS students, related clubs could be anything from a community garden to a robotics team, depending on what you hope to study. Popular clubs for CALS students include 4-H, Cancer Research Societies, Environmental Service clubs, Solar Car teams, Science Olympiad, Green Teams, and many more. The more connected the club is to your academic interests, the better. If your school doesn’t have a related club, talk to your administrators about starting one.

Just signing up for clubs isn’t enough; you want to take on leadership roles and responsibilities in those clubs. Commit some time and effort to the extracurriculars that matter to you. Trust us, CALS will be more impressed with a “Co-Chair" than a “member.”

Out of School Extracurriculars

Just like in-school activities, your out-of-school extracurriculars should be focused, impressive, and related to your overall package. While you should be involved outside of school year-round, you want to maximize your summers, especially. There are a lot of great strategic activities that you can do during the summer, but an academic program at a university, an internship, and research are always strong choices.

Whatever you do, it needs to support your academic niche. For example, if you are a marine biology major, an internship at an aquarium is going to look better than one at a financial institution. However, if you are applying as an applied economics major, the financial institution is a great idea. If you hope to study Climate Change, volunteer for beach clean-ups and get involved with climate advocacy. You want your resume to tell a clear and impactful story.

Apply Early

As we mentioned earlier, Cornell’s acceptance rate was just over 8% last year. That is mostly true. The overall rate was 8%; however, the early decision acceptance rate was slightly higher at 9.3%. While it is not a huge difference, applying early is still the best chance at acceptance for qualified candidates. If you are serious about CALS, you need to highly consider applying early. It is never too early to make a plan and start your applications. We are looking at rising seniors, especially, don’t hesitate! Get those applications started.

CALS is a great program, but it is also a very specialized one. You need to make sure you are a specialized candidate. Whether you are a rising freshman or rising senior, you need to ensure that you are the complete package.

If you don’t know where to start, we can help! Ready to jump in? Contact us today!

If you are considering applying to W&L, you should be taking the hardest courses that you have access to, as over 90% of accepted students have taken advanced coursework, and don’t skimp on the courses that aren’t your favorites. Things like language, science labs, and high level math, like calculus, are not required — — of strong applicants.

W&L is also , meaning that you aren’t required to submit SAT or ACT scores to be considered for admission. A large number of applicants have been accepted without submitting scores, for the class of 2028. However, strong scores strengthen an otherwise impressive application, increasing your chance of admission. A strong SAT is over 1500, and a strong ACT is over 34. If you can’t reach these numbers on either test, we council our students not to submit their scores to W&L. They have such a strong track record of accepted students without scores that there is no reason to potentially weaken your application with sub-par scores.

This post is about supplements, though. For W&L, your supplements are a crucial piece of showing who you are and how you’ll fit into — and add to — the W&L community. They are looking for students who will be committed to the student-run Honor Code and embrace the unique academic calendar. These supplements are key piece of making your case for being a perfect fit. Below, we break them down.

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Washington & Lee wants to get to know you. However, they have also made the supplement optional. The choice to make it isn’t because you can get into W&L without doing the supplement — you really can’t. Rather, it is because making the supplement optional drives up the number of applications that are submitted and subsequently reduces the acceptance rate, increasing the exclusivity of the school. The good news is that this suggests that doing the supplement increases your chances admission to W&L. You don’t just want to answer the questions, though, you want to knock them out of the park.

SUPPLEMENT 1

There are over 8,200 accredited colleges and universities in the U.S. alone. You have chosen to apply to Washington and Lee University. Please describe how you have familiarized yourself with W&L and what aspects of its community are most exciting to you. (250 words)

This is a key question, because it’s all about that “perfect fit” we were talking about a moment ago. They want to know that you know Washington & Lee, but listing what you like about the school isn’t the best approach. Neither is simply talking about a visit or, worse, scrolling through their website. Instead, you want to write a compelling story that shows how you are a W&L student even before you’ve been accepted. Then, connect this story directly to W&L through specifics about the school that make you excited about attending, especially as relate to curriculum and culture. Remember, this is college. So, yes, you should talk about academics in this supplement.

To give you an example about how you take a personal story and link it to Washington & Lee, maybe you serve on your school student government and have led an initiative to create clear rules for AI use in school and on homework. You could write about the challenge of creating community buy-in, when it’s so easy to just use AI and then lie about it, but how you rallied your peers around shared principles and values. You would then connect this to the , and how you are attracted to a student run Honor Code that trusts students with immense responsibility while matching that trust with real consequences for those who don’t rise to the bar set by their peers.

From there, you could write about someday working on a take-home exam for a course related to your prospective major. Give details about the major that attract you to the program that show you understand the program and can see yourself thriving there.

SUPPLEMENT 2

For the second supplement, you have options. There are four prompts to pick from, and you only respond to one. The second choice you have to make is how you respond. W&L allows students to respond to the second supplement with either a 250-word (or less) response or a max 2-minute video.

Our default is the writing, as we love the ability to build a story that the reader can immerse themselves in without thinking about your facial expressions, background, or tone of voice — but when does a video make more sense than the written word? Well, you can technically say more in a video than in a 250-word supplement. That doesn’t mean that what you will say will mean more, or be more understood by the admissions officials. The best time to do a video, then, is if you have significant experience making videos and talking on camera, like through being the school news anchor, you are able to create a space for filming that is simple and free from visual distractions, and you can spotlight something in the video that directly responds to the prompt.

Below, we’re going to focus on the written approach, but all of this can be reinterpreted for videos. For example, in option one you could talk about milking your cow — or you could do it on camera. That’d be pretty cool.

Option 1: Please describe an aspect of your life outside of school that is important to you, such as an extracurricular activity, a job, or a family responsibility. How has your involvement shaped your personal qualities and growth, and how has it impacted those around you?

This is a great prompt because it lets you show yourself outside of not just the classroom, but outside of school commitments entirely. It allows for the idea that you are more than a transcript or other measure of academic accomplishment, and instead a fully formed human with a diversity of experiences and responsibilities — which you are.

The key is not to pick your most ‘impressive’ commitment, responsibility, or accomplishment, but the one that you feel most deeply about and that has shaped you most strongly. You may have won a robotics award, but making a cardboard ‘robot’ with your sibling when you watch her after school is actually a more powerful story. Sure, there may be a way to mention the award in there too, but that won’t be the point of your short essay. Walking the dog, working as a lifeguard, or shelving books in your town’s library is, truly, more meaningful than what you may have thought would be the biggest ‘gold star’ on your application.

Option 2: W&L’s mission statement focuses on preparing graduates for lifelong learning in a global and diverse society. Engaging with faculty, staff, and classmates with diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives is an essential component of our education. Recognizing that diversity takes many forms, what diverse aspect would you bring to W&L?

This prompt can be a bit of a trap. It attracts a specific group of students — those who see themselves as representative of diversity in some way — and risks pigeonholing those applicants into that identity. If you could answer two of these prompts, that would be a different matter. You’d get to show two sides of yourself. But since you only get to pick one, we’re hesitant to encourage students towards this one. You are going to college to be a student, not a statistic, and the other options, especially options 1 and 3, offer better opportunities to show who you truly are beyond demographics.

If you do pick this prompt, you need to tell a story that is bigger than skin color, culture, or socioeconomics. Those can be part of it, but shouldn’t be the whole thing. You also need to make sure you aren’t positioning yourself as a victim, but as an empowered leader who creates opportunities for others to grow and thrive.

Option 3: Reveal to us how your curious mind works by sharing something you spend considerable time thinking or learning about.

This is a very exciting prompt! If you aren’t buzzing with excitement already, let us tell you why. This prompt lets you be your full, creative, academic, curious, and fun self. It lets you have a good time, while also showing how enthusiastic you are about learning. What makes this prompt work best for applicants is leaning into just that. Tell a story that reveals how you think, just like they ask, by being super specific.

For some reason, we tend to talk about octopuses when it comes to prompts like this. None of us are biologists, so let’s blame the documentary My Octopus Teacher. You could write a response that opens with one very specific fact about an octopus. Something super zoomed in that you only know because you have been obsessing about octopuses, like maybe a detail of how the have a massive brain that stretches into their arms and their arms can even have different ‘personalities.’ Then you use that as a way to go into different sides of yourself, and embracing the idea that you can have diverse interests that may seem to clash at times, but if they are all you then they, by definition, all work together. Such a supplement could touch on science and psychology, while also illuminating areas of interest that may not appear on the application otherwise.

Option 4: On a residential college campus with a Speaking Tradition that encourages connections between individuals, using each other’s names matters. Please share the story of any name you go by and what significance it holds for you.

This prompt isn’t the worst, but it also isn’t the best. Call us judge-y, but we know a student hasn’t been challenged to truly explore who they are when they think the most interesting thing that they have to write about is their name. For most students, their name is something they were given at birth. Even nicknames, often, originate pre-birth or from childhood silliness that is fundamentally irrelevant to the adult you are becoming. Now, there are exceptions to this. Sometimes, a student has chosen the name they go by. That can be a powerful defining characteristic, but we’re not convinced that it helps make the case for you as a student as Washington & Lee.

So, we avoid this prompt with our students except in very rare circumstances. Instead, focus on who you are as a learner, a leader, or both.  

The Washington & Lee supplement isn’t onerously long, but it does take some careful consideration and plenty of drafting time. Make sure to give yourself room to brainstorm and explore different ideas before cementing your approach. And if it isn’t fun to write, you probably aren’t doing it right.

We help our students make the most of every supplement, leading to exceptional acceptances. Learn more.

Richmond has a application process for first-years, which means that you get to decide whether to submit scores or not. That doesn’t mean that you should simply write off the importance of standardized testing, though. Strong test scores can underline an impressive application, so students applying to Richmond an SAT that is 1460 or higher, or an ACT of 33+. Ultimately, Richmond does care more about the rigor of the courses you take than they do about standardized tests, but it is best if you have both.  

They also offer a few different avenues for admission. The university offers Early Decision I and II, as well as an Early Action option, which is not binding. If the University of Richmond is your top choice, you should be applying ED. Richmond heavily emphasizes the Early Decision options when filling their classes, with of the first-years admitted for the Class of 2028 coming from the ED I and ED II pools. But if you like the school but aren’t sold, EA is a great way to receive a decision early — perhaps alongside an ED application to another school — without having to commit. Think of it as a bit of college application insurance.

In this post, we’re going to focus in on the supplement portion of the application, breaking down your options and sharing the best approach for each. As you brainstorm and draft, remember that the supplements are a place to spotlight something about yourself that won’t show up in detail in your application otherwise. You never want to be repeating yourself. It’s also useful to keep in mind the top activities for accepted students, as this tells us what Richmond is looking for when reading application. for accepted students include leadership in student government or on a sports team, community service and volunteer work, and work through paid employment, internships, or independent research.

Now, let’s get into the supplement.

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The Richmond supplement is fairly straightforward, but there are also some hard decisions to be made. There is one question, but you have three prompts to choose from when responding. You are also given a lot of space — up to 650 words — which is as long as the main college essay. This means that writing the Richmond supplement requires time and patience. This should not be a rush job, and we start working with our students on supplements as soon as they are out, typically in late July or early August.  

There is no reason to wait to start a supplement once it is finalized, so dive into it as soon as you can.

One essay response is required. Word Limit: Minimum 350. Maximum 650 words.

Let’s talk about length before we even get into the precise prompts you have to pick from. 650 words is the length of the main college essay. It’s long, and it’s not something that you can do well at the last minute. It’s also interesting how Richmond employs a 350-word minimum, which suggests that maybe applicants were really phoning it in at one point and they got sick of the minimal show of effort.

You don’t need to use all 650 words, but we work with our students to write a Richmond supplemental essay between 550 and 650 words.

Now, let’s talk prompts.

Choose from the following prompts:

You have a platform to create change. What is an action or policy you might propose to address an issue of social injustice in your school or local community, or on a national or global scale?

This is an interesting prompt, but it also invites bad answers. What is a bad answer, you ask? Well, a bad answer isn’t necessarily bad because it isn’t objectively a good idea. Rather, a bad answer is one that isn’t personal. Yes, getting rid of all wars would be cool — but it isn’t precise and it isn’t personal (unless it is for you, but then it still isn’t precise).

We work with our students to pick a topic for this essay that is relevant to their school or community (not national or global), and personal to them. A big problem in your community that doesn’t impact nor intersect with you isn’t a good option either. This shouldn’t just be personal to where you live, but also to who you are.

Once you have picked a topic, it’s time to tell a story. This should be a specific experience that you have had, ideally while in high school, that highlights the topic in your life. Even if the experience is long-term, find a specific, very zoomed in, example to talk about.

For example, maybe you would want to expand universal Pre-K to increase access to early education for children in your area. This could be personal because your parents both worked, and navigating childcare for your younger siblings without sticking them in front of a screen was a roller coaster ride. You could write about reading a book to a sibling, and use that as a launching pad for an essay about the power of early childhood education.

Tell us about a time you learned something unexpected. What did you learn, and what happened next?

This is another really interesting prompt, sort of for similar reasons. It invites strong, dynamic, and exciting writing. However, it also risks inspiring students to write about something so out of left field that it’s fundamentally irrelevant. If you write about something about sea stars here, but you want to study economics, and don’t find a way to connect the two, this is sort of a waste of a supplement. The reader might love it conceptually and think you are super cool, but it won’t increase your chances of getting into Richmond.

Instead, you want to write about something that is relevant to what you want to study at Richmond — either directly or through a creatively crafted connection. Back to that sea star and economics. Maybe there is something about sea stars that is mathematically fascinating, or something about how they navigate resource management that connects to economics. We don’t know, as we are not experts on sea stars, but that’s why this is an example! Now, make it yours.

Richmond welcomes students from various backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences. What is at least one way you will contribute to our community that is not already mentioned in your application?

For most schools, this is a strong prompt to pick. For Richmond, you have two other really interesting prompts that you could pick from — so why would you select this one? Sometimes it does make sense, especially if neither of the other prompts got you excited about writing. The most important part of this prompt, if you do pick it, is to listen to the “not already mentioned” instruction. You cannot repeat something for this prompt. That would be, essentially, a failure of an answer because no matter how good your answer is you didn’t listen to instructions.

That doesn’t mean that this cannot be linked to something else that has come up in your activities or college essay, though. For example, maybe there is a lot of leadership on your application already, but here you could focus on your experience mentoring up-and-coming leadership that are poised to replace you. The ability to identify and support other students, who some may see as ‘competition’, is a meaningful addition to any community, including Richmond.

Richmond cares a lot about attracting, and accepting, students who are passionate about what they offer. Remember to dot in mentions of specific things at Richmond that you would like to take advantage of or tap into, as this will underline your interest.

And if you want personal attention, get in touch.

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Wake Forest offers a bunch of different avenues for admission, including Early Decision, Early Action (for first generation college students only), Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. First-year admissions is , meaning that you are not required to submit the SAT or ACT. Just of accepted students submit SAT or ACT scores, and we recommend that students submit scores if they meet our minimum thresholds for a competitive Wake Forest application. The SAT you should submit is a 1470, and the minimum ACT is 33. These aren’t actual minimums set by Wake Forest, but we base them on the scores of recently accepted students.

Ultimately, grades matter most – 95% of accepted students are in the top 20% of their high school class. After you have the grades (and maybe the scores) on lock, and you’ve developed you interests and passions, it’s time to write the Wake Forest supplement. The Wake Forest supplement offers an amazing opportunity to spotlight who you are and what you care about. It is the single most impactful qualitative aspect of your application to Wake Forest, so it’s crucial that you make the most of it. In this post, we’ll give you some of the guidance that we provide to our students, guiding you towards your strongest application possible.

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The Wake Forest supplement is longer than most but shorter than some. We love it because they give you a variety of ways to share who you are and what you care about, without bogging you down with long word counts or super obtuse prompts that cause a headache. Instead, Wake Forest asks straightforward questions to which they want honest answers. Now, let’s get into it.

List five books you’ve read that have intrigued you. (150 character limit per book title).

The biggest challenge we’ve faced with this prompt, and others like it, is when a student doesn’t read except what is assigned in class. Take this as your warning: start reading. If all you have to list here are the most recently assigned books for Junior year English, that is a problem. Including one or two assigned reads is ok, but beyond that it becomes generic and expected. Why? Because most high schoolers read many of the same books in school. As you don’t have much room to explain why the book intrigued you here, that’s a problem if this prompt is going to achieve the role of differentiating you in some way. So, read.

Next, let’s talk about that 150 character limit. The prompt says to list books, but they also give you about twice as many characters to work with, or more, than the vast majority of book titles include. So, what can you do with that space? The easy answer is to list book title and maybe the author, and then be done with it. The more fun route is to make it your own. Add a detail from the book, something that stood out to you in particular, and incorporate it into the item on the list. For example, “Normal is a terrifying and unpredictable reality in Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys.” That is 83 characters, for the record.  

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. (150 word limit).

This prompt leans into the theme of the previous one. Wake Forest works to attract and develop students who are deep thinkers, and this prompt works to identify those exact sort of students. Importantly, there is no ‘right’ answer and no ‘correct’ perspective. Rather, they want to see that you are thinking. What matters most, far more than the what, is the why of your response.

We like to communicate this ‘why’ through a focused story that highlights how you think, as well as how you engage with others around complex ideas. The secret to a successful answer is to keep it uncontroversial. Pick something to focus on here that is a big idea, but not a big fight. Only 150 words is not enough space to break down a complex political situation or geopolitical conflict, no matter how passionate you are about it. Instead, look close to home. Maybe it’s mapping a situation in your community onto a reading you did in school, and drawing connections. Or maybe it’s a project that you undertook in an attempt to make sense of a confusing situation or set of circumstances. Whatever you pick, keep it focused and tell it as a concise story.

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? (300 word limit).

For this prompt, you have much more space — 300 words — to work with. However, it also lays a bit of a trap. Many students, when faced with this prompt, proceed next to their preferred search engine, and type in “Maya Angelou” quotes. The problem with this starting point is that what comes up first isn’t necessarily best, or even true. There are many incorrectly worded, imprecise, or even fully made up quotes falsely attributed to Maya Angelou.

So, if you want to sound smart, take a different approach. Our preferred option is to actually read a book by Maya Angelou like “The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou” or “And Still I Rise.” You could also watch a talk by Maya Angelou, like her . Basically, go straight to the source. 

From there, and once you have a quote in hand, you need to tell your story, connecting the quote to your lived experience and, crucially, how you will contribute to Wake Forest. The key is to keep this focused. You want to highlight one thing about yourself that doesn’t show up anywhere else in your application, and tie to one specific way that you want to contribute to Wake Forest. This could be building community, living in service, letting collaboration be your guide, challenging preconceptions, or any other way that you have been contributing meaningfully to your community at home. 

As you brainstorm and write, remember that this is not a “hardship test.” The applicant with the most tragic tale does not ‘win’ this prompt. They want to see you, the real you, and feel connected to you, not to simply pity you or feel bad about your life circumstances. Write to make the reader feel motivated and inspired for the future, not sad about a challenge in your past.

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

This prompt is pure fun, and we encourage our students to treat it as such. Yes, you can take it super seriously and sometimes that is okay, but it’s also an awesome opportunity to have fun, share your sense of humor, or spotlight a passion that won’t find its way onto your application otherwise. If you are really into fly fishing, what are the 10 best flies? If you care deeply about a good cookie, what are the 10 best recipes you’ve ever tried? If you are a late-night study snack connoisseur, what are your go-tos? Stay out of the classroom and have some fun here.

The Wake Forest supplement is the perfect mix of serious, sentimental, and fun. They give you ample opportunities to show different sides of yourself, and we love that. To make the most of it, give yourself time to brainstorm and draft before you finalize and submit. Often, the best ideas develop over a couple of tries. That’s not just normal, it is a critical piece of the college application process.

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The number of students admitted to Bowdoin has held steady, but the number of applications they receive has skyrocketed from a little over 4,000 applicants for the class of 2004 to over 13,000 today — for only spots. There are no required courses to be considered for admission, but they do recommend a fully-diversified course load.

When it comes to tests, you have options. Bowdoin went test optional more than . Today, of accepted and enrolled students submit scores. What does this mean for you? You don’t need to submit scores to get into Bowdoin, but if you have strong SAT or ACT scores they can certainly help. Because only applicants with strong scores submit them, what is submitted . Do not submit an SAT under 1530 or an ACT under 34. 

This post isn’t about tests, though. We’re talking supplements. Below, we’re going to break down each of the two Bowdoin supplements and the optional video response so that you can write your strongest possible application.

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The Bowdoin supplement is a classic. They have maintained the same first question for a long time, and the second is a simple “share yourself,” kind of prompt. It’s fairly simple and straightforward, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to do well.

Bowdoin is a very picky school when assessing candidates, hence the low acceptance rate. A key filter for them, after grades and teacher recommendations, are the supplements. So yes, they sound simple, but they carry a massive amount of weight. Now, let’s break them down.

Based on , which represents Bowdoin’s values, you have the option to reflect on any line of The Offer and how it has meaning to you. Generations of students have found connection and meaning in Bowdoin’s “The Offer of the College,” written in 1906 by Bowdoin President William DeWitt Hyde.

To be at home in all lands and all ages;
To count Nature a familiar acquaintance, and Art an intimate friend;

To gain a standard for the appreciation of others’ work
And the criticism of your own;
To carry the keys of the world's library in your pocket,
And feel its resources behind you in whatever task you undertake;
To make hosts of friends...who are to be leaders in all walks of life;
To lose yourself in generous enthusiasms and cooperate with others for common ends –
This is the offer of the college for the best four years of your life.

Which line from The Offer resonates most with you? (250 words)

First, read The Offer at least twice. There is a lot there, so you need to really sit with it for a second. Then, pick two possible lines — even if you think there is one that you absolutely must focus on. Brainstorm how you would approach the supplement for each line that you have selected.

We advise our students to tell a story that highlights the link between their chosen line and their life story. To do this, map out each of those potential routes as far as you can go. Yes, you won’t use half of what you are doing, but that is totally okay. Developing these ideas parallel to each other will fuel each of them.

As you work on each option, focus on the idea of story development. How can you best tell the story that illustrates the line using powerful storytelling tools like dialog, vivid imagery, and descriptive language. For example, if you pick the line “To gain a standard for the appreciation of others’ work and the criticism of your own,” you may write a story about receiving an unexpected piece of criticism that led to growth and development. Don’t explain this, though — show it. Bring the application reader into the story with you, and make it come alive.  

Bowdoin believes that its broadly diverse and inclusive campus community prepares graduates to be contributing and useful citizens of the world. Every graduate of this institution should be confident in their preparation to be able to navigate through differences and in all sorts of situations. A Bowdoin education does not guarantee these skills, but it does impart a set of tools necessary to bravely enter unfamiliar conditions with the confidence to deal effectively with ambiguity.

If you wish, you may share anything about the unique experiences and perspectives that you would bring with you to the Bowdoin campus and community or an experience you have had that required you to navigate across or through difference. (max 250 words)

In the second question, Bowdoin is opening the door to discussing things that they can’t ask about directly, like race, but that isn’t the only thing that can go here, and this supplement definitely isn’t optional. Or, rather, it isn’t optional if you want to get in. 

What this supplement shouldn’t be treated as, though, is a hardship test. Playing the “I’ve had it rough” game is a losing one — not because you haven’t overcome great challenges or faced big monsters, but because there is always going to be someone who has had it harder than you. So, if your argument for uniqueness is how hard life has been, that is a losing game. It’s also, typically, not something in your control.

Instead, we work with our students to differentiate themselves by showing how they’ve happened to life, rather than how life has happened to them. Sometimes this means highlighting a particular hurdle, but you never want to stop in the struggle. You need to show the application reader how you got through it. 

We advise focusing on one event, instance, or experience that is emblematic of a larger difference, challenge, or opportunity in your life. Tell that story in a focused, descriptive, and immersive way (remember, you only have 250 words), while allowing for it to speak to broader themes. This supplement succeeds when the reader doesn’t only feel moved, but also invested in your future.

The Video Response

Like many colleges in the (mostly) post-interview era — due to application volume, but that’s a conversation for a different time — Bowdoin allows for a short, “spontaneous” as part of your supplement. While this is optional, it isn’t really. We help students prepare for these video responses such that they feel confident and excited to speak directly to the admissions officials.

The Interview

Remember how we just said it’s the post-Interview era? Well, not entirely at Bowdoin. They do still allow applicants to virtually and on-campus. They say that these interviews do not impact one’s chances of admission, but that isn’t what we’ve experienced. Compelling conversations with admissions officials positively impact their impression of you, which undoubtedly impacts final decisions. We coach our students to present their strongest selves during interviews, increasing their odds of admission.  

The Bowdoin application is designed to identify students who are driven, passionate, creative, and, in many ways, singular. They aren’t looking for cookie cutter repeats of perfection, but the competition for admission does mean that exceptional scores and grades are a prerequisite. We guide our students beyond the quantitative metrics through the maze of personal differentiation to get to an acceptance letter.

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Vanderbilt offers a world-class education, but it’s also known as a super fun place to be. Students who are fun-kills don’t go there…or, rather, would be a better fit somewhere else. The students who thrive at Vanderbilt are those who want a college education and a college experience. 85 countries, and they are known as a top college for both Jewish and Black students. Nashville, TN is a key piece of the Vanderbilt experience. The city is alive with music, nightlife, and opportunity, and students benefit from those opportunities for exploration and fun, as well as employment. 

Once you are on campus, there are four colleges for undergraduate students: the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, the Blair School of Music, the School of Engineering, and, the most popular and populous college, the College of Arts and Sciences. of undergraduates participate in research through labs and more than 100 interdisciplinary centers and institutes. In recent years, Vanderbilt has also become known as one of the most expensive colleges in the country — but remember that the total tuition cost isn’t what most students pay. of Vanderbilt students receive financial assistance.

Vanderbilt has that they will be test optional for the ACT or SAT through the fall of 2027. This means that it is up to you whether to submit your ACT or SAT scores — or even whether to take them at all. We’ve been counseling our students to take this with a grain of salt. Strong applicants with a strong chance of getting into Vanderbilt submit strong scores. Skipping scores may not hurt your application, but it certainly doesn’t help. , 50% of admitted and enrolled first-year students submit scores, and an SAT worth submitting is 1530+ while a strong ACT is 34+.

In this post, we’re really going to focus in on the piece of your Vanderbilt application that is not quantifiable: the supplement. The Vanderbilt supplement is simple, and it is sweet. Let’s break it down.

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Again, the Vanderbilt is short — which we love. That doesn’t mean that it is simple, though. It isn’t something that you should do quickly or last minute either, especially if you are applying Early Decision (which you should do if you like Vanderbilt because the ED acceptance rate advantage is huge). Now, let’s look at the supp.

For both first-year and transfer applicants, we ask you to complete a short answer essay (approximately 250 words) based on the following prompt:

Vanderbilt University’s motto, Crescere aude, is Latin for “dare to grow.” In your response, reflect on how one or more aspects of your identity, culture, or background has played a role in your personal growth, and how it will contribute to our campus community as you dare to grow at Vanderbilt.

250 words may sound like a solid amount of space to work with, but it really isn’t. In reality, it goes fast. The first three paragraphs of this post are, for the purpose of illustration, just over 260 words. In that compact amount of space, you need to say something about yourself that is meaningful, impactful, and that clearly conveys how awesome you are as a community member today — and for Vanderbilt in the future.

Yeah, you have to pack a lot into this supplement. This can lead a lot of students to want to write something super-efficient with as much packed in as possible. We understand this impulse, but it’s actually the opposite of what you need to do. Instead of saying a lot, you need to say a little. This is because humans want to feel connected to other humans, and one of the best ways to connect with another human (aka the application readers) through the screen or page is by telling a compelling and focused story.

So, what should they know about who you are that isn’t anywhere else on your application? This means that you didn’t write about it in your Common App essay, you don’t mention it on your activity sheet, and you don’t include it in the additional info section. For many of our students, this means writing about culture, community, or family here — often through the lens of tradition, ritual, or food (or even all three).

For example, maybe your family has made the same meal as part of a cultural celebration every year for your entire life. Write the story of the taste of that meal, and the secret ingredient. If you have always walked the same route to school since you were 5, and you always get a banana from the same street vendor, tell that story. If you planted a tree when you were 10 and have measured your height on it ever since, tell that story. Tell a story that is only, and unabashedly, yours and yours alone.

Doing this can feel risky — what does it have to do with college, after all? — but it’s also the only way to use this supplement to help you beat the tough odds of Vanderbilt admissions. Getting into Vanderbilt requires an ‘it’ factor, and most applicants wrongly assume that this means having won a big award or something else that is flashy. But that isn’t the case at all, actually. The “it” factor is being you, and communicating that effectively to application readers through story.

Getting into Vanderbilt is hard, but it’s also totally possible if you have the baseline scores and grades to at least get your application taken seriously. After that hurdle is jumped, it’s all about storytelling.

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This new prompt asks about a variety of hardships students may have encountered, ranging from health, to war, to having a safe, quiet place to work, and a lot of things in between. We are very happy with this change. We have always discouraged students from writing about their traumas or hardships in their main essays and have instead encouraged them to include this information in the Additional Information section. However, the previous Community disruption question was too narrowly focused, and Additional Information had little guidance to help students understand what should actually go in there.

In addition to this new prompt, the Additional Information section will go through some changes, decreasing the word limit from 650 to 300. Again, we are very pleased with this change. Some students like to use the Additional Information section as a whole new Common App essay or to rehash things schools would have already seen in their resume or activities section. This change will help limit frivolous additions to the Common App, and with the new Challenges and Circumstances prompt, it will be even more optional than it was before.

The Challenges and Circumstances Question

Let’s get into the specifics of the Challenges and Circumstances question:

Sometimes a student’s application and achievements may be impacted by challenges or other circumstances. This could involve:

• Access to a safe and quiet study space

• Access to reliable technology and internet

• Community disruption (violence, protests, teacher strikes, etc.)

• Discrimination

• Family disruptions (divorce, incarceration, job loss, health, loss of a family member, addiction, etc.)

• Family or other obligations (care-taking, financial support, etc.)

• Housing instability, displacement, or homelessnessMilitary deployment or activation

• Natural disasters

• Physical health and mental well-being

• War, conflict, or other hardships

If you’re comfortable sharing, this information can help colleges better understand the context of your application. Colleges may use this information to provide you and your fellow students with support and resources.

Would you like to share any details about challenges or other circumstances you’ve experienced?* If yes, please describe the challenges or circumstances and how they have impacted you. (250)

A long prompt, but we appreciate how fleshed out the examples are! When answering this question, being direct and concise is extremely important.

You only have 250 words to explain what you want to explain, and they’re not looking for a story here. They want you to plainly lay out what you’ve been dealing with and how it’s impacted your high school career. If your parents got divorced when you were 11, that’s not going to be incredibly relevant here – but if they got divorced when you were 17 and it forced you to move across the country and switch schools halfway through the year, that fits here.

If you are a student experiencing a major hardship, please reach out to us. We would love to talk to you and help you with your college application process.

Some things are so impactful that they should be included no matter what – the big stuff, like war, a significant health crisis, or homelessness. You might be wondering, so what shouldn’t go here? As a good rule of thumb, if you didn’t have to miss a lot of school, see your grades dip significantly, or if you come from a very privileged background, this may not be your section. For example, talking about how a hurricane damaged part of your beachfront house and how you had to live at a Hilton for a month is not going to come across well. Obviously, there are exceptions to this – but you want to be mindful of what you’re including here, especially when you take into consideration that some students will be writing about their refugee status or a cancer diagnosis.

Remember – filling out the Additional Information section is not going to excuse poor grades, per se, but it provides important context to help admissions officers see the bigger picture.

So What Goes in Additional Information Now?

Now that Additional Info has been cut to 300 words, and most of what we previously suggested for that section has its own prompt, you might be wondering what is still okay to put in Additional Information.

This should be a place for adding what you had to leave off – for example, under education, you may have taken coursework at more than three colleges or universities. You can put the fourth one here. Maybe you’ve taken a lot of online courses or obtained a variety of certifications – that could go here, too. Maybe your most significant activity (like the business or non-profit you started, or your tech start-up, etc.) needed a lot more than 150 characters, and you truly believe it’s reaaaally crucial that they hear the whole spiel – then you can put that here. Most colleges will expect you to submit a resume, so you don’t need to list out activities that didn’t fit in your Activities Section here; instead, include those in that aforementioned resume.

With these changes, we think it’s a lot clearer what students should and should not be including in their activities section. We always appreciate more structure and guidance for the students, and we’re happy with the Common App’s decision.

If you need help figuring out the Additional Information section, or have questions about what to include, please reach out to us today.