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What are supplemental essays?
Beyond the Common App personal statement, most selective colleges ask for supplemental essays — short, school-specific prompts such as "Why us?", community, and intellectual-curiosity questions. They're where you show genuine fit with a particular college, so each one deserves a tailored answer rather than a recycled draft.
Our school-by-school guides break down the 2025–26 supplemental essay prompts for each college and walk through how to approach every question, with examples.
Supplemental essay guides by school
- Agnes Scott College Supplemental Essays
- Alvernia University Supplemental Essays
- Antioch College Supplemental Essays
- Austin College Supplemental Essays
- Babson College Supplemental Essays
- Bay Path University Supplemental Essays
- Bethel University (MN) Supplemental Essays
- Brown University Supplemental Essays
- California Institute of Technology Supplemental Essays
- Carleton College Supplemental Essays
- Carnegie Mellon University Supplemental Essays
- Centenary University Supplemental Essays
- Claremont McKenna College Supplemental Essays
- Columbia University Supplemental Essays
- Dartmouth College Supplemental Essays
- Davidson College Supplemental Essays
- Elim Bible College Supplemental Essays
- Elon University Supplemental Essays
- Emerson College Supplemental Essays
- Emory University Supplemental Essays
- Harvard University Supplemental Essays
- Harvey Mudd College Supplemental Essays
- Haverford College Supplemental Essays
- Hillsdale College Supplemental Essays
- Lehigh University Supplemental Essays
- Lipscomb University Supplemental Essays
- Northwestern University Supplemental Essays
- Northwood University Supplemental Essays
- Paul Smith's College Supplemental Essays
- Princeton University Supplemental Essays
- Principia College Supplemental Essays
- Purdue University Supplemental Essays
- Rice University Supplemental Essays
- Santa Clara University Supplemental Essays
- St. Edward's University Supplemental Essays
- Stanford University Supplemental Essays
- Swarthmore College Supplemental Essays
- Texas A&M University Supplemental Essays
- Texas Lutheran University Supplemental Essays
- The New School Supplemental Essays
- Trevecca Nazarene University Supplemental Essays
- Trine University Supplemental Essays
- University of Dallas Supplemental Essays
- University of Dubuque Supplemental Essays
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Supplemental Essays
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Supplemental Essays
- University of Notre Dame Supplemental Essays
- University of Pennsylvania Supplemental Essays
- University of Redlands Supplemental Essays
- University of San Diego Supplemental Essays
- University of Texas at Austin Supplemental Essays
- University of the West Supplemental Essays
- Virginia Tech Supplemental Essays
- Wagner College Supplemental Essays
- Westmont College Supplemental Essays
- William Jewell College Supplemental Essays
- Yale University Supplemental Essays
New guides are added regularly — check back for more schools.
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