2025-26 Supplemental Essay Guide

How to Approach Supplemental Essays

If you’re gearing up for college applications this year, you’ll not only have to write a 650-word Common App essay (link), but also a separate set of essays for each school you’re applying to. These essays — known as supplemental essays — count just as much in admissions decisions, and the prompts are determined by each individual school.

After years of working with students, we’ve found that it’s usually a good idea to start with the 650-word essay, and then move on to the supplementals. This is because you’ll probably find the Common App essay extremely challenging, since it will be the first time you’ll ever write a personal essay, and you’ll develop a whole host of skills as you complete it. Once you’re done, you’ll be in excellent shape to get cracking on the supplementals — and you’ll be surprised at how efficiently you get through them.

That’s not to say the supplementals are easy, however! They require a lot of care and attention, and as college admissions become more competitive, they’re counting more and more. Still, the college supplemental essays are a lot more focused than the personal essay, and you’ll probably be relieved to be given such clear prompts.

Each school adopts a different approach to the supplemental essay, and the prompts range from predictable (“Why do you want to attend our school?” “How will your experiences help us shape and grow our diverse community?” “Can you describe your most important extracurricular activity?”) to quirky (“If you could choose to be raised by robots, dinosaurs, or aliens, who would you pick?”). 

It’s also important to note that elite schools generally make you write a whole series of supplemental essays. One school asks you to answer 3 short questions (50 word maximum for each) and then 3 essays (250 word maximum for each); another asks you to write 5 short essays (100 word maximum for each). So you’ll be writing a lot of essays, but the upside is that there’s significant overlap in the prompts (e.g. many schools ask for “community” essays), and you’ll be able to reuse your material for multiple schools.

As we’ve said multiple times before, college admissions is becoming increasingly competitive, and if you’re a top student, the college essay is your one chance to distinguish yourself from other applicants. It may seem like a lot of work to write all these supplemental essays, but if you take the process seriously, you’ll grow a lot and become a much better writer — all while giving yourself a much better chance of getting into a top institution.