UNC Chapel Hill Supplemental Essay Prompt 1:

Discuss one of your personal qualities and share a story, anecdote, or memory of how it helped you make a positive impact on a community. This could be your current community or another community you have engaged. Maximum Word Count: 250

UNC Chapel Hill Supplemental Essay Prompt 2:

Discuss an academic topic that you’re excited to explore and learn more about in college. Why does this topic interest you? Topics could be a specific course of study, research interests, or any other area related to your academic experience in college. Maximum Word Count: 250

Simplify In Summer 2024

See targeted guidance to help you stand out to UNC,
essay inspiration from our own accepted students,
and proven methods to help you start and succeed (from an Ivy Alum with 300+ student success stories!).

‣ Slide for Essential Planning Information
‣ Scroll for Successful Student Examples

The Upgraded Way

Most college admissions resources guide students through one primary college essay, but we know from experience that supplemental essays change lives—and planning for these projects is embedded into our work with students from the start.

Each summer, we help students make tangible progress toward their college-specific supplemental content well before August 1st—with strategic framework-building steps that make the entire application process more simple, sustainable, and successful.

We keep track of supplemental essay prompts, changes, and trends for our community—so we can help students start making tangible progress on their supplemental essay content during the summer.

We unite prompt projections with our experience-driven supplemental essay approaches to guide new applicants through strategic framework-building steps.

This foundational framework helps students build clarity in their messaging, confidence in their strengths, a more balanced schedule, and a process that unfolds with much more ease.

Many colleges will ask students in the Class of 2025 to respond to the same prompts our admitted students addressed in our Successful Examples.

Most colleges have required the same prompts for 2 years in a row, and many have required the same prompts for 3 years or more. Some colleges change their prompts more frequently—and those prompts tend to be the most creative.

Plan to check in on changes August 1st, 2024. That’s when colleges will publish their official Supplemental Essay Prompts for undergraduate applicants—you can find them under the My Colleges section of the Common Application.

Whether you are navigating the supplemental essay process independently, with a family member, with a teacher, or with a mentor from our team, having a strategic supplemental essay approach is immensely helpful for all students.

That change can trim your entire application process in half, help you toward a more sustainable schedule, and give you more clarity and confidence throughout the entire process. For our past students, our team members, and for our founder, this method has opened doors to life-changing opportunities—and it’s one of the reasons we’re here today.

Below, you can read inspiring example essays from our admitted students, explore success-proven approaches, and find ways to launch your own supplemental essay success.

Check in for our latest updates, innovative resources, and all things College-Specific Supplemental Essays. We’ll keep you on the path to UNC this summer, so we can hear about your success story next summer!

Successful Supplemental Essay Examples:

Want to see the types of responses that are appreciated by admissions readers? In this section, you can read several successful supplemental essay responses from our past students that helped them get accepted to UNC Chapel Hill!

UNC Chapel Hill Supplemental Prompts:

The following essay examples address UNC Chapel Hill’s supplemental essay prompts from the most recent admissions year. Each of UNC Chapel Hill’s Supplemental Essay Prompts from the most recent admissions year can be seen above.

‣ Successful Essay Response (Prompt 1):

I’m captivated by discussing new ideas, whether exploring a new derivative’s proof with math teammates or discussing banned books with my literature teacher.

My open-minded nature helps me get immersed in the flow of learning new things—and to foster new connections. I built my appreciation for considering diverse perspectives in what I thought would be a structured environment: Kumon.

Between factoring and formulas, my first instructor told me of family experiences, of learning in college, and travels to Spain. He helped me to develop a stronger foundation not only in math—but in being open to multiple perspectives.

Over the years, my open-mindedness has helped me be a better learner—and a better mentor.

I embraced this value most in my role teaching students in summer robotics camps.

While guiding elementary school students exploring robotics at my workshop station, I emphasized that it is okay to make mistakes, especially when learning something new.

I aimed to create a more approachable environment for students who seemed more uncertain at first. I tried to give more freedom to students who seemed overwhelmed by not getting things right on the first try. We might all be working to make our robot follow a set path on an obstacle course, but it’s still just as enlightening when the robot smashes into an obstacle we have set out.

I laugh along with them, give them a chance to try again, and I remind them that even when we don’t get it right—some of the best lessons are in the unexpected.

‣ Successful Essay Response (Prompt 2):

From seeing a middle schooler excited to program his first robot, to helping peers to feel more confident approaching chemistry topics, I have been inspired by collaborative and inclusive learning spaces. But there are so many communities that do not have access to hands-on learning opportunities or the proper support for all students.

In college, along with exploring new learning tools made possible through computer science, I want to learn more deeply about issues in our education system—and ways to design effective solutions.

I am drawn to UNC for its emphasis on learning across disciplines and uniting students from diverse fields.

In unique first-year seminars like Education in a Multicultural Society, I can begin to explore ways to create more inclusive learning spaces. I am fascinated to analyze learning and memory in both humans and computing, along with addressing societal shapers of learning.

By uniting understanding with action in Effective Peer Teaching in Computer Science, I can learn from UNC mentors about how to best address social identity in learning. I hope to find ways to create support for all learners across all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

Through mentored research, I hope to unite the potential of machine learning, cognitive science, and educational psychology to create more accessible learning opportunities for all.

With insights built at UNC, I hope to ultimately create tools that can help every student feel empowered to learn something new—and to keep persisting.

Below, you can explore success-proven approaches, access more essay inspiration, and find ways to launch your own supplemental essay success.

Check in for our latest updates, innovative resources, and all things College-Specific Supplemental Essays. We look forward to seeing your outstanding story!

The Class of 2025 Essentials:
Supplemental Essay Foundations

With all of our resources for the Class of 2025,
you’ll discover effective strategies that are student-approved and success-proven.

Our approaches are much more than one-size-fits-all—because our methods were built with tools from education research, findings from positive psychology, and insights from over a decade of college admissions success stories.

Our resources are created by an expert with:

‣ 10+ years of college application consulting success
‣ Insights from 300+ successful application journeys
‣ Teaching experience in high-achieving classrooms
‣ Research experience in student achievement
‣ An Ivy League education—and her very own college acceptances to Penn and Yale!

Ivy Inspired. Success Proven.

When students begin their application-building process, they’ll come across excellent online resources, inspiring sample essays, and many up-and-coming creators.

We want our students to explore every idea that motivates them throughout their journey, and we want every mentor who truly cares about students to grow and succeed.

When students or mentors need to know the best next step, we’re here to provide clarity and confidence—because experience is essential when it comes to your future.

The best way to know you’ll have all the right answers? Start with all the right questions.

The way we start the process is what makes the difference for our students—and it’s why we’ve seen so many incredible success stories unfold. Throughout over a decade of inspiring application journeys, these framework-building questions have launched the process for students who gained admission to even their most-selective dream schools.

This resource was built directly by an Ivy Alum, curated while guiding highly-successful students, and refined with research and inspiration from this year—just for the Class of 2025.

Welcome to Our Community!

Whether you got started or simply scrolled through today, your future self thanks you—and we’re glad to have you as part of our community!