Essay Prompts

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.

Has there been a time when you've had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?

What is the hardest part of being a student now? What's the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original or inventive thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

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 negotiate? What was the outcome?

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.

The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.

Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate — and us — get to know you better.

Tell us about something that is meaningful to you, and why?

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

How has the world you come from shaped who you dream of becoming?

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world's biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them or to contribute to your community.

Tell us about a significant challenge you've faced or something that didn't go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?

What field of study fascinates you the most right now, and why?

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply?

What is a community to which you belong? Reflect on the footprint that you have left on this community or the footprint that it has left on you.

Yale students, faculty, and alumni engage issues of local, national, and international significance. Discuss an issue that is important to you and how your college experience could help you address it.

Princeton values community and encourages students, faculty, staff and leadership to engage in respectful conversations. Please share a time when you had a conversation with a person or a group of people about a difficult topic. What insight did you gain?

Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects with these ideals.

What attracts you about your intended area of study at Princeton? If undecided, share a topic or field you are eager to explore.

Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia.

List a few words or phrases that describe your ideal college community.

In Columbia's diverse community, we all have things to learn from each other. Describe a time when your exchange of ideas or conversations led to an insight or understanding.

Considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected, how will you explore your academic and intellectual interests at the University of Pennsylvania?

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there's something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well.

We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. What from your experience would you bring to this community?

We want to understand what excites you intellectually, what you hope to accomplish at Northwestern, and how Northwestern's resources, community, and location might support your goals.

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 use the Open Curriculum to explore them.

Students entering Brown often find that their lived experiences, perspectives, and identities shape how they engage with their new community. How might your background or story enrich the Brown community?

Tell us about a place or community you call home. How has it shaped your perspective?

Students in Arts and Sciences embrace the opportunity to delve into multifaceted academic interests, embodying the spirit of liberal arts. Why is the College of Arts and Sciences the right fit for you?

Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected and why you wish to study at Rice University.

Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives do you bring?

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

UChicago is famous for its unconventional essay prompts. Choose one of the extended essay options provided by current UChicago students. Use your imagination and be creative!

We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. What motivated you to apply to NYU? Why have you applied or expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and/or area of study?

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.

Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning.

Vanderbilt offers a combination of academic and campus life opportunities that are not available anywhere else. Share why Vanderbilt's academic environment and community are a particularly good fit for you.

What inspires your curiosity? How does an Emory education specifically appeal to you?

Share about a community to which you belong where your voice, perspective, or actions have made an impact.

Tell us why you are interested in WashU, including any specific academic programs, campus community aspects, or other resources and opportunities.

What excites you about the University of Notre Dame that makes it stand out from other institutions?

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

Tell us about an aspect of your identity (e.g. race, gender, sexuality, religion, community, etc.) or a life experience that has shaped you as an individual. How has this influenced what you'd like to pursue in college?

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate college or school to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or personal quality.

Why Tufts? Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short, "Why Tufts?"

Now we'd like to know a little more about you. Please respond to one of the following prompts: It's cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity and why?