Unleashing Creativity: Writing Supplements with a Twist
Every once in a while, you may run into an exceptional quirky essay prompt, leaving you wondering, “What should I write about?” or perhaps more importantly, “Why would an admissions team want me to write about this topic anyway?
Admissions officers are busy people, and they do a lot of reading. Imagine stacks and stacks of essays. So, you can rest assured that you’ll never be asked to write an essay that isn’t significant to the college’s admissions decision making. If a supplemental essay is included in the application, it is important to their evaluation process, no matter how silly, unusual, or creative the prompt.
Let’s consider a few examples:
Example 1: Dartmouth College
In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba, Class of2-14, reflects on constructing a windmill from recycled materials to power the electrical appliances in his family Malwain house. ‘If you want to make it, all you have to do is try.” What drives you to create and what do you hope to make or have you already made?
Perhaps you haven’t yet founded a company or created a new invention (although if you have—good for you!) You don’t need a Forbes feature to successfully write this essay! Instead, take out a sheet of paper, and brainstorm by creating two columns. The first list should be titled “Things I’ve Made.” The second list should be labeled “Things I Hope to Make.” If you’re feeling stuck, ask a family member or close friend to look over your list—sometimes your loved ones think of examples you’re missing. What drives you to make sourdough or to arrange wildflowers? This is just as compelling of an essay topic as writing about your experience founding a club or creating an app. The key here is authenticity and revealing a side of yourself that isn’t evident by reviewing your transcript.
Example 2: The University of Virginia
What is your favorite word and why? (Maximum of 250 words.)
If you’ve never considered your favorite word before, don’t panic! The key to writing a memorable essay in response to this prompt is not really about a favorite word; it’s about your creativity and how well you can weave in a personal story, value, or characteristic that will make an admissions team feel like they know you.
Stay away from cliché words! Don’t write an essay about the reason why your favorite word is love, success, friendship, or justice. While these words are meaningful and have strong connotations, there is a great likelihood that dozens of other applicants will have the same cliché idea. Instead, provide a bit of flair by considering a less common word that could be tied back to a personal interest, curiosity, or lived experience. When it comes to brainstorming, you may actually find it helpful to work backgrounds (jot down a potential passion or experience that is important to you, and then consider some individual “buzz words” that connect to that specific topic.)
For example, if you select “unison” as your favorite word, you connect this back to your experience singing in a church youth choir or ballroom dancing. Or maybe your favorite word is “lens,” and you relate this to your love of photography and what it’s taught you about how you see the world. Since there are more than 171,000 words in the English language, you have a lot of options to choose from. Keep it clean, pick a word that is uncontroversial, steer away from clichés, and let your creativity shine through.
Example 3: The University of Chicago
Who does Sally sell her seashells to? How much wood can a woodchuck really chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Pick a favorite tongue twister (either originally in English or translated from another language) and consider a resolution to its conundrum using the method of your choice. Math, philosophy, linguistics... it's all up to you (or your woodchuck).
This prompt is an example of the quest for creativity and quirkiness at its finest! The college application process is stressful, and this is your opportunity to liven things up a bit and have fun. This prompt gives the admissions team a glimpse into your creative problem-solving skills and how your own originality and quirkiness will be an asset to their campus. (Clearly any campus that asks a question as unique and open-ended as this one is actively looking for a quirky, diverse student body.) Don’t stress about being perfect or picking the right topic; the key is to let your creativity flow and create a response that is unique. Perhaps Betty Boyer bought a bit of butter, but what happened next? Maybe she realized that the bit of butter wasn’t quite enough for her scone recipe, and she had to borrow more from a neighbor. Then what? Perhaps Sally sold seashells down by the seashore, but now she’s the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. How did that transpire?
There are many different ways to approach prompts, so relax a bit, and enjoy yourself!
New quirky prompts pop up each year at a number of highly selective institutions. This is an opportunity to be authentic and creative, which gives you the opportunity to reveal an inventive aspect of yourself, while enjoying yourself during the process.
