Make a Grand Entrance

You’ve poured all of your creative energies into your Common App essay. Endured the mind-numbing slog of filling out your activities list and tracking down the year your uncle graduated from Michigan. And then you remember that the writing isn’t quite over. In fact, not even close. You’ve got supplemental essays to complete. Except now, you’re totally out of gas. The bad news? You’ve got to lock in and make them awesome because they absolutely matter and under no circumstances can they look like an afterthought. The good news? Each one is a huge opportunity for your voice and legitimacy as an applicant.

Let’s focus on one of the most ubiquitous supplemental prompts in college applications – what do you want to study and why? This prompt can take a few different shapes. Yale’s version reads: “Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study…As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably?” Emory asks, “What academic areas are you interested in exploring in college?” Rice’s reads: “Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected.” There’s this one, too: “Why do you want to study your chosen major and why do you want to study your major at Georgia Tech?” UT-Austin requires a response to this: “Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?”

And this is just a snapshot. Countless other schools love this question. But here’s the problem with this supplemental question. Almost every student approaches it the same way, and almost every student answers it the same way. “I’ve always wanted to study Biology because I’m fascinated by the human body and want to make a difference through medicine.” “I intend to major in Business because I see a future in finance.” “I want to major in Engineering because I’ve always loved the way things work.”

These responses aren’t bad. They might even be true! But they’re all weak openers. Because each student is walking into the room the exact same way, through the most obvious means possible – right through the front door. 

There are a couple of factors that contribute to this. First off, the supplemental prompts are often boring and dry. Lots of students will follow the prompt’s lead and squeak shut their creative faucets. Some students almost unconsciously choose to match the mood of the formal prompt, and suddenly they’ve forgotten every technique and approach that served them so well in their Common App essays. Second, these kinds of prompts invite lots of similar responses. So even if you’re writing something that is real and true – I mean, you do want to be an engineer because you love the way things work! – so do all the other applicants applying to your major. And what you’re left with is a boring response that will get you zero traction in admissions. So what do you do? 

It’s simple. You enter the room another way. You ignore the front door, even though it’s standing wide open. I want you tunneling under the foundation and coming up through a manhole, ninja-turtle style. I want you slithering around a corner. I want you diving through a window or busting through feet-first after rappelling down the side of the damn house. Your entrance to this essay matters. 

Nicholas was a great applicant who had generated a phenomenal Common App essay. And then he had committed the cardinal sin of the supplemental essay – he played it safe. Egads! His response began like so: “I want to pursue a degree in Biology because I’ve always wanted to become a doctor. I acquired some experience the past two summers interning at a local surgery center, and that solidified my desire to pursue a career in medicine.” It continued on in this fashion, but I can recollect very little because boredom overtook me. This response wasn’t doing Nicholas any favors. It wasn’t doing him any harm, but good gracious, surely we must shoot for more than that! We needed more details, substance, and a way to separate Nicholas from other pre-med applicants. He needed to enter the room another way. 

So I turned the bright lights on Nicholas during our tutoring session and interrogated him further about his internship. This plan of action was fruitful, as Nicholas revealed many interesting tidbits that he’d left entirely unmentioned in his essay. The surgeons listened to Lynryd Skynyrd during one of their surgeries. He got to see the inside of someone’s knee one time. And when the medical fireworks were over in the OR, it was Nicholas’ job to tidy up. I couldn’t believe my ears. 

“Wait, wait,” I said to him. “You get to mop up blood?” Nicholas nodded. “And you didn’t mention that in your essay?” Nicholas shrugged. So we got down to work. I told him that an incredible first line and some surprising, fresh, specific content early in the essay would make all the difference. He needed to arrive into this essay like a base jumper who was still counting the seconds before he deployed his parachute. Which meant that, yes, eventually, Nicholas would be in the same room as all the other pre-med majors, saying the important stuff that pre-med majors say. But I wanted him to delay that moment as long as possible and linger in the content that only he could write.  

“In my spare time, I mop up blood.” Now that’s an opening line. Nicholas plunged into the details from his internship, and this time, my dude included the soundtrack of the bone saw humming along in the background while “Free Bird” poured from the speakers in the operating room. He talked about his specific duties and what he witnessed and learned. After a paragraph and change, Nicholas finally pulled his chute, and as his feet touched the floor, he explained just how he intended to pursue his dreams of medicine within the Biology major at his dream school.

Take your supplements seriously. Bring your flavor to the response and deploy it with reckless abandon. Remember that the nature of the supplementary prompt requires you to approach it with creativity in order to stand out. Pre-law and want to mention your participation in Speech & Debate? Open on wearing your dad’s too-big shoes and blazer during your presentation. Majoring in chemistry? Write about staying after school on a rainy day so you could hold gallium in your bare hands. Planning on Political Science? Describe the terror of ringing a stranger’s doorbell while you canvassed for your candidate.

Frontload these responses with content that only you can share. Keep your voice loose and authentic. Surprise your reader, and make a grand entrance.