Barnard College application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Decision - 11/01/2014
• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015

Please respond to each of the following questions. It is crucial that you address all aspects of each question. Please limit your response to a well-developed paragraph. If needed, you may attach separate sheets, clearly identifying your name, high school, and date of birth or Social Security number on each page.

A. How did you first learn about Barnard College and what factors have influenced your decision to apply? Why do you think the College would be a good match for you?

B. Pick one woman in history or fiction to converse with for an hour and explain your choice. What would you talk about?

C. Alumna and writer Anna Quindlen says that she “majored in unafraid” at Barnard. Tell us about a time when you majored in unafraid.

Bard College application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Action - 11/01/2014
• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015
• Early Decision - 11/01/2014

No supplement essays required.

Babson College application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Decision - 11/01/2014
• Early Action - 11/01/2014
• Regular Decision - 01/04/2015

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.

One way Babson defines itself is through the notion of creating great economic and social value everywhere. How do you define yourself and what is it about Babson that excites you?

We invite you to submit your answer in either essay OR video format. If you choose to submit an essay, please limit your response to 1 page. If you choose to submit a video, please limit your response to a 1-minute video, which can be submitted via a shared link to YouTube or another video hosting website.

Amherst College application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Decision - 11/15/2014
• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015

In addition to the essay you are writing as part of the Common Application, Amherst requires a supplementary writing sample from all applicants. To satisfy Amherst’s supplementary writing requirement, you may choose either Option A or Option B. 

Option A:

Please respond to one of the following quotations in an essay of not more than 300 words. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

• Prompt 1: “Rigorous reasoning is crucial in mathematics, and insight plays an important secondary role these days. In the natural sciences, I would say that the order of these two virtues is reversed. Rigor is, of course, very important. But the most important value is insight—insight into the workings of the world. It may be because there is another guarantor of correctness in the sciences, namely, the empirical evidence from observation and experiments.” 
  Kannan Jagannathan, Professor of Physics, Amherst College


• Prompt 2: “Literature is the best way to overcome death. My father, as I said, is an actor. He’s the happiest man on earth when he’s performing, but when the show is over, he’s sad and troubled. I wish he could live in the eternal present, because in the theater everything remains in memories and photographs. Literature, on the other hand, allows you to live in the present and to remain in the pantheon of the future. Literature is a way to say, I was here, this is what I thought, this is what I perceived. This is my signature, this is my name.” 
  Ilán Stavans, Professor of Spanish, Amherst College. From “The Writer in Exile: an interview with Ilán Stavans” by Saideh Pakravan for the Fall 1993 issue of The Literary Review.
• Prompt 3: “It seems to me incumbent upon this and other schools’ graduates to recognize their responsibility to the public interest...unless the graduates of this college…are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion... then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible.” 
  John F. Kennedy, at the ground breaking for the Amherst College Frost Library, October 26, 1963
•  
• Prompt 4: “Stereotyped beliefs have the power to become self-fulfilling prophesies for behavior.” 
  Elizabeth Aries, Professor of Psychology, Amherst College. From her book Men and Women in Interaction, Reconsidering the Difference.
   
• Prompt 5: “Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted.” 
  Attributed to William Hastie, Amherst Class of 1925, the first African-American to serve as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals

• Option B:

• Please submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay. 
  
  After reading the above descriptions of Option A and Option B, please indicate which writing option you are selecting. 

  Option A

  Option B

  Optional Research Questions

• If you have engaged in significant research in the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences or humanities that was undertaken independently of your high school curriculum, please provide a brief description of the research project:

• (50-75 words)

• Where, when and under whose mentor ship did you conduct this research? (Provide mentor’s name, title and institutional affiliation.)
• If your research has been submitted to any national competition (e.g., Siemens, Intel) and/or accepted for professional publication, please provide additional details:

Common Application supplementary essay prompts

"Some students have a background or story that is central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story."

"Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?"

"Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?"

"Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?"

"Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family."

Please write an essay (250-650 words) on the topic selected. You can type directly into the box, or you can paste text from another source

Yale University application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall

First Year

• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015
• Restrictive Early Action - 11/01/2014

Please answer the following question in 100 words or less.

1.) What in particular about Yale has influenced your decision to apply?

Please respond in 250 characters (roughly 40 words) or fewer to each of the questions below: 

2a.) What excites you intellectually, really?

2b.) Think about a disappointment you have experienced. What was your response?

2c.) Suite-style living - four to six students sharing a set of rooms - may be an integral part of your Yale College experience. What would you contribute to the dynamic of your suite?

2d.) What do you wish you were better at being or doing?

In this essay, please reflect on something you would like us to know about you that we might not learn from the rest of your application, or on something about which you would like to say more. You may write about anything—from personal experiences or interests to intellectual pursuits. (Please answer in 500 words or less). Before you begin, we encourage you to go tohttp://admissions.yale.edu/essay, where you will find helpful advice.

Williams College application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Decision - 11/15/2014
• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015

Please note: the Williams Writing Supplement is optional.

At Williams we believe that bringing together students and professors in small groups produces extraordinary academic outcomes. Our distinctive Oxford-style tutorial classes—in which two students are guided by a professor in deep exploration of a single topic—are a prime example. Each week the students take turns developing independent work—an essay, a problem set, a piece of art—and critiquing their partner’s work. Focused on close reading, writing, and oral defense of ideas, more than 70 tutorials a year are offered across the curriculum, with titles like “Biomedical Ethics,” “Women in National Politics,” and “Extraterrestrial Life in the Galaxy: a Sure Thing or a Snowball’s Chance?” 

Imagine yourself in a tutorial at Williams. Of anyone in the world, whom would you choose to be the other student in the class, and why? 

(Please limit your response to 300 words.)

Washington and Lee University application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Early Decision - 11/01/2014
• Early Decision II - 01/01/2015
• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015

All items on Washington and Lee's Writing Supplement are optional. However, applicants who wish to be considered for W&L's merit-based aid must submit a Johnson Scholarship Application essay. Please see the additional instructions below.

OPTIONAL QUESTION 1
Please elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (250 words maximum)

OPTIONAL QUESTION 2
Please elaborate on how you have familiarized yourself with Washington and Lee University and what led to your decision to apply. (250 words maximum)

 Respond to one of the essay prompts below and submit your completed writing supplement by December 1, 2014.

''To Promote literature in this rising empire and to encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart.'' (George Washington, 1798, first president of the United States and first major benefactor of Washington and Lee University). What do you value enough to promote to a wider audience? Why is it important to you? OR: Describe a work of art that has influenced you, and discuss the impact it has had on you.

Please enter your Johnson Scholarship essay below (1,000 word maximum).

Please enter your Weinstein Scholarship statement below (350 word maximum).

Wake Forest University application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015
• Early Decision - 11/15/2014

List five books you have read (with authors) that piqued your interest. Discuss an idea from one of these works that influenced you. 

(100-300 words)

What outrages you? Why?

(75-150 words)

Give us your top ten list.

Our incoming freshman class is reading the book “Choosing Civility” by P. M. Forni. What do you see as the biggest threat to civility?

(75-150 words)

Some say that social media is superficial, with no room for expressing deep or complex ideas. We challenge you to defy these skeptics by describing yourself as fully and accurately as possible in the 140-character limit of a tweet.

Describe an academic or intellectual project, experience or pursuit of which you are particularly proud.

(75-150 words)

University of Notre Dame application deadlines and supplementary essay prompts

Fall 2015

First Year

• Regular Decision - 01/01/2015
• Restrictive Early Action - 11/01/2014
• Why Notre Dame? (required response 150-200 words)
• Please select two of the following four prompts and provide a response of approximately 150 words (not to exceed 200 words) to each. 
  
  A good story starts with a good beginning. Get us hooked in the first 150 words.
• Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, described education as “the art of helping young people to completeness.” How are you incomplete?
• Notre Dame students are encouraged to learn through discovery by interacting with the world around them. Describe your ideal intellectual field trip.
• Initiate an in-person conversation with someone whom you've never met but who you think might be interesting. What did you learn about that person or yourself?