University of Virginia Supplemental Prompt 1:

If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why? (110 Word Limit)

University of Virginia Short Answers 2 & 3:

For Short Supplemental Essays 2 and 3, UVA asked students to choose 2 prompts from a list of 10 and respond in 60 words for each. Slide to see all of the options that UVA provided that year!

UVA Short Answer Prompt Options:

1. What’s your favorite word and why?
2. We are a community of quirks, both in language and in traditions. What is one of your quirks?
3. About what topic could you speak for an hour?
4. Take us to your happy place.
5. You can wake up tomorrow and a skill you already have will become expert-level. What skill is that?
6. What is the last gift you gave someone that wasn’t bought with money?
7. What website is the internet missing?
8. After a challenging experience, how do you recharge?
9. Tell us about a place you’d like to share with everyone, but also keep to yourself.
10. UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message?

Students were asked to respond to 2 in 60 words each!

Simplify In Summer 2024

See targeted guidance to help you stand out to Michigan,
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 UVA 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 students that helped them get accepted to The University of Virginia!

University of Virginia Supplemental Prompts:

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

‣ Supplemental Essay Prompt 1:

. If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why?

‣ Successful Essay Response (Prompt 1):

“Attack on Titan: Insights into Human Nature”

We would interdisciplinarily explore a popular Japanese manga, Attack on Titan (a literary masterpiece, in my opinion!). Students would read the piece, analyzing first its literary components—from strategic panel depictions to cliffhangers to its central antihero.

Along with literary perspectives, we’d examine ways the manga grapples with sociological phenomena: humanity’s innate desire for freedom, coercion, social class power differentials, even the natural cycle of hatred.

We would also analyze the piece’s historical and philosophical insights, from fascism of World War II to gray areas in morality. We would discuss how reading diverse voices can help us unpack biased representations, Western-centric perspectives, and more.

For Short Supplemental Essays 2 and 3, UVA asked students to choose 2 prompts from a list of 10 and respond in 60 words for each.

See above for all of the options that UVA provided that year, and read on for successful reponses to 2 of the prompts that our UVA admit addressed!

‣ Successful Essay Response (Short Answer 2):

About what topic could you speak for an hour?

Not only could I talk about today’s NFL players’ stats and projections—I could recount every detail about the best players from 2014-2015. Back then, my dad and I were obsessed with fantasy football—and it united us. We’d spend Saturday nights analyzing match-ups, finalizing our strategy. The next day, we’d watch our plan either fall to ruin or work to perfection.

‣ Successful Essay Response (Short Answer 3):

After a challenging experience, how do you recharge?

Grabbing a book and burrowing into my bed under the covers is my ideal way to recharge. After a day-long robotics competition or an exhausting game, I look forward to getting lost in the pages. I enjoy not just the mental break, but also the creative journey—as I am taken away to the mesmerizing fantasy worlds of my favorite series.

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!