Yale’s New Essays

While the 7^th Common Application version is live for the 2016/2017 application season, applying to colleges is not the streamlined process creators of the Common App promised students.

Applying to college has become almost as complicated as filling out your tax return though at least for your tax return there are accountants and software to help.

The Common Application requires only one essay but many colleges want to know a whole lot more than that. SO…enter the supplemental essays required by many colleges and we are right back to almost the way things were “back in the day” with each college using their own application with separate essays. To make matters worse, these supplements change year to year as trends come and go.

With the goal of attracting a more diverse applicant pool, some schools such as Yale have changed their supplements again this year. In prior years Yale applicants were asked to “Reflect on something you would like us to know about you,” which was basically a wide open opportunity for an applicant. This year’s more specific prompts/questions are:

1. What is a community to which you belong? Reflect on the footprint that you have left.
2. Reflect on a time in the last few years when you felt genuine excitement learning about something.
3. Write about something that you love to do.

These are short, only 200 words, and students can pick two out of the three. The first question is an opportunity for Yale to show sensitivity to race and class, which have been hot topics this year. Students can write about their ethnic background and how they might have had an impact in their community vs just cramming for standardized tests. Don’t be fooled into thinking though that a great essay will overcome the need for high scores and grades – you have to be in RANGE of the school first before your essays really count.

For 15 years we’ve helped our students identify their academic interests and demonstrate their love of learning. Yale, and every other college, is looking for this authentic desire to dig in and learn (see questions 2 and 3, above). Rather than accepting a typical overachieving student with 14 AP scores, 8 subject tests and 100 hours of community service, top colleges tend to pick high impact students who are leaders both in the classroom and out. In our work with students, we push them to follow this track of leaving their mark on their high school and community.