Have you heard of collegevine? The creators have done a nice job compiling information for college applicants. I especially appreciate how they’ve aggregated the supplemental essay prompts. They even offer tips on how to tackle each.
Are you wondering why I’m making it so easy for you to access collegevine? Because there are no secrets here. Heck, I’ll even link to their college admissions consultants. The Internet is a vast and voluminous space. Have at it.
I’ll also link to edubirdie. I don’t care. Go ahead and poke around. After I saw the button “write my paper,” I thought, well, that’s too bad. Beside the dropdown “do my homework” (um, no), there are essay examples, and I appreciate sample writing, so perhaps you’ll find something useful there.
College Essay Advisors, Premier College Prep, Ivywise, and on and on, all include collections of supplemental essay prompts and services to help you write your college essays. Do you know where else you can find supplemental essay prompts and oftentimes tips as well? On the actual college websites! My point is you will find what you’re looking for, and if you can’t, you can ask someone in your life — your school counselor, an older sibling, a friend — for help.
When it comes to tackling your supplemental essays, my best advice is to start early. I’ll say that again. Start early. Seems so basic, doesn’t it? Well, if it were easy, college applicants would start early all the time, and you know as well as I do, they don’t.
Did you know you can start the supplementals even before you write your Common App essay? (By the way, not all schools accept the Common App: Georgetown, UC, etc.) In fact, there are some real benefits to brainstorming responses to your supplementals before you conquer the Common App essay. I’ll explain why.
The supplemental prompts tell you about the schools you’re considering in a way that the Common App prompts can’t. As a seasoned educator who’s worked in a dozen schools, including 12 years as a school marketer, I assure you that mission matters, and a school’s mission is suggested in the supplemental prompts.
When you’re searching for your right-fit schools, people will ask you questions like: Do you want a big school or a small school? Do you want to stay close to home or travel far? Urban or rural? Fraternities, sororities, sports, clubs? I want to know if you’ve read the school’s mission statement. It matters. And the schools' supplemental prompts matter too. Sure, the questions are looking for insights into you, but, at the same time, they’re giving you insights into them. Diversity and inclusion, honor codes and community expectations, campus life and collaborative experiences, faith, internships, signature programs, and more. What they ask is what they care about, and if you want to go there, you should care too.
Another benefit to starting the supplemental essays early is you just might (I repeat might) not run out of time. As a college essay advisor, I’m always telling applicants to keep their foot on the gas. Too many times I’ve seen an applicant run out of time or steam. I appreciate when an applicant thoughtfully decides they’ve changed their mind about a particular school, but I’d prefer they not let the clock decide for them. So much about the college application process is about maintaining confidence and control. When the calendar wrests control, the applicant loses agency and initiative. Starting early helps prevent that.
Lastly, starting the supplemental essays early gives you plenty of time to meander through potential responses until the best one surfaces. You can walk away for weeks at a time. That’s a luxury, and one you should take advantage of. I'm a master writing advisor for MedSchoolCoach, helping med school applicants write their essays, and most of my clients spend months, sometimes years, brainstorming, writing, and rewriting their applications. I want someone this thoughtful to be my doctor, don't you?
Good writing takes a long time. Expert and amateur writers alike need time to let their ideas percolate. And every time they walk away, then later return to their writing, there's an opportunity to strengthen a concept, unknot a sentence, perfect a word choice. Remember, if you don’t start early, you forfeit that chance.
Read more tips HERE.
Photo credit: Ana Municio
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