Trouble with the supplement essay question!

interesteddad
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:46:32 +0000

Due to the flexibility of common application prompts, “you would get students writing on topics that really didn’t tell us much about themselves,” Nesbitt said.



There’s a simple way to deal with applicants who send boring common app essays: don’t mail them acceptance letters! It’s not the fault of the common app prompts if a dull applicant can’t manage to write something interesting in response to a totally open prompt.



The additional personal statement is meant to change this. “The idea is really to see what students value and what’s important to them,” he said.



No problem. Just give a prompt that different than the Common App prompts. As it stands now, a Williams applicant was to write Open Ended Prompt Esssay #1 for the Common App and Open Ended Prompt Essay #2 for the Supplement.

They thought they were being cute with a UChicago-style prompt; however, they failed to take into consideration the common app prompts.