As students start finishing their activity lists & main essays, they move to supplements! Those are the extra questions SOME but not ALL colleges add to the mix. While the questions don’t change MUCH year to year, we continue to see more questions related to diversity this year since the Supreme Court’s decision to omit race as a consideration in admissions. This is a great opportunity to examine diversity in YOUR life however it resonates with you.
Supplements aren’t always as obvious to find in the Common App. Some appear under WRITING or QUESTIONS; others pop up as you select a certain major. So consider it a fishing expedition…you do need to look around a bit to find them all. Rest assured, the Common App won’t let you hit SUBMIT until your application is complete.
Is optional always optional? Truly depends! The COVID-19, now Community Disruption question IS. Only 16% of applicants answered that last year. My advice: if you have something compelling to say that colleges MUST know, that’s a great place for it! If your story is similar to all teenagers in the COVID-verse, then don’t worry about it! But supplements asking you WHY you want to attend? NOT OPTIONAL! That = opportunity to SELL YOUR FIT! Think of your application as a series of puzzle pieces, and make sure you present your best possible pieces throughout. No need to repeat, but keep moving FORWARD with every word!
Additional Information section. Well-named, that’s for additional information you need to share. Anything related to academics or your personal life that colleges NEED to know, share it! If you’ve done an activity since kindergarten, the TIGHT activity list space is probably not enough to do it justice. You can use this for a spillover of your activity section, but don’t overdo it! Colleges don’t need to know every single thing you did. They want to know the highlights. MIT only lets students enter FOUR activities in their application! Share your highlights in the most impressive way! Yes, that’s a WOW FACTOR!
I recently published some of my favorite tips for crafting spectacular supplements in my newsletter and wanted to expand a bit here.
- The “terrifying” Why Essay. This is actually my FAVORITE prompt. Why? It’s a FABULOUS opportunity to SHOW your reader that you’ve done your research and WHY you’re a great fit – both ways! It’s also a combination of journalism (storytelling/reporting) and PR (sales & positioning), two things that defined my career pre-Power Hour. Draft your longest Why Essay FIRST, and then tweak it thoughtfully and strategically. Keep deadlines in mind, of course. Don’t just plug & play; update in a way that makes sense for EACH school. And triple-check any updates so you aren’t mentioning the wrong school in an updated essay 🙂 I interviewed admissions officers and posted videos linked here at UF, Tulane, and BU – all with great tips for YOU!
- Planning leads to perfection. I’m a HUGE planner, and now’s the time to list your schools BY deadline and attack accordingly. There are so many ways to plan, so pick what works best for you. At a minimum, list key deadlines and schools under each one (ROLLING FIRST!). I offer a FREE Essay Planner here – check it out!
- Read the prompt. Twice! Many times, I see responses that have gone so far off-road that I’m not sure which road we’re on. Read the prompt; respond to it thoughtfully; and then read it again to verify.
- Don’t repeat the prompt verbatim in your response. You’re limited in terms of words or characters. Jump right in, get creative, and engage your reader from the start.
