Supplemental essays are a big point of stress in college admissions, and for good reason. They’re short, the prompts are often vague, and you’re trying to squeeze meaningful content into 100-250 words. After reviewing strong supplemental essays from students who got into top schools, I’ve identified five qualities that make the difference: using College Essay Advisors to decode prompts, matching stories to what the prompt actually asks, taking a unique approach to format and structure, being ruthlessly concise (one point, not five), and writing clear sentences that don’t require re-reading.
Last week I shared a video talking about the five qualities I see shared among most strong personal statements. Today I wanted to do the same thing, except instead of personal statements, we’re going to be talking about supplemental essays.
I know supplemental essays are a big point of stress in college admissions. So I thought today I’d help you out a little.
The five things we’re going to talk about:
- College Essay Advisors
- Story to match prompt
- Unique approach
- Concise
- Clear sentences
Let’s get into each one.
Contents
Quality one: use College Essay Advisors
If you don’t know about College Essay Advisors, look them up right now. It’s such a key tool I used in my admissions process, and they’re very, very helpful.
What College Essay Advisors does
If you look up “College Essay Advisors” plus the name of a school, like “College Essay Advisors Dartmouth prompts,” it’ll pull up the supplemental essays for that school from the year you’re applying in.
Then it gives you a game plan to attack each one. It tells you what each prompt is really asking of you.
Why this matters
Some prompts, as you probably know by now, are really vague. They ask you about personal qualities or to tell a story, and you’re like, “What? Where do I even go with this?”
College Essay Advisors is really going to help clear up any confusions about prompts. That’s kind of step number one before you even start writing.
Understanding what the prompt is actually asking is the foundation. Everything else builds from there.
Quality two: a story to match the prompt
You have a prompt. You have a question they’re asking you, like “reveal a personal characteristic” or “tell me about yourself.”
You could just go straight into answering that. But that’s not as engaging.
What you need to do instead
What you need to be trying to do is using a story to match whatever they’re asking of you.
If they’re asking you to share a personal characteristic, think about a story in your life that reveals that personal characteristic. Don’t just state it. Show it through narrative.
Why stories work
This is huge. It’s the same thing I talked about in my video about personal statements: stories are engaging.
Admissions officers want to be engaged because they read so many of these things. If you keep them entertained, keep them excited, you’re going to have a lot better chance in college admissions.
Think about the last book you read that you really loved. When you’re reading good material and engaging stories, you can’t help but read more. It’s really hard to put it down.
That’s exactly what you’ve got to do in your supplemental essays.
Quality three: a unique approach
People see supplemental essays, especially with resources like College Essay Advisors, as a mold you have to fit into.
But really, they’re open questions. You can talk about whatever you want. You can approach them in any way.
Think beyond the standard essay
You don’t have to fit into the standard essay format you’ve learned to write your whole life.
You can really stray away from just a 250-word blob paragraph. Maybe you hop a sentence, do one sentence per line, write like a poem. This is just spitballing, but the idea is: you have creative freedom.
Why unique approaches work
This ties in with the story element. You want to entertain them. You want to show them something different.
They won’t remember you if you just do the same 250-word chunk of answering the question without a story, like every other student does.
Really think about how you want to approach the prompt in a unique way. Make your thing a story. Make it engaging. Have ups and downs. Plot twists. Don’t give away the thesis right away.
Quality four: be ruthlessly concise
This is huge, and it’s where I personally missed out.
Most supplemental essays are like 250 words. I even had a “Why Us” essay that was like 100 words. That’s really hard to fit a lot of information into.
The mistake most students make
Don’t try to fit a lot of information. They know you’re working with limited space.
Don’t try to make five different points or say five different things. If you try to tell them five things in 250 words, they’re not coming away from that with much.
I think that was one thing I really missed out on personally. I tried to fit so much into these little spaces where really they’re not coming away from that with much.
What to do instead
Try to make one point. Then make every sentence, every word, match that point.
Don’t try to overdo it. Instead of telling them five things in 250 words, try to tell them one thing and really fit everything to that.
Concision is a huge, huge priority in writing these supplemental essays.
Quality five: write clear sentences
This ties with being concise. Admissions officers are reading these so fast. They don’t have time to reread, reread, reread.
What clear sentences look like
Make sure they understand what you’re saying as they go through it. Which means:
- No run-on sentences
- No big semicolons
- No four commas and three conjunctions in one sentence
Make them simple. Make it easy to read.
The self-test
Here’s a test: if you yourself are reading through your essay at high speed and you’re like, “Wait, what did I say there?” then that means you’re probably not clear enough.
The sentence was a little too confusing. You should go back and try to rewrite it.
These people are kind of speed-reading through your essays. They’re reading thousands and thousands of them. You have to make your writing so clear that they’re not going to go back and reread to try to figure out what you’re getting at.
Avoid really run-on sentences with like four commas, three clauses, adjective clauses in the middle with a semicolon. That’s really hard to understand.
Keep your sentences really concise, really straight to the point. This is just good writing practice in general. And if you embody that, they’re also going to know you’re the type of writer, the type of student, that will thrive at their university.
Putting it all together
Let me walk you through how these five qualities work together.
Step 1: Understand the prompt
Use College Essay Advisors to decode what the prompt is actually asking. Don’t guess. Know.
Step 2: Find a matching story
Think about experiences in your life that demonstrate what the prompt is asking for. Pick one.
Step 3: Plan your unique angle
How can you approach this differently than every other applicant? What format, structure, or perspective will make yours memorable?
Step 4: Write with one point in mind
Every sentence should serve your one main point. Cut anything that doesn’t.
Step 5: Edit for clarity
Read it fast. If anything makes you pause, rewrite it. Simpler is better.
Make every word count
Supplemental essays are stressful because they’re short and the stakes feel high. But that constraint is actually an opportunity.
When you only have 250 words, or 100 words, every single word matters. That forces you to be clear about what you’re really trying to say.
Use College Essay Advisors to understand the prompt. Match your response with a specific story. Take a unique approach that shows your personality. Be ruthlessly concise with one main point. And write sentences so clear that a speed-reading admissions officer gets it on the first pass.
Do those five things, and your supplemental essays will stand out from the thousands that don’t.
Ready to take the next step?
If you want help crafting supplemental essays that actually stand out, and building the story that ties your entire application together, book a free 45-minute college planning strategy session with our team.
We work with high-performing students to develop a clear, compelling narrative that runs through every part of their application, from activities to essays to supplementals. When your story is clear, the essays write themselves.
Frequently asked questions about supplemental essays
How short is too short for a supplemental essay? If they give you 250 words, you don’t need to hit exactly 250. But extremely short (like 100 words when given 250) can seem like you didn’t put in effort. Aim for 80-100% of the word limit, but only with content that serves your one point.
Should every supplemental essay tell a story? Not necessarily a full narrative arc, but yes, grounding your response in specific, concrete detail (which stories provide) is almost always stronger than abstract statements. Even a brief anecdote makes your answer memorable.
What if I can’t find College Essay Advisors content for my school? Some smaller schools may not be covered. In that case, read the prompt carefully multiple times. Ask yourself: what are they really trying to learn about me? What quality or fit are they assessing? Then approach it the same way.
How do I know if my approach is “unique enough”? Ask yourself: could 500 other applicants write essentially the same essay? If yes, it’s not unique enough. Your specific story, your specific angle, your specific voice should make it unmistakably yours.
Can I reuse supplemental essays for different schools? Sometimes prompts are similar enough that core content can be adapted. But never copy-paste without adjusting for the specific school. “Why Us” essays especially must be genuinely specific to each school.
How many drafts should I write? At minimum, three. First draft to get ideas down. Second draft to restructure and cut. Third draft to polish sentences and clarity. More is fine if you have time.
