Understanding Supplemental Essays
Beyond your main personal statement, many colleges require supplemental essays to learn more about your interests, your academic motivations, and how you fit with their school. Different schools may call them “Required Short Answers” (Harvard) or “Writing Supplements,” but they serve the same purpose.
If your personal statement shows your personality and thinking, then your supplemental essay reflects your personal voice, emotional intelligence, and specific academic interests. They help admissions officers get a clear picture of your identity beyond grades and test scores. These essays also reflect your genuine interest in their school. Generic, shallow responses can jeopardize your application, while personalized, well-researched essays show you’re serious and have invested time in your application.
With thousands of applicants bearing accomplished academic records, supplemental essays help admissions teams identify students who will significantly contribute to their academic environment.
Most supplemental essays are short, typically 100 to 300 words. They’re shorter than your personal statement, and answering in a single paragraph rather than multiple paragraphs is viable. Each school may require one or more supplemental essays, depending on how many prompts they provide.
Here are examples from Harvard’s 2024-2025 application cycle, each requiring 150 words:
- Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard?
- Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience?
- Briefly describe any of your extracurricular activities, employment experience, travel, or family responsibilities that have shaped who you are.
- How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future?
- Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.
Build Your Standout College Essays with Expert Guidance
Six Common Supplemental Essay Types and How to Approach Them
1. “Why College” Essay
A “Why College” essay isn’t simply about why you chose the school. It also answers why the school should choose you. To write a strong response, research the school thoroughly:
- Academic programs offered
- Clubs and extracurricular activities of interest
- School culture and unique traditions
Then, find connections between these elements and your personality, interests, and academic goals. A strong essay is one that only you could write for that specific school, showing affinity and a sincere desire to join their academic community.
You can find additional tips for writing “Why College” essays from Tulane University’s guide, and see examples of successful essays here.
2. “Why Major” Essay
A “Why Major” essay asks you to explain your choice of major through your learning experiences and real-world activities. Connect your choice to courses you’ve taken in school, to online platforms like EdX or Coursera, to your extracurricular activities, or personal research related to the field.
You should also research courses, professors, research projects, and academic clubs at the school you’re applying to. Connect your past experiences with your future goals in the field, showing that you’re well-suited for your major at their school and that you’re earnest about it to the admissions officers.
3. Leadership Essay
Leadership essays aren’t just for students who hold formal positions like class president or club leader. This prompt lets all students show leadership in mundane acts. You might care for younger siblings or grandparents, bring friends together, organize group activities, or lead school projects. Leadership also manifests through volunteer work, religious activities, or part-time jobs that help support yourself or your family.
In this essay, describe how you’ve shown leadership, challenges you’ve overcome, lessons you’ve learned, and most importantly, how you want to continue developing your leadership skills as part of the college community you’re applying to.
See examples of successful leadership essays from the University of Texas at Austin.
4. Extracurricular Essay
An extracurricular essay highlights an important part of your life outside the classroom. Choose an activity you’re passionate about, one where you’ve invested significant time and effort. Describe your involvement in detail, including challenges and failures you’ve faced, lessons learned, and successes achieved.
You will need to answer the questions “Why is this activity important to you?” and “What will you bring from this experience to college?” to show how you’ll continue pursuing your passion and contributing to the student community.
5. Community/Identity/Background Essay
This essay helps admissions officers understand the communities and background that shaped who you are today. Your community might be your family, the city where you grew up, a group you belong to, a club, or even an online circle you’re part of.
In your essay, explain how this community has influenced you, the challenges you’ve overcome as part of it, the valuable lessons learned, and the contributions you’ve made. More importantly, show how you’ll bring the values and experiences from this community to your new learning environment, contributing to its diversity and growth.
6. Additional Info Essay
This optional essay gives you space to share important information that other parts of your application don’t cover, helping admissions officers better understand your character. You might explain family challenges or personal obstacles you’ve overcome during your education and growth, or expand on an important extracurricular activity you haven’t had a chance to detail in prior essays.
You can also use this essay to expound on why you chose the school, if you haven’t previously. This essay isn’t about asking for sympathy. It’s about helping admissions officers understand your actual circumstances, appreciate your journey, and recognize the efforts you’ve made to reach this point in your education.
Tips for Writing Standout Supplemental Essays
According to US News, here are key points to keep in mind when writing compelling supplemental essays:
Answer the actual question: Many students reuse essays written for other schools to save time, but this can make your response miss the demand of the prompt required by the schools. Each supplemental prompt is usually designed to match the school’s characteristics, core values, or learning environment, so read the prompt carefully, underline important keywords, and ensure your essay stays sharp and focused.
Outline before you write: Creating an outline helps you identify the message, qualities, skills, or experiences you want to convey. Ask yourself: “What’s the most important thing I want admissions officers to understand about me through this essay?” Preparing an outline also helps you avoid rambling and keeps your writing coherent.
Avoid repeating content from your personal statement: Supplemental essays are your chance to provide different perspectives on yourself or share new experiences your main essay hasn’t covered. Use this to highlight other aspects of your personality, interests, or affinity to the school rather than being redundant.
Narrow your focus for depth: Many students make the mistake of choosing a topic that’s too broad, like “climate change” or “gender equality,” but only having a short paragraph to explore it, resulting in shallow writing. Instead, choose a more focused or specific personal experience, then relate it to a larger issue, providing an analysis so your essay feels both authentic and impressive.
Show your personal voice with natural, genuine writing: While you can ask teachers or family for feedback, make sure the voice remains yours, appropriate for your age and personality. Admissions officers aren’t looking for writing that’s so polished it loses authenticity. They want to see a growing 17-18-year-old with a realistic and clear perspective on life.
Write with sincerity: Share stories, thoughts, or values you genuinely care about. A supplemental essay doesn’t need fancy language. If it reflects who you really are, admissions officers will sense your passion and sincerity through an accomplished and realistic essay, making your application more memorable among thousands of others.
Supplemental essays are an important opportunity to shine in your college application. Research schools thoroughly, choose topics that fit your personal story, keep your voice natural, and show your genuine commitment and interest in the school.
If you’re struggling to prepare supplemental essays for your upcoming college application cycle, consider Aralia’s College Essay Writing course.
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