The Insider: College Admissions Advice from the Experts

The University of Virginia has always provided some of my favorite supplemental essay prompts (and not just because it’s where I went to grad school). They are short (250 words max) and they are personal.  Both of these mean that a student is forced to get to their point quickly, something I find students struggle with when they have a longer word count, and they are forced to really think about what makes them tick.

Colleges that accept the Common App don’t pick the essays it offers. They do, however, carefully choose each of their supplemental essays, which is why these are often considered as important, if not more important, than the Common App essay.  What they ask can also tell you a bit about the college’s personality; think of off-the-wall creative topics like those the University of Chicago releases every year. How you choose to answer these essays also says a lot about you.

I work with a lot of students who apply to Wake Forest, and the Wake Forest app is one of my favorites. This may surprise you considering there are six (yes six!) supplemental short essay prompts. I like the prompts because they aren’t unnecessarily long and they are mostly very specific, which I find students usually prefer. Let’s take a look at two of them, identify the goal of the essay, and discuss some of the common pitfalls.

When I begin talking with families about a college list, many parents lead the conversation with the question, “How do we choose the right college if my child is undecided about what major she wants to study?”  I tell these parents that for at least 80 percent of students, major shouldn’t be a main driver in where they pick a college. Why?

Q: I have just received a denial letter from a college. Can I appeal the decision?

The letter from the college wasn’t skinny, but it wasn’t fat either. It was somewhere in the middle--you’ve been waitlisted.