Dig Deeper: Make your Supplement essay stand out
Most students spend hours on the personal statement in the Common Application and that is time well spent. Particularly in 2020, the personal statement on your Common App will be more important than ever, as several traditional metrics, such as test scores and even grades, may be less reliable admissions tools than in the past. But let’s be clear: the essay that remains the most important is the Supplement Essay.
This Supplement essay is the prompt in which most universities ask applicants to make a connection between their intellectual evolution and how they will take advantage of the great opportunities at the school to which they are applying. Each university offers a slightly different question, but the focus of it is the same: why do you want to attend that particular school?
Too often, students throw their Supplement essay together at the last minute. Instead, this is the essay that should demand the most time, as it gets to the heart of an application. After all, college admissions offices are looking for a clear and sincere link between your interests and what their college offers. The answer should be well thought out and personalized. Simply regurgitating what can be found on a college’s website isn’t enough. Nor is it enough to describe the beautiful campus or unique buildings that can be seen on a campus tour. Not only are these observations readily available to anyone, but they don’t get to the heart of why an applicant is uniquely suited to that school.
The key, then, is digging deeper, and making an effort to personally connect with the institution to which you are applying. This means research. And surfing the internet for what others say about the school or a particular department says about itself is not digging deep. Instead, look at the course rosters in the departments you are interested in. Familiarize yourself with the kind of work the professors who teach those courses do in their research. Don’t be afraid to email them, or the administrators of that department or college, to learn more about their courses or the kind of work they expect from their students. Go the Student Life sections of each school’s website and get a sense of the student clubs and organizations offered; do they have activities that match up with what you want to continue to pursue in college? If so, reach out to the student officers and learn more about the club and the time involved to participate.
What happens when you dig deeper for this kind of research? You’ll get some great insight into the university itself and you’ll also discover some nuggets of info to use in your Supplement essay. In so doing, your extra research will clearly demonstrate to the admissions committee your sincere interest in the school and you’ll be able to provide concrete examples in your essay of how your unique journey at that school will play out.