Any senior planning to go into college has most likely already written some of the dreaded supplemental essays that come along with most applications. Whether it’s for an honors program or just for general admissions, most competitive institutions have at least one or two extra essays for their busy students to write. While a lot of these can be helpful to the admissions offices in finding the best fits for their upcoming class, some colleges take this way too far and ask for far too many supplements.
These essays are usually very short, ranging from around 100 to 300 words, and most institutions only ask for one or two. However, they still take a very long time to write. When it feels like your entire future is hinging on a few short essays, it becomes a much bigger deal. Trying to perfect an essay where there’s only space for a few short paragraphs is something that’s grueling, time-consuming and honestly seems impossible.
Personally, I recently applied to several colleges early action, and I had to write around ten extra essays just for those four. The amount of time, effort and stress that it caused me was entirely unhelpful and had a ånegative effect on the quality of my life during those few weeks. After spending so much time working on my personal statement during the summer, the idea that these colleges want even more seems over the top.
Moreover, many of these essays are very institution-specific and require extra research and thought based on every single one you write. Almost every school seems to have a generic “why do you want to go to this school?” essay, which is both repetitive and very specific to each application. Maybe if these institutions worked to make their supplementals more creative, they would be able to see the true personality of their applicants rather than a surface-level praise essay.
Additionally, the worst part of this stress is that it feels like it’s honestly not going to make that much of a difference. During the admissions process, the readers spend an average of 3 minutes scanning your application in the first round. This is just not enough time to fully read all of the essays you write, let alone your full personal statement.
I completely understand the desire for colleges to better understand their potential students. However, more than one is a little much, and more than three is simply excessive. I believe that there are ways to learn about who applicants are as people, while also minimizing the stress that they experience during this extremely demanding time; for example, including fewer or less monotonous essays in their applications. In the end, if universities want to show us that they care about our well-being, they should definitely cut back on supplemental essays.
