You might assume that college essay supplements are merely an opportunity for a college to learn more about its applicants; that they are known to students only after they’ve made a decision to apply to a particular university; that they are rooted in some important academic or cultural aspect of the institution with which they are associated. For nearly every college, you’d be right.

But not so for the University of Chicago.

The Princeton supplement is one of the most varied in terms of tone. One prompt asks for a long, thoughtful response, while the others are brief and informational rather than introspective. Let’s start with those short ones!

Transfer essays are different because transfers are different! As we used to say at Georgetown, every transfer has a story to tell…and the essay is their opportunity to do it!

The most frequent essay question for transfer applicants is “Why do you want to transfer to X School?” This is a two-sided question. It’s asking not only why you want to go to X school, but also why the school you currently attend isn’t a good fit.

If you’re working on your Brandeis University application, you might have noticed two important things: there is a writing supplement, and it’s optional.

Before we get to the questions themselves, let’s tackle the optional part. Your application will certainly be complete if you opt not to write the additional essay, but there are some students who should write it anyway.

Carnegie Mellon University has just two required supplemental essays, one long and one short. You’ll also find two optional prompts that allow students to explain educational interruptions and discuss their CMU admission interview, if they had one.

Full disclosure: I’m a fan of University of Michigan and I’ve followed Michigan football since I was really young. Why is this relevant? Well, last year I traveled to Michigan on business and for the weekend traveled across the state to visit with admissions, take the tour, and take in a game at “the Big House.”

As a Senior Associate Director in the Barnard admissions office for eight years, I had the privilege of reading the college application essays of many wonderful Barnard applicants. Those that stood out had a fantastic sense of self, and were able to convey their personality through writing. It truly is a special community where women are encouraged to reach their potential. When writing your Barnard supplemental essays, it’s important to keep these ideas in mind. Here are the essay prompts for this year’s Barnard supplement with some of my thoughts on answering them:

I’m an international student living in India and will be applying to universities in both the UK and the US. The UCAS application requires a personal statement, which I’ve already written. Is it okay if I use that personal statement for my main Common Application essay?

—It’s Raining Essays in Mumbai

Providence College allows students to complete one additional (and optional!) essay in their Common Application supplement. While no student has to write this essay, my advice is to always take the opportunity to show your interest in a school by going above and beyond what is required of you; in other words, write the optional essays.

You’ve stood in awe of JPL and its incredible feats of engineering. You’ve marveled at observations made at the Keck and Ligo observatories. You’ve even dreamed of registering for a Kip Thorne class or taking a seat in the hallowed Richard Feynman Physics Lecture Hall. The only thing standing between your STEM achievements so far and your dreams of attending the fabled California Institute of Technology—that storied STEM playground—are six little essay prompts. Consider this our small contribution to your STEM future—a bit of advice in tackling Caltech’s freshman application. Now get to it: