Stanford Supplemental Essays 2022-2023

When it comes to applying to the top schools in the country, your application is vitally important. In order to give yourself the best chance of gaining admission, you need to make sure all aspects of your application are top-notch. In this post, we’re going to do a deep dive into how to write Stanford supplemental essays and everything you need to keep in mind as you write.

Stanford uses the common app, and this means that you will be asked to answer essay questions contained in the common app. But like many top schools, Stanford also requires that you complete additional essays about your personal or intellectual growth. The Stanford supplemental essays 2022-2023 allow applicants a certain amount of freedom when responding to their supplemental essay topics, and we’re going to look at each essay prompt and discuss the best way to respond to each topic.

Stanford Supplemental Essay Prompts 2022-2023

So, let’s start by looking at each supplemental essay prompt, and then we will discuss how to approach each one individually.

There is a 100-word minimum and a 250-word maximum for each essay.

• The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
• Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
• Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why.

As you can see, the Stanford supplemental essay word limit is pretty low, so you will have to use your space wisely. Let’s go through each Stanford supplemental essay 2022 individually and create a strategy for responding to each one.

How to write the Stanford supplemental essays?

So, let’s go through each prompt one at a time and figure out the best way to respond.

The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.

The first essay prompt is fairly broad, but it highlights something that many universities want to hear about in your essays: intellectual curiosity and a genuine love of learning. So, this is where you should start. Reflect on an idea or an experience that fuels your love of learning. Tell the admissions staff if you have a passion for fighting climate change or securing clean water for underprivileged communities. Obviously, there is no “right” answer to this prompt because every student will have different experiences.

The key is to think of something that made you excited about learning in a way that made you want to pursue it outside of the classroom. As you can see in the first part of the prompt, Stanford is interested in your academic pursuits in the classroom, but they’re also interested in how you have taken this interest and transcended your traditional academic studies.

So, when you approach this prompt, think of what really makes you excited about your studies, but also what you have done with it beyond the classroom. The combination of these two factors will demonstrate that you are uniquely committed to your education.

Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduate students live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.

This essay prompt is a bit lighter in nature, but if you look closely, you will see that it is asking for something deeper. This prompt gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself, and Stanford has provided the context of an introduction to your future roommate. What kinds of things are you interested in? What kind of schedule do you keep? How would you want to share chores in your dorm?

This prompt is a great opportunity to elaborate on who you are as a person rather than a student. Many students wonder how to write Stanford supplemental essays, but the key is often to boil your answer down to something simple. The Stanford supplemental essay word limit is restrictive, so trying to cram as much content into your answers isn’t necessarily a good idea. Instead, the economy is your friend. This is why it’s so important to start simple.

When it comes to the second essay prompt, your goal should be to reveal something interesting about yourself that a) sets you apart in some way and b) is actually useful information. You don’t need to tell Stanford everything interesting about you.

Instead, focus on one thing, and try to explain it as artfully as possible. Hemingway believed that simple evocative writing was more powerful than long-winded description, and this is a good guide for this prompt. You want to have as much impact as possible in as few words as possible.

Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why.

The final prompt is the broadest of all and simply asks that you write about something meaningful to you. Again, the goal here isn’t to try to impress the admissions staff with your lofty interest, but to write your answer in such a way that your passion for this topic is readily apparent. With all of your answers to the Stanford supplemental essays 2022-2023, your goal should be authenticity.

The students who stand out from the pack will be the ones who wrote honestly from the heart about their values and convictions. This is what elite schools want to see.

In addition to these essay questions, Stanford also asks that applicants complete a short answer portion of the application where the responses are limited to fifty words each. The topics for these questions will be made available to you once you begin your application. But for all essays, Stanford suggests that the best way to approach them is to use your genuine voice. You don’t need to be overly academic. Instead, allow your voice to shine through.

At AdmissionSight, our goal is to help you with every step of the college admissions process. The Stanford supplemental essays 2022 can seem daunting at first, but our experience and expertise will help you navigate the entire process with confidence. Hopefully, this guide to the Stanford supplemental essays 2022-2023 has been helpful, but if you want more information about how AdmissionSight can help you realize your dreams, set up your free consultation today.