Think of your best “experiences” before you start answering any of these essays

While these two questions — Why UMich? and “Describe your community” — may seem extremely specific, that’s not really true

Really, they’re big nets that you should use to capture the very best of your experiences to show U-M admissions that you’ll be successful at college and beyond on their campus. 

As you’ll learn if you walk through our free brainstorming materials in our dashboard (create a free account), Prompt’s method is to first spend time writing down all the experiences you’ve had in high school — think broadly of everything you’ve done academically, extracurricularly, with your family, at a job, over the summer, and independently. 

Your experiences will form the basis of your essays. As you develop your questions, start thinking about which of the 5 Traits That Colleges Look For each experience demonstrated in you. (The traits are: Drive, Initiative, Intellectual Curiosity, Contribution, and Diversity of Experiences.) 

The more you write with the traits in mind, the more you’ll add details that impress your admissions officers — and stay away from details that don’t add value.

By the end of this process, you should have a lot of valuable info to share. 

Next, take the best experiences you’ve come up with — the ones that most exemplify one (or more) of the 5 traits and slate them in your slots:

• Why U Michigan — aka: intellectual curiosity — what academic pursuits and extracurricular activities do you see yourself taking on at UMichigan and what have you done in the past that shows you’ll be a great match for it?
• Community — aka: contribution — what is your community and how do you contribute to it?

(Obviously, your personal essay should use your best experiences, with next-best experiences slotting into these supplements. If it doesn’t talk about your best experiences, re-write it now!)

Don’t take our examples too seriously — there are many “right” ways to answer Michigan’s prompts

Quick interruption: at Prompt, we’re on record as being against modeling yourself on influencers, New York Times college essay writers, and, really, anyone who isn’t you.

On the other hand, we know that you want concrete examples of what our brilliant but (we’ll admit it) abstract advice can actually look like in practice. So, we’re illustrating with some made-up examples.

Please read them with a big grain of salt. You can have a different writing style. You can go a million other directions. And if the example sounds too impressive, it just might be — our examples are generally loosely based on real examples, but still fictional. You’re working with reality, and that tends to be harder.

With that caveat out of the way, back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

Put lots of U-M specifics in your “Why Michigan” essay, while showing off your intellectual curiosity

The question is:

Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? (550 words)

Step 1 — Choose the undergrad school/college that you’ll apply to:

• Architecture & Urban Planning; 
• Art & Design; 
• Business; 
• Dental Hygiene; 
• Education; 
• Engineering; 
• Information; 
• Kinesiology; 
• Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA); 
• Music, Theater & Dance; 
• Nursing; 
• Pharmacy; 
• Public Health; and 
• Public Policy.

From this list, LSA is the most common school. (Also, note that not all schools on this list accept first-years.)

Step 2 — Learn why they ask “why us” 

We’ve written specific guidance on “Why Us?” essays, which you might want to review. There’s a lot going through an admission officer’s mind when they read Why Us, and that background will serve you well.

But, if you’re feeling lazy, the gist is that admissions want to know (1) if you’ll be a good fit at U-M and (2) if you’re likely to attend if admitted. Which means you need to write about two things:

1. your college-related interests + 
2. research on how the school matches those interests.

Step 3 — Choose your best academic/extracurricular experiences

You want to start by knowing what material you’ll be aiming to show off. 

If you won a prize for your History research paper on women executed in the Salem Witch Trials, you’re going to be spending time on U-M’s History Department website finding matches that make sense with that. If, on the other hand, you’ve done medical research, you’ll be over on the Biology page. If you’ve helped run a political campaign, you’ll be looking mostly at Political Science. 

Step 4 — Research to support your experiences

As you can see from these examples, it's your interests (and the experiences that have come from them) that should be in the lead here. Do research on U-M that will support what you already want to say. 

Doesn’t that sound way less overwhelming already?

While you should focus on curriculum, because the prompt calls that out specifically, don’t hesitate to add in details about the school from:

• Your campus visit (and people you spoke with)
• Activities and extracurriculars
• How you first learned about/got excited about U-M
• And anything else that is specific to the college and shows why you want to go there.

Step 5 — Write it: succinctly, focusing on your actions, your achievements, and your excitement about U-M

Pack this essay with as much as you possibly can on things you’ve done that show the 5 traits (most notably intellectual curiosity). Keep to a minimum things like dreaming about the future and waxing poetic. You want U-M to imagine how you’ll shine based on how well you’ve done already. 

Spend exactly zero minutes on style. You’re not being graded on style, trust us. 

Why U-Mich Example

I love the idea of history as a tool. It should help us achieve better outcomes, by showing us how we got to where we are, what worked to effectuate change, what backfired, and what we might do next.

Last summer, as a city council intern, I spent much of my time researching the history of exclusionary zoning specifically as it applied in my city of Newton. [bitlink.] The councilor is using this history to show residents that the zoning that is making our City unaffordable and sprawl-y didn’t happen naturally. It was the result of explicitly racist attempts to exclude Black, immigrant, and poor people from wealthy enclaves. 

While the councilor’s attempts to loosen zoning restrictions still receive powerful resident backlash, making this history known has had a real effect in arming proponents and ending opponents' use of arguments such as saying allowing apartments will harm “neighborhood character.”

I’m excited to study History at UMich because of how the program works to make history relevant and useful. I’d love to one day participate in a HistoryLab program like the one exploring “Sundown towns” and another exploring Environmental justice and the history of Michigan environmental activism. 

Notes:

• This is much shorter than your full essay might be, but gives you a great sense of how to focus on your own actions + use real U-M specifics to back that up. 

Make sure your “community” essay shows how you contribute to the community you highlight

The question is:

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (300 words max)

Step 1 — Yes, again: look at your list of experiences before you think of a list of “communities” 

Start with great stuff that shows how you contribute and add value within groups. Then find a way to make it fit this prompt.

Ultimately, U-M wants to find out if you’ll be a strong community-member and how. So you want to stay away from long, detailed descriptions of your ethnic heritage, say, and focus instead on how you support, strengthen, and continue that heritage. 

Step 2 — Remember that the question is broad 

“Interest” and “intellectual heritage” are example categories as well as ethnicity, income, and race. While your ethnicity may give you a unique perspective, it’s important to prioritize groups in which you can point to interesting experiences and achievements you yourself have had. If that’s not your relationship to your cultural heritage as yet, you may not want to talk about that heritage in this space. 

You should brainstorm times you’ve held leadership roles, participated in cool projects or events, helped someone meaningfully (as a volunteer, friend, or family member), or what role you play in your small town, ethnic group, or religious life. Think broad.

Step 3 — Write with an emphasis on your contribution

Keep the focus on yourself. Admissions officers are reading to see if you’ll be great on their campus; not to learn about the Greek Orthodox church. 

Community example:

My idea of community comes from my time working as a summer counselor at a Greek Orthodox church camp. 

As one of over 100 counselors, responsible for the well-being and happiness of fifteen kids, there were no easy days! There were medical emergencies (the kid who passed out one morning at reveille), hurtful squabbles (why is no one talking to Dmitri?), and tricky logistics (How can we get back from the Lake in time for dinner?). 

But this wasn’t just any camp: everyone here wanted to learn more about their Orthodox faith and Greek culture. It gave me a handle to use in trouble-shooting all the pains and troubles of summer camp life. 

I took pride in using the lessons we all absorbed from religious study immediately and directly. As I spoke with children individually and then together about why Dmitri was being ostracized, I tied our conversation directly to the parables we had discussed just that morning. Seeing the children get it, finally make the connection between a passage’s wisdom and how they should live their everyday lives was magical. Of course, I was making the same connections myself. 

Today, I feel stronger about my place in the world and how I should approach challenges big and small because of these experiences. Going deep on my religious and cultural tradition has given me a sense of belonging and values that can go with me anywhere. 

Notes: 

• The essay shows a strong sense of contribution; this student took their responsibilities to the kids seriously, while also contributing to furthering the camp’s religious/cultural aspect.
• The essay shows other important traits such as humility, intellectual curiosity, and openness.  

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

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

• Personal essay: you need a stellar Personal Statement for UMich (as for most colleges). Here’s how to write a great personal essay. 
• Activities list: here’s how to write your activities so they really impress. 
• Common App: U-M requires it. We have a guide for acing everything to do with writing your Common App application. 
• Applying early or regular: Michigan offers “Early Action” as well as “Regular Decision.” Read our guide to early/regular decisions — it's a great overview of this decision at any school.  
• Submitting tests: Michigan is test-optional through 2023. Here’s how to decide whether or not to submit your scores.

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