Adrianne is a Senior 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.
Welcome to the Columbia supplemental essay prompts for the 2025-2026 college application cycle! Here’s everything you need to know to write the best supplemental essay possible.
There’s no doubt that Columbia University is highly competitive. For the class of 2029, Columbia University saw 59,616 applicants for first-year students and only accepted 4.9% of those applicants. So in this year’s cycle, it will be important for applicants to write excellent supplemental essays.
Columbia says that these supplemental essays “provide insight to your intellectual curiosity, habits of mind, love of learning, and sense of self” and help them understand “you in your current community,” and “why you feel Columbia’s distinctive experiences in and out of the classroom would be a good fit for your undergraduate education.” You can refer to the Columbia University website if you want to see how exactly they’re presenting their essay prompts for this year.
Columbia uses the holistic application review process to evaluate your application, which means that all the parts of your application — GPA, the rigor of your courses, standardized test scores (if submitted), essays, extracurriculars, art portfolio, and more — are considered. While academic performance is still the most crucial part of the college admissions process, the other facets of an applicant’s profile may also make a significant difference in the admissions decision.
Table of Contents
List Questions
Most college essays ask you to explain and reflect on experiences and interests, but Columbia is just looking for you to list some resources that are interesting to you in order to get a better sense of your personality. Since you only get 100 words, it’s important to choose them wisely.
When answering these list questions, take heed of the guidelines on the Columbia website:
For the list question that follows, there is a 100 word maximum. Please refer to the below guidance when answering this question:
- Your response should be a list of items separated by commas or semicolons.
- Items do not have to be numbered or in any specific order.
- It is not necessary to italicize or underline titles of books or other publications.
- No author names, subtitles or explanatory remarks are needed.
List a selection of texts, resources and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums and other content that you enjoy. (100 words or fewer)
Although this prompt appears straightforward, the way you answer it reveals a great deal about who you are. Because you have limited space to justify your choices, avoid listing universally common or required texts that won’t distinguish you, even if you enjoyed them. Instead, select books, media, and outlets that genuinely reflect your intellectual interests and reinforce the personal narrative you’re building throughout your application. Use the list to show your individuality by highlighting what subjects excite you, what ideas hold your attention, and how your interests extend beyond what “everyone” reads.
Don’t worry about trying to look cultured or impressive. If you engage with widely read publications, be specific about which sections or topics draw you in, and avoid forcing interests that aren’t authentic. Whether it’s a niche podcast, a particular artist, a genre you return to, or a form of media that keeps you engaged for months, focus on what genuinely shapes your thinking. Admissions readers value real curiosity and personal voice far more than curated sophistication.
Short Answer Questions
Tell us about an aspect of your life so far or your lived experience that is important to you, and describe how it has shaped the way you would learn from and contribute to Columbia’s multidimensional and collaborative environment. (150 words or fewer)
Approach this essay by identifying one specific, meaningful aspect of your lived experience — something that has genuinely shaped how you think, learn, or interact with others, rather than a broad identity label. Focus on impact over background: briefly establish the experience, then spend most of the paragraph showing how it influenced your curiosity, values, or ways of collaborating. Remember, imagery and catchy hooks/ideas are your friends here! You don’t necessarily have to choose an aspect of your life that would be “unique,” per se, but if you have a readily apparent one, it won’t hurt.
Now, connect this directly to Columbia’s environment by naming how you would engage in classrooms, student groups, research, or discussions. And the more specific you can get, the better! Avoid trying to represent an entire community; instead, show how your perspective adds dimension to a collaborative space. We want to be able to picture you in that environment, contributing your perspective and learning from others.
At Columbia, students representing a wide range of perspectives are invited to live and learn together. In such a community, questions and debates naturally arise. Please describe a time when you did not agree with someone and discuss how you engaged with them and what you took away from the interaction. (150 words or fewer)
This is a rather popular prompt this year, so if you’ve already answered this one before, it could be repurposed here. If not, choose a disagreement that involved real intellectual or values-based tension, not a trivial conflict. Describe your differences, showing respect for the other person’s position while also explaining your own. The heart of this essay should be how you engaged (i.e., asking questions, listening, adjusting your language, or finding common ground) instead of “winning” the argument.
The other important element is honest reflection on what you learned, whether your viewpoint shifted or deepened (if it didn’t, you might not be talking about the right topic), and how the experience changed the way you approach dialogue and conflict with others. Even if there was no formal resolution, it could still have impacted how you work to resolve problems. And remember, you want to be seen as the kind of person who encourages these conversations instead of someone who just stokes disagreement for no reason.
In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not anticipate. Please describe a situation in which you have navigated through adversity and discuss how you changed as a result. (150 words or fewer)
This is another common topic, so common that it is also a Common App prompt! But if you haven’t already come up with an answer for this on other applications, select an adversity that required adaptation rather than passive endurance. Your choices mattered and made a difference in the outcome. Briefly describe the challenge, then focus on your response: the strategies you tried, mistakes you made, and moments of recalibration. Everyone loves an underdog story, but also be mindful of the privilege you have, if applicable, so it doesn’t come off as “first-world problems.” That’s not to say that a student from a wealthier background hasn’t faced adversity, but it’s good to demonstrate your self-awareness regardless of your financial background.
Admissions readers care less about how dramatic the obstacle was and more about what it revealed about your resilience and capacity for growth. You’ll face more obstacles in college, maybe bigger than the one you describe here, so they want to know you can handle what Columbia may throw at you. End by articulating a concrete change in your mindset, skillset, or behavior pattern, and, as always, tie your essay back to a catchy hook with which you began the essay.
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 or fewer)
Hopefully, you read all the prompts before you started your response because you want to make sure you’re not repeating yourself, and I’d advise you always to plan out all your responses before you start writing.
This question is really two questions: What are you looking for in college? And what is it about Columbia that fits with those values? Give this one some thought and do your research into the particularities of Columbia carefully to see how the opportunities the school provides will meet your values. Try to go deep into the particularities of Columbia, beyond its Core Curriculum, for example, since you can bet almost everyone talks about this.
What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering? (150 words or fewer)
We’re not a big fan of the “tell us what you’re going to major in” question since by answering it, applicants risk-reducing themselves to “prospective manager,” “prospective med school applicant,” and so forth. So, instead, talk about yourself and your own experiences and why they’ve led you to be interested in your potential major of choice.
Ultimately, this question is less about your major and more about you. This is your chance to write about your experiences and how they relate directly to what you want to study. It’s a good chance for you to describe your accomplishments. Remember to be matter-of-fact and avoid hyperbole. Quantify your accomplishments when you can, and get as specific as possible about how the resources at Columbia will help you achieve your longer-term goals.
Looking for some help in writing your Columbia supplemental essays? Schedule a free consultation with one of our college application consultants today.
