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14 Best College Essay Services for 2024 (40 Services Reviewed)

Research conducted by Emily Kierkegaard , PhD, and expert-reviewed by Kevin Wong, PrepMaven Co-founder

Not sure which college application essay coaching and editing service is the best? We compared the top 40 services, created in-depth reviews for 14 of them, and narrowed it down to the 4 best that will help guide you through the process of writing amazing college application essays.

What is the Best College Essay Service?

• PrepMaven  – best college application essay service overall
• College Essay Mentor  – best for individual consultants
• The College Essay Guy  – best for unlimited essay assistance
• College Vine  – best of the big platforms

The best of the rest:

Individual essay consultants:

• College Essay Editor  – small editing team
• Allison Karpf  – former English teacher helping students
• Your College Vision  – former journalist with more affordable rates
• The College Guru  – good on paper but unresponsive
• Sofia Zapiola – budget-friendly application assistance

Mid-size teams:

• Lotus Learning  – focus on health sciences

Large platforms:

• Study Point  – larger platform with mystery editors
• Ivy Select  – larger platform with mystery editors
• Empowerly  – larger platform with mystery editors
• BeMo  – expensive and aggressive with wrong expertise

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Best College Application Essay Services in 2024

#1 – prepmaven.

Our Verdict — Best College Essay Assistance Overall Price: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package) PrepMaven’s one-on-one college essay assistance is the best option overall. Founded by brothers and Princeton grads Greg and Kevin, almost all of PrepMaven’s essay coaches have Ivy-League experience, primarily from Princeton and Harvard. All essay coaches also undergo a thorough training program in PrepMaven’s methods, developed by professional writers with deep understanding of the college admissions process, for helping students to discover the most compelling stories for their essays. Unlike other services, PrepMaven offers college essay assistance at several different price points. At the most accessible rate, students can work with current Ivy-League undergraduates who specialize in writing and have recently aced the college application process. At higher rates, students can work with coaches who are both Ivy-League grads and professional writers (screenwriters, journalists, editors) with many years of experience helping students to craft compelling essays. Interested students can even work directly with founders Greg and Kevin, who have over 15 years of experience helping students through the entire essay-writing process. PrepMaven’s services combine many of the best features of other good options into one, and it’s hard to beat their experience.

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help now

Any student wanting college essay help, at any point in the process, with a range of budgets.

At a glance:

• Cost: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package)
• Writing coach qualifications: Princeton graduates and professional writers (or current Princeton students); all trained

What we like:

• Ivy League experience —most of their writing coaches are Princeton grads or current students, with some from Harvard and other Ivies
• Different pricing options to meet different families’ circumstances
• More flexible and greater capacity to take on new students compared to individual consultants

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help

#2 – College Essay Mentor

Our Verdict — Best of the Individual Consultants Price: unknown but high Some college essay consulting services consist of just one expert. Of these individual essay consultants, Chris Hunt at College Essay Mentor is our favorite. He combines writing experience as a journalist for the Economist and the Wall Street Journal with personal experience as a graduate of Dartmouth. However, he only works with a small number of students each year, and students need to apply to work with him — he only accepts students with top grades and test scores who are already strong applicants for top schools. Chris offers the option for one-time written feedback, but this only gives big-picture generalizations. (And written-only feedback is always limited.) In order for help with the essay process, students need to purchase a complete essay package.

Students with top grades and test scores who want to work with a one-person business, who have a sizable budget, and who are ready to get started early.

• Cost: $210 for a one-time written essay feedback (big picture only), then $110 per draft feedback; pricing for essay process packages unknown
• Essay coach qualifications: professional journalist, Dartmouth grad
• Professional writing experience as a journalist
• Extensive experience working with college applicants
• Partners with Debra Felix, former Director of Admissions at Columbia, for full application review

What we don’t like:

• One-on-one work is limited to very high-achieving students, who need to apply with a resume : “I limit my one-on-one work to students who I believe will be strong applicants to elite universities. As a rule, this means having high grades in challenging classes, a test score of ACT 34+ or SAT 1500+, and substantial activities outside of the classroom.”
• Works with a limited number of students (60 per year), so often no availability
• All-or-nothing packages don’t allow students to work with Chris for just a few hours or for part of the essay-writing process
• Secretive about pricing (he’ll only give pricing details once he’s reviewed the student’s resume and agreed to work with them), but we expect the minimum cost of working one-on-one to be several thousand dollars

#3 – The College Essay Guy

Our Verdict — Best for Unlimited Essay Assistance Price: $4900 for application to 3 schools, $8050 for application for 10 schools We’re fans of Ethan Sawyer, the original “college essay guy”— his book, College Essay Essentials , is a great guide to the essay-writing process. Ethan doesn’t work directly with many students these days, but he now has a team of consultants who help students follow his principles. Their assistance is really all-or-nothing — they prefer to work with students from the very beginning of the process, and their minimum package is $4900, which includes assistance with essays for three schools. If students are applying to ten schools (a more realistic number for students aiming at competitive colleges), the fee is a hefty $7400.

Students who want unlimited help through the entire process, who have a sizable budget.

• Cost: $4900 (supplemental essays for 3 schools) – $7400 (supplemental essays for 10 schools)
• Essay coach qualifications: mix of Ivy grads and former teachers, some writers/screenwriters; all trained
• Great free resources about the essay-writing process
• Their Matchlighters Scholars Program gives back to the community by providing admissions consulting for select qualifying students
• All-or-nothing packages have a high minimum fee and don’t work for students who want just a few hours of feedback or help with just part of the process

#4 – College Vine

Our Verdict — Best of the Big Platforms Price: $140–180/hour There are plenty of large platforms with large stables of part-time tutors and coaches available to work with students. Of these big platforms, we think CollegeVine has the best offerings. Compared to other large companies, CollegeVine provides more information about their tutors, and students can pick individual tutors to work with from their roster. However, this model is really just a way of finding individual tutors to hire. Tutors don’t receive any training and don’t share a common approach, so it’s a mixed bag. Their rates are fairly high for part-time tutors who don’t have specific expertise and training in college essay consulting. Because CollegeVine is really just a marketplace where individual tutors can find students, the quality and price will vary widely.

Students who want to work with a big company, or those who want a quick session or two to go over their essays.

• Cost: Typically $140–180/hour
• Essay coach qualifications: no specific qualifications, but a few are Ivy League graduates
• Possible to select individual editors to work with from their roster.
• Easy to schedule ad-hoc sessions with a tutor through the website.
• No training or common approach for tutors
• Editors are part-time , with no option to work with full-time college admissions experts
• Relatively expensive for this level of expertise

College Essay Editing Alternatives (that Didn’t Make the Cut)

Individual essay consultants, #5 – college essay editor.

Our Verdict — Small Editing Team Price: Roughly $5,950 for applications to 10 schools College Essay Editor comprises two graduates of Stanford. This means that they have personal experience applying to highly competitive schools. One member of the team also has a college counseling certification, which is a good background for college essays. Based on their website, they appear to focus on the editing and proofreading phase of the essay-writing process. This can be helpful to students, but we recommend working with a service who can help students to uncover their values and brainstorm really great material that allows them to really shine—and if this doesn’t happen at the beginning of the process, it’s much harder to add in later on.

• Cost: $195/1000 words for proofreading, $495/1000 words for 3 rounds of editing and proofreading, or $595/1000 words for unlimited rounds of editing and proofreading; for the purposes of comparison, complete applications to 10 competitive colleges would be around 9,650 words, or $5950.
• Writing coach qualifications: Stanford graduates, one of whom has college counseling certification
• Editors are graduates of Stanford University , and one is a member of NACAC, the national association of college counselors
• They focus on editing and proofreading only , not on the crucial earlier steps of brainstorming and strategy
• Small team with very limited availability
• All asynchronous editing so you won’t be able to cultivate a real relationship with your essay coach.

#6 – Allison Karpf

Our Verdict — Former English Teacher Helping Students Price: $385/hour or $3850 package for application to one school Another option for students looking to hire an individual consultant is Allison Karpf. Allison is a former high school English teacher and a graduate of UC Berkeley who also holds a Masters of Education from Stanford. Her rates are definitely on the higher side, especially for someone who doesn’t have a professional writing background, but she does have extensive experience working with students to craft their essays.

• Cost:  $385/hour or $3850 unlimited counseling (includes supplemental essays for one college)
• Essay coach qualifications: former high school English teacher; Berkeley grad, Stanford MEd
• Lots of experience helping students improve their college essays
• Very quick to respond to client requests
• No professional writing experience or Ivy-Plus undergraduate experience
• High rates relative to other options
• Limited availability , since she works alone

#7 – Your College Vision

Our Verdict: Former Journalist with More Affordable Rates Price: $180/hour, or packages starting from $3500 Laurie Lande is another individual consultant who helps students through the essay-writing process. She comes recommended by other consultants like Chris from College Essay Mentor . Laurie did not herself attend a highly competitive school, so she doesn’t have that personal experience of going through the selective admissions process, but she does have a professional writing background as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

• Cost: $180/hour or packages starting at $3500
• Essay coach qualifications: journalism background
• Affordable pricing , relative to other options
• Not a graduate of a highly selective school

#8 – The College Guru

Our Verdict — Good on Paper but Unresponsive Price: unknown Yet another individual essay consultant is Geanine Thompson from The College Guru. Geanine attended Dartmouth as an undergraduate and also holds an MBA from Duke. She also has a professional writing background as an assistant book editor at Berkley Publishing Group. Like Greg and Kevin at PrepMaven , she combines experience in the business world and at Wall Street firms with experience in education.

• Cost: unknown
• Essay coach qualifications: former assistant book editor; Dartmouth grad, Duke MBA
• Dartmouth graduate and former book editor
• Not responsive to emails and client requests

#9 – Sofia Zapiola

Our Verdict — A budget-friendly, personal essay editor. Price: $80/hour Yet another individual essay consultant is Sofia Zapiola, who offers a mix of essay editing and college application counseling services.

• Cost: $80/hour
• Essay coach qualifications: M.A. from Harvard; certificate in College Counseling from UC San Diego.
• Individual approach, budget-friendly rates, commitment to working within families’ budgets.
• Very few testimonials, so it’s difficult to evaluate how effective she is.

Mid-size Teams

#10 – lotus learning.

Our Verdict — Expensive for Tutor Background Price: $165/hour Founded by a Harvard grad who is a former teacher and veteran of the publishing industry, Lotus learning offers college essay help in the Boston area. They have a small team of tutors, mostly recent grads from good but not Ivy-Plus colleges, and mostly with focus in health sciences.

• Cost: $165/hour (minimum 8 hours)
• Essay coach qualifications: tutors are recent grads, but not Ivy-Plus schools
• Reasonable pricing with flexible packages
• Essay editors aren’t graduates of Ivy-Plus schools and don’t have professional writing experience

Large platforms

#11 – study point.

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: Rates Between $60 and $120/hr Study Point is a larger essay editing service. They claim to have several decades of experience helping students to craft their college essays, but they do not give information about who their essay coaches are and what qualifications they might have.

• Cost: $60-120/hr, depending on tutor experience
• Essay coach qualifications: unknown
• Larger company with several decades of experience
• Unclear who the essay coaches are
• Lack of statistics about their results

#12 – Ivy Select

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: unknown Ivy Select makes a lot of big promises on their website about having the best college essay consultants in the business, but they offer no information on who these consultants are, or on their backgrounds. They also brag that each consultant “only” works 20 students in one application cycle, but in our experience, that’s quite high.

• Long list of impressive (but anonymous) testimonials
• Only work with “top students”
• No information on their website about who the editors are
• Each essay coach works with up to 20 students at one time

#13 – Empowerly

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: High, from $6000/year Empowerly has over 60 college counselors who each work with an average of 5 students per year, in order to have more time to devote to each student. Their counselors come from “different educational backgrounds,” and while they do not provide specific biographical details we can assume that most of their essay coaches did not attend highly selective schools.

• Cost: typically from $6000/year
• Essay coach qualifications: college counselors
• Counselors work with just a few students per year
• You have to upgrade to “Empowerly Elite” to guarantee a counselor with a more selective educational background
• No professional writing experience

#14 – Prepory

Our Verdict — Expensive but with Good Expertise Price: $325/hr Prepory is a college application and career counseling service that offers a comprehensive program for college applications at any stage of the process (including as early as 9th grade). They make a lot of impressive claims about the expertise of their coaches, but it’s quite difficult to actual find much information about their essay coach qualifications.

• Cost: $325/hr
• They have a comprehensive college application program that begins as early as 9th grade.
• Limited information about essay coaches
• High prices

Top 40 College Essay Services Considered

• College Essay Editor
• The College Essay Guy
• College Vine
• College Essay Mentor
• Study Point
• Allison Karpf
• The College Guru
• Lotus Learning
• Summit Prep
• Sofia Zapiola
• Ivy Global / New Summits
• College Essay Solutions
• Your College Vision
• Essay Edge*
• ServicEscape*
• PapersForge*
• QuickWriter*
• JustEditMyEssay*
• JustDoMyEsssay*
• ExpertWriting*
• SpeedyPaper*
• GradeMiners*

* A number of services will edit essays directly for students, or even write portions of the essay for students. We do not condone this. Admissions officers can tell when essays have been written or edited by adults and this can have severe consequences. We have excluded these services from our reviews.

Why are college application essays important?

Can a great college essay alone get you into Harvard?

No. You’ll need your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities (as well as letters of recommendation and interview) to be outstanding.

But can a mediocre essay be the reason you didn’t get into Harvard?

Yes. There are thousands of amazingly-qualified students who graduate from high school each year. Great grades and test scores might be a prerequisite for admission to a competitive college, but they alone aren’t enough.

College essays are a key component of a student’s application . When done well, they transform a collection of numbers—GPA, class rank, SAT or ACT scores , number of AP classes taken, AP scores—into a glimpse of a real, individual person.

Essays do many things. Good college essays can highlight extracurricular achievements which otherwise would be overlooked in a sterile list. Strong essays often indicate the student’s future plans —how they plan to leave a mark on their college campus and on the world. They can shine a light on unique challenges that a student may have had to face on their journey.

College admissions officers only have a few minutes to spend on each application. College essays need to be original, interesting, and memorable . They need to grab the attention of the admissions officer and persuade them that this is the student out of hundreds or thousands of other similarly-qualified applicants who should be admitted.

College admissions essays are usually unlike any other kind of writing that students have done before. They’re a combination of memoir and marketing pitch, and they need to be creative but also highly strategic. That’s a tough assignment!

What’s more, students are left to figure this assignment out on their own. A thoughtful and generous high school English teacher may provide guidance or offer to read essays and give feedback, but these teachers are responsible for many students, and they’re (usually) not experts in admissions strategies.

There’s another reason college essays are especially important from 2024 on. After the recent Supreme Court decision, the application essay has become one of the main ways that you can communicate how your racial identity has affected your life.

In fact, the New York Times published an article about how important it can be for students to discuss race in their college application essays!

Why work with a college essay service?

You may want to consider a college essay service if:

• You have no idea where to start in order to write your college application essays
• You feel overwhelmed by all of the different ideas you have and don’t know what would be the most strategic for college admissions—and what topics to definitely avoid for college essays
• You don’t know how to craft a compelling stor y
• You’re not sure how to edit and refine what you’ve written
• You have a hard time keeping yourself on track and want an external structure to hold you accountable
• You’re tired of conflict between students and parents about college essays
• You’re aiming at a competitive college (not just the Ivy League!) and know that you need your essays to be outstanding
• Your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars aren’t exceptional, so you need your essay to make your essay stand out from the pack
• You’re unfamiliar with the US college admissions process (a common situation for international students and first-generation families in the US)

Any of these are strong reasons to consider working with a college essay service!

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of the free advice on college’s website isn’t always very clear. For example, NYU’s admissions Senior Assistant Director of Admissions says that “There is no right or wrong way to answer as long as your answer is genuine to you.”

While that’s true, that doesn’t offer much guidance on how to actually write the essay!

Though many college applicants might not mention it, more and more students are using professional college application consultants. Research at the University of Chicago has shown that over a quarter of high-achieving seniors employed private specialists to help with the college application process.

In fact, according to NPR , some companies are even offering college admissions counseling to their top employees as an incentive–that’s just how important professional help can be in the current landscape of college admissions.

It’s important to note that a good college essay service will not write your college application essays for you . This is unethical and illegal. That’s not just coming from us: take it from a school like Princeton, whose website insists on the importance of writing your own application essays.

A good college essay service will guide you through each step of the process , teaching you how to self-reflect and write well while sharing insider insight about admissions strategy .

What makes a good college essay service?

We strongly believe that students need to write their own college essays , and we do not condone plagiarism or “buying” a college essay.

However, writing college application essays requires a completely new set of skills that is rarely taught in high school!

Writing a personal essay is much more creative than simply writing a good paper for English class. It requires a compelling narrative and a great deal of writing craft . A good essay service will teach how to do this kind of writing.

There are many college essay services that will provide only written feedback to students, usually in the form of comments added to an essay draft. (Remember, it’s important that students write their own essays, so avoid any college essay service that will make edits directly to an essay document .)

Written comments can be an effective component of good essay coaching. However, writing college essays is a deeply personal process , and it’s incredibly difficult to guide a student through the process of self-reflection, brainstorming, and planning purely through written comments.

In addition, a great college essay coach will teach students how to do this entire process of brainstorming, planning, outlining, writing, and revising . It’s difficult to learn why an essay coach is advising certain changes through written comments alone.

For these reasons, look for a college essay service with live, one-on-one services , not just written feedback. These days, it’s easy to work with the best college essay consultants in the country over Zoom!

Students need to reflect on their goals, their passions, and what drives them to be the person they are. This requires a great deal of self-awareness and self-analysis . An experienced college essay coach can help draw these ideas out of students through tested introspection techniques and brainstorming exercises .

On top of all of that, students need to be cognizant of which traits and accomplishments will be most appealing to colleges , and which stories will be cliche and boring. Personal statements and supplementary essays need to fit together to tell a cohesive story, and they need to work together with the rest of the student’s application (extracurriculars, grades, and other accomplishments).

In other words, there’s a great deal of strategy here! An experienced college essay service can help students decide how to present themselves in the best possible light .

Furthermore, most students don’t know how to edit effectively . A really top-notch college essay service will also teach students how to edit their own writing —how to reorder sections for better flow, cut unnecessary words to meet a word count, eliminate passive verbs, and make their writing vivid and exciting. Our students are routinely amazed by how transformative this step can be, and how much they learn by doing it together with the essay coach.

Finally, the best college essay services can also help students to make a writing plan and keep them on track , so that parents don’t have to be involved directly.

Ready to work on your college essays? Schedule a free 15- to 30-minute consultation with Jessica or one of our founders.

Best overall: PrepMaven’s tutors offer the highest quality at the best price. With three tiers of tutors, they make it easy to work with an Ivy League undergraduate for as little as $79/hr. Or, families can work with education professionals or Ivy League graduates from $150/hr. PrepMaven’s track record means that you can be sure every hour is being spent productively, so that you can expect real results from the work.

Best for individual consultants: College Essay Mentor. In theory, College Essay Mentor would offer an unparalleled level of individual attention and guidance: his website boasts of some very impressive results. You might find it hard to actually schedule with him, however, since he’s very selective about his clients.

Best for unlimited essay assistance: The College Essay Guy might not offer that personalized attention you get from live, face to face essay coaching, but they do offer unlimited essay editing for up to 10 schools (if you’re comfortable paying a hefty package price).

Best of the big platforms: College Vine will always be a bit of a gamble. Because it’s a tutor marketplace, your results (and costs) will really depend on how lucky you get with your consultant. From our research, however, many of their essay coaches look to have solid track records.

Ready to work on college essays with one of our experienced writing coaches? Schedule a free test prep consultation with Jessica (Director of Tutoring) or one of our founders to see what would be the best fit for your family.

It’s always best to start early and not wait until the last minute to write your college essays! Remember that essays can be used to earn scholarships as well as college admission, so a few months of writing now can pay off with up to $300,000 in tuition saved later. 

We work with students at all stages of the writing process, from I-have-no-idea-what-to-write to final edits. To start working with an Ivy-League writing coach today, set up a quick free consultation with our team.

Schedule a free college essay consultation

Top College Essay Posts

• 14 Best College Essay Services for 2023 (40 Services Reviewed)
• Qualities of a Successful College Essay
• 11 College Essays That Worked
• How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions
• How Colleges Read your College Applications (A 4-Step Process)
• How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays
• The Diamond Strategy: How We Help Students Write College Essays that Get Them Into Princeton (And Other Ivy League Schools)
• What is the College Essay? Your Complete Guide for 202 4
• College Essay Brainstorming: Where to Start
• How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays
• How to Format Your College Essay

Emily graduated  summa cum laude  from Princeton University and holds an MA from the University of Notre Dame. She was a National Merit Scholar and has won numerous academic prizes and fellowships. A veteran of the publishing industry, she has helped professors at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton revise their books and articles. Over the last decade, Emily has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay. 

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From grammar and syntax to the strength of the topic, expert reviewers on CollegeVine are thorough in helping your voice stand out and write essays that actually resonate with admissions officers.

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Other essay resources on CollegeVine

Essay prompts & guides

At CollegeVine, our goal is to make the college application process a little less stressful, so we’ve compiled the latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools in one easy, searchable database.

Review a peer essay

Build confidence and improve your own writing by reviewing peer essays. Get into the mindset of a reader trying to understand the writer, just like an admissions officer.

Differentiating yourself is more important than ever

With more schools going test-optional, college essays can help you stand out from the rest, and they can often make the difference between rejection and acceptance.

Essays are 35% of your application

Grades alone won’t get you accepted to your dream school. The college essay is an extremely important piece of your college application. Essays help you stand out from the rest.

Show your personality

Admissions officers want to better understand who you are through your essays. Showcasing your unique view of the world and the experiences that have led you to where you are is pivotal.

Become memorable to admissions

Admissions officers only spend a few minutes on each application. Ensure your essay will be memorable by getting honest feedback from people who don’t already know your story well.

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$2,500 Monthly No Essay CollegeVine Scholarship

Scholarship description.

CollegeVine is an AI company that leverages its vast student network, data, and AI agents to transform student recruitment. We’re focused on applying the latest AI technologies to our student network of millions to produce incredible outcomes for our students and the educational opportunities they seek. Join CollegeVine’s network to unlock early admissions offers and scholarships from top schools

Scholarship Details

• CollegeVine aims to assist students in the high school to workforce transition, recognizing that college is one of many potential paths.
• The scholarship focuses on simplifying and demystifying the college application process, especially for families with limited resources.
• CollegeVine offers a platform to connect students with valuable guidance and resources for informed decision-making.
• Designed to address the challenges faced by families with limited resources in the college planning journey.
• Aiming to bridge the gap caused by the low student-to-school counselor ratio in U.S. public schools.

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to all high school students navigating the college application process.
• Must be planning to attend college in the coming fall

Application Process

• Navigate to the CollegeVine platform.
• Utilize the available resources, advisors, and peer connections for personalized guidance.
• Access the scholarship application and follow the submission instructions.

This initiative was born out of the realization that the average student-to-school counselor ratio in U.S. public schools is 472:1, resulting in limited support for students during their critical decision-making period. CollegeVine strives to provide a scalable solution, offering personalized and reliable guidance so that every student can receive an acceptable baseline of support for this significant life decision.

How To Tackle The Weirdest Supplemental Essay Prompts For This Application Cycle

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Writing the college essay

How do you write a letter to a friend that shows you’re a good candidate for the University of Pennsylvania? What reading list will help the Columbia University admissions committee understand your interdisciplinary interests? How can you convey your desire to attend Yale by inventing a course description for a topic you’re interested in studying?

These are the challenges students must overcome when writing their supplemental essays . Supplemental essays are a critical component of college applications—like the personal statement, they provide students with the opportunity to showcase their authentic voice and perspective beyond the quantitative elements of their applications. However, unlike the personal essay, supplemental essays allow colleges to read students’ responses to targeted prompts and evaluate their candidacy for their specific institution. For this reason, supplemental essay prompts are often abstract, requiring students to get creative, read between the lines, and ditch the traditional essay-writing format when crafting their responses.

While many schools simply want to know “why do you want to attend our school?” others break the mold, inviting students to think outside of the box and answer prompts that are original, head-scratching, or downright weird. This year, the following five colleges pushed students to get creative—if you’re struggling to rise to the challenge, here are some tips for tackling their unique prompts:

University of Chicago

Prompt: We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents. – Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

What Makes it Unique: No discussion of unique supplemental essay prompts would be complete without mentioning the University of Chicago, a school notorious for its puzzling and original prompts (perhaps the most well-known of these has been the recurring prompt “Find x”). This prompt challenges you to invent a new color-based expression, encouraging both linguistic creativity and a deep dive into the emotional or cultural connotations of color. It’s a prompt that allows you to play with language, think abstractly, and show off your ability to forge connections between concepts that aren’t typically linked—all qualities that likewise demonstrate your preparedness for UChicago’s unique academic environment.

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How to Answer it: While it may be easy to get distracted by the open-ended nature of the prompt, remember that both the substance and structure of your response should give some insight into your personality, perspective, and characteristics. With this in mind, begin by considering the emotions, experiences, or ideas that most resonate with you. Then, use your imagination to consider how a specific color could represent that feeling or concept. Remember that the prompt is ultimately an opportunity to showcase your creativity and original way of looking at the world, so your explanation does not need to be unnecessarily deep or complex—if you have a playful personality, convey your playfulness in your response; if you are known for your sarcasm, consider how you can weave in your biting wit; if you are an amateur poet, consider how you might take inspiration from poetry as you write, or offer a response in the form of a poem.

The goal is to take a familiar concept and turn it into something new and meaningful through a creative lens. Use this essay to showcase your ability to think inventively and to draw surprising connections between language and life.

Harvard University

Prompt: Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in both form and substance—first, you only have 150 words to write about all 3 things. Consider using a form other than a traditional essay or short answer response, such as a bullet list or short letter. Additionally, note that the things your roommate might like to learn about you do not necessarily overlap with the things you would traditionally share with an admissions committee. The aim of the prompt is to get to know your quirks and foibles—who are you as a person and a friend? What distinguishes you outside of academics and accolades?

How to Answer it: First and foremost, feel free to get creative with your response to this prompt. While you are producing a supplemental essay and thus a professional piece of writing, the prompt invites you to share more personal qualities, and you should aim to demonstrate your unique characteristics in your own voice. Consider things such as: How would your friends describe you? What funny stories do your parents and siblings share that encapsulate your personality? Or, consider what someone might want to know about living with you: do you snore? Do you have a collection of vintage posters? Are you particularly fastidious? While these may seem like trivial things to mention, the true creativity is in how you connect these qualities to deeper truths about yourself—perhaps your sleepwalking is consistent with your reputation for being the first to raise your hand in class or speak up about a cause you’re passionate about. Perhaps your living conditions are a metaphor for how your brain works—though it looks like a mess to everyone else, you have a place for everything and know exactly where to find it. Whatever qualities you choose, embrace the opportunity to think outside of the box and showcase something that admissions officers won’t learn about anywhere else on your application.

University of Pennsylvania

Prompt: Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge.

What Makes it Unique: Breaking from the traditional essay format, this supplement invites you to write directly to a third party in the form of a 150-200 word long letter. The challenge in answering this distinct prompt is to remember that your letter should say as much about you, your unique qualities and what you value as it does about the recipient—all while not seeming overly boastful or contrived.

How to Answer it: As you select a recipient, consider the relationships that have been most formative in your high school experience—writing to someone who has played a large part in your story will allow the admissions committee some insight into your development and the meaningful relationships that guided you on your journey. Once you’ve identified the person, craft a thank-you note that is specific and heartfelt—unlike other essays, this prompt invites you to be sentimental and emotional, as long as doing so would authentically convey your feelings of gratitude. Describe the impact they’ve had on you, what you’ve learned from them, and how their influence has shaped your path. For example, if you’re thanking a teacher, don’t just say they helped you become a better student—explain how their encouragement gave you the confidence to pursue your passions. Keep the tone sincere and personal, avoid clichés and focus on the unique role this person has played in your life.

University of Notre Dame

Prompt: What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in that it invites students to share something about themselves by reflecting on someone else’s words in 50-100 words.

How to Answer it: The key to answering this prompt is to avoid focusing too much on the complement itself and instead focus on your response to receiving it and why it was so important to you. Note that this prompt is not an opportunity to brag about your achievements, but instead to showcase what truly matters to you. Select a compliment that truly speaks to who you are and what you value. It could be related to your character, work ethic, kindness, creativity, or any other quality that you hold in high regard. The compliment doesn’t have to be grand or come from someone with authority—it could be something small but significant that left a lasting impression on you, or it could have particular meaning for you because it came from someone you didn’t expect it to come from. Be brief in setting the stage and explaining the context of the compliment—what is most important is your reflection on its significance and how it shaped your understanding of yourself.

Stanford University

Prompt: List five things that are important to you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt’s simplicity is what makes it so challenging. Stanford asks for a list, not an essay, which means you have very limited space (50 words) to convey something meaningful about yourself. Additionally, the prompt does not specify what these “things” must be—they could be a physical item, an idea, a concept, or even a pastime. Whatever you choose, these five items should add depth to your identity, values, and priorities.

How to Answer it: Start by brainstorming what matters most to you—these could be values, activities, people, places, or even abstract concepts. The key is to choose items or concepts that, when considered together, provide a comprehensive snapshot of who you are. For example, you might select something tangible and specific such as “an antique telescope gifted by my grandfather” alongside something conceptual such as “the willingness to admit when you’re wrong.” The beauty of this prompt is that it doesn’t require complex sentences or elaborate explanations—just a clear and honest reflection of what you hold dear. Be thoughtful in your selections, and use this prompt to showcase your creativity and core values.

While the supplemental essays should convey something meaningful about you, your values, and your unique qualifications for the university to which you are applying, the best essays are those that are playful, original, and unexpected. By starting early and taking the time to draft and revise their ideas, students can showcase their authentic personalities and distinguish themselves from other applicants through their supplemental essays.

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How to End a College Essay: Six Strategies

Gina twardosz.

• Last Updated on August 22, 2024

Table of Contents

Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of your Common App personal statement…or you’re thinking about the end of your personal statement, and that’s still a cause for celebration. 

Consider your favorite show, film, or book—how did you feel when it ended? Perhaps you were sad because you had spent so much time with the characters that they felt like close friends, or maybe you were angry at a disappointing conclusion that left more questions than answers. 

Whether we like it or not, a conclusion, good or bad, can change how we feel about a piece of media. It’s just as important as your introduction, and maybe even more important since it’s the last thing your reader will read. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to end a college essay to make a lasting impression.

Why Is the Ending Important?

When friends ask me for book or movie recommendations, I always start with the ending. “You have to watch it, the ending was so heartwarming!” I say, or, more often than not, “Don’t watch it—the ending didn’t make any sense.” 

Endings have huge cultural staying power and can even change the audience’s perception of the entire work. You don’t want to unravel your tightly wound story with a loose ending! 

And they lived happily ever after. 

This ending may be unforgettable but for the wrong reasons. Your life is not a fairy tale, so your essay can’t have such a boring, basic conclusion. The ending to your college essay should be rich with nuance and insight. 

To make a lasting impression on the reader, your conclusion should push boundaries, following the reader long after they finish reading your college essay. The end of your college essay should satisfy the reader, tying up loose ends, but a good conclusion is also active, not passive. A good ending to your college essay asks and answers the question, “What’s the point?” Why did the reader just read a 650-word story about you?

Your conclusion is, in many ways, a gift to the reader. It’s the dessert after a long meal—it completes their reading experience and makes everything that came before it worth it. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Before we explore the different ways to end a college essay, let’s discuss what not to do. 

The biggest mistake students make when crafting an end to their college essay is not taking the conclusion seriously. 

In essays you’ve written for class, you may have been encouraged to restate your thesis in the conclusion. While that’s a good strategy for an informative essay, a college personal essay is very different. Your college essay may not even have a clear thesis statement, and that’s okay. 

You should not summarize your essay in your conclusion either. A pointed summary of all the main points of your college essay may seem memorable, but it lacks creativity and can seem as though you’re talking down to the reader. A good ending introduces a new part of the essay, so it should stand out while remaining cohesive. 

How to End a College Essay

If you want your essay to capture attention and resonate with the reader, follow these six strategies for ending a college essay. 

Reflect 

While you should be reflecting throughout your essay, a great way to tie together any themes or lessons learned is by reflecting on your values or beliefs at the end of the essay. Have they changed since the beginning of the story by growing stronger, maybe even weaker as you’ve gained more knowledge? 

It’s important to note that reflection is not summary—you’re introducing a new way of looking at your story in the conclusion. In a way, reflection is the analysis of your story.

Reflection is a great way to show maturity and growth. While you’ll likely grow and mature even more throughout college, reflecting on your experiences shows a thoughtfulness conducive to a college education. 

If you’ve ever seen a stand-up comedian perform, then you know that sometimes they reference earlier jokes later in the set. A “callback” can seem like an inside joke between the comedian and audience, creating familiarity between performer and spectator. 

Let’s look at the essay introduction imagined in the article, “ How to Write a Good Essay Hook. ”

“Yuck!” I yelled as the pigeon pooped on my head. 

It’s safe to assume this essay will be, in part, about overcoming challenges or adversity. So, how should it end? To match the humor of the introduction, a callback can be utilized to end this college essay. 

The best advice I ever received was to stay positive. Keep looking up, because if anything, you’ll see the pigeon before it poops! 

While this essay is very humorous, your essay doesn’t have to be funny to use a callback.

Rescue Your Cliffhanger

It may be self explanatory, but if you started your essay with a cliffhanger, you’ll have to return to it at the end, saving whatever you left dangling in a move that will leave the reader both relieved, satisfied, and maybe even a little surprised. 

Ending your essay in a scene is also an active way to leave a memorable impression on the reader.

You’ve experienced a lot so far, but there is still so much for you to discover. Readers of your essay know that your big journey is just beginning, so don’t be afraid to end your essay looking toward the future. Especially if your essay is about overcoming a challenge, you’ll want to end on a positive note as you look out toward your potential. 

Just as you’re reflecting inward, look outward at the world around you. What’s next for you? Show the reader that your story is only ending on paper. 

When writing the perfect college essay, the stakes can feel overwhelming. Applying to colleges is a serious undertaking, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t allow yourself to feel excited! You’re going to college, and you’re going to do big things when you’re there, and beyond.

While you’ll likely have a chance to write about your career aspirations in one of the many short answer supplemental essays colleges require, your college essay can be a great way for you to write about your hopes and dreams. Especially if you’re writing about your identity, background, or talents, ending on your dreams can leave the reader with a memorable and heartwarming message.  

Surprise Twist! 

M. Night Shyamalan: You either love his twist endings…or you loathe them. I won’t tell you how to watch movies, but when it comes to writing, I can assure you that a surprise twist can make your college essay impossible to forget. 

It should be said that this can be one of the hardest endings to get right, and it definitely depends upon the way you’ve structured your essay. But if your essay is pretty conventional, a surprise twist can take your college essay to the next level. 

Think of your twist ending as more of a pivot into a new direction. It’s important not to stray too far from the topic of the essay—you don’t want a disjointed essay—but surprise twists can be a great way to ensure your essay doesn’t fall victim to trope. 

For example, maybe your essay is about becoming a more adventurous cook, but in the end, you end up burning Thanksgiving dinner! Things didn’t go as expected, but through this journey, you learned what truly matters is family…and takeout food. 

Life is full of twists and turns, and if you can work one into your essay, you may just take the right path toward your dream school. 

While the end of a college essay is only one part of it, it has the ability to the define the essay, so it’s important to take it seriously and write a creative ending that satisfies the reader while leaving a lasting impression. It’s not enough to simply start the race, you have to finish strong to secure your victory. One of these six strategies can help you end your college essay, ensuring that your college essay is unforgettable.

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The Common App personal statement is a student’s chance to make their application stand out. And your supplemental essays can help you tell a compelling and memorable story.

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A subreddit dedicated to asking questions and sharing resources about college application essays in all their many forms. Discussion about common app, UC essays, supplemental, scholarships, extracurricular sections, and more are welcome. Always remember the human!

Hack The College Essay by John Dew helped me write my essay and you should read it.

Here's a PDF link. https://www.hackthecollegeessay.com/uploads/1/0/9/5/109505679/hack_the_college_essay_2017.pdf

The website it's from: https://www.hackthecollegeessay.com/

So many of you are wondering how we //really// know when a Common App essay is good. Will it work? Is this concept too gimmicky? Isn't this all subjective anyways?

This PDF changed my perspective on writing the essay a lot. To paraphrase John Dew, at the end of the day what your essay should do is make the AO feel like they really know you. Like, well enough that when your AO holds the gun of rejection, they can't bear to aim it at you and pull the trigger- they'd rather shoot some other stranger. If your essay does that? It's probably pretty dang good.

Of course, this is just one author's opinion among a million other opinions. But I liked it. It made sense to me, and it helped me write my essay. The rest of the PDF is written with similar sense and simplicity. Maybe it'll help some of you as much as it helped me!

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How to Write the Cornell University Essays 2023-2024

The largest of the eight Ivy League universities, Cornell University is made up of eight undergraduate schools that applicants apply directly to. Because of this, you will be required to submit a school-specific supplemental essay (or essays) in addition to one campus-wide essay.

Cornell is an incredibly prestigious school with tens of thousands of applicants each year. In order to be one of the chosen few to attend, your essays will need to be thoughtful, well-written, and uniquely you. In this post, we’ll explain how to write the Cornell essays so you can maximize your chances of acceptance.

Read these Cornell essay examples to inspire your writing.

Cornell University Supplemental Essay Prompts

Before you apply to Cornell, you should determine which specific college is right for you. Each of Cornell’s colleges has its own majors and specific graduation requirements, though there are some majors that exist within multiple colleges. Understanding the differences between the colleges is essential when applying, since you will need to highlight the specific resources offered by each of them in your essays.

Below are the supplemental essay prompts for Cornell’s colleges (click to jump to the right section):

All Applicants

Brooks school of public policy.

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences

• College of Engineering

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

College of human ecology, school of industrial and labor relations, college of art, architecture and planning, in the aftermath of the u.s. civil war, ezra cornell wrote, “i would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” for over 150 years, cornell university has remained deeply committed to ezra’s vision. explain how your life experiences will help inform your contributions to a learning community devoted to “…any person…any study.” we encourage you to think broadly about your life experiences, including how local (e.g., family, school, neighborhood) or global communities you’ve been part of have helped shape your perspective. (350 words).

Cornell prides itself on its motto, “any person…any study” so it’s important that you approach this prompt with care and attention to the deeper meaning behind the phrase. Before you start writing, consider what the school means by “any person…any study”.

Any Person…Any Study

As the prompt states, Cornell was founded in 1865 and within its first few years, Black and female students were admitted in a time when most universities were closed to them. Cornell has a history of accepting anyone of any background, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, or sexuality. 

Any one can attend Cornell, but the second part of the founder’s motto emphasizes the idea that you can study any thing at the school. From the range of eight undergraduate schools specializing in everything from classic arts and sciences to architecture to public policy to hotel management, you can find a major, minor, or department that aligns with any interest you might have. 

This phrase stands for the possibility for people to do whatever they want with a Cornell education. Your response should allude to these ideals to demonstrate to the admissions committee that you understand the school’s history and the deeper meaning that enables you to pursue anything regardless of where you came from.

Approaches to the Essay

Now that you have more context, there are a few general ways to go about answering this prompt that you might want to use. Below, we’ll go over what each one might entail so you can get a feel of the best way to attack this essay to showcase your connection to Cornell.

Any Person Approach

For students who find that an aspect of their background is central to their personality, this might be a good route for you. In this essay style, you can highlight how your race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation, sexuality, etc, impacts the way you see and approach the world.

You’ll need to show the reader what your unique personal characteristic is, demonstrate the way it affected your thinking, and illustrate how you will bring your unique perspective to Cornell. It’s also a good idea to tie in the “any study” part by mentioning how your background or your way of thinking influenced your academic interests.

A student who grew up as the only international kid in their school might write about how the lack of others with shared cultural experiences made him feel lonely and isolated. This led him to spend a lot of time in his imagination where he found creative writing as an outlet and now he wants to pursue English at Cornell. He’s planning to join the student newspaper and publish his short stories to share with others who also enjoy escapism through writing.

Another example of a student taking the “any person” approach would be a Latinx student who had to serve as a translator for her parents from a young age, which exposed her to many legal and procedural discussions. Because of this, she developed an interest in conflict mediation and wants to concentrate in Human Resources at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Although a larger focus in this essay approach might be on your background, still make sure that you are relating your personal experiences to your studies and the school.

Any Study Approach

Maybe you don’t think there’s anything significant enough in your background to highlight, but you are really passionate about your chosen major. In that case, you could consider structuring your essay so you showcase what you love about your major, why you are drawn to that particular topic, and how your knowledge in that field will help you contribute to the campus community.

Even if you go down this road, you still want to emphasize how your interests or passions have given you a unique perspective that will make you a beneficial contributor to the Cornell campus.

For example, a student might describe how they are addicted to the Food Network, hosted their own annual Chopped competitions with their friends, and dream of opening their own restaurant because cooking allows them to express their creativity in a way no other medium can. They are planning on working in the restaurant run by Hotel Administration students to continue exploring creative ways to cook.

On the other hand, a student who is in love with robotics could write about how piecing parts together to create a fully-functioning robot helps her appreciate the power of collaboration. She wants to work with others as an engineering student to both create more intricate robots and to solve global problems by technology and bringing together multiple perspectives.

These aren’t the only two ways to go about writing this essay, but they are good starting points to help you frame your ideas. Remember, regardless of whether you focus more heavily on your unique background or your academic interests—or if you split the essay evenly between the two—make sure you are touching upon both “any person…any study”.

Why are you drawn to studying public policy? Drawing on your experiences, tell us about why you are interested in your chosen major and how attending the Brooks School will help you achieve your life goals. (650 words)

This is a fairly straightforward “Why This Major?” prompt. A prompt like this seeks to understand your motives and interest in your intended major, how your background aligns with this interest, and what you intend to do with the major after college.

Before you begin writing, you should do some self-reflection. Ponder these questions for a bit and jot down some notes:

1) What are your genuine reasons for deciding on your major/this particular school?

You should ideally have picked a subject that you have a passion for, or at least a moderate interest in. If your reasons include parental pressures, money, or prestige, you’re already off to a bad start. You aren’t bound to any major until after you declare well into your college career, so if your reasons are any of the above, consider picking a different major to write about.

2) What are specific examples of things you enjoy in your field of study?

Instead of thinking “math” or “reading,” think “the paired samples t-test in statistics” or “novels that explore existentialist themes.” Specificity is essential to a good “Why This Major?” essay.

3) How will this major help you achieve your life and/or career goals?

Again, avoid writing about things like money or status. Universities want to see individuals with depth, people who strive to live fulfilling lives, realize their potential, and contribute to the betterment of the world, even in some small way. Saying that you want to make a lot of money is one-dimensional and self-serving, and will definitely not lead to a successful essay.

4) What was the best part of your experience, both within and outside the classroom?

5) Do you move into a certain emotional state of mind every time you explore this field of study? What do you find appealing about this state of mind?

Questions 4 and 5 are the ones you will probably be able to probe for personal anecdotes about the field of study. Remember, anecdotes are going to be your biggest asset when answering this prompt.

It’s okay if you’re undecided and picked this major because it appealed to you a bit more than others. Just be sure you can back up your decision with stories and experiences. If you can’t corroborate your interest at all, you may want to consider writing about a different major.

There is a writing trope you may have heard before that applies here: “Show, don’t tell.” Sure, you can explain that you have an interest in public policy then explain things you’ve done that are related to your intended major, but a better way to go about structuring your response is to let your background illustrate your passion for public policy. Allow your experiences and their outcomes to show your interest so that you don’t have to waste a chunk of your word count talking about your interest explicitly.

For example, consider two hypothetical responses from a student who wants to study Spanish in college:

• Example 1: I have always liked the Spanish language for a few reasons. I am of Mexican descent and grew up in California, where I learned to speak Spanish at 14 years old. My predominantly Mexican neighborhood has greatly influenced my worldview, making me want to major in Spanish. The language is part of my identity and is becoming more and more essential in the modern United States, so I feel like studying it will help me further people’s understanding of it.
• Example 2: I am a Mexican-American who grew up in California. Every day of my childhood, the musical sounds of the Spanish language fluttered by my ears, but I didn’t understand them until I began learning the language at 14 years of age. When I finally knew enough to get by in conversation, it was as if a new world had spawned right before my eyes. I would greet street vendors as I walked by, help lost travelers find their way around my town, anything to fully immerse myself in this culture that had been in my blood since before I understood it. As I fell in love with the language, I began to read about its origins and the linguistic principles that made it what it is today. Spanish is more than a language to me; it’s a work of art. Taking vacations and traveling throughout the United States only furthered my fascination with the language. Everywhere I went, I could find a predominantly Spanish-speaking community. That’s when I realized how important Spanish has become in the modern world. Studying the language in college will deepen my understanding of it, and allow me to gain the knowledge I need to teach and be a translator for this increasingly important language that resonates with me so much.

The first example sounds rather generic and uses many declarative statements that lack feeling, so it doesn’t strongly convey the students interest in Spanish or motives for taking on the major. The second example, on the other hand, paints a vivid picture of the student’s formative experiences that inspired such a deep passion for the field of study. It thoroughly explores the student’s motivations through anecdotes, and even discusses future career plans.

The next part of the prompt moves away from your interest in the major, and toward your interest in the Brooks School. As before, you should strive for specificity here. Brooks offers two undergraduate majors: Policy Analysis and Management , and Health Care Policy . Browse your desired major’s website to get a feel for how this major at Brooks is different from equivalent majors elsewhere. One place to look for unique features is in the course offerings (here are PAM courses and here are HCP courses ).

You’re trying to express a strong interest in Brooks, so you don’t want to say something common to most schools. Saying that you appreciate Brooks’s interdisciplinary approach to health care policy is inadequate because almost every college offering a Health Care Policy (or similar) major has a multidisciplinary approach. It simply isn’t possible to study this field without tackling multiple fields of study such as economics, political science, and health.

Instead of being general in your response, find something particular to focus on that piques your interest. For example, let’s say an Asian student is applying to Brooks to major in Health Care Policy, and her racial and gender identity serve as career motivations (which, incidentally, can be a strong personal angle to use when writing why she is interested in this major). She might notice that of all the HCP programs she’s looked at, only Brooks has a focus on the effects of demography on health care policy. Since she wants to pursue a career in helping to ensure that Asian women get proper representation in healthcare policy making, Brooks’s concentration on demographics is a unique feature that will contribute to her professional goals.

Remember to be well-intentioned in your motivations, honest and specific about your interests, and sincere in your entire response, and you will have a strongly crafted essay that is sure to catch Cornell’s attention.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Prompt 1

Why are you drawn to studying the major you have selected please discuss how your interests and related experiences have influenced your choice. specifically, how will an education from the college of agriculture and life sciences (cals) and cornell university help you achieve your academic goals (650 words).

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is the second-largest school at Cornell with majors ranging from communication to entomology. Even if you decide to apply as an undeclared major, you need to have potential areas of interest in mind to fully address the essay prompt.

The first half of this prompt follows the “Why This Major?” format that will become familiar as you apply to more colleges. You should use your current experiences to explain why you want to study the major you selected. A longitudinal approach lends itself well to this portion of the essay.

Think about the following questions we went over before to help you direct your response:

1) What are your sincere reasons for choosing this major and/or this particular school?

2) What are specific examples of things you enjoy in this field?

3) How will completing a degree in this major help you achieve your life and/or career goals?

4) What was the best part of your experience in this field, both academically and in your free time?

5) Do you experience a certain emotional state or frame of mind every time you explore this field of study? What about this state is appealing to you?

For example, if you want to study animal science, you could begin by explaining how you always loved going to the zoo growing up. You can then transition into describing how this love of animals led you to volunteer at the local animal hospital, and conclude your essay by explaining that your time at the animal hospital inspired your desire to become a veterinarian. 

The second half of this prompt asks you to explain why you want to study your intended major through CALS and Cornell. You need to provide college-specific examples that directly relate to your prospective major . Find courses (course offerings can be found after clicking on your desired major), clubs, research opportunities , or opportunities for outreach that would be difficult to find at another university. Be very careful not to mention something generic that could apply to many schools, such as location, as this indicates that you have not done sufficient research and aren’t as interested in CALS as you claim to be.

Specificity is key. For example, a prospective Viticulture and Enology major could discuss the Stocking Hall teaching winery, which allows students to gain hands-on vineyard harvesting experience. A prospective Global Development major could talk about the course called “Just Food,” which offers a comprehensive review of food system paradigms in just one course. Don’t be afraid to discuss relevant programs in colleges outside of CALS as well, as CALS is interdisciplinary.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Prompt 3 (optional)

The college of agriculture and life sciences (cals) is dedicated to the exploration of the agricultural, life, environmental, and social sciences and welcomes students with interests that span a wide variety of disciplines. given our agricultural history and commitment to educating the next generation of agriculturalists, please share if you have a background in agriculture or are interested in pursuing a career in agriculture, regardless of your intended major. (100 words), select all that apply:, a primary source of income for my parent/guardian(s) comes from ownership of or employment by an agricultural entity., my extended family owns or operates an agricultural entity., i have experience working in an agricultural entity., i have interest in pursuing a career in an agricultural entity..

Bear in mind that immediately after the prompt there is a section where you are asked to select all that apply. This is not a writing portion, but rather a quick survey for the admissions committee to know about your background.

The prompt itself is optional, but if you have a substantial agricultural background or a keen interest in pursuing a career in agriculture, we encourage you to respond to it. The prompt is rather straightforward, so if you are able and willing to answer it, it should not be a stressful undertaking.

For this kind of prompt, you may wish to consider a collection essay structure. If you have an agricultural background, you won’t be able to thoroughly describe your responsibilities and experiences with just one anecdote. The best structure to respond to this prompt is a small collection of personal anecdotes that showcase your background as well as your sincere interest in an agricultural career.

Despite our recommendation of a collection structure, you may find it helpful to connect each of your anecdotes with some kind of thread. A narrative that links each of your anecdotes together may provide the admissions committee with a clearer picture of where you came from, where you’re going, and why.

For example, consider a hypothetical student who grew up on a farm and developed a deep passion for the agricultural sciences. He might have started helping his family do farm work from a very young age, waking up at the break of dawn to feed the chickens and milk the cows. He might write about how these formative experiences forged his entire identity and how he’ll always be a farm boy at heart. 

He could then move into a discussion of how some of his tasks became his full responsibilities when he got old enough, and how he now does more and more of the essential work as his dad is getting older. He could wrap up his response with a sincere examination of his future goals, whether they be to come home and improve his family’s own farm through his education or to move into agricultural research to improve farming methods for everyone.

Be genuine about your experiences and passions — let them both shine through in your word choice and anecdotes.

At the College of Arts and Sciences, curiosity will be your guide. Discuss how your passion for learning is shaping your academic journey, and what areas of study or majors excite you and why. Your response should convey how your interests align with the College, and how you would take advantage of the opportunities and curriculum in Arts and Sciences. (650 words)

This prompt is a pretty standard “ Why This Major? ” archetype. Unless you are undecided , you should narrow down the broad statement of your “passion for learning” into a more manageable focus on a specific topic you are interested in pursuing. In order to write a successful essay, you need to accomplish three main things:

• Explain how your interest developed
• Detail your goals and aspirations
• Describe how you will use school resources to your benefit

Beginning with explaining how your interest developed, the best way to do this is through examples. Whether you include a few examples of you deep in research or you share an anecdote about your first encounter with the subject, make sure to paint a picture for the reader. Show us what about the topic excites you, how it makes you feel, and why you fell in love with it. Here are a few examples of successful ways to accomplish this:

Example 1: “ My mom’s bookshelf is the cheapest, fastest airplane you will ever find. On the left, bound in thick leather is Shakespeare’s first play, Henry VI. Move one over and we’ve traveled to the south of the continent to Greece for a quick tour of Plato’s Republic. Next stop: tsarist Russia for War and Peace. Every day, I get to leave behind the drone of suburban Ohio and transport myself to a new country and period. The noise of the outside world falls away as I travel through the pages, across space and time. ”

Example 2: “ Age 7: I see a white rhino at the zoo and buy a stuffed animal, affectionately named Rob the Rhino.

Age 11: I ask all my friends to donate to the World Wildlife Fund to support endangered rhinos in place of a new lego set for my birthday.

Age 15: I learn climate change causes the rhinos’ grasslands to dry up and flood in an unpredictable cycle.

Age 16: I found the Forces of Nature club in my school to develop creative solutions to protect habitats from the effects of climate change. ”

Once you’ve established what your interest is, where it came from, and why you are passionate about it, it’s time to be more forward-looking. Cornell wants to admit students who are ambitious and driven, with a passion for changing the world. Now’s the time to share your aspirations with the admissions committee.

Tell the reader what you hope to accomplish one day in regards to your field of study. You might know exactly what you want, for example a student who is going into Information Science might want to create a social media platform that actively promotes diversity of ideas rather than echo chambers as part of its mission. On the other hand, another student might know they want to major in psychology, but they don’t know how they want to use it yet.

In the event you don’t have a clearly defined goal, it’s okay to admit you don’t know where your studies will take you—after all, the whole point of college is to explore new ideas and figure out what you are passionate about. Don’t completely write off this portion of the essay though. Still talk about what you hope to bring to the world in a broader sense. Rather than describing the specific contribution you will make to the world of medicine, describe how you are studying biology to learn about the inner workings of the human body so you are equipped to handle any organ or system.

Finally, you’ll want to dedicate a good portion (around 200-300 words) on the Cornell-specific opportunities you will utilize during your four years to both deepen your passion and work towards your goals.

There are two key things to keep in mind. First, quality over quantity is everything here. Name dropping four classes and three professors without expanding on why you are drawn to them won’t add much to your essay. Instead, pick three or four resources that closely align with you and explain why you are excited about this opportunity and how it will help you achieve your goals.

Secondly, the offerings you discuss have to be unique to Cornell. Nearly every school you apply to will offer Chemistry 101 or have a finance club. You need to spend some time poking around Cornell’s website to find distinctive opportunities you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else to prove to the admissions committee you genuinely want to go to the school. Below are some ideas of things to look for as you research the school:

• Look at the course roster and find classes in your major (don’t just pick Biology 101; the more specific, the better!)
• Find professors in your department and the research they conduct
• Explore unique clubs and extracurriculars that align with your interests 
• Look into special programs or centers (ie. Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity or College Scholar Program
• Research Cornell-specific study abroad programs and hubs

For example, the student who loves books and reading may want to one day become a fantasy writer to help others immerse themselves in new worlds. They could mention wanting to take the Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Witchcraft First-Year Writing Seminar at Cornell in their essay.

College of Engineering Short Answer Questions

Note: upon selecting this college on the common app, you will be asked to provide the 3 words that best describe you and the three words that you would use to describe cornell engineering. this is essentially a major-specific short response section..

It’s challenging to distill your personality down to three words, so to begin, come up with a long list of words that you think characterize you, and then narrow them down to the ones that are most important to you. They don’t need to be directly related to engineering, but you want to choose words that at least describe qualities of yourself that could translate to the field of engineering broadly. If you need help, you can ask your friends and family for ideas.

You don’t have to write the most exotic words, but you should avoid very simple descriptors like “fun, nice, smart.” These choices can come across as cliché, and don’t tell the admissions committee anything about you. Try more interesting words like “determined, upbeat, daring,” or even nouns like “brother, athlete, artist.”

If words are your strong suit, you can try to be more creative with your choices. You might even want to pick a word from another language if that language or its culture is an important part of your identity. Maybe you’re a hard worker, a lighthearted person, and you help your father fix cars in your predominantly Hispanic community; you may choose to write “indefatigable, whimsical, mecánico.” Note that you should strive to only choose words you know/use regularly. Don’t just use a thesaurus to try to find big words, because you may accidentally use a word with a nuanced meaning that isn’t what you’re looking for. Additionally, if you use flowery language in this section but not in your writing supplement, this will come off as contradictory and insincere.

The same idea applies to the three words you choose to describe Cornell Engineering. You should do plenty of research on Cornell Engineering before even attempting to choose three words. Determine what is important to their program, reach out to friends you may know in the program, or look through their website and social media to figure out what their program is all about.

You should not attempt to randomly select words about engineering in general. In fact, you could write an inspiring answer by picking some that seemingly have nothing to do with engineering! Avoid picking generic, simple words as well as words of empty praise, such as “unique,” “competitive,” “prestigious,” and “innovative.” Anyone can tell Cornell that it’s a good university — doing so here would sound hollow and plain. Try to think of more nuanced and descriptive words that wouldn’t apply broadly to every engineering college.

For example, you might choose “eclectic,” “defiant,” and “virtuous.” These are creative choices, but more importantly, they are words you could defend in an interview. If asked about “eclectic,” you can mention the diversity of the fields which Cornell has facilities for — the university has centers in subjects ranging from data science to nanomedical technology to waste management. You can defend “defiant” by discussing how a certain lab you researched never settles for the status quo, but instead seeks to always go beyond what is deemed possible. Finally, you might defend “virtuous” by mentioning Cornell Engineering’s mission to “ advance the quality of life on our planet. ”

College of Engineering, Prompt 1 

How do your interests directly connect with cornell engineering if you have an intended major, what draws you to that department at cornell engineering if you are unsure what specific engineering field you would like to study, describe how your general interest in engineering most directly connects with cornell engineering. it may be helpful to concentrate on one or two things that you are most excited about. (250 words).

This prompt is sort of a mix of two traditional kinds of prompts: “Why This College?” and “Why This Major?” It’s primarily a “Why This College?” prompt, as it asks twice how your personal interests connect with Cornell Engineering, but if you do have a specific intended major, you will have to back up your choice as well.

Before you begin writing, you should thoroughly consider what you want to get out of college. Think about your academic and career goals beyond getting a degree or making a lot of money. Colleges don’t want to hear superficial or self-serving goals; they are seeking students with passion and drive who want to contribute to the world in some way.

After you have some idea of your goals, do ample research. You need to establish at least a tangible connection with the college in a way that shows how it will help you achieve your goals. A tangible connection involves specific reasons for choosing the college that are unique to that college. This is where research will really be useful. Browse the departments and courses , faculty , and research groups to find some unique features of the college.

For example, a student might be particularly interested in computer-aided diagnosis because it was used to help diagnose his grandmother’s lung cancer and save her life. He might write about the Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation concentration within the Biomedical Engineering major. Courses like “Computer Vision” and “Computer Analysis of Biomed Images” would be essential to mention in his essay. 

Additionally, he might want to write about the Vision and Image Analysis Lab. He could also discuss how the head of the lab, Dr. Anthony Reeves, does research on “computer methods for analyzing digital images especially with regards to accurate image measurements and with a primary focus on biomedical applications,” which is exactly what this hypothetical student wants to study.

The hypothetical student above very effectively establishes a tangible connection to the college through specific courses, a lab, and a particular faculty member whose research expertise resonates with him. You should strive to link your personal interests and goals with particular parts of the college in this way.

If you don’t have an intended major in mind, you should still emphasize your general engineering interests. Provide anecdotes that demonstrate the experiences that got you interested in engineering in the first place, then try to connect those experiences with some aspect of the college.

Additionally, if you can, you should try to establish an intangible connection with the college. This involves looking into Cornell Engineering’s values to see how much they align with yours. For example, Cornell’s Diversity Programs in Engineering (DPE) focuses on “enhancing equity for [their] community in terms of: ethnicity, race, sex, gender, orientation, identity, first generation status, socioeconomic class, and veteran status.” Perhaps your racial or gender identity is particularly important to your conception of who you are. You could write about the DPE initiatives to establish this sort of intangible connection in value systems.

There are several things you should avoid when writing your response:

• Empty flattery: Don’t simply write about how good Cornell Engineering is or how cool a specific major is without elaborating in a very specific manner. Talking about the university with such vague flattery suggests you have nothing more substantive or specific to say.
• Name-dropping: You should do research on the college, but don’t name classes or faculty members just to have them in your essay. A list of names doesn’t speak to your goals or interests. Instead, explain why those courses, activities, or professors are interesting to you. The college wants to hear about what resonates with you, but also about why it resonates with you.
• Being generic: Don’t write about resources common to all colleges such as location, class size, a strong program in X, etc. This would suggest that you don’t have anything specific to say or that you copied the response you wrote for another school.

College Engineering, Prompt 2, Option A

Describe an engineering problem that impacts your local community. this could be your school, neighborhood, town, region, or a group you identify with. describe one to three things you might do as an engineer to solve the problem. (250 words).

This prompt is designed to elicit several things: your ability to locate and describe problems that can be solved through engineering, the kinds of problems that personally motivate you, and your critical thinking skills. In many ways, the prompt is like a future-tense version of the common community service essay , but rather than writing about previous service experiences, you’re tasked with writing about how you would serve a community to which you belong.

Before you begin writing, think back to when you were younger (or even to as recently as last week). What physical features of your natural and created environments have bothered you in your hometown, school, or other community to which you belong? Perhaps there are too many unfilled potholes or maybe your local playground is becoming rundown and overgrown. The problem doesn’t have to be profound and widespread; it just has to be important to you and amenable to engineering solutions.

In addition to things that have bothered you, try to think of deep-rooted issues and problems that might only apply to particular neighborhoods or groups of people. Use all of these thoughts to create a preliminary list of problems. Once you have a list, narrow it down to the one problem that you most connect with and can think of viable solutions to. This prompt is attempting to gauge your critical thinking skills as well as to understand your passion for engineering.

Once you determine your problem, brainstorm some of the possible solutions to it. These solutions can take shape in a number of ways. You can try to approach the problem through different subfields of engineering to see how alternative areas of expertise can contribute to the same issue in unique ways.

For example, a student might come from a city with a rather dated transit system. Perhaps her home neighborhood is served by an above ground train network that is lacking in accessibility. She might have noticed this problem upon seeing a man in a wheelchair unable to get up to the elevated platform. When writing about this issue, she can propose several solutions involving different kinds of engineering. For example, she might think of three potential solutions:

• “As a mechanical engineer, I can design an elevator car and cable system to provide greater accessibility within our transportation network.” (She can also adapt her response to the kind of engineering she wishes to study – e.g., “As a structural engineer, I can design the foundations of an elevator shaft that could be affixed to the existing elevated train structures.”)
• “As a civil engineer, I can design a workable ramp system that can be attached to each of the train stations in the transportation network. Each station will have its own needs and regulations, which I can use my training as an engineer to adapt to.”
• “As a civil engineer, I could contribute to a total overhaul of the transportation network by designing a trolley system at ground level or perhaps even an underground subway network in which it would be easier to provide wheelchair accessibility.”

Bear in mind that this essay has a limit of 250 words, which will be taken up quickly if you present a problem and provide multiple solutions to it. Be mindful of your word count and avoid overly flowery language and unnecessarily complicated words/sentences. Let your critical and creative thinking be seen in your choice of problem and your proposed solutions. 

And remember, you aren’t an engineer yet; you haven’t even started college! Don’t feel like you have to have all the right answers. You shouldn’t overdo it with your proposed solution, but also avoid being too minimal in your descriptions. Think through what information is necessary to include as part of a solution and use that to guide your essay.

College of Engineering, Prompt 2, Option B

Diversity in all forms is intrinsic to excellence in engineering. engineering the best solutions to complex problems is often achieved by drawing from the diverse ingenuity of people from different backgrounds, lived experiences, and identities. how do you see yourself contributing to the diversity and/or the inclusion of the cornell engineering community what is the unique voice you would bring to the cornell engineering community (250 words).

The goal of this type of essay is to find out how your values and background influence your personal views and goals. Admissions committees look to build diverse classes, so you’ll want your response for this to be individualized and authentic. To learn more about this kind of prompt, check out our tips for writing a diversity essay .

What to Consider Before You Write

Coming up with a good topic for a diversity essay can be tricky. This is what you’ll want to keep in mind as you think of how to approach the question:

• Think about your various identities and what makes you unique. This could be your community, racial identity, religion, hobbies, disability status, gender, language, hometown, country of origin, etc. You may want to make a list and write about the one you are most familiar with and feel most comfortable talking about.
• Consider how you relate to this identity and how you feel about being a part of this group. Have you developed any personality traits through this background? If so, how have they changed over time?
• Have any major formative events occurred in your life because of this background? What were they and how did they shape you into the person you are today?
• Have you learned any skills through one of these identities? What are they?
• How can you connect this with Cornell Engineering?

It is important to consider how your emotions tie in with one of your identities and what personal stories demonstrate this emotional connection. This way, you can write an essay that shows an aspect of your background and how it has shaped you.

You’ll want about 25% of the essay to summarize the part of your background that you are describing* and the remaining 75% to talk about how you have been impacted by it. As you wrap up your response, write about how your background will make you a good addition to the Cornell Engineering community.

Mistakes To Avoid

Don’t list all your identities: This essay isn’t the time to talk about all your personal identities. Instead, focus on one of them and dive deeper into what it is and why it’s important to you.

Don’t focus solely on negative experiences: It’s fine to mention negative experiences related to your identity, and you should absolutely make sure that the experiences you write about are authentic to you. However, admissions committees often look for stories with positive or optimistic endings. Not everything has a happy ending, but it’s harder to write a successful and compelling negative essay.

Don’t pick a cliché topic: There are topics such as immigration stories that have been used time and time again in supplementary essays. Think about an identity you have that may be unique or more nuanced.

Here’s how a response might begin:

One community that I’ve been part of for many years is the jazz piano community. Although jazz is often seen as being “outdated” or “pretentious” by the outside world, true jazz lovers know that it is actually one of the only music genres that stays current with new beats and rhythms. Jazz is always adapting, but jazz pianists must adapt as well. They improvise while also keeping a fast tempo and staying moving between keys. My years playing piano taught me to go with the flow and to accept alternative, unusual, or unique outcomes–usually, the best jazz pieces are created in the spur of the moment. Sometimes engineers get mired in the details or the singular desired outcome, which closes them off to potential accidental breakthroughs. As a student within the College of Engineering at Cornell, I would use the adaptive out-of-the-box thinking that I’ve learned through improvisation and apply it to my engineering projects.

This example starts by describing how jazz, an important part of the student’s background, is perceived, then connects the skills and lessons that the student learned through improvisation to a skill that can be applied to engineering. The student describes how the job of a jazz pianist is not just limited to piano, and that those lessons can be applied to other aspects of life. The student also connects his response to the College of Engineering, thus connecting his identity to Cornell.

What kind of business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management or the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration). (650 words)

The SC Johnson College of Business is made up of two schools: The Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Hotel Administration. Our breakdown will focus on these two schools separately, but keep in mind that you can write about both in your essay, especially if your interests and goals are best served by both schools.

Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

The Dyson School is known as one of the most competitive at Cornell. In order to stand out among the tough competition, you will need to clearly explain why your goals and interests align with Dyson’s unique program.

Your choice to apply to Dyson should extend beyond a basic interest in economics or management. Dyson’s program is interdisciplinary in nature, and the school encourages its students to study various disciplines outside of AEM. Having a distinct interdisciplinary focus such as agro-economics is a great way to stand out in your supplemental essay.

Your reasons for applying to Dyson should be supported by your present interests and activities. For example, a student discussing agricultural economics could discuss leadership roles in a local 4H club, or efforts to learn more about agricultural economics through recent journals and news pieces.

Aim to be as detailed as possible when discussing your future goals and clearly connect them to Dyson’s offerings. The agricultural economics student could talk about how Dyson’s flexible curriculum would also allow them to take agriculture classes.

Be sure to include your post-college goals and how the College of Business would help you achieve them. For example, our hypothetical agro-economics student might be interested in starting an organization to eliminate food deserts, by diverting food that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. They could mention the course “HADM 4315: Hunger, Health and Nonprofit Social Enterprise” in the School of Hotel Administration (remember that you can talk about both schools in the College of Business!). This would allow the student to learn “management best practices for leading nonprofit food service organizations.”

School of Hotel Administration

SHA consistently ranks as the best hotel school in the United States, and applicants should have a clear, demonstrated interest in hospitality-related careers. In addition to relevant experience, SHA looks for the interpersonal skills required to be successful in the hospitality industry.

Your hospitality experiences should directly show why you chose to apply to SHA and why you are interested in hospitality management. For example, instead of simply listing your duties as a bellhop at a local hotel, describe how the integration of many fast-paced movements at a hotel invigorates you.

Connect these experiences to your long-term plans and aspirations, and explain how the Hotel School will provide you with the tools you need to achieve these goals. If you want to manage a hotel one day, explain how SHA will provide the hands-on experiences and practical skills you will need to run an establishment.

SHA is the only college at Cornell that requires an admissions interview, which focuses on the applicant’s interpersonal skills. While describing your experiences within hospitality, make sure to highlight personal attributes such as your empathy or adaptability, especially through anecdotes. Perhaps a hotel client once lost his dog, and you went above and beyond to help him make missing dog signs, even putting them up across the city. Maybe the hotel’s fitness center yoga instructor once called in sick at the last minute, and you stepped in with your knowledge of yoga, leading the class in her stead. These details allow an admissions counselor to see that you would thrive at SHA.

How have your related experiences influenced your decision to apply to the College of Human Ecology (CHE)? How will your choice of major impact your goals and plans for the future? Your response should show us that your interests and aspirations align with CHE and your choice of major. (650 words)

This prompt is sort of a blend between the “Why This College?” and “Why This Major?” prompts. The College of Human Ecology (CHE) wants to find the applicants who have the most sincere interest in the school and their anticipated major, so this essay is your chance to let your background and passion shine through.

Before you begin writing, think about the reasons for your decision. What life experiences led you to want to study at the College of Human Ecology? If you’ve decided on a major, why do you want to pursue that major? Think about your academic and career goals, but don’t just write about wanting a prestigious education or trying to make a large salary. Colleges don’t like selfish and shallow goals; they want students with deeper aspirations and a genuine interest in their respective fields.

CHE focuses on the exploration of human connection and the human experience. Human Ecology is interdisciplinary by nature and has strong roots in research and public engagement. Your supplemental essay should reflect these themes while also explaining your interest in your intended major.

Use your high school classes, extracurriculars, and personal projects to explain why you applied to CHE. If you want to study nutritional sciences, you could discuss your role in the Health Club at your high school. Make sure to explain why your intended career path interests you. Maybe you’re a runner and you’re fascinated by how diet impacts physical performance. Connecting your unique personal experiences to a broader desire to improve the human experience — and potentially adding interdisciplinary elements — will help deepen your connection to the College of Human Ecology.

The next part of this prompt asks how your specific major will contribute to your plans for the future. Be as specific as possible. For example, instead of broadly stating that studying fashion design and management will help prepare you for the fashion industry, discuss how the studio-based classes will provide you with both a strong physical skill set and a portfolio of work for job applications. Or if you want to start your own sustainable fashion brand, mention how the courses in Fiber Science will allow you to learn about innovative ways to create eco-friendly fibers and dyes.

After you have some idea of your motivations and goals, do your research. You need to demonstrate how CHE and your desired major will help you achieve your goals. Look over the departments and courses , faculty , and research to find some unique features of the college that you can benefit from during and after your college career.

If you don’t have a specific major in mind, you should still show interest in CHE by mentioning two or three majors you’re considering and why . Include personal stories that can corroborate your interest in Human Ecology, then try to connect those stories with a couple of CHE majors.

As we discussed before, there are several things you should avoid when writing your response:

• Empty flattery: Don’t simply write about how good the College of Human Ecology is or how cool a specific major is without elaborating in a very specific manner. Talking about the university with such vague flattery suggests you have nothing more substantive or specific to say.

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 words)

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) studies the world of work, and the intellectual interests you write about should also involve labor and human capital. The ILR community has a strong drive for public service, so making social service the focus of your essay will help explain your choice in ILR. This isn’t exactly a community service prompt , but you might want to mention any service experience you have, how you feel about that experience, and how that experience has motivated your interest in ILR.

Given the specificity of the prompt, it’s imperative that you provide concrete examples of how your experiences relate to your intellectual interests. For example, you can discuss how studying disability rights in your American History class made you want to become an advocate, or how volunteering in a local lawyer’s office helped you discover a deep interest in labor law.

Your essay should also explain why you are interested in your chosen subject matter to fully address what makes it exciting to you. Does the ability to advocate for others inspire your passion for disability rights in the workplace? 

Your reasons can be more personal too. Maybe you have a friend or relative with a disability and have witnessed how many workers with disabilities are underpaid and exploited. Or, perhaps you’re interested in labor law because you want to defend workers in minority groups from discrimination.

Once you’ve established your experiences and motivations, you need to draw connections to ILR. This is where research will be extremely helpful. Look into ILR’s departments and courses , faculty , areas of expertise , and research opportunities to inspire your writing. Keep in mind that all undergraduate students at ILR have the same major — Industrial and Labor Relations. Nevertheless, there are opportunities to focus your study on one of the related disciplines , so be sure to write to your strengths and interests.

Choose ILR-specific programs to explain why the school is the right fit for you. For example, a future law student could mention ILR’s intensive legal writing seminars. The prospective student could also discuss the Labor & Employment Law Program in NYC, which focuses on managing repositories for documents related to acts of workplace discrimination.

Note: Upon selecting this college on the Common App, you will be asked to provide the 3 words that best describe you. This is essentially a major-specific short response section.

How do your interests directly connect with your intended major at the college of architecture, art and planning (aap) why architecture (b.arch), art (bfa) or urban and regional studies (urs) b.arch applicants, please provide an example of how a creative project or passion sparks your motivation to pursue a 5-year professional degree program. bfa applicants may want to consider how they could integrate a range of interests and available resources at cornell into a coherent art practice. urs students may want to emphasize their enthusiasm and depth of interest in the study of urban and regional issues. (650 words).

Before you scroll down to the writing supplement prompt, you’ll be asked for three words that best describe you. It’s tough to distill your personality down to three words, so to start, come up with a long list of words that you think characterize you, and then narrow them down to the ones that are most important to you. If you need help, you can poll your friends and family.

You don’t need the most exotic words, but you should avoid very simple descriptors like “fun, nice, smart.” These choices are too safe and plain, and don’t tell the admissions committee anything about you. Try more interesting words like “determined, upbeat, daring,” or even nouns like “brother, athlete, artist.”

If words are your thing or you consider yourself a writer, you can try to be more ambitious with your choices. You might even want to pick a word from another language if that language is an important part of your identity. Maybe you’re a hard worker, a lighthearted person, and a singer of Latin music; you may choose to write “indefatigable, whimsical, cantante.” Note that you should strive to only choose words you know and use regularly. Don’t just use a thesaurus to try to find big words, because you may accidentally use a word with a nuanced meaning that isn’t what you’re looking for. Additionally, if you use flowery language in this section but not in your writing supplement, this will come off as contradictory and insincere.

Now, let’s move onto the actual prompt. Since the prompt asks for different things depending on whether you are applying as an architecture, art, or planning student, we will break down the responses accordingly. However, like most other “ Why This Major? ” essays, all three types of applicants should still describe their interest in the topic, explain their goals, and describe how the AAP resources will be beneficial to them.

Architecture

The prompt tells Architecture students to “provide an example of how a creative project or passion sparks your motivation to pursue a 5-year professional degree program.” The major focus for your essay should be on a project you worked on that led to your love for architecture.

Try and pick a project from high school, that way it’s more recent, and pick something longer-term that you worked on to highlight the impressiveness. An essay about a year-long model bridge you built out of toothpicks for your design class will have a lot more to delve into than one about a lego structure you built with your younger brother in a weekend. 

That being said, if you think you can write a passionate, deeply emotional essay about a moment you shared with your brother that also opened your eyes to the wonders of architecture through tiny plastic blocks, go ahead!

Make sure to describe the project in detail—highlight what the development process looked like, explain your thought process (were you stressed about each detail or did you lose track of all time as you worked for hours on end?), and provide imagery to show your actions and the final product—that way the admissions officers get a feel for the heart and soul you put into your work. Remember, you are trying to prove to them you love architecture enough to spend the next five years studying it, so don’t hold back on showing us your passion.

Also remember to save space in your essay to address how you will further your passion for architecture at Cornell. Like we mentioned in previous sections, hone in on three or four highly-specific and unique opportunities you want to take advantage of while at Cornell. Make sure to include both what excites you about the given resource and how it will prepare you for your future goals.

Art students within AAP are told they “may want to consider how they could integrate a range of interests and available resources at Cornell into a coherent art practice.” While this prompt is more geared towards the Cornell resources and opportunities you will utilize as a student than the other two, that doesn’t mean you can completely forgo discussing your passion for art.

Like any other essay, you’ll want to make yourself the focus. Through detailed examples, show the admissions committee how you first got into art or what draws you to the subject each day. The prompt specifically mentions “integrating a range of interests,” so it would be a great idea to demonstrate how you combine interdisciplinary topics through your art.

For example, a student interested in climate activism might describe how she started a business to paint other people’s campaign posters and then donate the proceeds to environmental justice campaigns. Another student might highlight how they used their passion for graphic design to mimic other art mediums like sculpting and photography.

It’s also important to include your goals for your art in your response. Obviously, you don’t have to have your whole life figured out at 17, but in order to explain how you plan to use Cornell resources to develop a “coherent art practice” you should be able to articulate what you want in a general sense. Whether you want to bring back the era of rococo paintings or you think it would be cool to open your own gallery one day, share your dreams with us in the essay.

Finally, you’ll need to provide both depth and breadth when discussing the Cornell offerings you want to take advantage of. Try and discuss resources across a variety of areas—classes, professors, extracurricular organizations, special centers, etc. Cornell even has its own museum on campus you could get involved with! 

Aim to include three to five resources you want to engage with, depending on how much space you have. The key is to tie each resource back to yourself, either by mentioning how you are excited by an aspect of it because it connects to your interest or previous experience in a particular way or by explaining how participating in the opportunity will help you achieve your goals.

Urban and Regional Studies

The prompt is fairly generic for urban and regional studies majors: “URS students may want to emphasize their enthusiasm and depth of interest in the study of urban and regional issues.” Luckily, the lack of specificity means you have the freedom to write about anything you want.

You might want to talk about your personal experiences and how aspects of where you grew up affected you. Another approach could be to discuss a regional or global issue in the field of urban studies and discuss why you are drawn to that problem and how you would go about fixing it. You might focus on extracurricular involvement related to the subject that was particularly meaningful to you. Or, perhaps you want to express your enthusiasm through highlighting the ways you think about the world around you as an urban planner.

The moral of the story is there is no wrong way to structure your answer to this question.

Similar to Architecture and Art applicants, once you establish your passion for the topic and explain what you love about it, the next step is to put your interests in the context of Cornell. Again, quality over quantity—we are looking for a few well-developed descriptions of why you are drawn to each resource and what you hope to get out of them.

Also make sure to weave your career goals into the essay. You can smoothly transition from talking about your established interest and current events to how you want to use an urban and regional studies degree in the future, or you can discuss how certain opportunities will give you the skills and tools to go down a certain path one day.

Where to Get Your Cornell University Essay Edited

Do you want feedback on your Cornell essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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