Webinar Transcript: College Essay Series: Supplemental Essays
Elton Lin
Anthony Su: Good evening, everyone. I’m glad everyone could make it today. This will be the last of our essay series [this year] for webinars – and [of] giving students a sneak peek of topics to come. Hopefully, you've started already. Hopefully, you're finding time to chip away at your essays. (If not, and you're watching this in the fall… good luck to you as well!)
We'll go through a little bit about supplemental essays today. We've done chunks of each: we've done UCs, we've done Common App; we did a session to review how to edit an essay. This is the last big group of college essays you have.
Some schools will just ask some extra questions. Even though these are supplements (even though these are additional), [it] does not mean they're less important or anything like that. We definitely want to make sure we can cover it today.
I have Alyssa and Lindsay joining me today. Alyssa, can you introduce yourself, and then Lindsay?
Alyssa Guzman: Yeah, hi. My name is Alyssa. I've been with ILUMIN… this is my second season now.
I was an English teacher – really loved that, but now I am a tech recruiter. So I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of writing essays… but also the STEM world, if you are interested in that at all.
Lindsey Ricker: And hi, I'm Lindsay. I'm an essay specialist with ILUMIN, and I teach writing in Los Angeles.
Just to keep it brief.
Anthony Su: And of course if you've been to a webinar, you know you can use Q&A. Feel free to put your questions there; we'll definitely get to them at the end. If there's a place where I can interject, I'll try as well.
With that I'll pass it to Alyssa and Lindsay.
Agenda
What are supplemental essays?
How important are they?
Which schools require them?
Are “optional” supplemental essays really optional?
What should I write about?
Common Types of Prompts
Sample Essays
Lindsey Ricker: Hi. I'm going to give you an overview of our agenda for today. For most of the slides, we'll be adding some of our own experience as essay specialists… and telling you a little bit about the sort of thing that we do at ILUMIN.
But to get us started, I'm just going to go over the basics – which is that we'll cover:
What are supplemental essays?
How important they are.
Which schools require them.
Are “optional” supplemental essays really optional?
What should I write about?
Common types of prompts.
And also sample essays.
What are supplemental essays?
1 to 3 additional essays reviewed alongside your Common App Personal Statement
Specific to each university, but often featuring similar themes
You can recycle your own ideas when they apply!
Word limits vary from 100 to 600 words (mostly ~250)
Alyssa Guzman: Things that you need to keep in mind about supplemental essays are: which schools are requiring the Common App versus a PIQ?
Although these are going to be specific to each University, they are going to feature similar themes – so planning your essays ahead is going to be really important for you to be able to recycle your own ideas. For example, you might want to take ideas from your UC PIQs or Common App and recycle them for the supplemental essays. It is a good idea to have those things mapped out – so you're not being too repetitive of your ideas.
So if a school requires a Common App [main personal statement] and two supplemental essays, maybe you take some ideas from your UC PIQs for the supplemental essays. It's not that once you've said something once, you can never say it again! But we don't want to repeat exactly the same idea, so just something to keep in mind: some planning ahead of time could certainly help out with that.
You really want to emphasize who you are… and once you've written something anywhere, it's going to belong to the library of who you are as a person (for the purposes of any “personal” statement that you're making).
Keep in mind the word limits. If they are short, they are going to probably read a little bit more directly, like a UC PIQ – just something to consider there with tone and things like that.
How important are they?
Very important!
They give the reader a broader context for who you are, what is important to you, what you’ve accomplished, and, most importantly, why you’re a good fit for the school.
Lindsey Ricker: I'm sure you're wondering, “How important are these?” And the answer is: “Very important!”
They give the reader a broader context for:
Who you are
What's important to you
What you've accomplished
And (most importantly) why you're a good fit for the school.
That can't be emphasized enough: it really is about fit. That means understanding the school and what the school has to offer – and how you'd best make use of those resources, and be an active part of the community… as a student and as a person.
This is another extension of the personal statement. It is very personal and very much focused on your response to the school and how you would fit with the school. That means that part of this is really researching what the schools you're applying to are about – and how you would be a good fit there. It's an opportunity to educate yourself and get excited for potentially going to that school.
“Why us?” is part of the umbrella of why you're a good fit for this school. One example would be: we once had a student who was applying to Cornell and had not done research, and thought that, because it was in New York, it was very close to New York City. He'd also only spent time in New England during the summer. He talked a little bit about to us before writing about how he wanted to be part of the warm climate there – and that's the kind of thing that (since Cornell actually gets quite cold in the winter, and it is not close to New York City!) really knowing the school that you're applying to (and how you would be a good fit there) is really important. Luckily, we spoke to him before he got very far in writing and it turned out all right… but that's the sort of thing that, the more research you do in advance to really understand things, the stronger you'll be.
Alyssa Guzman: Yeah, and just to add to that: it's also an opportunity of insight into why you've chosen what you've chosen. For example, with a “Why major?” you can talk about why you've chosen therapeutic recreation: maybe it’s because you have a family member who has some sort of a disability or something, and you really want to highlight that. It's an opportunity for them to get to know you a little bit more as well.
Some of the many schools that include supplemental essays
University of Michigan |
Barnard College |
University of Oregon |
Emory |
Alyssa Guzman: Here are some of the schools that might include supplemental essays. It's not an exhaustive list! You should certainly do your own research and get [acquainted] with which schools are requiring that supplemental essay beforehand.
What about optional essays?
If you can write one, do it! This shows that you’re putting effort into the app.
But, if a question is optional and it does not apply to you, then you do not have to write it.
Lindsey Ricker: What about the optional essays? They are optional… but if you can write one, do it – because that shows that you're putting effort into your application.
But if it's optional and it just doesn't apply to you, don't force it! You don't have to write it.
Again, this is an extension of the personal statement – so it is going to be a personal choice whether you write those optional essays or not.
Anthony Su: I'll add one quick thing, since (in the past couple years of admissions) some schools have had an optional COVID essay – and it's just if you wanted to add any additional context, you could. We'll see if that still continues for these next few years. Some schools may have it. Some schools may not. But by no means do you need to write about your COVID experience!
Common types of prompts
Why Us?
Why do you want to attend our university?
Why Major?
Why are you interested in your major?
Activity
Expand on a meaningful extracurricular
Short
Brief responses to know you as a person
Alyssa Guzman: These are the common types of prompts you're going to see: the “Why us?”, the “Why major?”, an activity, and a "short". These "shorts" can sometimes be very short, even just like a list: “Write down a list of adjectives that you think describe you.” I've seen that on occasion.
But you need to keep in mind, with all of these types of prompts, there's going to be a subtext of not only, “Is this University a fit for you?” but [also], “Are you a fit for the University?” It should be a unanimous match. So take advantage of the opportunity to make your responses very specific to the university.
You can also think about, “What does that school have to offer? How is that going to benefit you? The University of Iowa has a great writing program. Is that something you're interested in? Take that opportunity to put yourself and your interests into it as well.
Lindsey Ricker: Yeah, and once again your research really comes into play here – and understanding how you align with the resources of the university.
Even at a mid-size or larger university, there are sometimes opportunities (either in seminars or assemblies or, at Yale, the Master’s Teas) interact with speakers on a more intimate and more direct level. Really find out what sort of opportunities there are to interact with guest lecturers, who the professors are, the different scholarships available, study abroad programs…
All of these sort of things really help with the “Why us?” – and also you can connect it to your major, to activities. The "short"s tend to be more specific. Your research really, really helps.
Example “Why us?” prompts
Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?
Help us understand how you might engage specific resources, opportunities, and/or communities here. We are curious about what these specifics are, as well as how they may enrich your time at Northwestern and beyond.
Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia.
Alyssa Guzman: Here are three different prompts you might see for three schools. I just want to read over these, because I want to talk about how they're kind of the same… but also different.
The first one: “Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate college or school to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?”
“Help us understand how you might engage specific resources, opportunities, and/or communities here. We are curious about what these specifics are, as well as how they may enrich your time at Northwestern and beyond.”
Lastly, “Why are you interested in attending Columbia University. We encourage you to consider the aspects that you find unique and compelling about Colombia.”
You notice that the word “specific” is repeated there… but basically what all of these prompts are asking you is: they're saying, “We have unique qualities. We have unique curriculum opportunities, communities.” They want you to dig in and find those unique details, and talk about them in that essay to talk about why the school would be a good fit for you.
Things for you to consider: have you visited campus? Do you have family members who have gone there? Research, courses, professors… Is there anything about your identity that you might want to explore on campus?
Those are just some things to think about with that.
Lindsey Ricker: Yeah, and (as Alyssa just mentioned) different aspects of identity, of cultural interests. And understanding the scope of that resource: is that something that could affect you, even if it's outside of your personal identity and your personal culture? Are you interested in other resources?
Yale has a huge Center for Jewish life called Slifka, where a lot of people gather on Friday nights to eat, and there are different cultural speakers that come through. There are also a lot of international opportunities that places have. The University of Iowa has an Irish writing program, and the Writer's Workshop. Really knowing what the school is really proud of – and if that aligns with your interests at all – can really help.
Tackling the “Why us?” prompts
Specifics, specifics, specifics! Do your research on the school to show your authentic interest.
Show how your experiences have led you to want to attend this school.
State your goals and how the school’s resources will support them.
Show that you and the school are a uniquely beautiful match.
Lindsey Ricker: Tackling the “Why us?” prompts:
Specific, specifics, specifics! We've said it a lot: specifics and research – doing your research on the school to show your authentic interest.
Understanding how your experiences have led you to want to attend this school. Really clarifying that.
Stating your goals and how the school's resources will support them.
And showing that you and the school are a “uniquely beautiful match.”
This is really an opportunity to let that research shine – and to show how it connects with you personally. Some things that you can do:
Find out specifics about courses.
Find out specifics about professors’ names.
Maybe you're interested in civil engineering and your university has historic buildings that are really beautiful. Find out about those!
Take any interesting nugget of information – and this is your time to share it. If you had a great tour on campus and there were a few details that really stood out to you, you can mention how those things spark your intellectual creativity – and will affect how you are a student and community member there.
There are just so many ways to let your research shine through.
An example “Why us?”: Rice University
Community is central to Rice, as demonstrated through its Residential College System. Beyond friendly “jack” competitions, Rice also fosters a school-wide community through its culture of care.
Rice’s small classes would make seeking help from professors and connecting with classmates easy. Through Professor Shrivastava’s Large-scale Machine Learning class, I’d learn from robotics and healthcare-related datasets. As Rice provides its students with ample opportunities, I hope to research alongside Professor Shrivastava on scalable and sustainable deep learning.
Located in the heart of Houston, Rice would allow me to pursue experiential learning. Through the D2K Lab, I’d take advantage of Rice’s proximity to the Texas Children’s Hospital. More specifically, I hope to develop a machine learning algorithm to detect impending cardiac arrests in babies.
While Rice would provide me with small communities, its emphasis on experiential learning would simultaneously prepare me to go out and make a difference in the real world.
Anthony Su: Okay, we'll look at a quick example of a “Why us?”
Lindsey Ricker: Okay, I'm just going to read this to give you some audio to deepen the experience that you have enjoying this on the screen.
“Community is central to Rice, as demonstrated through its Residential College System. Beyond friendly ‘jack’ competitions, Rice also fosters a school-wide community through its culture of care.
“Rice’s small classes would make seeking help from professors and connecting with classmates easy. Through Professor Shrivastava’s Large-scale Machine Learning class, I’d learn from robotics and healthcare-related datasets. As Rice provides its students with ample opportunities, I hope to research alongside Professor Shrivastava on scalable and sustainable deep learning.
“Located in the heart of Houston—” and this student correctly knows where the college is located, “—Rice would allow me to pursue experiential learning. Through the D2K Lab, I’d take advantage of Rice’s proximity to the Texas Children’s Hospital. More specifically, I hope to develop a machine learning algorithm to detect impending cardiac arrests in babies.
“While Rice would provide me with small communities, its emphasis on experiential learning would simultaneously prepare me to go out and make a difference in the real world.”
Alyssa Guzman: We do want to talk about this here for a second. Anthony, can I ask you to go to slide 12, just so that we can get a visual for what we'll be talking about?
Tackling the “Why us?” prompts
Why are the student and college a good match?
How will the student use college resources to meet their long- and short-term goals?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this essay?
What data points can you see that the student researched?
Alyssa Guzman: When we tackle these prompts, what you need to consider is: are the student and the college a good match? How is that going to be shown? How is this student going to use college’s resources to meet their long and short-term goals? What are the strengths and weaknesses – and what data points can you see that the student researched?
Going back to the response [to the example essay] now, I think one of the stronger points of this response [is that] the student is in on the lingo. I didn't go to Rice. I have no idea what a “jack” competition is. But I'm sure that someone who is very familiar with Rice would know what that is. They've already looked into that; they've already made it a point of interest.
It's also doing a nice job referencing this very specific professor that they admire, researching the location [including proximity to a specific hospital], and an emphasis on an atypical form of learning. The fact that this student is interested in this experiential learning just shows their intellectual curiosity, and the fact that a unique learning method that Rice has is going to work for this student.
I think this example also really puts the specifics of the student in there. We get a clear sense of their goals, their priorities: the student wants a small supportive community, and I think that comes through in the response. They do reference “community” many times, but it doesn't feel too repetitive. It just feels really central to their identity – and it's something that's important to the student.
So a strong mention of communities, and that experiential learning are important factors in choosing a college for this student… and it gives you a strong glimpse about what this student might do to engage on campus as a student and a community member. You know that they're interested in medicine. They're interested in maybe doing some research involving babies.
All in all, Lindsey and I did think that this was a pretty strong response – but we'd always be happy to hear any questions or feedback that you have on it as well.
Anthony Su: I'll add one quick comment: if you look at the essay itself, it's like 10 sentences – but it's so dense! It just includes so much information: alluding to the culture of Rice, or traditions, the specific labs, professors, courses, proximity to places or partnership with places… Being able to show and demonstrate all that knowledge is what they're looking for when they are looking at essays like this.
Lindsey Ricker: I think this is a great template, really, for your writing – to reference. I think it's a very strong answer
Example “Why major?” prompts
Students at Yale have plenty of time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Why do these areas appeal to you?
How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected.
Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected. (Purdue)
Lindsey Ricker: We're going to go through a few examples of “Why major?” prompts.
“Students at Yale have plenty of time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Why do these areas appeal to you?”
It's a little bit long-winded, but that is the, “Why do you want to major in what you want to major in?” Even though this celebrates the diversity of learning within a liberal arts education, it is targeted on your interests and goals – and your major.
Another way to phrase it is from University of Pennsylvania: “How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you've selected.”
And then Purdue says, “Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you've selected.”
Purdue is very straight to the point – and you can see little clues about the schools in these different ways of asking, “Why this major?” Yale very much emphasizes, “There's plenty of time to change your major; you can explore a lot of things outside of your major. But what (in general) are you working towards?” Purdue just says, straight away, “What are your reasons for pursuing your major?” You can learn different things about the schools in the ways that they phrase their questions as well.
Tackling “Why major?” prompts
Clearly state your intended major
Show the reader your journey of becoming passionate about this subject
Brainstorm key moments and experiences and what you learned
You can share moments from when you were young, but most should be high school
State what you hope to accomplish in the future thanks to your studies in this major
Alyssa Guzman: When tackling a “Why major?” prompt, you really want to clearly state your intended major. We'll go into an example later, but saying that you want to go into something like “mathematics” might not be specific enough – unless you specifically state that you want to be a mathematics major. You can go into machine learning or engineering (or other things that are STEM-related) with a math major as well.
You also want to show your reader the journey of you becoming passionate about this subject; give them some insight into who you are as a person, and what's important to you.
And then brainstorm key moments and experiences about what you learned. This is a good exercise to do before you start writing, and if you're even feeling stuck in the middle of writing any of these responses. You can share moments from when you are young, but I think the focus should be when you were in high school: so more recent events.
State what you hope to accomplish in the future… how are your studies in this major going to help you accomplish that?
Just really think about the fact that no one's going to want to guess your major at the end of the response! Being clear is very important.
You can maybe outline your trajectory into your chosen field of study. It can be a delicate balance, sometimes – especially if you only have 250 words. You don't want 200 to be about your past, and then 50 words about why that major is important to you. You want to be able to balance it out really well.
I'm sure that a lot of you have heard the phrase it's important to show and not tell. In a lot of these responses, it is going to be important to tell and not show – because you want to make sure that you're getting their question answered… and you're also stating who you are in a very concise way.
Tackling “Why major?” prompts
If you’re applying undeclared, you should choose 1 or 2 key academic focuses that you are passionate about, and follow the same guidelines
Lindsey Ricker: And don't worry if you don't yet have a major that you're a hundred percent sure about. In tackling the “Why major?” prompt if you're applying undeclared, you should choose one or two key academic focuses that you're passionate about and follow the same guidelines. So this is an opportunity for you to target a few of the things that you are interested in, or a potential major.
You can even just profile one potential major – and you've made it clear that you're not a hundred percent about it. They understand that. Every school understands that, coming in, you could be a math major and then take a French literature course that just blows your mind – and go and get a scholarship and study overseas and dig deep into that! Or you could start off in the humanities and go into STEM.
College is a time for exploration… and this question is just meant to show your thought process – and show some of your intellectual vibrancy, focused through the framework of a potential major.
An example “Why major?”: Carnegie Mellon University
I consider joining my middle school’s Mathcounts team a turning point in my mathematics journey. Up until joining, I was accustomed to math classes that spoon-fed theorems for memorization, so I was thoroughly unprepared for the high schoolers constantly prompting “why does this solution work?” and “what is another approach?” I loved that they challenged us to really understand the concepts, and I often spent hours after meetings discussing solutions with my brother.
While Mathcounts ended in middle school, my math competition career did not. As an underclassman, I thoroughly studied algebra, geometry, and more exotic topics like number theory and combinatorics to prepare for contests like the American Mathematics Competitions series or team-based competitions like the Berkeley Math Tournament. I solidified my foundations in math through a fast-paced contest style.
Joining Mathcounts forever changed my relationship with mathematics, even outside the contest realm. I joined Euler’s Circle for higher math, where every problem required a proof to justify the answer. Through proof-writing, I grew to love the strong logic behind the intrinsic properties of math. Whether I am lecturing generating functions at math club or tutoring pre-calculus to middle schoolers, I apply my knowledge of proof-writing to justify the build-up of mathematical reasoning. My passion for math led me to the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists, where I became confident that I wanted to continue pursuing mathematics in college.
My experiences at the Mathcounts club will forever resonate with me, giving me an appreciation for the strong logic that holds the intrinsic properties of mathematics together. This appreciation motivates me to further explore higher mathematics and its applications in related fields like computational linguistics and machine learning, where mathematics is core to model optimization.
Anthony Su: An example.
Alyssa Guzman: I'll go ahead and read this one for Carnegie Mellon.
“I consider joining my middle school’s Mathcounts team a turning point in my mathematics journey. Up until joining, I was accustomed to math classes that spoon-fed theorems for memorization, so I was thoroughly unprepared for the high schoolers constantly prompting ‘why does this solution work?’ and ‘what is another approach?’ I loved that they challenged us to really understand the concepts, and I often spent hours after meetings discussing solutions with my brother.
“While Mathcounts ended in middle school, my math competition career did not. As an underclassman, I thoroughly studied algebra, geometry, and more exotic topics like number theory and combinatorics to prepare for contests like the American Mathematics Competitions series or team-based competitions like the Berkeley Math Tournament. I solidified my foundations in math through a fast-paced contest style.
“Joining Mathcounts forever changed my relationship with mathematics, even outside the contest realm. I joined Euler’s Circle for higher math, where every problem required a proof to justify the answer. Through proof-writing, I grew to love the strong logic behind the intrinsic properties of math. Whether I am lecturing generating functions at math club or tutoring pre-calculus to middle schoolers, I apply my knowledge of proof-writing to justify the build-up of mathematical reasoning. My passion for math led me to the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists, where I became confident that I wanted to continue pursuing mathematics in college.
“My experiences at the Mathcounts club will forever resonate with me, giving me an appreciation for the strong logic that holds the intrinsic properties of mathematics together. This appreciation motivates me to further explore higher mathematics and its applications in related fields like computational linguistics and machine learning, where mathematics is core to model optimization.”
If we can go to the next slide, again, just really quickly, to talk about what we will talk about for this one.
Tackling the “Why major?” prompts
Did the student clearly state their intended major?
How did they show experiences strengthened their passion and/or abilities?
Did they look to the future of their studies and goals?
What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Alyssa Guzman: We want to think about:
Whether the student clearly stated their intended major
How they showed their experiences that strengthened their passion or abilities
Did this student look to the future of their studies and goals?
And then, what are the strengths and weaknesses?
So, again, a good framework through which to view your own essay when you end up writing them.
My first thought is that the intended major is not super clear. They could say that they're interested in being a math major and exploring topics within mathematics, like computational linguistics and machine learning. But “math” is also so broad. Do you want to do math? Do you want to do engineering? Do you want to do data science? What specifically is your end goal with that?
Lindsey Ricker: Yeah, I agree that the actual major is not clear – whether they want to focus on math itself, or applying math to another field.
I mean, this is a beautifully written response, and you can definitely see the intellectual curiosity. This feels more like an actual personal statement than it does like a supplemental essay! And this person loves questioning and learning – and that's very exciting.
But first they spend a lot of time talking about something that happened in middle school. It's a missed opportunity to further elaborate on their other experiences that are more recent.
Alyssa Guzman: I also feel like the student doesn't talk a whole lot about the future. They do broadly speak about the possibilities, but it's not very specific to those personal goals – or even those professional goals – down the line.
Really consider: what do you want? Do you want to use proofs to communicate with maybe other life forms? Do you want to use proofs to predict changes in weather patterns? Whatever fun thing you want to do with your major, the “Why major?” is a really good place to talk about that – and give some insight into your personality.
Lindsey Ricker: Yeah. There are great bones to this, but it needs a little bit more focus and specificity in terms of responding fully to the question of, “Why major?” The genuineness – the sincerity – of it is really admirable. It just needed a little bit more tightening and a re-focus, really, on that, “Why major? Why now?” – conveying a sense to the school of what kind of student they will be within their major.
A few final tips
Once you’ve brainstormed for your Why Us? and Why Major? essays, you can adjust this essay for other schools using the same structure.
Don’t overlap your Personal Statement; complement it!
Be specific! Do your research! Get detailed!
Alyssa Guzman: A few final tips that we have:
If we didn't emphasize this enough: do your research! Be creative with your research. Maybe you want to reach out to some alums or professors – some first-hand accounts about the school, and make sure that it's a right fit for you. This is something that should be fun for you.
Is this something that you really want? Do you see yourself at this school?
Are you stressed out because you think you want to apply to like 25 to 30 colleges? Maybe you can use these prompts as a chance to narrow down that list – and figure out whether or not it's a place you can really see yourself.
How can ILUMIN help?
Hourly Essay Consulting
1:1 with your Essay Specialist
5 and 10 Hour Packages
Access to our Bootcamp curriculum
Common App and UC PIQs
Flexible online scheduling
Support with brainstorming, editing, and polishing essays of your choice
Anthony Su: We have a little bit here about if you're interested in working with us – you can definitely sign up for our package to work with an essay specialist. It would be Lindsey, Alyssa…
If you're going to sign up through today, you can use code START for 20% off for this next week.
I also want to point out that we're going to have a WRITE! Workshop Saturday at 1pm covering specifically the supplemental essays – so if you're also hoping to get a head start (to get an initial idea of how that might work) you can definitely sign up.
Lindsey Ricker: I just want to piggyback on that and say that the boot camp curriculum – and so many of the things that ILUMIN does – provides a lot of pre-writing opportunities… and a lot of ways to really target your writing, dig deep, and give yourself a really strong base of self-understanding to apply to these questions.
A lot of the short answers and many of the essay questions themselves – both supplemental elements of the Common App, and other parts of the application – you'll find yourself really answering in the pre-writing. And the materials are just wonderful. (There's even an animation series that is really, really wonderful – really helpful!) So I highly recommend the materials – in addition to the joys of working with us, and helping to shape these together.
Questions?
Contact us at essays@ilumineducation.com
Anthony Su: We'll do questions… and so far we've been so thorough there have been no questions! Definitely, if you have any questions, if we want to go back and look at a specific example, or if there's a prompt that was unclear… let us know.
We do have a little bit of a smaller group today, so do not be afraid of being vocal. We're happy to go through some other topics as well – if students have run into a strange supplement so far, or something that they really want to cover. I'm sure we can also just get some opinions out there on how to start these really odd supplements as well.
I'll just pose this to Lindsey and Alyssa: when you're helping students with so many different supplements, are there particular ones you like starting with? Are there ones that you think some students find easier, compared to others?
Lindsey Ricker: I think there's an overlap in questions like, “Why us?” and “Why your specific major?” – even though they seem like very different questions. Once you have that base of really understanding your values and your core interests as a student, you can see how that applies to the resources that the college has to offer. So the more you really dive into depth in one area, the more you'll find yourself informing on other questions as well.
So it's really fun when you start this process – and that's part of the reason I love the pre-writing materials so much. They're all very interconnected.
Anthony Su: I got a request to go back to the “Why apply for this school?” – or, “Why us?” I think [for] “Why us?” the first one is much harder, compared to the other ones that you'll do. A lot of schools may ask this “Why us?” question.
Also, researching schools is very confusing to a lot of students in the beginning of, “Hey, I want to study biology, but how am I supposed to figure out exactly what part of biology, or what the school has to offer?”
Or sometimes students (I feel) limit themselves to just the major – and then don't realize, “I should dig into the elective courses available at that college!” or the labs available, or the type of funding that they get for research, or the reputation, or what's well-known for the schools.
Perfect: the question is, “What's the best way to research schools?” Awesome. Go ahead, Lindsey.
Lindsey Ricker: I just got excited, because one of the most fun ways to research is to find a current student – and really ask them: what are they excited about at their school? And then go through (of course) the website of the school, having a glance at the course catalog, the different extracurricular options…
But definitely don't be afraid to talk to people who are current students or recent graduates – and find out what it really is that you're getting into!
Alyssa Guzman: Yeah, and just to piggyback off that, I just did a quick search myself (just to see what would come up). I literally typed into Google: “Biology, Carnegie Mellon, professors.” That really quickly took me to their faculty site. I found a man named Drew Bridges: “Drew Bridges, biological sciences.” He has this whole profile with his education, the research that he does, the publications that he's been a part of…
That's just a super easy way to even see, “What kind of research does this professor do? Is that something that speaks out to me?” With the publications, maybe you read one; maybe it really speaks to you – and you can talk about your “Why school?” by referencing that publication.
I was just looking at biology because I heard that mentioned, but you can do this with anything: with English, with journalism, with math, with civil engineering. A quick Google search will really do a lot for you.
Anthony Su: I also want to add: do not discount campus traditions. If you're going to be involved in the community for four years, and you're going to be on campus, excited to go to these schools… there are these traditions that on a lot of campuses students will participate in.
For a lot of these larger public schools maybe it's the football game – and a certain rivalry that students are really involved in. Maybe there's something more niche in these smaller schools… like when I went to CMU, there's a Spring Carnival every year – that's basically the one time all the students get to go and have a break, and have some fun over a long weekend. Being able to speak to that as well can still be really helpful.
A question of: “Is there anything to avoid when writing supplemental essays?” Maybe another way to phrase this is also, “Are there certain traps that you find students fall into when they start writing, or start trying to work on a draft?”
Lindsey Ricker: Definitely not enough research. I know we've emphasized it, but it can't be emphasized enough: really research and follow through! If you can do the kind of research that Alyssa just dove into, then go that extra step and see if you can contact that professor – if you can get a message from them, if you can ask them just a little bit.
It’s just a small, tiny way of reaching out – that won't come up in your application, but it'll inform your application by making it more sincere (and checking and making sure that that professor is accessible to undergraduates). Just really following through a little bit and digging a little bit deeper is really helpful.
Alyssa Guzman: Yeah, avoid being too surface-level.
In “Why us?” it could be tempting to talk about why you want to go to a school in Florida because you like the beach in the warm weather… but definitely avoid focusing an entire essay on your love of the beach and warm weather! You want it to be a deeper insight into you as a person and your motivators.
Now if you want to go to a school in Florida because you want to study marine biology, and you need the beach and warm weather for that, that's a little bit different. But you always want to go a couple of layers deeper.
Anthony Su: Yeah, that's very fair. I think if you're starting the essay about the location the college is in, you tend to veer off into that path of, “Cornell's in New York City!”
I'll add another aspect to this question, because I think with “Why us?” and “Why major?” it might be a little bit easier. What about these really odd supplements? Stanford has, “Write a letter to your roommate.” University of Chicago is notorious for having funky prompts, like, “Find X,” or something like that. I've heard Caltech does, “Tell me something unethical you've done.” Do you have any advice on how to start when you're thrown a curveball like that?
Alyssa Guzman: To be honest, I've always been a really big fan of stream-of-consciousness type writing. I think that you don't know what's going to come out of your brain when you just continually write and don't stop. So if there is a really strange question like, “What is something ethically bad that you have done?” you might be taken aback. But then you can start thinking, like, “When I was a kid I took away my friend's toy in the sandbox,” whatever. That starts spiraling, and you just keep on writing and writing and writing – and then, at the end of that five minutes…
Literally set a timer for yourself – and even if, during that stream of consciousness, you're saying, “I don't know what I'm writing about right now, but let me try to figure it out,” and you're writing down every single thought… it's just a really organic way of getting those parts of your brain fired up that are making those connections. And then writing them all down. I think that that's a really good way to come up with ideas when you're stumped.
It's kind of a personal thing. It's helped me out a lot. But if it's something that you haven't tried, what better time to try than now?
Lindsey Ricker: I could not agree more. I think that's such fabulous advice.
I teach creative writing, and exactly that sort of thing. And it's amazing the connections that your brain will make when you relax a little and you let it – and you have that force of momentum going through you. Things will just come up.
And then the process of editing is something that, as ILUMIN specialists, we spend so much time doing. If you come to us and you've edited and you've done what you can, but you still feel like, “This came out of a stream of consciousness; maybe I should have been much more careful" and whatever, it's much better to come with too many thoughts – too many good thoughts – than something that is really strained and really trying. When you loosen yourself up to the momentum, so much good stuff can come out – especially with those unusual prompts.
Anthony Su: Another way to think about it is, don't let it ruminate in your head and [don't] keep thinking and thinking, “I need to get the perfect example!” or something like that. If you find yourself doing that, put it on the paper… and you'll realize, “This one's interesting. This one doesn't quite work.” That's part of that exercise of that stream of consciousness – that you're able to truly consider everything that's on that paper, rather than just have it stuck in your head and you just never go anywhere (or you just feel like you never go anywhere).
Lindsey Ricker: The process of improvisation and acting famously has the phrase, “Yes, and?” Embracing different ideas – and allowing those to spring into new ideas at the initial stages of writing, and in response to strange problems – is a very strong approach to take.
Anthony Su: Any other questions, comments, thoughts? I guess this is the last call. Otherwise Lindsey, Alyssa, and I are all going to log off a little early.
As a reminder again, it's supplemental essay WRITE! over the weekend: Saturday 1pm. I'll be there. Those will be if you want another exclusive webinar, being able to dive deeper. We'll be there to present that as well.
Okay, I appreciate everyone joining us. We're gonna take a short break from webinars for a little bit. We'll probably restart middle of August, something like that.
Everybody, take care. Have a good rest of your night
Alyssa Guzman: Bye!
Anthony Su: Bye!
Lindsey Ricker: Bye!