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Supplemental Essays: What’s New

Supplemental Essays: What’s New

Beyond the Common App essay, also known as the Personal Statement, many colleges utilize  “supplemental essays” designed to help students demonstrate their abilities in and outside of the classroom. The more selective the college, the more weight these supplemental essays carry.  

Here are examples of the most common supplemental essays in recent years, and what they are designed to help colleges understand:

  • Essay Prompt: Describe a community you are a part of and your role within it.
    • Goal: To understand the sort of campus community member you will be. 
  • Essay Prompt: Why do you want to study your chosen major, what are your short and long term goals?
    • Goal: To understand what really motivates you. Is it passion, prestige, or pay? (hint: you probably want to demonstrate passion)
  • Essay Prompt: Tell us why you are applying to our college, what makes it a good fit for you?
    • Goal:To understand how thoroughly you’ve researched the college and how comprehensively you’ll take advantage of its resources. 
  • Essay Prompt: How has your background shaped you?
    • Goal: To understand the context of your achievements. (A student who babysits their siblings 20 hours a week won’t be expected to have a long extracurricular resume.)
  • Essay Prompt: Tell us about an extracurricular activity that is meaningful to you, and why?
    • Goal: To demonstrate a broad set of activities. Colleges want diversity of all kinds, including diversity of interests.

Looking ahead to the 2025–26 season, some schools have indicated that they will be getting creative with prompts like “design your own course,” or “explain what’s commonly misunderstood about you.”

These prompts are designed to help colleges understand:

  • Your ability to think creatively, abstractly, and intellectually.
  • Who you are as an individual, and what you value about yourself.

Tips for success:

  • DO YOUR RESEARCH and tailor each answer to the school. Generic supplemental essays do not impress.
  • Tell unique stories. Avoid reiterating ideas you already covered within your Common App essay.
  • Set up a meeting with a Hormel Inspired Pathways advisor to discuss essay ideas. The earlier, the better (but it’s never too late).