lawrence university essay prompts

First-Year Applicants

Office of admission.

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We consider you a first-year applicant if:

• You are still in high school at the time you apply,
• You have completed high school but have not yet started college,
• You have completed less than one year of full-time study (approximately 30 credits) at the college level.

Sarah Lawrence offers four different application cycles. First-year students may apply through one of the following:

First-Year Applicants Application Dates

Early action.

Early Action is a non-binding application cycle. Applicants will learn if they have been admitted by late December. However, there is no commitment to enroll or withdraw other applications, and students do not need to deposit to claim a spot in the class until May 1. This round is intended for students who have Sarah Lawrence high on their college list, and who are prepared to submit the application by November 1 in order to receive an earlier decision.

• Application Deadline: November 1

Early Decision I and Early Decision II

If Sarah Lawrence is your first choice, we hope you will consider applying through one of our Early Decision cycles. Please keep in mind that Early Decision I and Early Decision II are binding. Early Decision applicants—along with a parent or guardian and your school counselor—must sign the Early Decision Agreement, which indicates your intention to enroll in Sarah Lawrence College if admitted. You will also be asked to withdraw applications to schools if admitted, and in general students may only apply to one school under an Early Decision round.

Early Decision I Application Deadline: November 1

*Early Decision II Application Deadline: January 15

Regular Decision

Regular Decision is the round in which Sarah Lawrence has traditionally received the most applications. The deadline of January 15 allows students a little longer to prepare their application, and in most cases you will be able to submit grades from the first semester of your senior year as additional support for your successes in high school. Decisions are usually released by late March, and deposits for enrollment are due on May 1.

• Application Deadline: January 15

If you ever have questions about which application round is right for you, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to talk with you about these options.

The Application

All first-year applicants must submit the following required materials to complete their application; students may also submit the optional components to supplement their application.

Common Application

Students must apply online through the Common Application . Applicants must also complete the Sarah Lawrence member page of the Common Application.

School Report & Transcripts

The school report and transcripts should be submitted online through the Common Application or other online systems such as Naviance/Family Connection. Transcripts should be complete through seven semesters or the semester most recently completed. If you have transcripts from a summer school or college, it is recommended those be submitted as well.

Teacher/Faculty Recommendations

Letters of recommendation should be submitted online through the Common Application or other online systems such as Naviance/Family Connection. These should be completed by teachers who know you well enough to write about you with specificity, and should be written by teachers of your core academic courses (English, math, science, history, or foreign language). Sarah Lawrence College requires one letter of recommendation from a teacher, and a second letter is optional.

Early Decision Agreement (for EDI and EDII applicants)

Early Decision applicants, their parent or guardian, and their high school counselor must complete and sign the Early Decision Agreement and submit the form online with the  Common Application by the application deadline.

English Proficiency Testing Exams (for international applicants)

Applicants for whom English is not their first language and who have not studied in an English language curriculum for the past four years should take one of the following tests:

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
• The International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
• Duolingo English Test

Most competitive applicants to Sarah Lawrence College have a TOEFL score of 100, an IELTS score of 7 or higher, or a Duolingo score of at least 130.

Students for whom time or distance creates a hardship in supplying these results may request an extension. Please feel free to reach out to us ( [email protected] ) if you have questions or concerns about providing the English proficiency requirements.

Learn more about the application process for international students»

SAT I, SAT II, or ACT Scores

The submission of standardized test scores is optional. You may choose to submit test scores if you feel they will strengthen and enhance your other application credentials. However, you will not be at a disadvantage should you choose not to submit your scores.

The Common Application essay is an important way for us to get to know your voice, but we know there may be more you want to tell us that just didn’t quite fit into the rest of the application. For applicants who might wish to share a little more about how Sarah Lawrence fits into the next stage of their education, we invite you to respond to one of the following four essay prompts:

• Sarah Lawrence students are often described as hyphenates: filmmaker-sociologist-historian, environmentalist-photographer, psychologist-novelist, economist-poet. In 250-500 words, tell us about seemingly disparate interests you have brought together, or hope to bring together at Sarah Lawrence.
• Students at Sarah Lawrence are asked to design their own research questions directly with faculty, and then answer them through intensive semester-long projects that frequently inspire a blend of intellectual rigor and creativity. In 250-500 words, tell us about a text, problem, or topic you would love to explore over a semester or a year, and what you would hope to achieve through that work.
• In the syllabus of a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the author notes: "Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university." Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court's decision.
• Residential colleges and universities are opportunities to live and learn with peers from very different backgrounds and with potentially very different world views. Think about a time that you encountered someone with an opinion or a position that you felt was contrary to either your belief or understanding of a topic. Describe the situation, and if the encounter did not end with a mutually agreed upon resolution, how might it have?

Sarah Lawrence College is offering online admission interviews as a way for applicants to share their story and get to know SLC. Interviews are conducted by senior ambassadors and admission counselors; you can read more about what to expect during an interview and why an applicant might consider one here . Sarah Lawrence also accepts interviews completed through InitialView .

Arts Supplement

Art portfolios are optional and the absence of one will in no way harm or detract from your application. Any student admitted to Sarah Lawrence may study the creative or performing arts, regardless of whether a portfolio was submitted.

If you would like to submit creative materials in the areas of dance, filmmaking, music, theatre, creative writing, or visual arts as part of a holistic review of your application for admission, please select “Yes” to the art portfolio question on the Sarah Lawrence page of the Common Application . Upon submission of the Common Application, a link will be e-mailed to the applicant with instructions for submitting the art portfolio.

To preview the instructions, please click the link below.

Submitting an Arts Supplement to Sarah Lawrence College

Sign up for an admission interview

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Prompting Discussion or Tempting Litigation?

Sarah Lawrence College will ask applicants about the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban, quoting directly from the decision. Is it a savvy workaround or a brash rejoinder?

By  Liam Knox

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Sarah Lawrence College added a provocative essay prompt to its application, quoting from the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action and asking applicants to address its impact.

Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Sarah Lawrence College released a new essay prompt for applicants on Tuesday, just ahead of the launch of this year’s Common App.

It directly quotes language used in the Supreme Court’s June 29 ruling striking down affirmative action in college admissions.

“In a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, ‘Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the applicant can contribute to the university,’” the question reads. “Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced or affected by the Court’s decision.”

The prompt is one of three supplemental essays applicants have the option of completing. The other two highlight Sarah Lawrence’s distinguishing characteristics as an institution—namely, its open curriculum; one asks applicants to pitch their own semester-long research project, and another inquires about how they might bring together seemingly disparate interests in their studies.

Kevin McKenna, Sarah Lawrence’s dean of admissions, said the third prompt used to ask applicants to “reflect on the values of diversity and inclusivity in a community like ours,” but that question seemed to ring hollow after the court’s decision was handed down.

“There was a sentiment in the office and around the campus that it frankly felt disingenuous to simply reuse that same prompt,” McKenna said. “We thought this one could foreground both the intellectual rigor and thoughtfulness of our student body and that we are a community that values diversity and equity in education as part of its mission.”

It’s a bold gambit for the nearly century-old institution, originally founded as a women's college, in Bronxville, N.Y.—a blunt response to, and a not-so-subtle dig at, the court’s decision. It also treads a fine line between conforming to Roberts’s caveat that institutions can continue to consider a student’s race as it informs their life experiences, and his warning that institutions “may not simply establish through application essays the regime we hold unlawful today.”

Their Words, Not Ours

On the day the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, Anthony Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, went on WABE radio in Atlanta and made a salient prediction.

“If I was a university admissions officer and I wanted to preserve the status quo, I would essentially copy and paste the language [in the decision] about what universities can do and I would drop it in an essay prompt,” he said. “Then the policy, at bottom, would change very little.”

Kreis told Inside Higher Ed he was being “slightly tongue-in-cheek” when he said that—“I didn’t think they would quite literally copy and paste,” he said. But he’s not surprised Sarah Lawrence is using the tactic.

“On the one hand, it gives them the ability to somewhat circumvent the ruling,” he said. “On the other hand, it gives them plausible deniability to be able to point to the case and say, ‘Well, we’re just doing what the court said.’”

Kreis added that while the Sarah Lawrence prompt “really is confrontational and somewhat combative in tone,” he thinks other institutions will use a similar approach, hewing close to the court’s language.

McKenna said the purpose of the essay question is not to extract details about students’ racial identity for surreptitious use in admissions decisions; rather, it’s to encourage applicants to express their feelings about the court’s ruling and how it will impact the makeup of their future college cohort.

“The prompt is not doing the same work that the wording of the decision is doing, and that’s by design,” McKenna said. “What we’re really trying to do is give our applicants who are so inspired a space to address a challenging topic in society.”

Art Coleman, managing partner and founder of the legal consulting firm EducationCounsel LLC, said that the court’s decision left so much room for interpretation that citing the carve-outs was the best way for an institution to lawfully address the issue of diversity in admissions.

“The court did what courts often do, and that’s to draw very fine lines. But admissions officers are also quite adept at drawing very fine lines … Lines that are challenging to toe? Yes. But navigable lines, I think,” he said. “As a general rule, if your essay question is quoting the court decision, that’s a good place to start.”

Manufacturing Intent?

Kreis said he understood explanations like McKenna’s, but they almost certainly are only part of the picture.

“It’s going to disproportionately elicit responses from people about their backgrounds as nonwhites, and I think that’s really quite obviously the point,” he said. “At the same time, it’s vague and open enough that the college can quite easily point to it and say, ‘Well, anybody can offer their viewpoints on this, no matter their background.’”

The question is: Will it hold up in court?

Kreis said the prompt would probably pass legal muster since it uses the court’s language verbatim. Still, he acknowledged it was a bold move, and one that was sure to draw attention from both laudatory opponents of the court’s ruling and litigious conservative law firms.

“I think these kinds of questions comply with the letter of what the courts have ruled,” he said. “I do think, however, there might be some room for questions about whether they’re complying with the spirit of it.”

McKenna said the admissions team ran the prompt past the college’s legal counsel before making the decision, and that they were aware of the potential risks in such a direct callout.

“We decided that this prompt was doing the work of putting distinctives about our community out there, and we really felt that this was representative of who we are as a community,” he said. “So we did have those conversations assessing risks and, obviously, we decided to go with it.”

Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, the group representing the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court cases, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the organization had “taken note” of Sarah Lawrence’s new prompt but has “no opinion forthcoming” on the matter.

Jill Orcutt, global lead for consulting at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said essay questions like Sarah Lawrence’s are vital in light of Roberts’s carve-out.

“It’s going to be really important for counselors and institutions to encourage students to write about themselves and their family experiences, to be able to give the kind of credit that they might get through that process,” she said. “But many students aren’t comfortable writing about themselves, especially if things have been difficult. So framing a question to really encourage transparency and openness and sharing their personal experiences, that’s important right now.”

McKenna stressed repeatedly that Sarah Lawrence did not intend the question as a way to provoke those kinds of stories, though he said the question would be an appropriate place to do so for those that felt compelled.

“We’re not expecting any students who don’t want to put any sort of trauma and anxieties around race in their essays to do so, or feel like that’s an expectation,” he said.

What the college does expect, McKenna said, is an ideologically diverse set of responses about a challenging and timely topic that affects students’ lives.

“Hopefully we’ve worded this in the right way to open up this public dialogue space,” McKenna said. “And if it opens up a litigious space, well, we’ve got counsel for that.”

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First-year essay prompts

Common App has announced the 2024-2025 essay prompts.

Solutions center for first-year students

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How to Write the Sarah Lawrence College Essay 2023-2024

Sarah Lawrence College has one supplemental essay, with three prompts to choose from. Roughly, these prompts address identity, creativity, and diversity. This post will provide guidance on which prompt to choose, as well as a breakdown of how to write an effective response to each one.

Although this essay is technically optional, Sarah Lawrence receives thousands of applications each year, so you should take advantage of every opportunity possible to distinguish yourself from the other applicants. These prompts give you a chance to do exactly that.

Read these Sarah Lawrence essay examples to inspire your writing.

Sarah Lawrence College Supplemental Essay Prompts

We know that there may be elements of who you are as a person and student that you may not feel are conveyed fully in the other sections of this application. If you wish to showcase a little more about your particular interest in Sarah Lawrence College, please respond to one of the prompts below or select “I will not be submitting this optional essay”. (250-500 words)

Option 1: Sarah Lawrence students are often described as hyphenates: filmmaker-sociologist-historian, environmentalist-photographer, psychologist-novelist, economist-poet. In 250-500 words, tell us about seemingly disparate interests you have brought together, or hope to bring together at Sarah Lawrence.

Option 2: Students at Sarah Lawrence are asked to design their own research questions directly with faculty, and then answer them through intensive semester-long projects that frequently inspire a blend of intellectual rigor and creativity. In 250-500 words, tell us about a text, problem or topic you would love to explore over a semester or a year, and what you would hope to achieve through that work.

Option 3: In the syllabus of a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the author notes: “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.” Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court’s decision.

Since the Sarah Lawrence essay is optional, you might be asking yourself, is it worth it for me to even write an essay? Although you won’t be penalized for not submitting an essay, we strongly encourage applicants to do everything in their power to make their application as impressive as possible, which includes submitting essays. 

In case you are undecided, some of the benefits of submitting the essay include:

• Demonstrating a deeper interest in the school by dedicating more time to their application.
• Revealing new interesting aspects of yourself to the admissions committee that they wouldn’t learn elsewhere in your application.
• Helping the college differentiate two equally qualified applicants on paper.
• Highlighting your writing skills if you are a strong writer. 
• Creating a more complete picture of who you are as a student and person.

Obviously the choice whether or not to write the essay is up to you at the end of the day, but if you are serious about Sarah Lawrence, spend a few hours brainstorming and writing an essay to give your application a boost that might be the difference between an acceptance or a rejection.

Sarah Lawrence students are often described as hyphenates: filmmaker-sociologist-historian, environmentalist-photographer, psychologist-novelist, economist-poet. In 250-500 words, tell us about seemingly disparate interests you have brought together, or hope to bring together at Sarah Lawrence.

Here, the key to a strong response is identifying a combination of interests that is genuinely unique to you. Sarah Lawrence gives you a hand by providing some examples of what they’re looking for. If the combination you’re thinking of writing about is more along the lines of “student-athlete” or “guitar player-piano player,” you should probably select a different prompt. Not that there’s anything wrong with those interests—they’re just relatively common/logical, which just isn’t what this prompt is getting at, so you may want to pivot to another prompt.

If you feel this prompt is a good match for you, however, the next step is identifying anecdotes that clearly show your interest in the topics you have selected. Since this is a relatively long supplement, make sure you can describe these anecdotes in some detail.

For example, say you decide to write about your interests in hiking and cooking. Below are good and bad examples of how you might choose to begin your essay.

Good example: “ The day’s last rays of sunlight filled the sky, and Baker Lake’s rumpled surface reflected every incandescent shade of pink, purple, blue, and orange. I could smell the pine trees surrounding the lake, and my fleece was plenty warm enough for a gentle August night. Everything was perfect… except the bowl of mashed potatoes in my lap, which was somehow both powdery and watery, and lacked any and all spices. My parents had also made exactly the same thing for both breakfast and lunch. As I choked down the potatoes by the lake, I began to realize that if I ever wanted better backpacking food, I would have to learn how to cook myself.”

Bad example: “When I was little, I went backpacking every summer with my parents. I really loved the views of mountains, lakes, and valleys, but I was always so hungry after hiking, and my parents weren’t very good cooks. We usually ate dehydrated mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This monotony inspired me to learn how to cook myself, so I could figure out tastier options, even in the backcountry.”

The main difference here is clear: the first response shows, while the second tells. While you should always aim to show, not tell, as noted above this is a longer supplement, so you should take advantage of that extra space to immerse your reader in your story as much as possible. Details, like describing a particular backpacking trip instead of speaking generally, make your passion more believable and convincing.

Note that the prompt allows you to choose interests you have not yet combined. For example, say there is an applicant who also likes hiking and cooking, but, unlike our first applicant, doesn’t have experience cooking in the backcountry. We would recommend this applicant check out Sarah Lawrence’s list of clubs and organizations , and connect her intersecting interests to one or more of the options listed there.

For example, she might write about how the Outdoor Adventure Club would give her an opportunity to cook for her fellow hikers, and how she could then write about her most successful meals in Sarah Lawrence’s food magazine, Salt and Pepper. 

These details will not only show your reader that you are truly passionate about continuing these hobbies in college, but also that you have done your research on Sarah Lawrence and would make valuable contributions to their community.

Students at Sarah Lawrence are asked to design their own research questions directly with faculty, and then answer them through intensive semester-long projects that frequently inspire a blend of intellectual rigor and creativity. In 250-500 words, tell us about a text, problem or topic you would love to explore over a semester or a year, and what you would hope to achieve through that work.

While students might feel that this prompt has to relate back to their major, you actually have more freedom here to write about anything you are interested in exploring intellectually. With all that freedom, some students might find this an appealing option, while others might be overwhelmed and prefer to go with a more direct prompt in Option 1 or 3. 

However, we would say that the beauty of this prompt is that it allows you to discuss something you are passionate about, without worrying about whether it’s the subject you’ve done the best in or the intended major you’ve listed. The idea is to simply come up with a research project that you would enjoy pursuing. 

When it comes to picking a topic, we recommend that you hone into something specific. For example, don’t pick “the Roman Empire” as your topic, but instead focus on “the changing role of women during the transition from the Republic to the Empire”. Below are some more examples of the types of creative and specific research topics you could choose:

• How behavioral psychology influences Super Bowl ads
• The effects of honeybees on global food supply
• Why are revolutions so popular in musicals?
• The connection between dystopian novels and political activism
• The future of organ donations with 3D printers
• Who was the real Great Gatsby?
• Improving infrastructure rehabilitation in the aftermath of war

Once you have a topic in mind, there are four things your essay needs to do. First, explain why you have chosen this particular topic. This is where anecdotes and personal stories will come into play to show the admissions committee how this research question is relevant to your life and your interests. Maybe you want to learn more about one of your favorite hobbies, or maybe you want to combine two of your favorite subjects and see how they intersect. Perhaps you are researching something that has personally affected you or your family, or maybe you want to dive deeper into one of your favorite books or time periods. Make sure to explain what your connection to this topic is, and, more specifically, why that connection is important to you. 

The second thing this essay needs to accomplish is actually explaining what your research will be about. Give the reader details on what you are interested in learning, the context you already know about the topic, the type of information you are hoping to gain, and any hypotheses you might already have. Especially if you are choosing something that might be relatively obscure, make sure you detail exactly what you are interested in, so that the admissions committee can easily follow along.

It’s important to note that these two first steps could happen in reverse order. Depending on how you write your essay, it might make more sense to first fill the reader in on what specifically you are interested in, and then explain where your passion for the topic came from. Or, maybe through your story of why you are passionate about the topic, you will reveal information about it, which will naturally transition into explaining your research question(s) in more depth. Either structure is fine! Just make sure your reader can clearly follow your ideas, and that they’re learning both why you’re interested in this topic and what specifically you hope to learn.

The third step, which is included in the prompt, is to explain what you hope to achieve from your research—or, in other words, tell us the broader significance of your hypothetical work. This is where you explain why other people should care about what you care about. Maybe your research will help athletes avoid injuries, or maybe it will shape foreign policy by finding the most effective diplomatic strategies to reduce conflict. Perhaps the impact is less obvious, but that doesn’t make it less important. For example, your research on the stereotypes BIPOC females play on screen could help you become a screenwriter who celebrates minority voices.

Finally, the last thing you should do in this essay is tie your research back to Sarah Lawrence. This is the step most students forget about, and we can’t blame them since it isn’t explicitly stated in the prompt. However, the strongest essays will prove to the admissions committee that the student will only be able to pursue this research at Sarah Lawrence because of the unique opportunities available there.

Just as you would for a “ Why This College ” essay, you should include specific resources that you will take advantage of on campus to help you successfully complete your research project. This could look like finding professors whose existing research aligns with your interest, or research institutes that would provide an ideal work environment, classes that will broaden your knowledge on this niche topic, or extracurriculars you will join to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the field and meet like-minded students who can help you research. 

However you choose to spin it, if you include specific opportunities you will engage with and explain how they will enhance your research, it will show the admissions committee you have done your research (no pun intended) and you are serious about attending Sarah Lawrence.

In the syllabus of a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the author notes: “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.” Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court’s decision.

Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race on an individual basis, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts in their supplemental essay packages. If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this prompt is the place to discuss that.

You might consider answering this prompt with what you think is the most important part of your identity, whether that is race or something else, then a small discussion about how that quality is relevant to you and your general life experiences. This prompt goes a step further than a traditional diversity prompt , by asking about how your goals for a college education have been affected by the Supreme Court’s decision. Make sure you answer this question in your essay!

Although most students who choose this prompt will likely discuss their racial background, as that was the aspect of applicants’ identities most directly affected by the Supreme Court’s decision, as noted above you can write about other types of diversity. For example, an LGBTQ+ student might write about how this decision and other recent legal decisions have spurred fear for the future of their community which has strengthened their resolve to go to college and study law so they can fight to protect the rights of all minority groups.

Other effective responses that don’t focus on race could discuss one of the following scenarios:

• Using your fluency in another language to help members of a specific community.
• Interpreting a text in class differently from your classmates because of your ethnic culture.
• Having a friend of a different background who has changed your perspective on something important.
• Having an illness or disability that causes you to view accessibility through a different lens than your peers.
• Being part of a niche interest group/fandom and trying to represent the group faithfully when talking to people who aren’t members of it.

Diversity encompasses all of the aforementioned attributes, but whatever you choose, just make sure you showcase individuality and specificity in your response. This prompt, like the other two, is an opportunity to share your unique life perspective(s). You don’t want to waste this opportunity by writing down a bland dictionary definition of “diversity”. Think of what diversity means to you, and what you consider to be a particularly significant aspect of your own multifaceted identity. From there, think of personal anecdotes or stories about how this part of your identity has contributed to your overall growth or development as a person.

Finally, as we noted above, it’s important that you don’t just flesh out how you’ve been affected by your diverse identity, but also explain the interaction of your identity with the Court’s decision. Stay away from expressing your general opinion about the decision, and instead focus on how it has affected you individually, like the LGBTQ+ student who now wants to pursue a career in law, while before she saw herself becoming a vet. This is a great opportunity for you to get personal and share emotional details to help the admissions committee get to know you better, so don’t hold back.

Where to Get Your Sarah Lawrence Essay Edited

Do you want feedback on your Sarah Lawrence essay? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools.  Find the right advisor for you  to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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28 August 2024

Common App Schools That Don't Require Extra Essays (2024-25)

Posted in Your College List , Class of 2029

The list includes schools that simply require the base essay (e.g. personal statement). Keep in mind that many of these schools may have "optional" prompts which you might want to complete anyway to strengthen your application.  

If you're a student or parent with a College Kickstart Plus or Premium subscription, this information is already available to you as part of our key application requirements view.

Click on Continue Reading for the list.

Common App Schools with No Extra Essays (Class of 2029 Edition)

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Lawrence Technological University

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Want to see your chances of admission at Lawrence Technological University?

We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.

Lawrence Technological University’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Why this college short response.

500 word essay - Sample topics include information about your career goals, why you are choosing a particular major, or why you are choosing to apply to Lawrence Tech

Common App Personal Essay

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don‘t feel obligated to do so.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you‘ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

University of Rochester 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Early Decision: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 5

University of Rochester 2024-25 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 Essay of 250 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Community

The University of Rochester benefactor, entrepreneur, photography pioneer and philanthropist George Eastman said, “The progress of the world depends almost entirely upon education.” In what ways do you envision using the curricular flexibility and co-curricular opportunities at the University of Rochester to promote progress and change within the communities you inhabit? (250 word limit)

The University of Rochester wants to know two things here: 1) how you will take advantage of the resources and academic flexibility they offer and 2) how you will use that to improve your communities. Your “community” can be just about anything, from your neighborhood to your gender identity to rugby fans worldwide. Think about what kind of advancements you’d like to see in the world and how those relate to one of your communities. Then spend some time on University of Rochester’s website to understand how you might use their courses, research opportunities, student clubs, or other unique offerings to start making those changes. Maybe you’ll major in Politics and pair a Language and Cognition cluster with a Russian Literature and Culture cluster to prepare for a future career as a diplomat to your grandmother’s native country. Perhaps with a double major in International Theater and Black Studies, you will study abroad through the Theatre in England program, gaining insight into how different cultures express cultural clashes on stage with the aim to found your own theater promoting Black creatives. Show admissions that you have an idea of how your time at U of R will help you promote progress in your communities. 

Note that while you have the option to write an essay for this question, you may send in a work of art or an abstract describing your related research instead. This is a great option for students who express themselves more authentically through outlets other than writing. However, if you choose one of these options, you’ll still have to send in a short explanation of how your response relates to creating positive change within your community. 

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