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Lewis & Clark College’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Select-a-prompt short response.

To help us get to know you better, please provide a short response to one of the following questions (about 300 words).

Most colleges have mottos - a word or phrase that expresses the ideals that guide their actions. Lewis & Clark’s motto is Explorare, Discere, Sociare - to explore, to learn, to work together. Tell us about your personal motto and how it guides you (Latin not required).

At Lewis & Clark, we strive to be an inclusive community in which students benefit from exchanging ideas with people whose perspectives may differ from their own. Reflect on a time when you engaged with someone whose background or life experiences are different from yours and share with us what you learned from that experience.

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?

Lewis and Clark College 2020-21 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision: 

Lewis and Clark 2020-21 Application Essay Question Explanations 

The Requirements: 1 essay of 300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Community

Discuss how, as a student at Lewis & Clark, you will embody the concepts of the college’s motto: Explorare, Discere, Sociare—to explore, to learn, to work together. (about 300 words)*

Lewis & Clark is looking to accept students who are intellectually curious and game for collaboration. Are you one of those students? If so, take this opportunity to show admissions how you embody the concepts of the L&C’s motto. How do you like to explore, learn, and work with others? Maybe you were so fascinated by the Cold War that you asked your history teacher if you could write a paper about the Space Race for extra credit. Or maybe you love taking walks in the woods with your siblings, so you can use apps on your phone to learn more about the plant life all around you (botany is cool, y’all!). Perhaps you embody “Sociare” when you manage your subordinates at the Community Pool’s Snack Bar, leading by example when you interface with difficult customers. You know your story best; illustrate for admissions how you embody these concepts and they are sure to be impressed!

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Archived Questions

November 26, 2008.

Q: How long should my personal statement be?

A: Generally, personal statements/essays should be between 2-3 double-spaced pages using 11 or 12 pt. font (stay away from fancy, cursive style fonts as they are more difficult to read). Some schools will be very specific about word or page limits and font sizes; others, like Lewis & Clark Law School, will not give any restrictions. Even if a school does not set any page requirements, it is important to be clear and concise enough to get your point across. You do not want to include unnecessary information, ramble, or be repetitive.

November 19, 2008

Q: What should my personal statement NOT say?

Here are some personal statement don’ts.

Don’t go over your whole work history or resume in your personal statement. If you want to elaborate on something particular on your resume that is fine, but we already have your resume and we do not need it in again written in prose.

Don’t use personal essay space to write about why your grades are low in your freshman year, why your LSAT isn’t an indicator of your potential, or why you switched schools three times. You should use an addendum to explain these things and save your personal essay for telling us about who you are.

Don’t send an essay to University X that says how excited you are about the possibility of attending University Y. Again, proofread.

Don’t write about how interesting the health law program is when that school does not have many health law offerings. In that same vein, don’t say you’re interested in health law (if you aren’t) just because a school has a great health law program and you think that’s what they want to hear.

Don’t start off your essay with a famous quote if you can help it. Admissions committees have all read numerous quotes by Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aristotle, Thomas Wolfe, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Barbara Bush, H.W. Beecher, etc. Starting your essay this way is not original.

Don’t try to write like a lawyer. Some people will use a lot of legalese or espouse what they know about the law. Your professors will teach you how to write for the legal field once you are in law school. Furthermore, if you attempt to show us what you know about the law, you risk really showing us what you don’t know.

Along the same lines, don’t tell us what the law does or will do. We know that already. This type of essay does not tell us about YOU which is something we don’t know and are hoping to learn more about.

Hopefully, this will help guide you in writing a stellar essay and avoid some of the pitfalls that applicants encounter with this piece of the application. This could be the most difficult and also fun part of the application process - try to attack it in a positive way!

November 12, 2008

Q: What should my personal statement say?

Every law school is going to have certain instructions with regard to the personal statement/essay so you will want to pay attention to what they are asking you to write about. Some schools have very specific questions (e.g. Why do you want to go to law school? What challenges have you encountered and how have you overcome them? What experience or person has had an impact on how you live your life?). Other schools will have very general instructions (e.g. Tell us about yourself in 800 words or less.) If there is a specific question, then make sure your essay answers it. At Lewis & Clark, our essay “question” is very general. We ask you to share how your background, abilities, interests, and/or experiences make you a good candidate for Lewis & Clark Law School. Past essays have covered topics such as a memory of an influential person, an important discussion with a parent, a significant life experience, a special accomplishment, a unique talent, a strong interest in something – you get the idea.

First and foremost, admissions committees are going to be evaluating your writing ability. Your essay should be polished; that is to say it should be well-written, be without grammatical or spelling errors, flow well, be clear, and show correct word usage. You will want to proofread your essay multiple times, with and without spell check. You may also want someone you know who writes well take a look at your essay and give you feedback on (not rewrite) your essay.

Secondly, it is nice if your statement is interesting. What often makes for an interesting personal statement is that it is personal and genuine. We want to know how you think, feel, and/or live and you should be true to yourself. This is your opportunity to tell us who you are in your own words.

Lastly, have fun with it, because it can be an enjoyable exercise and you can even learn some things about yourself by doing it!

November 2, 2008

Q: What should be on my resume?

First, let me say that there isn’t any specific thing that an admissions committee is expecting to see on a resume. For example, we do not expect that you have worked in a law firm or have 150 hours of community service. We simply would like knowledge of your various pursuits other than school. This gives us a good idea of the experiences you will be bringing to law school and can highlight things about you that might be different from other applicants.

Just like a resume you would submit for a job application, a resume for law school should list your educational background, such as where you went to school, the degree you received, and the date you graduated. Like a job resume, it should also list work experience including dates employed, your title, the name of company or organization of employment, and your main responsibilities in that position. It should also list school activities, volunteer work, and honors or awards. What is different with a law school resume is that it can be longer and more descriptive than job resumes. You won’t be limited to one page with a law school resume. You can also include things that might be a bit more personal such as personal hobbies & interests. You will still want your resume to look and sound professional while also giving a comprehensive view of what you have been doing with your life outside of the classroom.

If you have been out of college for a long time and have a great degree of life and work experience, you can be judicious about how much description you choose to include. Summarizing duties for past employment, or simply listing dates/title/organization for your volunteer work may suffice.

Keep in mind that activities from high school or before are not necessary to list on your resume unless they were particularly impressive (e.g. valedictorian) or lifelong pursuits (e.g. 15 years of violin playing). Also note that acronyms for most things should be spelled out or some student groups explained. For example, many committee members will not know that CCWS means “Clark County Women’s Shelter” or that the BluesSparrows are a campus a cappella group.

In general, admissions committees are interested in knowing how you have spent your time and the resume is a way to highlight that in a descriptive, yet succinct, way. 

Law School Admissions is located in Gantenbein on the Law Campus. MSC: 51

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Hands-On Lewis and Clark Unit Study

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We recently received Heroes of History – Meriwether Lewis , part of the  Heroes of History  set, by YWAM Publishing  to review.   This set is a phenomenal history resource. These historical biographies and study guides can be used independently as a Lewis and Clark unit study or combined to make a full history curriculum.   

I used the book and the study guide to teach a hands-on Lewis and Clark unit study. To create a year-long curriculum, I recommend choosing one book to study each month.

History is one of my favorite subjects to teach.  I love being able to find fantastic resources to make history come alive. History does not need to be boring!

Our Hands-On Lewis and Clark Unit Study

Our Lewis and Clark unit study consisted of two parts – the book and curriculum guide.   Both pieces were necessary to create an enjoyable and thorough unit study that was easy to plan.

Heroes of History – Meriwether Lewis  by Janet and Geoff Benge

• Benge, Janet (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 232 Pages – 12/05/2001 (Publication Date) – Emerald Books (Publisher)

Last update on 2024-09-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

We read one chapter of Heroes of History – Meriwether Lewis  each day. This pace took us about a month to finish the book and selected activities. The story is the perfect combination of historically correct and engaging. We looked forward to our daily reading time during our Lewis and Clark unit study.

The story begins when Meriwether Lewis is a young boy.  He lived in Albemarle, Virginia as a child.  This fact piqued Hannah and Ben’s interest right away because we lived in Virginia until about two years ago.

The book follows Meriwether as he grows up, but the real focus of the story is his involvement in the Corps of Discovery.  He was always up for an adventure and the journey westward was no exception.  This book contained so many details that I didn’t know.   It was the details that kept us hooked on the story.  Hannah and Ben found his encounters with grizzly bears especially interesting.

Heroes of History – Meriwether Lewis can certainly be read alone, but I highly recommend using the curriculum guide to create a deeper understanding of Lewis and of the expedition west. The Heroes of History books are available as audiobooks if you find it hard to find time to read. Historical audiobooks are perfect for days spent in the car!

Meriwether Lewis Unit Study Curriculum Guide

The curriculum guide contains:

Six quotes are included as conversation starters.  My favorite quote in this book is, “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.” – Victor Hugo.  Doesn’t that just sum up the Lewis and Clark journey perfectly?  Without their perseverance our country might look very different.

Display Corner

I LOVED putting together a Meriwether Lewis display table for my kids. The idea is that you create an area with objects related to the Lewis and Clark expedition .  I found a few items around our house that related to our Lewis and Clark unit study and bought a few more at the Fort Clatsop visitor center .  Our display corner included:

• Northwest Coast Indians Coloring Book
• Quill pen and ink
• Lewis and Clark post cards
• Rock Science kit
• Poster of Cape Disappointment

Ben found a compass in his room and added it to the collection.

This section added so much hands on learning to our unit study .  Hannah and Ben both realized that Lewis must have spent quite a long time taking notes because he had to use a quill pen.  They tried their hand at using this writing instrument and found it was much harder than they expected.

Chapter Questions

Each chapter includes four questions from the reading.  Some of the questions make sure the children understand the vocabulary terms.  Other questions check comprehension and others ask students to think critically about what they have read.  What can we infer from the reading?  Would we have done the same thing?

The answers are found in the back of the study guide.  I read the book with my children, so I didn’t need an answer key.  It would come in very handy though, if your high school student read the book on their own.

Student Explorations

This section provides a variety of activity suggestions to further learning. In true unit study fashion, these activities overlap with other subject areas.   Depending on the age of your student and the time available, you could choose to do just one of the activities or multiple from each section. The activities include essay questions, creative writing prompts, hands on projects, audio-visual projects, and arts and crafts.

Community Links

Community links are opportunities to learn more about the unit through experts in your community.  Suggested community links for the Lewis and Clark unit study include lecturers from local colleges, Native American community speakers or events, conservationists, and touring parts of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

We chose to take advantage of living in the Pacific Northwest and go on a Lewis and Clark field trip .   Touring Fort Clatsop was wonderful.  It was amazing to think that we were walking where Meriwether Lewis walked and relaxing near the stream where Sacagawea gathered water.  If you can add a field trip to your unit study, I highly recommend that you go.

Social Studies

This section includes assignments to deepen a students understanding of the Lewis and Clark journey from a social studies point of view.   You can map the journey, define vocabulary terms, and create a timeline of Meriwether’s life.

Related Themes to Explore

Unit studies naturally incorporate other subjects.  This section provides examples of ways to include math, science, and current events into your hands-on Lewis and Clark unit study.

Lewis and Clark Unit Study Culminating Event

I told my kids about this portion of the unit early on and they were very excited.  The culminating event is an activity that wraps up the unit.

We made United States cookies and marked the trail with frosting for our culminating event.  This lead to a great discussion about the accuracy of our US cookie cutter .  

Sure, it looks fairly accurate for today’s map, but the country was extremely different back then.

To make the cookies we first made basic sugar cookie dough.  Then, we used our cookie cutter to cut out United States cookies.  We had a few grizzly bear and buffalo cutters so we used those too.  After all, Lewis did see plenty of these animals for the first time while on this journey.  

We baked the cookies following the recipe directions.  Once they were cool we were ready to start frosting.  The inside cover of Heroes of History –  Meriwether Lewis  contains a map with the trail marked.  I printed off blank maps from the curriculum guide pdf and we notated the different countries that owned land in present day America.

Books and Resources

This section gives you a list of books, documentaries, articles, and websites to check out.  I really appreciated this section because I was able to just enter the titles into my library website and reserve everything I needed.  It saved me a lot of time because I didn’t need to search for titles to go with our unit study.

Lewis and Clark Unit Study Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed this book and study guide.  The book held our interest and the suggested activities really added to the lessons.  I like that these books and activities can accommodate a variety of learning styles and ages.  Early elementary students can listen to the story and complete simple hands-on activities.  High school students can read the story independently and work through the more in-depth essay questions. There is something for everyone.

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Welcome! My name is Jennifer. I am a teacher at heart. Before my children were born I was a public school teacher. Now, I am a homeschooling mom of two.

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Commissioning and preparation

Expedition from may 14, 1804, to october 16, 1805.

• Pacific Ocean and return

Lewis and Clark Expedition

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• Table Of Contents

What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06) was a U.S. military expedition, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. The expedition was a major chapter in the history of American exploration.

Which president sent Lewis and Clark on their expedition?

U.S. President Thomas Jefferson asked his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. As his co-commander, Lewis selected William Clark, who had been his military superior during the government’s battles with the Northwest Indian Federation in the early 1790s.

Who was Seaman in the Lewis and Clark expedition?

In the Lewis and Clark expedition, Seaman was the name of a Newfoundland dog, which Meriwether Lewis purchased for $20.

What plants and animals did Lewis discover?

Lewis identified 178 plants new to science, including bitterroot, prairie sagebrush, Douglas fir, and ponderosa pine, as well as 122 animals, such as grizzly bear, prairie dog, and pronghorn antelope.

Who was the Native American woman who accompanied the expedition?

Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman who, as interpreter, traveled thousands of wilderness miles with the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), from the Mandan-Hidatsa villages in the Dakotas to the Pacific Northwest.

Lewis and Clark Expedition , (1804–06), U.S. military expedition, led by Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lieut. William Clark , to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest . The expedition was a major chapter in the history of American exploration.

On January 18, 1803, U.S. Pres. Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress asking for $2,500 to send an officer and a dozen soldiers to explore the Missouri River , make diplomatic contact with Indians, expand the American fur trade, and locate the Northwest Passage (the much-sought-after hypothetical northwestern water route to the Pacific Ocean ). The proposed trip took on added significance on May 2, when the United States agreed to the Louisiana Purchase— Napoleon ’s sale of 828,000 square miles (2,100,000 square km) of French territory for $27 million. Jefferson, who had already sponsored several attempts to explore the West, asked his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition. Lewis was dispatched to Philadelphia for instruction in botany , celestial navigation , medicine , and zoology . He also purchased supplies and spent $20 on a Newfoundland dog , Seaman.

Lewis procured weapons at Harpers Ferry , Virginia (now in West Virginia ), supervised the construction of a 55-foot (17-metre) keelboat, and secured smaller vessels , in addition to designing an iron-framed boat that could be assembled on the journey. As his co-commander he selected William Clark, who had been his military superior during the government’s battles with the Northwest Indian Federation in the early 1790s. The U.S. secretary of war denied Lewis’s request of a shared command, but Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark chose to address one another as “captain” to hide this fact from the other members of the expedition. For his part, Clark recruited men in Kentucky , oversaw their training that winter at Camp River Dubois in Illinois , and served as the expedition’s principal waterman and cartographer.

Over the duration of the trip, from May 14, 1804, to September 23, 1806, from St. Louis , Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean and back, the Corps of Discovery , as the expedition company was called, traveled nearly 8,000 miles (13,000 km). The entourage, numbering about four dozen men, covered 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) a day—poling, pushing, and pulling their 10-ton keelboat and two pirogues (dugout boats) up the Missouri River . Lewis’s iron-framed boat was later assembled and covered with skins near Great Falls (in present-day Montana ) but had to be abandoned because the seams leaked and there was no pitch to seal them. The captains and at least five others kept journals. President Jefferson had instructed Lewis to make observations of latitude and longitude and to take detailed notes about the soil , climate , animals , plants , and native peoples. Lewis identified 178 plants new to science, including bitterroot , prairie sagebrush , Douglas fir , and ponderosa pine , as well as 122 animals, such as grizzly bear , prairie dog , and pronghorn antelope . The scientific names Philadelphus lewisii (mock orange), Lewisia rediva (bitterroot), and Clarkia pucella (pink fairy , or ragged robin) are but three examples of the men’s discoveries. The expedition encountered immense animal herds and ate well, consuming one buffalo , two elk , or four deer per day, supplemented by roots, berries, and fish. They named geographic locations after expedition members, peers, loved ones, and even their dog (Seaman’s Creek). They experienced dysentery , venereal disease , boils, tick bites, and injuries from prickly pear , yet only one man perished over the course of the journey.

Another primary objective involved diplomacy with Native Americans . The expedition held councils with Indians, in which the corps had military parades, handed out peace medals, flags, and gifts, delivered speeches, promised trade, and requested intertribal peace. There also was something of a magic show (magnets, compasses, and Lewis’s air gun) and an invitation for Indian representatives to travel to Washington, D.C. Most tribes welcomed trading opportunities and provided the expedition with food, knowledge, guides, shelter, sex, and entertainment. The Lakota (encountered in South Dakota ), however, already had British commercial ties and did not view American competition favourably, especially because it would make their enemies stronger. Their attempt to prevent the expedition from continuing upstream nearly turned violent, but Chief Black Buffalo’s diplomacy defused the situation.

The expedition arrived at the Mandan and Hidatsa villages near present-day Bismarck , North Dakota , and constructed Fort Mandan in which to spend the winter. The captains prepared maps, artifacts , mineral samples, plant specimens, and papers to send back in the spring. On April 7, 1805, a small crew departed on a St. Louis-bound keelboat laden with boxes of materials for Jefferson that included live magpie s and a prairie dog . Meanwhile, the permanent party proceeded up the Missouri in six canoes and two pirogues. It now consisted of 33 people, including soldiers, civilians, Clark’s slave York , and two newly hired interpreters—a French Canadian, Toussaint Charbonneau , and his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea , who had given birth to a boy, Jean Baptiste, that February. The departure scene was described by Lewis in his journal:

This little fleet altho’ not quite so rispectable as those of Columbus or Capt. Cook were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those deservedly famed adventurers ever beheld theirs…we were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civillized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and these little vessells contained every article by which we were to expect to subsist or defend ourselves.

On June 2, 1805, the expedition party arrived at a fork in the river. Not knowing which waterway was the principal stream, they sent out reconnaissance parties up both forks. Although the evidence was not conclusive, the captains believed the south fork to be the major course while everyone else favoured the north. Lewis named the north fork Maria’s River (now Marias River ) and instructed the party to continue up the south fork. This choice proved correct when the expedition arrived at the Great Falls almost two weeks later. An 18-mile (29-km) portage around the falls was made even more difficult by broken terrain, prickly pear cactus, hailstorms, and numerous grizzly bears. On July 4, 1805, the party finished the portage and, to celebrate Independence Day , consumed the last of their 120 gallons of alcohol and danced into the night.

Arriving at the Three Forks of the Missouri River (the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers), Sacagawea recognized Beaverhead Rock and informed the others they would soon encounter some Shoshones . Lewis climbed Lemhi Pass, crossing the Continental Divide , only to have his hope for a single mountain portage dashed by the view of endless mountains stretching before him: “I discovered immence ranges of high mountains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow.” Fortunately, in mid-August he met a Shoshone band led by Sacagawea’s brother Cameahwait , who provided the expedition with horses. The Shoshone guide Old Toby joined the expedition and led them across the Bitterroot Range . On the crossing, Clark lamented , “I have been wet and as cold in every part as I ever was in my life, indeed I was at one time fearfull my feet would freeze in the thin mockersons [moccasins] which I wore.” Cold and hungry, the expedition finally spilled out of the mountains onto the Weippe Prairie, homeland of the Nez Percé . Upon the recommendation of a respected elderly woman, Watkuweis, the Nez Percé befriended the expedition. After leaving their horses with Chief Twisted Hair, the explorers hollowed out five cottonwood canoes and floated down the Clearwater and Snake rivers, reaching the Columbia River on October 16.

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