Webinar Transcript: Strengthening Supplemental Essays
Elton Lin
(This is a transcript of a webinar from October 2024, a recording of which you can find on our YouTube channel.)
Anthony Su (he/him): All right, welcome everyone! I think this is going to be our last webinar for the year. So we're going to finish up with a little bit about supplemental essays; hopefully a lot of students have already started a couple of these and are on their way, chugging along with the different essays that they have to write… and hopefully, they at least got a draft of the stuff that they're going to turn in for Early Decision, Early Action, in [about] one week.
But if not, we will do our best to try to get you in the right direction, get you moving for all of these different essays. And we’ve got a lot of schools—I think we’ve got University of Michigan, we have USC—we have a lot of examples that we’ll cover today, so you’ll be able to get a chance to see not just how to approach it, but also, you know, what actually works in a supplemental essay later on.
Today, I’m joined by Grace and Ashley, who will be presenting today. Grace, can you introduce yourself, and then Ashley?
Grace Crowcroft: Yeah, absolutely! So my name is Grace, as Anthony said, and I’m a member of the ILUMIN Essay Specialist team. And I’m excited to dive a little bit deeper into the world of supplementals! We’re going to cover a lot.
Ashley Bailey (she/her): Hi everyone, I’m Ashley! I’m also a member of the ILUMIN Essay Specialist team. I’ve been with the team for a few years now, and I can’t wait to share all of ILUMIN’s wisdom with you guys.
Anthony Su: Awesome. And then, you know, I think a lot of folks have been to our webinars in the past, but if you haven’t: feel free to use the chat, use the Q&A box—whatever ideas, questions, thoughts you have, feel free to put it in there. We’ll always leave a little bit of time at the end to try to address everything, answer any questions or any other thoughts that you had.
There’s a lot of slides today and a lot of text, so also, if you want us to go back to a slide later on, just put a note so that we know, we can go back. But we’ll try to cover as much as we can today, and then make sure we can get into all the questions that you have as well.
Okay, without further ado, I think I’ll hand it to Grace.
Grace Crowcroft: Alright, sounds good! So we’re just gonna go straight into the agenda for today.
Agenda
How do Supplemental Essays work?
Why Us - Researching Your Dream Schools
Why Major - Explaining your Passion
Community/Diversity - Reflecting on your World
Open-Ended Prompts - Highlighting your Creativity
Quick Takes - Take Risks!
ILUMIN Hourly Essay Consulting
Grace Crowcroft: We’ll be discussing five main types of supplemental essay prompts, which you can see listed here. Although the terms like “Why Us?” and et cetera are not necessarily the official terminology, it is really helpful for students so that they can learn how to identify the real questions that they should be answering.
Throughout the presentation, we will also be touching on big takeaways to keep in mind, and we’ll be looking at actual examples of supplemental essay prompts for each category type.
Finally, we’ll wrap up things with how you can apply these big takeaways to your very own essays, whether you’re a senior who’s actually drafting right now and proofreading your drafts, or a younger student who just wants to plan ahead.
How do Supplemental Essays Factor in?
Essentially all private schools and half of public schools require students to answer 1-5 Supplemental Essays each, plus the Common App Personal Statement
Though each prompt is “school-specific,” they tend to follow similar themes → meaning, you can use similar topics across various schools. It’s okay to share!
Ashley Bailey: All right, so we’ll jump right into how supplemental essays factor in essentially all private schools, and half of public schools, require students to answer one to five supplemental essays each, plus the Common App Personal Statement, of course.
Though each prompt is technically school-specific, they tend to follow similar themes, meaning you can use similar topics across various schools, and it’s okay to reuse…
Big Takeaway #1! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Don’t forget to Research
Ashley Bailey: Which brings us to our first big takeaway: reduce, reuse, recycle, and don’t forget to research!
Once you’ve written a Community/Diversity essay for University of Michigan, you have a good skeleton when you begin to draft the University of Washington Community/Diversity essay, which is about a similar word count. And once you have a strong “Why Major?” essay for UT Austin, you already have the bones of an effective “Why Major?” essay for Purdue. So even though you’ll be writing separate unique essays for separate unique prompts, the truth is that if you plan ahead, you can effectively recycle early drafts into different schools.
How do Supplemental Essays Factor in?
SHOULD:
When schools require multiple Supps, use the space logically to share different stories.
Respond clearly to this specific prompt’s wording, especially if you’ve recycled.
SHOULD NOT:
Don’t repeat the Common App (or each other, within one app).
If you’re recycling, make sure to replace the name of the school and major!
Ashley Bailey: So what’s some quick things to keep in mind? When schools require multiple supplementals, you should use the space logically to share different stories, which means that you shouldn’t use the same intern experience throughout all three prompts (if there’s three prompts). And you should also respond clearly to the specific prompts’ wordings, especially if you recycled, which means answering all parts of the prompt question, right?
What you should also keep in mind is avoiding repeating topics you’ve covered in the Common App or other supplemental essays for that school. And if you’re recycling, it is extremely important to replace the name of the school and major. The easiest way to ensure your readers at Cornell will be unimpressed with you is by declaring that you can’t wait to be an engineering student with USC’s Viterbi. It’s happened: don’t be that guy!
The Core Types of Supplemental Essays
1. Why Us
Translation:
Besides prestige, what do you know about our campus, curriculum, and philosophy?
What activities, classes, and research do you see yourself doing here? → Help us envision your impact on campus.
First Steps:
Make two lists: your experiences and your research. Where do they overlap?
Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (150 words)
Grace Crowcroft: Okay, with that warning, we’re going to go into the first type of prompt we’re discussing today, which is the “Why us?” So here’s an example: “Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you will find unique and compelling about Columbia.” And you do that in only 150 words.
So let’s break this down by translating the school-specific wording into real questions that you’ll need to answer before you start drafting.
So, besides the prestige, what do you know about our campus curriculum and philosophy, and what activities, classes, and research do you see yourself doing here? Help us to envision your impact on our campus.
So at ILUMIN, we recommend that students approaching one or more “Why us?” essays take some time to brainstorm initial answers to that question. So one way to do this is just by jotting down two lists. The first one is any relevant experience you’ve had or personal reasons that you can think of… and then what you know about the school, and try to answer those questions.
So the truth is that you probably won’t be able to answer, fully, these bullet-pointed questions right away, right; but you want to do some research in the early stages of writing in order to make sure that your draft is actually answering the prompt.
Big Takeaway #2! Make Lists. Add Links!
Grace Crowcroft: So that takes us to our second big takeaway, which is to make lists and add links! When you’re ready to get started, do this, and if the prompt is asking what interests you about what we have to offer, then draft lists of your research into each school’s program and courses.
2. Why Major
Translation:
Demonstrate dedication to your major(s)!
If you’ve spent time building your high school resume through major-related extracurriculars (clubs, research, classes), then this is the place to elaborate!
What activities, classes, and research do you see yourself doing here? → Help us envision your impact on campus.
Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major? (U-T Austin, 300)
Explain, in detail, an experience you’ve had in the past 3 to 4 years related to your first-choice major. (UIUC, 150
Ashley Bailey: The second type of prompt for today is the “Why major? essay. Let’s read two example prompts:
“Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first major?” This is for UT Austin, and is about 300 words.
And: “Explain in detail an experience you’ve had in the past three to four years related to your first-choice major.” This is for UIUC, it’s about 150 words.
These prompts are thankfully more straightforward. However, students are sometimes tempted to answer these questions with ideas instead of activities: so things like, I want to be a doctor because I want to help people, or I want to be an engineer so I can solve real-world problems. All right, sure, but you probably won’t want to spend 300 words talking about just intangible ideas. Instead, we advise our students to start with the resume, then work towards the prompt. Is there a relevant accomplishment, project, internship, summer program, something else that you can use to help you answer this prompt? Can you demonstrate a clear example of you already embarking on this path in high school?
For example: “When I realized I wanted to become a doctor, I began searching for opportunities to learn more about healthcare. Over the summer, I worked as a lifeguard at the local community center, where I got certified in first aid, CPR, and AED training.” Talking more specifically about how your extracurriculars have led you to your major will not only let you show off the work you've done, but also help the reader envision what kind of things you will participate in as a great member of the campus community.
Big Takeaway #3!
The Activities List will be a brief overview of how you’ve spent all of your time.
A “Why Major” essay is an opportunity to flex major-related highlights: your knowledge, dedication, and intent to focus on this in college.
Ashley Bailey: So that's big takeaway three. The activities lists will be a brief overview of how you spent all of your time; a “Why major?” essay is an opportunity to flex major-related highlights—your knowledge, dedication, and intent to focus on this in college.
Why Us / Why Major
Sometimes, prompt “types” overlap.
Translation:
Elaborate on major-related extracurriculars (clubs, research, classes).
What activities, classes, and research do you see yourself doing here? → Help us envision your impact on campus.
Besides prestige, what do you know about our campus, curriculum, and philosophy?
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? (550)
Grace Crowcroft: All right! So we've introduced the first two categories, but it's important to note again that these aren't necessarily the official categories. Sometimes prompts will overlap with different types of questions, and you'll just have to answer both questions in your essay.
So this example of University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is very much like that. It says: “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 interest?” Do you see that? It's 550 words, which is almost the length of the Common App Personal Statement—but it's so long because they're asking you to do research into their campus and make a connection between your past experiences, and then again, possible future experiences.
So let's do a little bit of a translation with this really wordy prompt from Michigan into answering the “Why us?” and “Why major?” So this is an opportunity to elaborate on major-related extracurriculars like your clubs, research, and classes. You also can talk about activities, classes, and research that you might see yourself doing at the university. Help them to envision your impact on the campus. And besides prestige, what do you know about the campus curriculum and philosophy?
Why Us / Why Major
Student Sample Essay From: University of Southern California (USC)
Why Us / Why Major Prompt: Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second- choice major selections. (250)
Grace Crowcroft: Okay, so now that we've read several prompts, let's get into a sample essay. The essay that we're going to share is actually a real student’s essay, written by a past ILUMIN student who was so generous to share it with us. And we're going to answer one of the prompts from USC, which reads: “Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second- choice major selection.”
All right.
“Sonata No. 14 in C minor.
Among the hundreds of pieces I performed, this one always got the biggest reaction from the Sunny View Retirement Community. When I arrived every Saturday, the residents seemed down, but Beethoven's uniquely composed tempo never failed to bring their energy up.
Studying psychology for Science Olympiad taught me their reactions could be flawlessly explained with physical mechanisms down to the neurons, but I wondered: do complex neurological reactions caused by stimuli like music evolve with age?
I hope to pursue this interest and many others to the unique opportunities and specialized curriculum at USC's Leonard Davis School of Gerontology as a Human Development and Aging major. Courses like “Psychology of Adult Development” will provide insight into behavioral changes into maturing humans, while “Neurobiology of Aging” will engage my Neuroscience background to study age-related neurological disorders. Working alongside Dr. Mara Mather at the Emotion and Cognitive Lab, I can explore the effects of increased parasympathetic activity and cognitively stimulating triggers like classical music on the brain function of aging adults. Supplementing these studies with a Food and Society minor, also unique to USC, will integrate concepts from anthropology, sociology, and nutrition into my understanding of lifespan health. Through GERO 488, I can even observe the impact of such factors on human longevity in a global context while studying abroad in Italy.
Though my interest was sparked by neurons and sonatas, USC's comprehensive program will take me beyond science to discover interdisciplinary tools that promote healthy aging.”
Now, do you see how the student intertwined both the “Why us?” and “Why major?” into one essay? Let's break it down a little bit, because I want to point out a few things to you all. So first, this student is applying to major in gerontology, the study of aging. Right away, their hook is relevant, major-related, and it's a story that gives us some insight into not only why the student wants to major in gerontology, but also that they actually have experience with a local retirement community for senior citizens. So it's very interconnected.
And then next, notice how rich the research into USC the student incorporates [is]. So they talk about names of specific classes from the course catalog, and they even found the name and a specialty of a professor in that exact department, describing the research lab where they could imagine themselves working on a complex interdisciplinary project. You can tell that the student is, in fact, using big takeaway number two to start their essay-writing process—by making the list of “Why us?” data points, they have thoughtfully researched the school's official website, and they show us that they can actually see themselves studying to be a student at USC, and that creates so much more depth to their essay.
3. Diversity, Identity, and Community
Translation:
Are you observant about and compassionate to those around you? Are you a critical thinker?
Have you experienced certain obstacles and/or opportunities due to parts of your life you have no control over?
Have you positively impacted those around you? → Help us envision your impact on our campus.
Oxy’s central mission emphasizes the value of community amidst diversity. What do you value in a community and how do you see your perspectives and life experiences enhancing it? (250)
Ashley Bailey: Okay, our next slide is about a very broad hybrid category. So this is going to be diversity, identity, and community. For some students, this question feels like the easiest of them all. Some students will read diversity, identity, and community and immediately know that there is a certain aspect of their identity, family, or life that will help them answer this prompt in a very meaningful and impactful way. If this is you, then you're off to a great start! You may still have some work to do for translating your unique experience into language and context that will help highlight what you have experienced and persevered through. Don't forget that, even if you do check certain boxes for the reader, it's still up to you to effectively and persuasively communicate that.
However, not everyone has a story that jumps to mind. There's a common misconception students have that if you don't have a certain demographic trait, their essay won't be impactful; they don't check a certain box, they won't have anything to write about. But that simply isn't true!
Let's read an example of a prompt: “Oxy’s central mission emphasizes the value of community amidst diversity. What do you value in a community, and how do you see your perspectives in life experiences enhancing it?” That's 250 words.
This prompt is not a yes or no question: do you check the boxes? I translate this question for my own students as such: Are you observant about and compassionate to those around you? Are you a critical thinker? Have you experienced certain obstacles and or opportunities due to the parts of your life you have no control over, and have you positively impacted those around you? Help us envision your impact on our campus.
Jotting down an answer to each of these questions is a good exercise for coming up with out-of-the-box responses so you don't feel trapped.
Diversity, Identity, and Community
Community is more broadly defined than most students’ immediate definitions. Don’t feel boxed in or out of any given prompt.
First Steps:
What communities are you part of now?
Which of those matter the most to you?
What is your role in those communities?
How do you see yourself continuing to contribute to similar environments
Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity at the U of Washington. (300)
Ashley Bailey: Let's take a look at one more prompt and one more type of writing and brainstorming exercise.
Here's the prompt: “Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity at the University of Washington.” That's 300 words.
All right, so community is more broadly defined than most students’ immediate definitions, so don't feel boxed in or out of any given prompt. Here's a couple questions to keep in mind at first: What communities are you part of now? Which of those matter the most to you? What is your role in these communities, and what is your responsibility in those communities as well? And how do you see yourself continuing to contribute to similar environments?
Diversity, Identity, and Community
Student Sample Essay From: University of Washington - Seattle (UW)
Diversity, Identity, and Community Prompt: Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity at the U of Washington. (300)
Ashley Bailey: So let's keep the question of what makes up a community in our mind as we read this sample essay. Again, this is a real essay from a past ILUMIN student who’s allowed us to share it with you all today! And we're going to look at that same UW prompt I read earlier, which again, is about family and community, which defines our individual worlds (and then all the listing), and describe the world you come from, and how you as a product of it might add to the diversity.
“I come from a world that has a lot of rubber bands.
They're all over the house, the couch, the coffee table, the kitchen, my desk—I can find a rubber band everywhere I look, though I see them most often in the mirror. Every morning, I open my mouth wide and find metal and elastic to greet me. As a braces wearer, the world around me is bittersweet; simple things such as crunchy food or flossing aren't so simple. The days after the orthodontist tightenings are excruciating, but as a freshman I had only one thing in mind: straight teeth in time for senior portraits. I was eager to get my braces on and off as soon as possible.
To my dismay, when I did finally get braces, I was already a junior—so I wouldn't get them off until I was in college. I was distraught. I felt like this was an embarrassingly obvious sign that I was behind all my peers. Looking in the mirror, I GRE to despise my smile.
But as time went on, the pain evaporated. As my mouth got used to the sharp metal, so did my mindset. Much the way I work to improve my grades or my skill in sports, my braces worked to improve the position of my canines every day and night. I reminded myself to fit the rubber bands between my brackets. My self-consciousness faded away: when I finally took my senior portraits, I wasn't concerned about changing anything about myself. I just faced the camera and smiled ear to ear.
At Washington, I'll probably be one of a few Huskies with braces—but that's okay. Being comfortable in my own skin and true to myself would be my way of adding a diverse perspective to UW.”
Let's dissect this essay a bit. The student's response to the diversity/community prompt is pretty unique; rather than talking about coming from a specific volunteer group or mentioning their family's background, they've chosen to lean into the second part of this prompt: describing the world you come from, and how you as a part of it can add to UW's Community. Effectively, this student’s experience having braces allowed them to gain a new perspective on how they view themselves and how they view a long and sometimes awkward journey towards their personal goals.
How you might elevate this essay further is by expanding in the conclusion. The student could have mentioned how their perspective might benefit others in the future, or even how it's benefited others in the past. Perhaps they're better at encouraging people through obstacles or making others feel comfortable in their own skin. In your own essay, you may want to look through the college's list of clubs and organizations. If you see a part of your identity reflected or celebrated in that list, it's a great idea to add that in your conclusion when you're relating your experiences back to your possible future on this school's campus.
4. Open-Ended Prompts
Translation:
What is missing from your application?
Are there any core types of Supplemental Essay Prompts (Why Us, Why Major, Diversity/Identity/Community) missing?
Are there any opportunities or obstacles you’ve experienced that are missing
Tell us about the person who most impacted your life and why. (Texas A&M, 250)
If you would like to share more about yourself that is not captured elsewhere in your application, please tell us more here. (Amherst College, 175)
We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (MIT)
Ashley Bailey: Okay, so moving on, we have open-ended prompts. The University of Chicago, of course, is famous for their wildcard prompts, and they challenge students to think creatively, but they aren't the only ones that have unexpected and even vague prompts.
So here are a couple of examples. “Tell us about the person who has most impacted your life and why?” From Texas A&M, 250 words. “If you would like to share more about yourself that is not captured elsewhere in your application, please tell us more here.” Amherst College, 175 words. And, “we know you lead a busy life full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.” MIT.
So what do we do with these prompts? Do we jump right in? Well, sometimes we do, if the answer comes immediately to mind with a good idea or good memory; but we really want to take a step back, too, and consider your application as a whole. Usually schools that ask stuff like this are also asking other more pointed supplemental questions, so I ask my students: What is missing from your application? Or: are there any core types of supplemental essay-type essay prompts like the “Why us,” “Why major”, diversity/identity/community missing, and are there any opportunities or obstacles you've experienced that are missing? Those are the gaps that these schools might want you to fill.
Big Takeaway #4! Prompts are opportunities, not obstacles. Make sure your application includes everything you need it to.
Grace Crowcroft: So here is our big takeaway number four: prompts are opportunities, not obstacles! Make sure your application includes everything you need to.
And this might be the biggest one of them all, so I would encourage you to remember, because you're filling in, like I said, the gaps of what might be missing in the rest of your application.
5. Short Answers
Supplemental Essays are typically 100, 200, 300, or 500 words. Typically, schools require either several shorter essays or fewer, longer ones.
However, some are much smaller: 50 words, or even 100 characters.
Translation:
No one can be a student 24/7. Who are you as a person?
What is missing from your application?
With prompts this small, it’s especially important to take risks. Lean into your quirks and hobbies: the memories and instincts that are yours alone.
Ashley Bailey: So finally we have the short answers, or quick takes. The next slide will show you a lot of examples, so we thought we should start with the advice.
Supplemental essays are typically 100, 200, 300, or 500 words. Typically, schools require either several shorter essays or fewer longer ones. However, some are much smaller: 50 words, or even 100 characters! So how can we keep this in mind when we're answering these?
No one can be a student 24/7, so who are you as a person? What is missing from your application already? With prompts this small, it's especially important to take risks. Lean into your quirks and hobbies, the memories and instincts that are yours alone.
5. Short Answers
STANFORD UNIVERSITY: 5 Prompts, 50 words each (plus 3 “regular-length” Supplemental Essays)
What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?
How did you spend your last two summers?
What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?
Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family.
List five things that are important to you.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: 3 Prompts, 50 words each (plus 2+ “regular-length” Supplemental Essays)
What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?
What brings you joy?
What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: 11 Prompts, 100 characters each (plus 3+ “regular-length” Supplemental Essays”)
What is your dream job?
What song should we be listening to while reading your application?
Name one dish you would cook for our admissions team.
What is the top thing on your bucket list?
… And more!
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - USC: 10 Prompts, 100 characters each (plus 1-3+ “regular-length” Supplemental Essays”)
What is your favorite snack?
Best movie of all time:
Dream job:
Dream trip:
If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?
Ashley Bailey: We aren’t going to read these all out loud, but we will stay on this slide for the next like 15-30 seconds, and I want you to observe the range of questions. Many of these aren't academic at all—there aren't all “Why us?” or “Why major?” or community prompts. In fact, they're mostly icebreaker-style questions. And remember: the readers want to know not only who you are as a student, but also who you are as a person.
So let's read a few of these. Stanford has a lot. Some of those are: “How did you spend your last two summers?” and “List five things that are important to you.” Princeton has a couple, one of which is: “What brings you joy?” Chapman University has, “Name one dish you would cook for our admission team.” And [the] University of Southern California has, “If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be?”
So you don't have to spend an insane amount of time on perfecting these short answers; they're not going to be likely to be the final make-or-break of your application, and it's okay to be humorous and personal. And remember to lean into your hobbies and habits! However, at the same time, we do advise students to make use of all the space you're given—so if they give you 50 words, don't forget to use all 50 words.
Big Takeaway #5! Write about things that matter to you.
Focusing on this will help you write essays that are more personal, detailed, intentional, and memorable.
Grace Crowcroft: Okay, here is our last big takeaway for tonight. Students: write things that matter to you, okay? Focusing on this will help you to write essays that are more personal, detailed, intentional, and memorable. It may be a very difficult next few months for your high school career answering these essays, but we hope that with guidance and enough time, our students will enjoy writing these essays too.
How should I prepare?
Younger students, choose your activities wisely. Will you be able to translate your experiences into Why Major and Diversity/Identity/Community essays?
Research your college list wisely. Make lists and add links. Will you be able to answer Why Us essays?
Plan ahead – Reach out for guidance!
Grace Crowcroft: So it's currently October 23rd which, as Anthony mentioned, [is] one week away from our typical 11/01 Early Action, Early Decision deadline.
So younger students: this is a time to choose your activities wisely. Will you be able to translate your experiences into the “Why major?” and Diversity/Identity/Community essays? And for the seniors: make sure you're researching your college list wisely. Make lists and add links. Will you be able to answer the Why Us essays? And then also plan ahead! Reach out for guidance.
Ready to Revise?
1:1 meetings + feedback with your Essay Specialist
Support with brainstorming, editing, and polishing any and all essays, including Supplemental Essays!
5 and 10 Hour Packages
Access to our Bootcamp curriculum
Common App and UC PIQs
Flexible online scheduling
Ashley Bailey: Now that we have run through an introduction to the supplemental essay prompts and strategies, your next step is to apply these big takeaways to your own essays so you can feel really confident and prepared to submit your own applications.
At ILUMIN, our hourly essay consulting program matches students up with a member from our wonderful essay team, including Grace and myself, to go through any essays from any school at any stage in the process—whether you're working on UCs, the Common App supplemental essays, or all three. We can walk you through everything from brainstorming to proofreading. Right now, I'm currently working with a student on their GTech and UMich early action applications, so we're ready for the deadlines in a week, and we're utilizing many of the strategies that Grace and I are sharing with you today to provide essays with plenty of on-campus research examples and personal examples.
At ILUMIN, we have both 5-hour and 10-hour packages depending on your needs, and we pride ourselves on our flexible online scheduling. Now is a great time to sign up and get some structured support as we face that November 1st Early Action/Early Decision deadline and the December 2nd UC deadlines.
Thank you for joining us!
Use the code WEBINAR at checkout for 10% off of Hourly Essay Consulting! (Expires in 1 week!)
Sign up here for a free consultation on how we can guide your college admissions journey!
Contact us at essays@ilumineducation.com!
Anthony Su: We'll just go through some final questions, but definitely, you can also—to get signed up, we do have this code, WEBINAR, just for 10% off—mostly for the students that want to get some final thoughts on their Early Decision, Early Action; you know, one last check on those essays before sending them off. I'll also launch a poll and—but you can also go to that QR code if you're interested in a free consultation or getting some kind of initial help and thoughts. You can definitely contact us if you let us know! Yes, we'll definitely contact you as well.
Grace, do you have something?
Grace Crowcroft: No, I was just going to add to—kind of like what Ashley was saying—something that's really nice at the end of our—near our deadlines is the flexibility, wanting to emphasize the flexibility that a lot of specialists have. And I know, like, I'm working with some of my students who are working towards that November 1st deadline, and we're doing things almost every day, if not a couple times a day. So we really are walking alongside you during this process.
Anthony Su: Absolutely!
Cool. I will go through some questions. Definitely, again, any thoughts—Q&A chat. We've ended early today, which means we can go through as many questions as the audience wants, basically.
The first question was, “Is it okay to name a research scientist who you'd like to collaborate with at your dream or reach school who works in the field that appears like you're going to major in, but you may not have communicated with them officially?”
Ashley Bailey: I would say absolutely! I think a lot of the times, when we're telling you to use research to bring in professors or specific people on that campus, you haven't been in contact with them, and it's okay to kind of be preaching a little bit of wishful thinking here of like, “hey, I really would like to take this specific course with this specific professor,” and even though—even if you go to that school and that might not be the case, it still shows that you've put a lot of thought into like, “oh, this is a school that would be a good fit for me, and I've thought about it quite a bit.”
Anthony Su: I think it's definitely fair. I think—let me go back to that—there was one essay that had this, right? One of these example essays.
Yeah, being able to mention the professor specifically—I think it—also, potentially this professor heads this lab, so it's completely relevant to what the student has to comment here. Yeah, I think it definitely makes sense. I would say—yeah, don't name-drop random professors; of course it needs to be relevant to your field of study and, you know, what you're interested in… but by no means I would say is it a requirement, also, to put a professor or someone from the school.
Ashley Bailey: Definitely had students who will do like a triple whammy and be like, this specific course with this specific professor where we do this specific thing—and those look great, but also, if you don't have enough word count, it’s okay to not put the professor so you can add a different example somewhere else.
Anthony Su: Yeah, definitely don't force an example in every school.
Question about summer applications—we can definitely—yeah, our essay specialist can definitely help with summer applications if that's also—I know that's around the corner, a lot of them are due in December so, you know, the timeline is getting close. We can definitely help with summer programs as well.
So yeah, any other questions, thoughts? Again, we're a small group today; definitely, again, don't be shy!
We have questions, I think, if everyone lets us—also, I think Ashley and Grace will also appreciate being able to get off a little bit early; we'll probably be able to get [an] earlier dinner.
But I guess I want to—let me go back to the second essay, because I realized this was the first time I've seen this essay, and I think this essay is super fun! I think this essay was like, the hook [is] really effective. The hook, I think, is super effective, but also like, by the time you're in the second paragraph, you get what this essay is going to talk about, you know; the rubber bands sound really wacky, but then you clearly know, “oh, this is going to be talking about braces identity… on self-image.” And you know, I thought: yeah, this story—I think you're able to really hear this student’s voice in this essay as well… I think there's a… reflectiveness, a gentleness, that I think—this is very deliberate, very thought through from the student’s perspective. Yeah, I thought this was fun.
Ashley Bailey: Yeah, I think what helps that voice too is that there's a little bit of vulnerability in it as well, of like, “oh, I started to not like my smile because of this, and you know, I had to deal with these kind of obstacles,” and it makes you not only bring in that personal element into your essay where it doesn't always have to be fully academic. It's nice to bring in those personal touches.
Anthony Su: Yeah, and I think this is the—I know you mentioned like, hey, this student definitely—like potentially it's also word count, potentially it's just how the draft ended up… This student probably could have connected to other things, but I thought… this story was effective enough without the connections… Definitely, if you had an extra 100 words or something like that, you could add that, but I think it stands alone and doesn't super require it, because it is, I think—it's a personal story, it's an introspective story, rather than it's—you know, if in a diversity/identity/community type prompt, it's like, “oh, I affected these things,” it's a little bit different from that typical style that you would expect here.
So yeah, a couple more questions… I guess the question around this is… “If you have a ‘Why major?’ essay, should it be a show essay or a tell essay?”
Good conceptual question! Let's go back to the prompts.
“Why major?”... I guess, I mean we'll just use these two as examples of the UT and the UIUC.
Grace Crowcroft: I think my experience—I would say a little bit of both, but more of a tell me essay, and I say that because I mean, even just looking at like UIUC’s—it also depends on the word count— but like looking at UIUC's, right, with 150 words only, you kind of need to get right into it and show that you're able to really put yourself into and on that campus, and set yourself up to show you've done the research, you've done all of that. So sometimes it is the listing of like, “and I want to do this and… this is something that, you know, I imagine myself doing.”
But I think, using—you know, Anthony kind of touched on this, right—having the author, the student's voice come out: that's also really key. So you can kind of do the show me part by having a creative way of describing—sometimes, using a quirky way or an interesting way, intricate way of telling us the things that you’re going to do while you're on that campus, if that makes sense.
So a little bit of both! I would say moreso, though, tell me. I don't know if you all have different opinions on that.
Ashley Bailey: I think that the example you actually read, Grace, is a great example of how you can have that tell, but also bring in the voice. Like that hook is just so good that you get a kind of idea of the personality of this person before you get into the nitty-gritty of the research examples they had or the internship they had.
But I also agree. I think, typically, the “Why major?” plus the “Why us?” tend to be more of those tell, and the showing comes through more of your voice and the kind of personality you build into it.
Anthony Su: It is a little—it's an interesting question, because it's like, this part of the essay, almost de facto, must be tell of like, “hey, here's how I envision myself on campus, here's what I'm involved in,” and then there are some aspects where it's like, if you have the relevant connections, you can use an example, show.
It's almost like if you were—if you had this question for UC PIQs, I would argue [that in] those essays, you probably want more show; you want to have the concrete example and just move on, whereas for some of these, you know, for this particular essay, it makes sense for you to have this blend. But as an example, again, if you're looking at that rubber bands essay, that definitely is more tell. It's more of a story, rather than… "I have concrete examples.” Well, I guess it's her experience, but you know, I feel like the story reads more of [an], “I'm telling you the story,” rather than… “[here are] the concrete ways that I've impacted my campus and diversity and things like that.”
It's an interesting question! I don't think… I think, as an—if you're a student getting ready for this, I don't think you should think about… “is this going to be a show essay or is this going to be a tell essay?” I think it's like, if you have an example… if you have an idea, go with it. Don't worry about how it sounds… this is maybe something we can nitpick when you get to a draft that's like, 80% [off] the way through, and then we're really thinking about voice and all of these other smaller details rather than the content or the story and things like that, right?
Ashley Bailey: I think an example: I just helped a student on a “Why major?” one, and some of his examples were hard to visualize… I think that's the opportunity to maybe have a little bit of show to be like, if whatever cool experience you did that led you to your major is just not very like layman terms, it's okay to add a little bit of showing to just provide clarity.
Anthony Su: Spicy question! This question says, “is there a community that could be too controversial to write about?”
Too controversial… I mean, you have to keep in mind, again, you're writing these essays hoping that the admission reader likes you, so if you have something that's going to be a little bit too controversial, or you think might not be read in the same light, it's fair to avoid it. I would say if you're like, “hey, I don't think this would work.”
But I don't know, any thoughts, Ashley, Grace?
Grace Crowcroft: Yeah, I would probably second that, I would say. Yeah, the readers are wanting to envision you on their campus, and so if there's—if it's really controversial, where like, everybody on the admissions team is saying, “hey, I don't know if we want this student on our campus with these this particular community,” that might be something to stray away [from].
But also, I would potentially—like if that's something that you're brainstorming or thinking about, I would also run it by somebody else that you trust and say, “okay, how does this read?” and maybe they can help discern that.
Anthony Su: Yeah, I think this is a question where it's like, you want to hopefully answer this quickly in the brainstorming process, and you know, if you have four different ideas and you know you have three other ones that are probably a little bit better, or you feel more comfortable sharing, I think that would make sense. And then it's fine for you to make two quick drafts and just see which one reads better to your friends, or other people as well, and just give input.
I thought there was a question, but it looks like it disappeared, so…
Ashley Bailey: I think it's in the general chat instead of the Q&A section.
Anthony Su: Yeah, this is the research scientist question—we tackled this one. I don't know.
Okay, I guess last call: if anyone else has questions, thoughts, concerns… okay, sounds good! I mean, we really appreciate everyone joining. We'll have a recording of this up, so you'll be able to take a look at the slides on your own time as well, if you want to go through and just get an idea of, you know, next stabs and how to iterate your essays.
Otherwise—I feel strange saying this, but I think we'll see you next year! This has been a really great—another set of webinars. We're really happy to be able to put out this info for a lot of folks, just to kind of get some thoughts and get the juices flowing for getting these essays started. And definitely, Ashley, Grace, appreciate your time; thanks for coming on and letting us know all this stuff.
All right, perfect! Everyone else: take care, have a good rest of your day. Good luck on your deadlines, guys!