Navigating Supplemental Essay Topics

college admission college applications college essay college planning supplemental essays Jun 17, 2024

3 Key Takeaways

Familiarize yourself with common supplemental essay prompts and their purposes.
Learn how to approach diverse topics like major selection, diversity, and extracurricular activities.
Discover strategies for handling less conventional prompts and short-answer questions.

Supplemental college essays come in various shapes and sizes, each designed to reveal different aspects of your personality, experiences, and aspirations. Let’s explore some common supplemental essay topics and how to tackle them effectively.

Common Supplemental Essay Topics

Supplemental essay prompts often fall into several broad categories. Understanding these categories can help you prepare and respond thoughtfully.

1. Why Our College?

This prompt asks why you are interested in a particular college. As I often explain, “You need to hook the reader from the start to make them want to read on.” Conduct thorough research and provide specific reasons for your interest. Mention unique programs, courses, faculty, or campus culture that align with your goals.

2. Why This Major?

Colleges want to understand your passion and commitment to a particular field of study. Discuss your experiences, interests, and future aspirations related to the major. Highlight how your academic and extracurricular activities have prepared you for this field.

Diversity and Inclusion

Many colleges value diversity and seek students who contribute to an inclusive campus environment. If you encounter a prompt about diversity, reflect on your unique background, experiences, and perspectives. How have these shaped you, and how will you bring them to the college community?

Extracurricular Activities

Another common topic is discussing an extracurricular activity that has been meaningful to you. This essay is an opportunity to showcase your dedication, skills, and impact outside the classroom. Choose an activity where you have shown significant involvement and growth.

Community and Contributions

Some prompts focus on how you will contribute to the college community. Reflect on your strengths, talents, and past experiences. How can these attributes benefit the college community? Provide specific examples of how you have positively contributed to other communities in the past.

The Wild Card

Occasionally, you might encounter unique or unconventional prompts. These can range from discussing a current event to answering quirky questions. Embrace these prompts as an opportunity to showcase your creativity and individuality.

Short-Answer Questions

In addition to longer essays, some applications include short-answer questions. These questions often require concise yet thoughtful responses. Treat each question with the same level of care and detail as you would a longer essay. Use this space to highlight different aspects of your personality and experiences that may not be covered elsewhere in your application.

Common App Additional Information Section

The Common App provides an additional information section where you can address any unique circumstances or provide context to parts of your application. Use this section wisely to explain any anomalies in your academic record, personal challenges, or other significant factors that might affect your application.

Honors and Scholarship Essays

Some colleges require additional essays for honors programs or merit scholarships. These essays often have specific prompts related to your academic achievements, leadership, or community service. Approach these essays with the same rigor and attention to detail as your other supplemental essays.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the different types of supplemental essay topics and how to approach them is crucial for crafting compelling and effective essays. By familiarizing yourself with common prompts, reflecting on your experiences, and conducting thorough research, you can create essays that not only showcase your strengths but also demonstrate your fit for the college and its community.

Choosing the right topics and crafting compelling essays are crucial steps in the College Admissions process. Anja Education Consultants is here to provide expert support and tailored strategies to help you succeed. Book a discovery session with us today to get personalized assistance and make your college application stand out.

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Video Transcription

(Anjali Maazel): "So what are the supplemental essay topics you'll be encountering? One of them that we just described is the why our college essay. Why do you want to apply here? Another one is why your major? Why have you chosen this major? Why are you interested in this field of study? Third possibility are essays about diversity and inclusion. So there are many different approaches to this, and we will give you an example when we go into each of these supplemental types. Another option is going to be extracurricular activity. For example, tell us about an activity that you have engaged in in high school that has been meaningful to you. Then there are the community essays, and there are a few variations on this one. So we will look at a few when we go into the individual prompts. There's also what we call a wild card, and that can be something like a current event or a short answer question that's just completing a sentence or a quirky topic that is completely different from any of the other college essays. And again, we will go into this. Now, on the Common App itself, apart from the supplemental essays that are college-specific that we just described, and on the Common App there are some questions that we consider essays because they do require some thought and care. So these are in addition to the supplemental essays that are college-specific and that we have just talked about. So what are these questions on the Common App? One of them is about COVID and the effects on your life. The other one is if you have graduated early or are graduating early from high school. So if you're doing it in less than four years. Another is about changing high schools. Let's say during the course of high school, you switched from one to the other and you're not graduating from the same high school that you started out with. And finally, there is an additional information section, which is quite interesting and versatile. and we will talk about that as well. Finally, there are honors and scholarship essays. Sometimes those essays are included in the application in the sense that you will be considered both for merit scholarships and the honors programs by simply submitting the application. You should check the college websites to see if you qualify for the honors programs and for the merit scholarships. Now, if you do, and in any case, whether these programs are part of the regular application, you'll want to put those links at the bottom of your Google Docs for each of your colleges, if you qualify. And then if there are extra essays or separate applications for honors programs and scholarship essays, you are going to paste the topics and the word limits under those links. This way, you will have all of the essays, the regular essays, the honors essays, and the merit scholarship essays for each college in that specific Google Doc."

Anjali Maazel

Founder and CEO of Anja Education Consultants

At Anja Education Consultants, we pride ourselves on the exceptional expertise of our Founder and CEO, Anjali Maazel. With over 15 years of experience as an alumna interviewer for Princeton University, our team, led by Anjali, brings a wealth of knowledge in college admissions. Our interdisciplinary approach, which melds arts, international education, and public relations, allows us to provide unparalleled guidance in college planning. The cornerstone of our success is the proprietary Talent Development 3D Process™, a unique strategy that has achieved a remarkable 100% success rate in securing admissions for our clients to at least one of their top three preferred schools. As a respected Ted Talk speaker and a sought-after authority in college admissions, we are frequently invited by high schools across the globe to share our insights and strategies, empowering students to reach their full potential in the competitive world of college admissions.

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