Brainstorm your best experiences before you even read the prompts 

Ok. Obviously, we’re exaggerating here — we literally asked you to read the prompts a few inches up.

Nevertheless, this is an important part of the Prompt essay-writing method. We keep the terror of the blank page at bay and — more importantly — the quality of your admissions-worthy content up by starting with a big brainstorm on what you’ve accomplished in your high school years. 

Only after you know what your most impressive experiences are (ie: what you want to say) do we suggest finding the best places to slot that content into the questions the college asks. 

We suggest you spend a real chunk of time brainstorming experiences including:

• Academic interests
• Extracurricular activities and interests
• Self-learning and independent projects you’ve undertaken
• Work experiences and substantial domestic obligations
• Any other skills you’ve developed or meaningful experiences you’ve had.

If you create a free Prompt account, you can develop these ideas through our brainstorming modules. 

Next, you’ll choose your “best” experiences (the ones you want to write about) based on which ones most strongly show you will be able to succeed in college and beyond. Because, no matter what question they ask, that’s what college admission readers really care about. 

Which experiences show you’ll succeed in college? The ones that best exemplify one or more of the 5 Traits Colleges Look for in Applicants:

• Drive (grit)
• Initiative
• Contribution
• Intellectual Curiosity
• Diversity of experience

Your very best experiences should go into your personal statement. But, for Emory at least, the “next best” should go into the two supplements:

• Academic Interest answer
• “Getting to know you” choice

Let’s show you how to approach each one. 

Academic Interests — connect your interests to concrete actions you’ve taken

Thank you, Emory. This is a great prompt that can show off your intellectual curiosity, something every college loves to see in an applicant. 

Here is the prompt again (bolding added). 

Academic Interests

This question is required. Your response should be no more than 200 words.

What academic areas are you interested in exploring in college?

The trap here is to make the mistake of focusing your answer on all (!) the exciting (!!) areas of study (!!!) you want to explore!!!!

No, no, no. Based on your understanding of the college admission mindset (ie: their desire to see if you’ll succeed in college), go into this essay with the goal of showing off your experiences that demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and ability to succeed academically. 

Looking over your brainstormed experiences, focus on places where you went above and beyond in a class and/or took your learning into your own hands. Don’t talk abstractly about new areas that look kinda interesting to you — save that for when you’re safely admitted and choosing your semester’s courses. 

Academic Interests — example

Before we begin, please do not take our examples too seriously. They are made up. If your actual experience sounds less “impressive,” that might be because it’s easy to make up “impressive” experiences. Be authentic. You will be impressive if you discuss what you’ve actually done through the lens of demonstrating one or more of the 5 Traits. At Prompt, we do not believe in modeling your essays on what anyone else has done. 

With that out of the way, here’s one example of what we mean. 

Academic interest example:

In college, I’m excited to explore Political Science classes and deepen my understanding of our political climate and current events by learning more about American History. 

At school, History has been my favorite subject, particularly when it helps to illuminate the extraordinary political moment that we’re now facing. I started regularly reading the newspaper and listening to the Ezra Klein podcast after taking the elective “American History Since 1945.” Learning about how the Civil Rights movement, for example, is not a “done deal” but still speaks to actively contested issues got me hooked on being informed about current events. 

This experience has gotten me active in local politics, working on the campaign for a socialist State Rep, a position I found after months of being involved with our local Democratic Socialists of America group. As I try to advocate for “green new deal” policies locally, I’m learning about the challenges these policies face in real-time — while also seeking guidance from books like (most recently) Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show on AIDS advocacy and Anna Tubbs’ How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation. (I love any book about advocacy movements.)

Notes:

• This essay is 199 words.
• The essay gives lots of specifics about actions the student has taken, including books they’ve read, classes they liked, new habits formed (in terms of current events). 
• The essay could have gone into some classes at Emory that the student might take. This is not at all necessary, but one place you could go. 
• The essay could have explored a paper or school-assigned project that the student worked on. Exploring outside interests is also great, as this essay does. 
• This essay shows a student with lots of intellectual curiosity as well as initiative in that they joined a political group and got a political campaign job out of it. 

“Getting to know you” options — Have fun, but stay focused on actions you’ve taken that show you’ll succeed in college

Alright, Emory. These choices are where things get tricky again. As we said in the intro, the potential trap here is to have so much fun with these questions that you forget to tie them back to your own actions. 

Make sure you approach this next 150-word answer with a firm focus on showing off one or more of the 5 Traits, even as you have fun with these questions. 

Here is the prompt again (bolding added). 

Getting to Know You

In addition, answer one of the following questions.  Your response should be no more than 150 words.

• Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
• When was the last time you questioned something you had thought to be true?
• If you could witness a historic event (past, present or future) first-hand, what would it be, and why?
• Share about a time when you were awestruck.
• Which book, character, song, monologue, or piece of work (fiction or non-fiction) seems made for you? Why?

“Getting to know you” options — Choose your prompt by prioritizing which experiences you’d most like to show Emory

Here’s a little guide as you think about which prompt to choose. Any can lead to an essay that boosts your chances of admission. But they each have some potential pitfalls. 

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Let’s tackle each prompt in turn. 

“Getting to know you” options — examples of each essay

Option 1: Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.

Cultural Awareness example:

Getting a C in freshman Spanish was a wake-up call. It’s my lowest-ever grade and was deserved: it was the one class I didn’t take seriously. 

That summer, I decided to turn my attitude around. I set out to explore Spanish culture. I had two goals for the end of sophomore year: be able to (1) talk to my friend Luis and his family in Spanish and (2) watch a Spanish movie without subtitles. 

It turns out that there are a million ways to explore Spanish if you live in Boston: you can join a Spanish-reading club at the public library, stream Spanish-language TV and movies (with subtitles), attend Latin music concerts, and go to Luis’s house often for study sessions and meals. I did it all, achieved my goals, and love not just Spanish but many of its cultures, too. 

Notes:

• This is 139 words.
• The essay shows that even something as common as taking Spanish can make for a great essay if you keep the focus on the things that you have done. 
• Another “common” experience is to talk about travel. If you do that, make sure you focus on the actions you took to discover the culture. Stay away from talking excessively about the culture you discovered. 
• This essay shows drive and intellectual curiosity. It describes a student who would be dynamic on campus. 
• Another pitfall of this essay is showing cultural insensitivity. Definitely get someone to read this essay over for any blindspots you might have in that area. 

Option 2: When was the last time you questioned something you had thought to be true?

Questioned example:

The last time I questioned something I’d believed to be true was when I helped push back against gun violence: I believed guns always win. That changed when I interned for a City Councilor last summer. 

Based on constituent input and research, we decided to work toward funding safe, unstructured places for youth to hang out on evenings and weekends. This was a small but powerful goal. It spurred me to collect community support via a survey and door-to-door canvassing. The project is ongoing, but I’ve stayed with it since summer, learning about city administration as this program advances.

With help from the Councilor, I even worked with the police on a gun buy-back program at our high school, publicizing how much money a family can get from taking a gun out of circulation. I didn’t solve gun violence, but I learned solutions are out there.

Notes:

• This essay is 146 words.
• The essay focuses on initiative and drive, showing a student who is learning while also implementing what they learn in meaningful ways.
• Note: this essay could likely do with more space and be better as a personal statement. That’s because it’s hard to answer this prompt well given that you have to spend some time on why you thought something was true, leaving less space for what you learned and how you grew from it — the good stuff that impresses admissions team.

Option 3: If you could witness a historic event (past, present or future) first-hand, what would it be, and why?

Historic event example:

This event may not sound “historic,” but I’m certain its impact will matter: I hope to witness the ribbon-cutting for four safe, unstructured places for youth to hang out on evenings and weekends. As a City Councilor intern, I’ve been working on getting these locations funded and running since last summer. 

Research shows that such places are hugely protective against youth gun injuries. That spurred my motivation to gather community support via a survey and door-to-door canvassing. I even stayed on the project after my internship officially ended, learning about City administration as we pushed it forward, and working with the police on a gun buy-back program at our high school.

Unfortunately, there are still hurdles to clear, but I’ve learned so much about the hard work that goes into positive change. There’s nothing I’d rather see than those centers opening to my fellow students. 

Notes:

• This essay is 145 words.
• This essay takes the same subject matter as the essay above, but allows the student to sound more action-oriented and dynamic. That’s because it doesn’t need to spend time on the “what I thought to be true” aspect of the answer. 
• As above, the essay focuses on initiative, and drive, showing a student who is learning while also implementing what they learn in meaningful ways.
• While this essay has a “flashy” aspect — being a part of something that might actually happen — this essay can work great for a past historical event, too. In that case, either be sure to focus on how the event ties to your current interests/work/activism or to your current intellectual curiosity and academic work. 

Option 4: Share about a time when you were awestruck.

Awestruck example:

I was awestruck when I went to a Latin music concert with my friend Luis the summer after freshman year. What a lightbulb moment! I’d gotten my worst grade ever in Spanish that year. I just didn’t care. But at the concert, I saw that taking Spanish seriously could get me somewhere exciting and meaningful. 

Toward the start of sophomore year, I made a vow that I’d go back to the concert the next summer and be able to understand the lyrics and talk with the people there in Spanish. This motivation changed my approach to class. Now, class became a helpful place where I could fill in the gaps I had from my own study. Outside it, I joined a Spanish-reading club at the library, streamed Spanish-language TV, and went to Luis’s house often to study and hang out. My grades improved, but my life improved even more. 

Notes:

• This essay is 149 words.
• This essay has the same content as we included in Option 1. Both structures are good for this content which is hyper-focused on actions that the student took. 
• This essay spends almost no time on describing the thing that was so awe-inspiring — this is counterintuitively a good thing, because what admissions readers care about isn’t the “thing” but your response to it. 
• As we noted earlier, this prompt can lead to less-interesting answers. It’s hard to connect an “awestruck moment” to your actions and the 5 Traits, but if you answer this prompt, you must find a way to do so. 

Option 5: Which book, character, song, monologue, or piece of work (fiction or non-fiction) seems made for you? Why?

Literary work example:

Almodovar’s Todo sobre mi madre was there when I needed it. Two reasons. First, its tragic, funny, beautiful way of normalizing gender-fluidity and sexuality was life-affirming when I first saw it in sophomore year. While my community accepts my non-binary status, this movie helped me see that I don’t have to be “defined” by that identity, but can play with it, learn from it, and forget about it, just as all the unconventional characters in this decades-old movie do. 

Second, the structure blew me away. It’s somehow a playful-yet-loving homage to Tennesee Williams’ “Streetcar Named Desire” and the Bette Davis picture All About Eve. I was fascinated by how Almodovar pulled that off. I rewatched it (and those inspirations) trying to figure out how they pieced together. I credit this obsession with sparking a love for writing essays dissecting writers’ craft. My major is English because of Almodovar. 

Notes:

• This essay is 148 words.
• This essay answers each part of the prompt — choosing the literary work that’s made for the student and, more importantly, focusing the answer on “why.”
• The essay shows a student that is full of intellectual curiosity and even drive in pursuing greater knowledge about an intellectual problem (how does a movie incorporate two other sources while still being original?). 
• Even when discussing the student’s non-binary identity, the essay focuses on the student’s growth around this identify, rather than focusing just on what it is or how they experience it. 
• Again, this essay pulls off the feat of focusing on the student and their skills, rather than being excessively devoted to the work of art itself. 

Helpful info on all the “other” stuff you’ll consider as you apply to Emory (and other schools)

A few helpful resources for the non-supplement parts of your application:

• Common App: If you decide to use it, first read our guide to acing everything to do with writing your Common App. 
• Whether to submit test scores: Emory is test-optional in 2022-23. Read our test-optional article to learn how to think about submitting scores or not. 
• Early options: Emory has an Early Decision I and II. Read our Early Admissions article so you know how to approach this decision. 

BTW, here’s our guidance for approaching any college supplement + here’s where you can find our guides for almost every college’s supplements. 

Feeling inspired? A great place to start is at our College Essay Help Center. 

More articles on Prompt.com’s admissions-boosting methods:

• Work with a college essay coach
• Strong essays increase your chance of admission by up to 10x
• Don’t let influencers influence your college essays
• Should I apply test-optional?
• Early admissions: Everything you need to know
• College Essay Help Center