Featured Supplemental Essay Prompt For UMD Applicants:

Explore all of this Accepted Alumni’s Short Answer Prompts and successful responses below! Please note that during this Accepted Alumni’s application year, UMD Short Answer Responses were limited to 300 Characters.

Successful Supplemental Essay Example From Our Accepted Alumni Student:

If I could travel anywhere, I would go to…

Ancient Greece. Many events in my favorite book series, Percy Jackson, involve ancient Grecian relics, the once-sacred landmarks brought back to life. From reading Percy’s adventures in Athens as a child, to exploring the birthplace of democracy in World History lessons, I’m fascinated by Greece.

The most interesting fact I ever learned from research was…

All skittles taste the same, but a phenomenon known as sensory interaction makes us perceive different tastes. Vision “interacts” with the sensation of taste, as our brain sees the color of the skittle and uses it to contribute to taste perception. As such, we experience the taste of the “rainbow.”

In addition to my major, my academic interests include…

Psychology. I am fascinated by the explanations it provides for a wide range of human behaviors, from the fundamentals of neuron structure and neurotransmission, to priorities drawn from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, to the evolutionary foundations of altruistic behaviors.

When I think of diversity, I think of…

My high school community. In recent years, our town has grown demographically, and embraced diverse perspectives. We now have a wider range of race, ethnicity, faith, sexuality, gender, and socioeconomic status. With my [Title] program, we encourage inclusion, empathy, and acceptance of all.

My favorite thing about last Wednesday was…

Lighting the deepams and firecrackers to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with my family. We normally embrace this tradition on the holiday itself, but postponed our celebration due to inconveniently-scheduled soccer games. Better late than never to honor the victory of good over evil.

Something you might not know about me is…

I am a huge Taylor Swift fan. As a soccer midfielder and robotics competitor, I might not fit in with the many screaming teen girls at her concerts. But Taylor’s lyrics help me appreciate excellent storytelling, and also give me common ground for conversation.