The Bowdoin supplement asks applicants to first identify which of the lines from “The Offer of the College,” a poem written in 1906 by Bowdoin president William DeWitt Hyde, most resonate with them. Applicants are then invited to provide an optional short essay of 250 words to reflect on their chosen line and how it has meaning for them.

The first time I read over Smith College’s supplemental essay question, my response was, “Wow! This one is different!” See for yourself:

We know that colleges ask a lot of hard questions on their applications. This one is not so hard and we promise, there is no hidden agenda – just have fun! If you had a theme song – a piece of music that describes you, what would it be and why? Please include the name of the song and the artist. (200 words)

You know you love Harvey Mudd, but now it is time to articulate why by clearly showcasing the synergy between you and the college and providing the admissions committee with a holistic picture of who you are and what you will bring to their community. 

While many might think of Carleton College when they hear “Northfield, Minnesota,” there’s another fabulous school in this small town—St. Olaf College. Like its neighbor, St. Olaf is a small, liberal arts college. But if you’re planning to apply, you’ll want to be sure you demonstrate deeper knowledge of the college and its culture in your supplemental essay responses than that! So let’s look at what those questions are and how you might answer them.

Over time, I have had a number of students struggle with writing their responses to the Emory University supplemental essay prompts, and this year they seem to be equally, if not more perplexing.  The difficulty of writing something really illuminating in 150 words or less makes it even more challenging, and having multiple prompts to choose from doesn’t seem to mitigate student’s stress very much.

Over the years, I’ve found it hard to articulate the response that past students have had to Chapman University in Orange, California. My brother used to live down the street from campus, and I once spent a week there for a conference, enjoying the sunny weather and brunching in their cute little downtown. It’s a beautiful campus in a part of Southern California that students don’t often consider, and it has a really strong program in film and screenwriting. It’s small but not too small; big but not too big, at just under 10,000 students. But the most striking aspect of Chapman, from where I sit, is that there are some students that go to visit and come back to proclaim that they just love it there.

Whether you’re enamored of Columbia University because of its Core Curriculum, its student activism, or its location in New York City, there’s no shortage of opportunities to tell its admissions office how good a fit you feel you are for the school—its application has ample space for intellectually curious students to declare their match. Freshman applicants are expected to answer seven of eight prompts as part of their application. If that seems like a lot, take heart. Columbia’s prompts are much more manageable when categorized into three response types: a set of five 150-word lists, one 300-word “Why Columbia” response, and one 300-word “Why this field of study” response. Let’s break them down for you.

As someone who attended UVA for graduate school, I’m a little biased in favor of the school. However, I do genuinely like all of the supplemental essay prompts for two reasons. The first is that they are short. A 250-word limit forces you to be really clear about what the take-home is for the reader because you don’t have any opportunity to lose focus and meander off topic. The second is the questions reflect UVA’s values, and the essay is an opportunity for students to show how they connect with those values. I will also say that UVA is one of those schools, like the University of California system, to be very open and transparent about what they are looking for in an essay. I’ve included a helpful link from their Associate Dean at the end of the blog. Right here, however, are my own tips for addressing the UVA essay prompts. You’ll be asked to choose just one of these questions:

It’s application season, and application season means supplemental essays! In this week’s show, we’ll dissect the supplemental questions for Vassar and University of Rochester. We’ll also answer your college admissions and finance questions in our Listener Q&A segment.

Two of my colleagues and I recently appeared on Good Morning America in a segment in response to the college admission scandal. The piece explored a different and more common way that students try to game the admission process: using an essay they didn’t write themselves. The segment entailed the three of us, plus one additional college counselor, reviewing personal statements and trying to spot the “fake” essay, which proved to be a more nuanced task than I think the GMA producers had expected. We at College Coach thought it might be useful to do a “behind the scenes” account of why spotting the fake was a challenge, and why you still shouldn’t use a fake essay!