Do you know what specific colleges are looking for? It could mean the difference between receiving a letter that begins with “Congratulations!” vs. “We regret to inform you…”

Your child has studied hard for standardized tests, worked diligently to achieve a strong GPA, spent countless hours participating in extracurriculars, and even secured some great recommendation letters.

Now what?

Most students know that their personal statement (e.g., Common App Essay) can make or break their application. But supplemental essays are often treated like an afterthought.

No matter how strong your child's personal statement may be, if their supplemental essays lack passion, cohesiveness, and a clear vision, their entire application could fall flat. All of their hard work could be compromised.

Beyond scores, grades, and extracurriculars, supplemental essays are your child’s chance to show colleges what they’re really made of: their personality, their passion, and even their sense of humor.

Some colleges require a few short essays about your child’s major choice or extracurriculars, whereas others require thousands of words about their values, personal background, or leadership experience.

Occasionally, colleges will ask your child to compose a literary analysis or creative writing piece—like explaining how apples and oranges should be compared to each other. (The University of Chicago is notorious for offering odd prompts)!

Is your child ready for curveballs like that?

Does your child know exactly how to approach these questions, taking the theme they begun to develop in their primary application and linking it to each individual school, without sounding cliché?

Most students have access to the same resources when generating their answers—college websites, discussion boards, perhaps a current student or alum.

That’s great, but similar resources often lead to similar answers.

What are the admissions committees at Harvard, Yale, or Caltech actually looking for? With prompts asking for everything from full 650-word essays to short-and-sweet 35-word takes, how should your child navigate the dense thicket of essay diversity they’re likely to encounter?

Although many colleges share similar supplemental prompts, they're each seeking different responses. Even the most promising students commonly fail to tailor their supplemental essays to each individual school's vision, values, and opportunities.

When your child learns how to clearly articulate why they're a perfect fit for each school, they'll unlock the ability to stand out from tens of thousands of other competitive applicants.

Based on nearly two decades of experience guiding students through the college application process, the expertly-written essays in this resource will show your child how to:

• Demonstrate fit with each college and chosen major;

• Clearly and concisely answer exactly what the prompts are asking;

• Infuse their essays with their own unique voice; and

• Prove their college readiness by demonstrating high-level critical thinking and self-reflection.

Our College Supplemental Essay Premium Example Hub contains over 235 full supplemental essays—including sample responses to every required prompt and most optional prompts for the top universities and BS/MD programs in the United States:

• Princeton University

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Harvard University

• Stanford University

• Yale University

• University of Chicago

• Johns Hopkins University

• University of Pennsylvania

• California Institute of Technology

• Duke University

• Northwestern University

• Dartmouth College

• Brown University + Program in Liberal Medical Education

• Vanderbilt University

• Rice University

• University of Michigan

• University of Florida

• UNC Chapel Hill

• Baylor University + Baylor2Baylor Medical Track Program

• Georgetown University

• University of Missouri Kansas City B.A./M.D. Program

• Texas A&M University

• University of Cincinnati + Connections Dual Admissions BS/MD Program

• Temple University + Pre-Med Health Scholar Program

• George Washington University + BA/MD Program

• University of Connecticut Special Program in Medicine

By incorporating the techniques used in these expert examples, your child can win the favor of admissions committees from Ivies and other highly prestigious colleges.

With Early Action and Early Decision deadlines in November, and Regular Decision deadlines soon after, your child should allocate as much time as possible to the brainstorming, drafting, and revision process for this crucial component of their college apps.

Whether they’re reading the prompts for the very first time, or they’re wrapping up their final drafts, these examples will give your child the tools they need to polish their essays and submit their highest-quality work.

This massive resource is organized by school, to allow for effortless browsing through each prompt and essay—wherever you are and on any device.

Don’t underestimate the time and effort required to craft a collection of Ivy League-worthy supplemental essays.

Instead, you can give your child a wealth of expert essay examples to help them kick-start the brainstorming process, overcome writer's block, demonstrate school-specific fit, and significantly boost their odds of getting into their dream schools.