Brainstorm a list of possible responses before beginning your rough draft.
As of 2011, 414 colleges and universities allowed prospective students to apply using the Common Application. However, some of those schools require students to fill out a supplemental application as well, and students who have already spent days crafting the perfect essay for the Common Application may feel daunted at the thought of writing another one. Take heart -- the same skills and strategies that you used in writing your common application essay will help you to write your supplemental ones as well. Although supplemental essay questions may cover a variety of questions, they often ask why you chose to apply to a specific college.
Instructions
Why You're Applying
1. Brainstorm a list of at least seven qualities that made you want to apply to this college.
2. Study the website and recruitment materials of the college, paying special attention to its mission statement. Does your list include at least two or three qualities that the college prizes in itself? If not, choose the two or three qualities from the recruitment materials that most appeal to you and add them to the list.
3. Compile reasons why these factors are important to you. Think about life experiences that made you value these things or people you admire who taught you to appreciate them. Consider the kind of person you want to be and how this college will help you to become that person.
4. Review your list of reasons. Highlight the reasons that are most important to you or that you think could lead you to write the most eloquent essay. Pick a few of those reasons that you think you could organize around a common theme, such as "The person I want to be" or "The process that led me to realize that I want to attend X University."
5. Organize your essay. Create an outline in which you list the reasons in order of importance or in chronological order. For example, you might write: "At first, I was attracted to X University's rigorous psychology program because. . . . When I visited for the first time, however, I fell in love with the beauty of the campus."
6. Write your rough draft. Don't worry too much about spelling or grammar at this point; just get your ideas down on paper. Revise your essay and ask your parents or English teacher to look it over and help you find any errors you may have missed.
Other Topics
7. Read the essay topic carefully. Colleges often leave topics for supplemental questions intentionally broad so that all students can respond. Spend ten minutes brainstorming a list of possible events that would fit the topic, writing down anything that comes to mind no matter how silly it seems at first.
8. Review your list and choose the three most interesting ideas you wrote down. Write about those three events in more detail (although you don't have to write a full essay about them yet). You may find that while some seemed promising at first, you can't write more than a paragraph about them, while others are rich with possibilities for your essay.
9. Write your rough draft. Describe the event that happened to you and how it changed you or made you rethink your life. Include specific details. Don't worry too much about spelling or grammar in the rough draft; your goal is simply to get your ideas onto paper.
10. Revise your rough draft. Ask your parents and your English teacher to look it over and give you any additional advice.
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