17 September 2015
Common App Extra Essay Requirements
Update #6
The Common App for 2015-16 was posted earlier today, and we've just wrapped up our analysis on the real number of short answer/essay prompts required for each school. If you've been through this process before, you know that just because a school lacks a writing supplement doesn't mean there are no additional essays to complete. Many schools in fact simply embed these prompts in the main application itself.
This post summarizes the prompts required for 200+ Common Application schools in our coverage universe. Our definition of a prompt is a question that requires more than a one word or one sentence answer. It's not perfect, but it should help you gauge the amount of writing you'll need to get through over the next few months. It'll also help you identify schools that you can apply to without the need for extra essays!
Click on Continue Reading for the list.
Common Application Extra Prompt Requirements by School (2015-16)
College Kickstart LLC
| Institution | Extra Prompt Requirements |
|---|---|
| Adelphi University | None |
| Agnes Scott College | 4 prompts |
| Albion College | None |
| Allegheny College | None |
| American University | 2 optional prompts |
| Amherst College | 1 prompt (175 words), choice of second prompt (300 words) or graded writing sample |
| Assumption College | 1 prompt (125 words) |
| Austin College | 1 prompt |
| Babson College | 1 prompt (unspecified), choice of second prompt (500 words) or 1 minute video |
| Bard College | 1 prompt |
| Barnard College | 3 prompts (250 words each) |
| Bates College | 1 prompt (1-2 paragraphs) |
| Beloit College | None |
| Bennington College | 5 prompts (1 unspecified, 250 words for others) |
| Bentley University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Boston College | 1 prompt (400 words) |
| Boston University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Bowdoin College | 2 prompts (140 characters, 250 words) |
| Brandeis University | 1 graded analytical paper required if test flexible option selected |
| Brown University | 4 prompts (1 x 150 words, 3 x 100 words) |
| Bryn Mawr College | 2 prompts (100 words, 1 unspecified) |
| Bucknell University | None |
| Butler University | None |
| California Institute of Technology | 3 prompts (600 chars, 2 x 200 words) |
| California Lutheran University | 2 prompts (250 words each) |
| Carleton College | 2 prompts (250 words, 150 words) |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 2 prompts (1 page single-spaced, other unspecified) |
| Case Western Reserve University | None |
| Centre College | 1 prompt |
| Chapman University | 3 prompts (200 words each) |
| Claremont McKenna College | 1 prompt (200 words) |
| Clark University | None |
| Colby College | None |
| Colgate University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| College of St. Benedict | None |
| College of the Atlantic | 2 prompts |
| College of the Holy Cross | None |
| College of William and Mary | 1 prompt (500 words) |
| College of Wooster | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Colorado College | 2 prompts (500 words each) |
| Colorado State University - Ft. Collins | None |
| Columbia University | 6 prompts (5x150, 1x300 words) |
| Concordia University - Irvine | None |
| Connecticut College | None |
| Cornell College | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Cornell University | None |
| Creighton University | 1 prompt |
| Dartmouth College | 1 prompt (1 page) |
| Davidson College | 2 prompts (250-300 words, 200 words) |
| Denison University | 1 prompt (125 words) |
| DePauw University | None |
| Dickinson College | 1 optional prompt, strongly recommended for early decision candidates |
| Drexel University | None |
| Duke University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Earlham College | 1 prompt |
| Emerson College | 2 prompts (100-200 words each) |
| Emory University (Emory) | 1 prompt (500 words) |
| Emory University (Oxford) | 1 prompt (500 words), 1 optional prompt (500 words) |
| Fairfield University | None |
| Fordham University | None |
| Franklin and Marshall | 2 prompts (150 words, 100 words) |
| Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering | 2 prompts (300 words, 500 words) |
| Furman University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| George Washington University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | 3 prompts (150 words) |
| Gettysburg College | None |
| Gonzaga University | 1 prompt (50-300 words) |
| Goucher College | 2 prompts (10 words, 100 words) |
| Grinnell College | None |
| Guilford College | None |
| Gustavus Adolphus College | None |
| Hamilton College | 1 optional prompt, strongly encouraged (250 words) |
| Hampshire College | 1 academic paper (3-10 pages), 2 prompts (300 words minimum) |
| Harvard University | 1 prompt, 1 optional additional essay |
| Harvey Mudd College | 2 prompts (500 words) |
| Haverford College | 2 prompts (150 words, 250 words) |
| Hawaii Pacific University | None |
| Hendrix College | 3 prompts |
| Hillsdale College | 2 prompts (250 words each) |
| Hobart and William Smith Colleges | None |
| Ithaca College | 1 prompt, 1 optional essay |
| Johns Hopkins University | 1 prompt (300-500 words) |
| Juniata College | None |
| Kalamazoo College | 2 prompts (1 unspecified, 500 words for other) |
| Kenyon College | None |
| Knox College | 1 prompt (100-300 words) |
| Lafayette College | 1 prompt (20-200 words), 1 optional (20-200 words) |
| Lawrence University | 1 prompt (47 words) |
| Lehigh University | 2 prompts (250-350 words, 150-250 words) |
| Lewis and Clark College | 1 prompt (1 paragraph) |
| Loyola Marymount University | 2 prompts (1 unspecified, 500-1,000 words for other) |
| Luther College | None |
| Macalester College | 2 prompts (1 unspecified, 250-500 words for other) |
| Marquette University | None |
| Menlo College | None |
| Miami University - Oxford | None |
| Middlebury College | None |
| Mills College | 2 prompts (1 unspecified, 250 words for other) |
| Millsaps College | None |
| Mount Holyoke College New | 1 prompt (250-400 words) |
| Mount St. Marys University | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Muhlenberg College | None |
| New York University | 1 prompt (400 words) |
| North Carolina State | 3 prompts |
| Northeastern University | None |
| Northwestern University | 1 optional prompt (highly recommended) |
| Notre Dame de Namur University | None |
| Oberlin College | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Occidental College | 4 prompts (1 x 128 words, 3 x 175 words) |
| Ohio Northern University | 1 prompt |
| Ohio State University - Columbus | None |
| Ohio University | 0 |
| Pepperdine University | 2 prompts (50-300 words each) |
| Pitzer College | 1 prompt (650 words) |
| Pomona College | 1 prompt |
| Princeton University | 3 prompts (1 x 250-650 words, 2 x 150 words) |
| Providence College | 1 optional prompt (250 words) |
| Purdue University | 3 prompts (1 unspecified, 2 x 100 words) |
| Reed College | 1 prompt (200-500 words) |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 2 prompts |
| Rhodes College | None |
| Rice University | 3 prompts ( 2 x 150 words, 250 words) |
| Roger Williams University | None |
| Saint Anselm | 1 prompt (100 words) |
| Saint Johns College - MD | 4 prompts (1 unspecified, 1 x 100 words, 2 x 250 words minimum). A fifth prompt is optional (250 words) |
| Saint Johns College - NM | 4 prompts (1 unspecified, 1 x 100 words, 2 x 250 words minimum). A fifth prompt is optional (250 words) |
| Saint Johns University - MN | None |
| Saint Louis University | None |
| Saint Michaels College | 1 prompt |
| Saint Olaf College | 1 prompt (100 words), optional essay for scholarships |
| Salve Regina University | 2 prompts (1 sentence, 50 words) |
| Santa Clara University | 3 prompts (2 x 150 words, 1 x 150-300 words) |
| Sarah Lawrence College | 1 prompt (250-500 words), 1 graded analytical paper recommended |
| Scripps College | 2 prompts (200 words, 150-300 words) |
| Sewanee: The University of the South | None |
| Skidmore College | None |
| Smith College | 1 prompt (200 words) |
| Soka University of America | 2 prompts (500-750 words each) |
| Southern Methodist University | 2 prompts (250 words each) |
| Southwestern University | None |
| Spelman College | None |
| St. Lawrence University | None |
| St. Marys College of California | 2 prompts (50-300 words for one, 150-500 words for other) |
| St. Marys College of Maryland | 1 prompt |
| Stanford University | 8 short answer (50 words), 3 prompts (1 x 100-250 words, 2 x 250 words) |
| State University of New York - Binghamton | None |
| State University of New York - Environmental Science and Forestry | 1 prompt |
| State University of New York - Geneseo | None |
| State University of New York - Stony Brook | None |
| Stonehill College | None |
| Suffolk University | None |
| Swarthmore College | 1 prompt (150-250 words) |
| Syracuse University | 2 prompts (250 words each) |
| Texas Christian University | 2 prompts (100 words each) |
| The College of New Jersey | None |
| Transylvania University | 2 prompts |
| Trinity College | 1 prompt (250-650 words) |
| Tufts University | 3 prompts (1 x 50-100 words, 2 x 200-250 words) |
| Tulane University | 1 prompt (unspecified length), 1 optional prompt (50-1,000 words) |
| Union College | None |
| University of Chicago | 2 prompts (1 unspecified, 1-2 pages for other) plus 1 optional prompt |
| University of Cincinnati | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| University of Colorado - Boulder | 1 prompt |
| University of Connecticut - Storrs | None |
| University of Dayton | None |
| University of Delaware | 5 optional (3 x 200 words, 1 unspecified, 1 x 1-2 sentences) |
| University of Denver | None |
| University of Kentucky | 1 prompt (500 words) |
| University of La Verne | None |
| University of Maine | None |
| University of Massachusetts - Amherst | None |
| University of Massachusetts - Lowell | None |
| University of Miami | None |
| University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | 3 prompts (100 words, 250 words, 500 words) |
| University of New Hampshire | None |
| University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | 1 prompt (400-500 words) |
| University of Notre Dame | 3 prompts (150-200 words each) |
| University of Pennsylvania | 1 prompt (400-650 words) |
| University of Puget Sound | None |
| University of Redlands | 2 prompts |
| University of Rhode Island | None |
| University of Richmond | 1 prompt (650 words) |
| University of Rochester | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| University of San Diego | 2 prompts |
| University of San Francisco | 1 prompt (150 words) |
| University of Southern California | 2 prompts (250 words) |
| University of Tennessee - Knoxville | 2 prompts |
| University of the Pacific | None |
| University of Vermont | None |
| University of Virginia | 2 prompts (250 words each) |
| Vanderbilt University | 1 prompt |
| Vassar College | 2 prompts (350 words each) |
| Villanova University | 1 prompt (1 page, double spaced) |
| Wabash College | None |
| Wake Forest University | 7 prompts (1 unspecified, 1 x 100-300 words, 4 x 75-150 words, top 10 list) |
| Washington and Lee College | 2 optional prompts (250 words each), additional essays for scholarship consideration |
| Washington University at St. Louis | None |
| Wellesley College | 1 prompt |
| Wesleyan University | None |
| Wheaton College - MA | 2 prompts (200 words, 300 words) |
| Whitman College | 1 prompt (250 words) |
| Whittier College | 1 prompt |
| Willamette University | None |
| Williams College | 1 optional prompt (300 words) |
| Wofford College | 2 prompts |
| Woodbury University | None |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 1 prompt |
| Xavier University | None |
| Yale University | 3 prompts (2 x 100 words, 1 x 500 words) |
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