Adrianne is a Master Admissions Counselor and TV/film director, producer, writer, and actress currently based in LA. She uses her experience in multiple disciplines to help students achieve their personal and academic goals.
If you’re applying to college this year, you are probably familiar with the idea of supplemental essays. Sometimes, they can feel like a superfluous part of the college application process that shouldn’t require a significant amount of time, but you still need to put work into them to make them stand out to your admissions officer by adding specific details and ensuring they reflect your personality and interests. Remember, you should take every opportunity possible to show who you are and what matters to you on your college applications.
However, not all colleges require supplemental essays — these applications may still ask for a personal statement, but that might be the extent of the writing necessary to apply. As a result, these schools often place more weight on applicants’ academic records and/or test scores, and they may have higher acceptance rates. This makes the college application process much easier for students, meaning schools without additional essays might be a good fit for a student’s safety school(s).
In this blog post, we’ll break down what supplemental essays are and why certain schools don’t require them as part of their application process.
Table of Contents
What is a Supplemental Essay?
A supplemental essay, or “additional essay,” is an essay on a college application that is required in addition to the personal statement, usually asking the applicant to explain why, specifically, they are interested in this particular school or to explain more about a significant achievement or experience. They are often shorter than the personal statement, hovering around 250-500 words. They allow students an opportunity to elaborate on how they think they’d fit in the school’s student life or their academic program of choice.
Colleges also usually offer a choice of supplemental essay prompts. The most common prompt is the “Why (Insert School Here)?” and the applicant will detail the research they’ve done about the school in question and how its offerings align with their career goals. Certain schools, most notably Stanford and the University of Chicago, are famous for their “quirky” prompts, like “What can actually be divided by zero?”
Some schools really go for it on the creativity front when it comes to their supplemental essay prompts! For instance, Drexel, a school in Philadelphia once asked students the question: “How many cheesesteaks can fit in the Liberty Bell?” This can be intimidating to some students, but for others, this can really allow them to work their creative muscles.
If you’re applying to schools that require supplemental essays, learning how to nail your supplemental essays is a fundamental skill to excel in the college application process and impress your college admissions officer — check out this blog post on how to ace these additional essays.
Do all Colleges Require Supplemental Essays?
No, as the title of the blog post implies, not all colleges require supplemental essays. Usually, top liberal arts colleges, such as Cornell University or Columbia University, require supplemental essays as a way to differentiate their many applicants from one another, and these essays are a part of the holistic admissions process that so many of these schools practice.
Supplemental essay requirements vary from school to school, meaning that some schools make supplemental essays altogether optional. That doesn’t mean they’re not important — we usually recommend taking advantage of every opportunity you have to reveal more of your personality in your application.
What Kind of Colleges Don’t Require Essays?
The schools that don’t include supplemental essays as part of their college application requirements are usually schools with higher acceptance rates, such as state universities. That makes sense, given that the admissions committees at these schools aren’t spending as much time on each application as the admissions committee at elite universities. These colleges typically still require the usual college essay, though, especially if they use the Common App or the Coalition Application.
According to Forbes, here’s a list of 80 schools in the U.S. that don’t require supplemental essays as part of their application — please note that some of them still have the option to write supplemental essays or even recommend doing so, they’re just not necessary to apply!
Case Western Reserve University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Indiana University – Bloomington
New Jersey Institute of Technology
New York Institute of Technology
St. Mary’s University (San Antonio)
Sewanee: The University of the South
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Why Apply to Colleges That Don’t Require Supplemental Essays?
There are several reasons to apply to schools that don’t require supplemental essays. A college or school that doesn’t require additional essays might make a good addition to a student’s list of colleges since their applications don’t necessarily take extra time to complete. As mentioned above, this makes them good choices for safety schools, especially if they have a high acceptance rate.
These applications may also be a better fit for STEM-focused students who don’t feel as confident in their creative writing skills. For students like this, writing the personal essay alone is a strenuous enough task, so by decreasing the number of essays required, students can focus on other, more significant parts of their application. This can also lead to their personal essays being stronger since they were able to solely concentrate on the personal statement and/or Common App essay.
Furthermore, if colleges and universities don’t require supplemental essays, it might also reflect those institutions’ focus on holistic admissions practices. Such schools may prioritize a student’s overall academic performance, test scores, and character over extensive college essays, which can sometimes favor those with more writing experience or skills. This approach can create a more level playing field for all applicants, enabling them to showcase their strengths in ways other than traditional college essays.
Finally, applying to colleges that do not require supplemental essays can also provide a strategic advantage. With fewer essays to complete, students could potentially to a wider list of colleges within the same timeframe. This increased volume affords them a wider range of options and opportunities, ultimately increasing their chances of acceptance into a school that fits their academic and personal aspirations.
Conclusion
Writing supplemental essays can be a strenuous part of the college application process, but it doesn’t have to be, depending on your list of colleges. By choosing to apply to schools that don’t require supplemental essays as part of the applications, you can lessen the stress that you experience during the college admissions process. This might mean you’re applying to less competitive colleges, but it can certainly make the process less stressful.
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