university of texas austin essay requirements

University of Texas at Austin 2024-25 Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision Deadline: Dec 1

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University of Texas at Austin 2024-25 Application Essay Question Explanations 

The Requirements: 1 essay of 500-650 words; 2 short essays of 250-300 words each

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Activity , Additional Info ,   Personal statement

How to Write Compelling UT Austin Essays

UT Austin’s call for students is: “You embrace a challenge. You’re open to discovery. And you’re ready to make an impact.” Through their required essays, they’re hoping to hear about your own challenges, discoveries, and impacts. Take this opportunity to share more information about your candidacy and go the extra mile to differentiate yourself from other similarly qualified applicants. The most important thing to remember while drafting your responses is to be honest and true to yourself. Keep reading to learn how to write winning UT Austin essays!

UT Austin Essay Prompt Breakdowns

Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs)., 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..

UT Austin used to ask applicants to tell a story about opportunities or challenges that shaped who they are today, but this year, admissions is opening the essay up to be about anything you like. This is a great place to recycle your Common App essay , regardless of which prompt you decided to respond to. If, on the other hand, you haven’t drafted a Common App essay, you may still find inspiration in the seven prompts. Ultimately, this is an opportunity for admissions to get to know the person behind the application data better, so you’ll want to tell a story that offers insight into who you are and who you hope to become.

Short Answers

Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250–300 words per prompt, typically the length of one paragraph., why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major.

This prompt sounds simple enough: describe what you want to study and why you like it so much that you’re willing to dedicate four years of your life to it (at the very least). While you might be tempted to get technical or poetic in your response, your reader will expect you to connect your intended major to some prior experience and/or passion. In other words, tell a story. Lucky for you, we would have advised you to start with an anecdote anyway. The most memorable essays spring from concrete descriptions of your experiences. What excites you and why? When was the last time you got drawn down a Reddit rabbit hole – and what was the topic? While you don’t need to pinpoint the exact moment you became interested in ancient history or calculus, try to zero in on some inspiring experience. What was the best TED Talk you ever watched? The first time you spoke to your new friend in ASL? Your story should showcase your unique connection to your chosen course of study. And don’t forget to talk about UT Austin! By the end of your essay, your reader should not only know why you are passionate about your chosen major, but also what excites you about Austin’s program. In admissions, we call that your fit!

Oh and a quick shoutout to all the undecideds out there: don’t worry! If you can’t decide, then tell a story that demonstrates your wide range of interests or natural curiosity. Focus on the opportunities UT Austin offers across departments and how you plan to explore once you arrive on campus. It’s normal to want to try new things at the start of college!

Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? (Guidance for students: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.)

Next up is a fun twist on the classic Activity Essay, which asks you to expand on an extracurricular endeavor that you are most proud of. Although we usually urge students to write about items that haven’t appeared elsewhere on their application, the Activity Essay is an exception. The trick here is to be authentic. The activity you want to write about will likely catapult to the front of your mind rather quickly, but if it doesn’t, take a moment to review your activities list (or start making one if you haven’t already) and reflect on each of those experiences. 

Maybe you want to write about your experience in the Debate Club, how you started with a fear of public speaking and, over the course of a few years, developed a knack for not only capturing the attention of a crowd, but thinking on your feet, as well! Or, perhaps you want to write about the Saturday mornings you spent volunteering in your neighborhood and the pride you take in serving your community. (Just make sure to avoid common Volunteering Essay pitfalls !) 

Whatever activity you choose to write about, be sure to infuse your story with specific, personal details so that no one else could have written it.

Optional Short Answer

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance. (40 lines, or about 250-300 words).

This essay is perfect for students who have encountered outstanding challenges, and need an opportunity to explain them. In fact, we recommend saving those details for an Additional Info essay, so that you can use the rest of your application to highlight other parts of your amazing personality. So, if something has happened that affected your academic performance, this is a great opportunity to explain the circumstances. Did a COVID-19 infection during your junior year cause your participation in clubs and activities to take a hit? Did a family emergency cause an overall drop in your GPA? A drop in grades or a gap in your resume does not define you. Remember to make this essay not about the things you couldn’t control, but the actions you took to improve the situation. You don’t want to come off as a victim of circumstance, but as a resilient person who can take steps to positively affect their situation.

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How to Write the University of Texas-Austin (UT) Supplemental Essays: Examples + Guide 2024/2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What are the university of texas austin supplemental essay prompts.

• How to write each supplemental essay prompt for UT Austin
• Prompt #1: Topic A
• UT Expanded Resume tips, sample, + template

Proud home of the Longhorns (and Professor Matthew McConaughey), UT Austin takes to heart its constitutional mandate to be “a university of first class,” a mission that laid the foundation for its standing as a “ Public Ivy. ” UT is known for carving its own path, from sculpting a sprawling home out of the Texas wilderness, to building some of the world’s fastest computers. 

Because it’s Texas-proud, it should come as little surprise that this standard bearer offers applicants the opportunity to apply for admission through ApplyTexas , but you can also apply through the Common App (and the requirements are the same, no matter which platform you use). And to show how serious school officials are about getting to know each of their applicants, the main application requires three essays, plus an option to write a fourth, and an optional (but highly recommended) extended resume. What are those prompts? Glad you asked ...

Common App UT Austin Required Essay: 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. Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Required Short Answer 1 : Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major? Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

Required Short Answer 2: Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? (Guidance for students: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.) Please limit your response to 250-300 words

(Optional) Short Answer 3: Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance. (Maximum 40 lines, or approximately 250-300 words.)

Optional (but highly recommended) Expanded Resume

You may choose to submit an expanded résumé offering additional information about all of your achievements, activities, leadership positions, and student employment.

“That’s a lot of essays,” you say? It is.

And get this: If you’re applying to specific programs/majors or even the Honors College, you’ve got even more essays to tackle.

Before you go to write, you may want to spend some time learning more about what UT Austin values, so you can explore how your values line up and reflect those shared values in your essays. If so, you’ll find an extensive, by-the-numbers look at its offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information, on its Common Data Set . For deep insights into how this public research university envisions its role and how it wants to grow and evolve, read its strategic plan .

Alright. Let’s get to the fun stuff.

How Do I Write Outstanding Essays for the UT Austin Application?

How to write the ut austin required essays:.

UT Austin Required Essay: 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. Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

This essay gives you a chance to share with UT something about who you are beyond your grades and test scores. When you hear people talking about their personal statement or college essay, this is the essay they’re referring to.

If you’re applying to other colleges using the Common Application (or applying to other schools via the Coalition Application), you’re likely already writing this longer essay for your personal statement . (Check that link for a how-to guide.)

If so, you can double that essay here.

“But what if I’m not applying to other schools using the Coalition Application or Common App?”

Then write your deepest story. 

What do we mean by that?

There’s so much to say about writing your personal statement that we’ve actually created an entire step-by-step video course about it. Oh, and it’s pay-what-you-can. :) 

Or if you want the short version, check out this free one-hour guide . It covers the three core parts of writing a great college essay: brainstorming your topic, structuring your essay, and revising it to make sure it’s doing its job. 

Or head here for a bunch of personal statement examples .

How to Write UT Austin Short Answer Essay #1

Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major? Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

This is a “Why major?” essay . Many colleges require it, and it generally means that they’re curious to hear about how you’ve prepared for your intended major. But for UT, it’s particularly important. Why?

Demonstrating that you (and your interests and extracurricular involvement) are a clear fit for your first-choice major are super important for UT. As in, more so than at most other schools. UT admits students to the university first, and their major second. So if you want to increase your chances of being accepted into your first-choice major, this essay is a great chance to demonstrate that fit.

You can read our full guide here . Or, here’s the short version:

Step #1: Imagine a mini-movie of the moments that led you to your interest in a specific subject or your intended major, and create a simple, bullet-point outline.

For example:

Why biology?

Elementary school: Getting my first dinosaur toy and reading dinosaur books

Middle school: Visiting museums, seeing water under a microscope

High school: Doing online research, getting internship where we analyzed brainwaves and dissected a stingray

Step #2: Put your moments (aka the “scenes” of your mini-movie) in chronological order, as it’ll help you see how your interests developed. It also makes it easier to write transitions. Since you’ve got about 250-300 words for this essay, you can probably include one “scene” per every short paragraph or two.

Step #3: Decide if you want to include a specific thesis that explicitly states your central argument—in this case, what you want to study and why. You can put this thesis at the beginning, middle, or end of your essay.

Here’s an example essay that does a great job:

My interest in Gender and Sexuality Studies was sparked in my eighth grade Civics class when we studied topics pertaining to sexual equality. I went into the class knowing I believed women had a right to make choices for their own bodies and that view remained the same, but I discovered the complexity of abortion debates. I challenged myself by thinking about the disparity between actual and potential personhood and the moral rights of unconscious lives. If pregnancy had the same consequences for men as it does women, how might the debate be different? Would this debate even exist? A year later, I shadowed an OB/GYN at a nearby hospital. On my first shift, I watched an incarcerated woman receive a postpartum exam after giving birth in her cell toilet with just Advil, and the issues discussed in Civics suddenly became urgent and real. My school projects have often focused on reproductive rights. I’ve spent numerous hours delving into summaries of Supreme Court cases on abortion and contraception, and am even known as the “Tampon Fairy” at school because I frequently restock the school bathrooms with tampons and condoms. I’m interested in exploring how Gender and Sexuality Studies connect to Public Health and Reproductive Biology, as well as Public Policy and Law. The interdisciplinary nature of this major will allow me to investigate many other areas of study and create a more nuanced understanding of how this particular field interacts with our world and society. (246 words) — — —

Tips + Analysis:

Write an outline to organize your essay before you write. We actually advise this for most essays, especially those 200 words and longer. Even if you’re not used to writing outlines, you’ll find that doing this ahead of time will help you organize your thoughts and—bonus—save you some time. What do we mean by an outline? A simple bulleted list would do. For example, here’s this student’s outline:

Why Gender and Sexuality Studies:

Eighth grade Civics class conversations

Shadowing OB/GYN at a nearby hospital and seeing woman receive postpartum exam

Being the school “tampon fairy” (restocking school bathrooms with tampons and condoms)

School projects on reproductive rights

Thesis: Name my major and briefly say why

Pose some thought-provoking questions. Don’t shy away from raising compelling questions in your essay, like those posed by the author in the second paragraph. Demonstrating you know how to ask insightful and critical questions is just as (if not more) important than having all the answers.

Don’t know what you’ll be majoring in? Don’t sweat it. You may be asking: But what if I don’t know what my intended major is? Don’t worry. Even if you’re unsure of your exact major or career path, go with what interests you at the moment.  You might research and select 1-2 areas of interest and describe how you became interested in each.  If possible, connect them and discuss your interests using an interdisciplinary lens. When it comes time to apply, you’ll still want to select a major on your application, but when writing this essay, the subjects you’re interested in are likely within a single college anyways. It’s often tough to transfer between colleges, say from the College of Liberal Arts to McComb’s School of Business, but it’s typically easier to transfer within a given college, say, if switching from the psychology to the sociology program. If you’re choosing “undeclared” on your application, which you can do for several colleges at UT, that’s okay! Describing several areas of interest is still a good idea for this essay. It demonstrates your curiosity as well as your ability to make connections across disciplines.

To see an example of an interdisciplinary essay, check out the example below. (And below that is another great example for this prompt.)

Example 2: Why Literary Arts or Modern Culture and Media?

My whole life, storytelling has shaped me. When I lived in London, my parents would read me The Lion King every night until I’d memorized the whole book. In elementary school, I would curl up in my bed, warm lamplight making my room golden, listening to my dad bring to life classics like Wilderness Champion and Tom Sawyer . Later, I found audio storytelling, laughing hysterically at Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me on the car ride to school and connecting to a radio network of humanity through This American Life . It wasn’t long before I got hooked on visual narratives, mesmerized by the cinematic intensity of Whiplash and the whimsical world of Moonrise Kingdom , alternate realities I could explore as if they were my own. By high school, I was creating my own array of stories through satirical school newspaper articles, analysis of mise-en-scene in film class, podcasting, and my own locally-broadcasted radio series. A concentration in the Literary Arts or Modern Culture and Media is the next step in my life of storytelling. The dynamic world of connection and vulnerability a well-told story can create is what continues to fascinate me. At Brown, I would explore how engaging narratives have been told in the past and can be innovated in the future through new digital platforms. Whether researching radio’s historical impact on public opinion during World War II or the Vietnam War, developing screenplays, producing my own documentary or learning from Writers-In-Residence, I hope to pioneer networks of connection. (250 words) — — —

Example 3: Why Neuroscience?

Imagine all the stars in the universe. The brain has a thousand times the number of synapses, making neurological errors a near certainty. I learned this fact firsthand as a 14 year-old, when I suffered from sleepless nights because of an uncomfortable, indescribable feeling in my leg. It took months of appointments and tests to be told it was a condition called cortical dysplasia. Even after the diagnosis, there is no cure. I am lucky. My condition does not severely affect my quality of life. However, I know this is not the case for everyone. After this experience, I took AP Biology and attended a neuroscience program, which reinforced the subject as my future calling. One of the most impactful lectures discussed the plight of healthcare in developing nations. Newborns with extreme neurological deficits are common, but finding treatments is not. Without prenatal care, this is becoming a growing epidemic, leaving millions of children helpless. With a degree in neuroscience, I will gain a strong understanding of neural tube development and neuronal migration in infants. I will then become a neurologist, specializing in pediatric care. I hope to work for humanitarian organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, in Africa, where HIV and polio are rampant, as are numerous other diseases.  Imagine the stars once more. From across the world, I will look at the same stars in the future, as I help children secure the ability to not only look at the stars, but do much more. (247 words) — — —

How to Write UT Austin Short Answer Essay #2

Think of all the activities—both in and outside of school—that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? (Guidance for students: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.) Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

If you’re applying to UT, you’ve likely already made an impact on your school, family, and community. And if we know you like we think we do, your involvement has made a pretty big impact on your own life, too. UT wants to hear all about that impact here, so let’s give it to them.

While this prompt is new to UT for 2024, it’s a prompt you might see on several other applications. In fact, so many schools want to get at the heart of what you do and why that we’ve made a whole guide about writing this extracurricular activity essay (and you can check it out here ).

Deciding what activity to write about can be hard, but here are some tips to help you narrow the field:

Which activity are you most passionate about? Have you been delivering Meals on Wheels with your mom for the last two years and you’ve developed relationships with the people on your route (and maybe one of them now comes to your house for holiday dinners)?

Which activity have you learned the most from? Maybe you’ve never been the Home Depot-lovin’ type, but after being taught to frame and drywall a wall as part of a Habitat for Humanity project, you’ve realized you have a knack for construction.

Which activity has had the most impact? This impact might be on you—perhaps being the social media manager for band has led you down a rabbit hole of learning about digital marketing, and you’ve started your own business to help local businesses leverage their online presence. But it can also be on others—like seeing the smiles on children’s faces when you deliver a truckload of bagged lunches to an in-need elementary school for the students to take home for the weekend.

Now that you’ve got an idea in mind, you may be wondering what the essay itself should look like. Wonder no more, my friend. 

Here’s an example essay (written for a similar prompt for Stanford) that can illustrate the direction to head:

Example #4:

72% of students in the Sacramento City Unified School district qualify for free or reduced lunch. This is 46,000 students. As a Teen Advisory Board member at my local public library, I’ve seen first hand the prevalence of socioeconomically disadvantaged students in my community. Many students are unable to access technology for educational purposes or even participate in high school activities like prom. Socioeconomic disadvantages force students to settle for less when it comes to their education.  As a TAB volunteer, I worked with my local library to host a prom for these students, while raising money and hosting a drive for prom dresses and resources such as Chromebooks for students in the Sacramento area. For multiple years, I spent time promoting our prom drives through social media and conversations with my peers. As a group, we raised hundreds of dollars and collected prom dresses from all size ranges to distribute to students who were unable to afford these luxuries. Students in my community were able to participate in an experience that many students remember long after high school. This work was meaningful for me as I have seen firsthand the issues that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic such as the decrease in educational resources for students at home. Having the ability to collect and provide resources to support the educational needs of numerous disadvantaged students in Sacramento has allowed me to make an impact in their educations and their experiences.

Tips & Analysis

Show your actions. Details are such a strong way to convey impact and pride. From just the first paragraph, we see the scope of the community the student is involved in and their reason for getting involved. 

Show your values. It’s clear that this student values equity, inclusion, and empathy, among other values. How do we know that? The way they clearly describe their involvement in minimizing socioeconomic disadvantages among students in their district by raising money for Chromebooks and hosting drives for prom dresses.

Show (specifically) your pride. Because UT really wants to know “Which [activity] are you most proud of and why?” don’t forget to add that. If it fits your voice, you might go straight into saying “I’m proud of…”. This student tweaks that wording slightly by saying “This work was meaningful for me as …” and then sharing their pride at closing the socioeconomic gap in their community.

Craving more? While this example was also written as a response for Stanford, it’s another great model for how to convey your interests, activities, and impact.

Example #5:

Whether it’s painting for a teenager getting out of rehab, dissecting the anti-war meanings behind Banksy’s street art, or dancing a Bharatnatyam piece that communicates how we’re all one and the same, I’ve seen first-hand art’s power to persuade, influence, and urge people to act.  My next project is a multimedia piece that speaks to an issue of utter importance to me: suicide prevention. My brother, a peer, and I are working on a campaign, with support from the national mental health organization SAVE and our school, with a call to action— share one reason worth living for each day.  To support the campaign, my piece will be centered around a dance choreographed to two poems focusing on the little beauties of life: “People Should Fall in Love More” by Courney Peppernell and “And In Wonder And Amazement I Sing” by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore—sung in Bengali. Since those with suicidal tendencies often have racing thoughts, I want our piece to calm them with the steady beat of the tabla playing in the background. With each line, I plan to use hand gestures like Alapadma and Hamsasya, to wordlessly communicate the poems’ important messages of life, love and purpose.  I hope this audiovisual experience will inspire my audience with hope, so that they see the beauty in even small things. Using my art for action gives it meaning through impact. 

Give us a glimpse into your life. To describe in what ways art has influenced this student, they mention painting for a teenager getting out of rehab, analyzing Banky’s anti-war street art, and dancing a Bharatnatyam piece. Just in the first sentence alone, we not only learn about what things this student might dedicate some of their time to, but we also learn that art seems to be a fundamentally important part of their life. 

Connect to you + your values. In the second paragraph, this student writes about how their next art project, a multimedia piece, deals with an issue that is important to them: suicide prevention. We start to see here that the student is combining their love of art with an issue they’re passionate about, and how they hope to create change through this art piece. Whether or not these activities showed up on their activities list or additional info, the student weaves together two topics of interest to create a cohesive narrative. 

What are your plans? With the way that this essay is written in the third and fourth paragraphs, the reader can tell that this student’s multimedia piece is not yet finished, or has not happened yet. It’s OK to write about things that haven’t finished yet, since readers know that your senior year is still in progress. As long as you can clearly outline your intentions, plans, and what you hope the impact will be (as this student did), it still gives the reader a good idea of what the event would look like, as if it already happened. By writing about something that hasn’t happened yet, we ultimately get to see this student’s attention to detail in planning this piece. 

What are you proud of? Since this essay was written for Stanford’s old prompt, “What’s meaningful to you and why?”, we suggest tweaking the language slightly so it matches UT’s prompt better. For example, if it fits your voice, you might go straight into saying “I’m proud of…”. For this example essay specifically, you could tweak the last sentence to say that they’re proud of the impact they’re able to make through art, for example. When revising, make sure to ask yourself: am I 100% answering the prompt?

How to Write UT Austin Short Answer Essay #3

(Optional) Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance. (Maximum 40 lines, or approximately 250-300 words)

Here, you can focus on anything that “impacted your high school academic performance,” including any COVID-19 impacts. Though if you’re applying via the Common App, you’ll also have a box there you can use to address COVID, which we discuss how to use here . And because this section functions similarly to the Additional Info section, you can check out our full guide to the Additional Information section here . 

Check out an example of what that looks like.

Over the past 14 years, I’ve eaten 2,800 servings of peanut butter (PB), equal to 67.3% of my bodyweight. PB reflects who I am.  JUSTIN’s is the consistently gentle and cobbled PB. Providing a sweet but natural taste, Justin’s taught me to do the same in my interactions with others. Through participation in programs like UTeach Outreach and Alternative Breaks, I will become a better community member while growing into a leader and forming friendships.  JUBILIU is the imperfectly yet naturally perfect pebbled sesame PB. Non-homogenized in texture, it requires a big stir, but its natural taste is sustaining like its 600-year-old history. On one of my first days in China, my host mom and I ventured to Chinese Walmart, Wumart. Standing in the condiment aisle, she chose Jif for me, but I asked if there was a Chinese version. During my junior year immersion in China, I strove to be stirred around in the Chinese culture, adding to the depth of my own flavor, so I could purposely expand my worldview. Through UT’s Chinese Student Association, I look forward to immersing myself in and supporting the culture that taught me to purposely exert effort in my actions, seeking depth to lead a more sustaining life. SUNBUTTER is the unpredictably necessary non-PB PB. SunButter taught me to embrace what is hard, understanding it will enrich my life journey, or better yet, someone else’s. Pursuing my passion for finance and broadening my understanding of the world, I’m excited to join the Global Macro Team.  Crafted by other PB brands, I’m a continually evolving PB brand. I’m Ella. My PB brand is nowhere near shelf-ready; I’ve more experiences to be had, Longhorns to interact with, and 14,600+ servings of PB left to savor. (294 words) — — —

Tips + Analysis

Consider building off your responses to Essay #2. To answer the previous prompt, you thought about what’s important to you based on what you’ve been involved with. Now, consider what needs you’ve filled and what values you’ve gained from that involvement. How is that steering (Longhorn pun intended) what you’ll continue to do and how you’ll choose to get involved in the future?

It’s OK to not write about your career. You don’t have to change the world through your 9-to-5. (Although if you are pursuing a field of study or career that could effect positive change on the world around you, this is a great place to discuss it.) Plenty of people satisfy their desire to do social good outside their job. So maybe it’s your extracurriculars, not your major, that’s helping you be the change you want to see. And that’s great! This student did a nice job of showing how her past experiences will help her contribute at UT—with the UTeach Outreach and Alternative Breaks,  the Chinese Student Association, and the Global Macro Team. But had she been writing to this version of the prompt, she might have imagined how those experiences would help her change the world as a UT alum. So, likewise, make sure you take the longer view and focus on post-graduation activities.

Show you care about others. UT wants to make sure you’re the kind of person who’ll do good long after it’s something that looks good on a resume. How will you care for others with your UT education and your unique combination of skills and be the kind of Texas Exes the school is proud to call its own? Again, had this student been addressing today’s prompt, she might have gone into more detail on how she’s going to use finance and an expanded worldview post-UT.

Be specific, but not generic. Many of us would love to cure cancer and other diseases, or leave the world a little better than we found it by expanding sustainable energy sources. Clear, lofty goals for sure, but they’re probably not going to help you stand out as a changemaker. So how can you frame your potential contributions in a way no one else can? By sharing what drew you to UT and how that’s going to help you achieve your end goals. Again, this student may have served this prompt better by being more clear about how her UT experience would help her be the change.

How to Write the UT Austin Short Answer Essay #4:

(Optional): Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance. (maximum 40 lines, or approximately 250-300 words)

Check out an example of what that looks like. 

Health Issue My fingertip was amputated in a tubing accident during the summer after junior year, which resulted in me having to relearn how to type and take extra time on tests and note-taking. However, I was able to adjust by mastering the hunt-and-peck typing method with my left hand and learning how to manipulate objects with only 9 and ⅔ fingers. Dropping AP French IV I became overwhelmed with my amount of advanced classes and coursework, including 3 hours a night from AP French homework. I made the choice to drop AP French in order to balance my coursework in my other classes and my mental health. I learned to respect and honor my limits as well as how to stand up for myself when I am feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. 2020 Spring Quarter Grades Before my school switched to pass/fail as a result of online learning, we completed our 3rd quarter grading period, which is not included on my transcript. I received the following grades: AP Physics 1: 91 AP Statistics: 99 Peer Coaching: 100 AP-GT English III: 93 Pre-AP Precalculus: 96 AP US History: 93 (154 words) — — —

Consider using bullets and section titles for easier scanning. The UT admission team already has a bunch of essays to read (and you’ve got plenty to write). Make it easier on them, and you, by bulleting out the main point you want to convey and organizing them under section titles (like Health Issues and Dropping AP French IV). A great/convenient benefit of this approach is that you don’t have to use full sentences, to save space (especially since, topping off at 300 words, UT’s version is less than half the 650 words the Common App accepts). 

Explain any red flags. Do you have gaps in your transcript? Poorer grades you want to explain? This is the place to do it. And it will help give UT admission counselors context as they review your application. A couple words of caution, though: a) try to put a positive spin even on something negative, like a bad grade, perhaps by sharing what you learned from the experience, as this will show maturity and perspective (and will help you avoid sounding like you’re whining), and b) don’t overly explain why, say, you got an A- instead of an A. It may make you seem like a perfectionist obsessed with grades, and that’s not a great look.

Use this space for achievements that wouldn’t fit anywhere else in your application. Like how this student shared the high grades he got before his classes went to pass/fail in the online learning environment during the pandemic. Because those scores are no longer being reported, UT wouldn’t know this otherwise, and it’s a pretty cool thing to share. 

You may choose to submit an expanded résumé offering additional information about all of your achievements, activities, leadership positions, and student employment. Your résumé should include all your achievements, not just those that didn’t fit on the ApplyTexas or Common Application. That said, if you’re able to list everything on your admissions application, there’s no need to submit a separate résumé.

Here’s what UT Austin says on its site:

“Your résumé should include all your achievements, not just those that didn’t fit on the ApplyTexas or Common App application . That said, if you’re able to list everything on your admissions application, there’s no need to submit a separate résumé.  If you submit a résumé, you should include: - Details about what each activity involved rather than a general description - The number of hours per week and weeks per year you spent on each activity”

This expanded resume connects back to what we talked about earlier (in the section on short essay #1 regarding UT Austin’s focus on fit: Because the school places such emphasis on how you fit with your first-choice major, the expanded resume offers another great chance to show the admission team why you belong at their school, and how you fit in the program you want. This is particularly important for impacted majors, such as engineering, but we recommend submitting an expanded resume regardless of your major, and use it to further highlight why you and UT are a great match.

Head here for UT Expanded Resume Tips , including a sample resume/template.

Want advice on dozens of other supplemental essays? Click here

Special thanks to Julia for contributing to this post.

Julia published her first “book” on the elusive Pika in elementary school and has been writing fervently ever since. She’s thrilled to unite her quirky love of grammar and master’s in psychology to help students tell their most meaningful stories. Her favorite punctuation mark is the apostrophe because, in the words of Imagine Dragons, it’s “a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see.”

Top values: Collaboration | Family | Productivity

UT Austin Supplemental Essays 2023-24

As one of the top public universities in the United States, the University of Texas Austin ( UT Austin ) is a popular choice for many students. Housed within the University of Texas System , UT Austin attracts students from all over the world. An integral part of any application is the UT Austin supplemental essays. Impactful and well-written essays will help your application stand out and allow UT Austin admissions officers to better understand your unique qualifications and personality.

The UT Austin supplemental essays may be only one part of your larger UT Austin application , but they should be taken seriously. This means that you’ll want to carefully and comprehensively respond to each of the UT Austin essay prompts. 

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to give admissions officers a deeper look into your motivations and goals. Your UT Austin essays can help paint a holistic picture beyond your Common App essay and resume. With UT Austin ranking highly across multiple lists (including U.S. News and Forbes ), ensuring that your essays stand out is crucial. 

For many students, starting the UT Austin essays can feel daunting–especially given the competitive UT Austin acceptance rate. However, we’re here to help! This guide will detail the UT Austin essay prompts and help you work through the University of Texas supplemental essays. Keep reading to learn more about the UT Austin supplemental essays and the best way to help your essays stand out. 

UT Austin Admissions: Quick Facts

University of texas at austin quick facts.

• UT Austin Acceptance Rate : 31%– U.S News ranks UT Austin #9 on its Top Public Schools list. You can read more about UT Austin’s acceptance rate here .
• 1 long-form essay (500-700 words) 
• 3 short answer essays (250-300 words) 
• UT Austin Application : Students can submit their application through the Common App , or through the Apply Texas application. 
• Priority Deadline: November 1 st  
• Regular Deadline: December 1 st  
• UT Austin Essay Tip : Start your UT Austin supplemental essays early! With so many UT Austin essay prompts, you’ll want to make sure you have enough time to edit and receive feedback. Give yourself several weeks at a minimum, and start earlier if you can! 

Does UT Austin have supplemental essays?

Yes, there are several required UT Austin supplemental essays. Students will need to complete a long-form essay unique to UT Austin, as well as several short-answer essays. These UT Austin supplemental essays help admissions officers understand your application on a deeper level. Therefore, they can help your UT Austin application stand out. 

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to help you showcase your proudest achievements. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays allow you to elaborate on your high school experiences – be sure to think through your responses carefully! Think of the UT Austin essays as an opportunity to demonstrate who you are and what you’re passionate about. We’ll detail the UT Austin essay prompts later in this guide, so keep reading! 

UT Austin Essay Requirements

According to the UT Austin website , students need to complete a total of four UT Austin essays. The UT Austin supplemental essays will differ if you are a transfer student (we’ll get into this later in this guide). For first-year students, the UT Austin supplemental essays will include one 500-700-word essay and three 250-300-word short-answer essays. The UT Austin essay prompts can be found on the Common App, or the Apply Texas portal, but we will also detail them in this guide. 

The long-form essay prompt for the 2023-24 application cycle is: 

University of Texas at Austin Essay Prompt

Tell us your story. what unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today.

This essay will need to be between 500-700 words. Students will not need to submit other Common App essays to UT Austin. Therefore, you can think of this essay as replacing the standard Common App essay that many other colleges use. 

We’ll discuss some more detailed tips later in this guide, but you should focus on 1-2 core experiences for this essay. 500-700 words is not a lot of space, so it’s important to be mindful of how you use your words. Reflect on who you are today, and try to identify 1-2 things that have shaped you. This can be a club or leadership opportunity, a work experience, or your family/cultural background. The UT Austin essays help admissions officers learn more about you, so think about what you want them to know!

Of course, as you now know, this isn’t the only essay you’ll need to write–it’s simply the longest! Let’s check out the short-answer essay prompts!

UT Austin Short Answer Essays

In addition to the long-form essay detailed above, students will need to complete three separate UT Austin supplemental essays. All of these essays have a word count of 250-300 words. So, it’s important to be efficient with your answers. Think of these UT Austin supplemental essays as part of a collective whole – try to build themes between each prompt that will help with your overall application narrative. Each essay should add new information to your application. 

Here are the UT Austin essay prompts: 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt #1

Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major.

This prompt is best described as a “Why Major” essay. You’ve most likely seen similar prompts in other college apps. Our guide on  Why Major Essay Examples will allow you to see how these essays should be written. Check it out before tackling your University of Texas supplemental essays. In fact, reading essay examples can help inspire you when writing your essays! 

Keep in mind that out of all the UT Austin application essays, this essay requires the most research on UT Austin’s programs. Most importantly, you should be specific in your reasons for applying to your chosen major. So, be sure to search for relevant coursework, professors, and research opportunities. 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt # 2

Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at ut..

This essay is an opportunity to highlight an extracurricular activity, job experience, or leadership skill for the UT Austin admissions officers. Resist the urge to write about the same experiences as the previous prompt. You may notice that this prompt is similar to the long-form answer prompt, so it’s important to write about a different topic and focus on how you’ll make an impact at UT Austin. 

Research similar clubs/leadership opportunities at UT Austin and link them to your experiences. Mention how you’ll build from your high school experiences. As the University of Texas Austin supplemental essays help build a cohesive narrative, you can connect this essay to your long-form essay, but be sure to have a fresh perspective. 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt # 3

The core purpose of the university of texas at austin is, “to transform lives for the benefit of society.” please share how you believe your experience at ut austin will prepare you to “change the world” after you graduate..

This essay allows you to imagine your future career goals and how UT Austin will help prepare you to accomplish them. If you’re still not sure what you’d like to pursue after college, the UT Austin essay prompts can help you detail larger-scale goals. Do you want to pursue a graduate degree, start your own business, or help solve a difficult problem? Make sure to build connections to resources available at UT Austin specifically! 

UT Austin Transfer Essays

It’s important to note that if you are a transfer student, your UT Austin essay prompts will differ slightly. The University of Texas supplemental essays are designed to encapsulate a student’s experiences and qualifications. So, it’s understandable that transfer students have different UT Austin application essays. 

Transfer students must complete two UT Austin supplemental essays, both between 500-700 words. The UT Austin essay prompts are different for transfer students, but they offer the same opportunity to directly address the admissions committee. These UT Austin essays will help determine if you are a good fit, so it’s important to spend adequate time and energy on them. 

All prospective transfer students must complete “Topic A” as the first of two UT Austin supplemental essays:

University of Texas at Austin Transfer Essay Topic A 

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. you may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. the statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school/college or a record of your participation in school-related activities. rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey..

Out of all the University of Texas Austin supplemental essays, this prompt is the most open-ended. The personal statement is meant to help you communicate directly with the admissions office, and provide a narrative around who you are as a student. Your UT Austin essays can help explain aspects of your resume or transcript and provide a more holistic sense of your accomplishments. Out of the two transfer UT Austin essay prompts, Topic A allows you to paint a broader picture of your academic experiences. 

Focus on 2-3 aspects of your resume or transcript, and try to build a cohesive narrative around them. Discuss what you studied at your previous university, and talk about your goals at UT Austin. Ideally, use the University of Texas supplemental essays as a way to break down your accomplishments so they stand out in your application. 

Transfer students then need to pick another one of two UT Austin essay prompts in order to complete their application, “Topic C” or “Topic E”. Here are the prompts:  

University of Texas at Austin Transfer Essay Topic C

There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. write an essay describing that information. you might include exceptional hardships, challenges or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.  , university of texas at austin transfer essay topic e, choose an issue of importance to you—it could be personal, school-related, local, political or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community or your generation..

Picking between these two UT Austin essay prompts can be difficult – if you’re not sure which to choose, try to draft a thesis sentence for both. You may then have a better idea of which of the two UT Austin essays will complete your application. It’s important to differentiate your UT Austin application essays, so as to avoid redundancy. Make sure you’re discussing different ideas, experiences, and accomplishments in each essay. Most importantly, write on topics that you’re passionate about. The only way to write an authentic, moving essay is if you truly care about the theme. 

Additionally, you can use this essay to build on a common theme in your application. But, be sure to use the UT Austin supplemental essays to cast a wide net. The more you’re able to communicate across your University of Texas supplemental essays, the better you’ll be able to explain why you’re a good fit for UT Austin! 

How to write UT Austin Supplemental Essays

Writing your UT Austin supplemental essays can feel daunting, so we’ve compiled some tips to help! Most importantly, give yourself the time to prepare and map out your answers. This will make the writing process easier, and ideally, less stressful! Additionally, it will ensure that you write your best UT Austin essays possible!

Here are five tips on how to write your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays: 

Five Tips for Writing University of Texas at Austin Supplemental Essay

1. answer all parts of the prompt.

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to allow you to elaborate on your resume and overall application. Therefore, it’s important to touch on all aspects of the question. Many students will only address one part of the prompt; however, your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays serve as the best opportunity to speak directly with the admissions office. They developed the UT Austin essay prompts to help them understand you as an applicant. This means you need to address every part of each prompt. When reading through your first draft, ask yourself “Does this answer all parts of the question?”. If it doesn’t, be sure to expand!

2. Rank your accomplishments

With so many UT Austin essays, it can be easy to keep focusing on your top achievements. However, you want to use each essay strategically – the UT Austin essay prompts allow you to expand on many different aspects of your resume. Alternatively, you may want to write on a topic that hasn’t been seen elsewhere in your application. With so many possible paths to take in your responses, a good place to start the essay writing process is to rank your top accomplishments or most meaningful experiences. Then, match them with the different UT Austin essay prompts. This will ensure your UT Austin supplemental essays cover a wide range of experiences. 

3. Create a cohesive narrative 

While you may write them one at a time, the admissions officers will read all your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays all at once. The most impressive UT Austin essays build a cohesive narrative around a student’s accomplishments and goals. If you want to become a doctor, make sure your essays echo this – bring up any experience you have in the medical field or connect your essays to your passion for medicine. You don’t want to be too repetitive but think of 1-2 major themes you want your UT Austin application essays to convey. 

4. Do your research!

Many of the UT Austin essay prompts want to know how you’ll contribute to the overall campus environment. Therefore, it’s important to conduct extensive research for your University of Texas supplemental essays. Spend ample time on the UT Austin website, or consider booking a visit if you’re able. Use specific examples in your UT Austin supplemental essays to help the admissions officers understand your interest. Through these essays, admissions officers should be able to envision the positive impact you’ll have on the UT Austin campus. 

5. Plan ahead 

With so many UT Austin essay prompts, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you’re able to craft the best University of Texas supplemental essays. You’ll have to spend significant time and effort on your UT Austin supplemental essays. Don’t wait until the day before the admissions deadline to write your UT Austin essays! Create a calendar for yourself to help you stay on track. The earlier you start your essays, the better! Stay organized and focused to ensure you give all of the UT Austin supplemental essays the time they deserve! 

Does UT Austin care about essays?

Given the high amount of UT Austin essay prompts, it’s fair to say that your UT Austin supplemental essays matter. The University of Austin supplemental essays allow admissions officers to better understand your application. The UT Austin essays should paint a holistic picture for the admissions office of you as an applicant. Therefore, it’s important that they are an authentic reflection of your accomplishments and personality. With the competitive UT Austin acceptance rate, your University of Texas supplemental essays will need to stand out. 

It’s hard to say exactly how the UT Austin essay prompts factor into the admissions process, but we know that they can greatly add to your application. The UT Austin essays are the best chance you have to speak directly with the admissions office, so it’s crucial that you develop a unique voice. Ensuring that your UT Austin essays reflect your personality and experiences will help your application significantly! 

How to make your UT Austin Essays stand out!

Overall, crafting your UT Austin supplemental essays to highlight your proudest accomplishments will help your application stand out. The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to help bring out what you’re most proud of, so be sure to answer all aspects of the prompt for each question. And, most importantly, choose your topics carefully!

For your Why Major essay, make solid connections between your extracurricular experiences and your intended major – this will help your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays feel cohesive. For example, if you’re planning to major in business, be sure to discuss any entrepreneurial experiences you’ve had or focus on how you’ve developed an interest in business through clubs. Making strong connections in each of your University of Texas supplemental essays will help your application stand out. 

In addition to the mandatory UT Austin essay prompts, there is an optional essay for students who wish to expand on additional circumstances: 

University of Texas at Austin Optional Essay Prompt

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance..

Many students have experienced disruptions to their high school academics, or want to provide context to a dip in grades. If you had a rough semester, this essay prompt allows you to address it formally. Some students explain difficult situations at home that impacted their performance or detail a difficult class or two. It’s up to you if you’d like to complete this essay. But if you’ve had a drop in grades, it can be a good idea to use this opportunity to explain the circumstances. Responding to this optional essay if it pertains to you, will allow admissions to better understand your application as a whole. 

Resources on the Best Schools in Texas from CollegeAdvisor

In addition to helping you with your UT Austin supplemental essays, CollegeAdvisor has many resources to help you on your college journey. Be sure to read our guides on the Apply Texas Essays and the Best Colleges in Texas . We also have extensive guides on UT Austin, including UT Austin Scholarships and How to Get Into UT Austin . 

Our guides can help you as you answer the UT Austin essay prompts and craft your University of Texas supplemental essays. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays are only one part of the overall application, so it’s important you’re prepared! Researching the university and application process will allow you to have the best chances of gaining admission to your dream school. Preparation is everything when it comes to writing college essays.

UT Austin Supplemental Essays – Final Thoughts

Your UT Austin supplemental essays can help admissions officers understand you on a deeper level.  Additionally, they should explain why you’re interested in attending UT Austin. The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to round out your application, providing some context for your resume and activities list. It’s important to plan your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays ahead of time in order to avoid repetition and to make sure that they highlight all of your proudest accomplishments. 

Think of your University of Texas supplemental essays as a single assignment, rather than many different essays. They should build off of each other, reflect common themes, and provide a detailed overview of your accomplishments and interests. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays are the best way to showcase your talents and make your application shine. Be intentional with each essay, and see each UT Austin essay prompt as part of a larger whole. 

Writing about yourself can be challenging; however, the more practice you have, the better. It’s important to use the UT Austin supplemental essays to your advantage, as they can provide a great boost to your application. Write many drafts for each essay, and be sure to collect robust feedback. These essays are your canvas – decide what kind of picture you want to paint!

This essay guide was written by senior advisor, Jess Klein . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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How to Write the ApplyTexas Essays 2024-2025 + Examples

Born from the collaboration between the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and various public and private universities around the state, ApplyTexas is a wide-spanning application that allows its users to apply to hundreds of Texan colleges. Like the Common App, it offers a platform for students—natively Texan or not—to send off the same information to many schools, although each school may require differing additional information. 

Unlike the Common App, ApplyTexas may be used to apply to the community colleges, public four-years, participating private schools, graduate programs, and even scholarships within Texan borders. For this article’s purposes, we will be focusing primarily on ApplyTexas’s 150+ four-year colleges and universities. Check out our full list of Texan colleges .

Read this ApplyTexas essay example to inspire your own writing.

Which Colleges Require Which Essays?

As for the ApplyTexas essays, there are three main prompts — prompts A, B, and C — but some colleges will only require some, keep others optional, or not accept certain prompts at all. They may also have additional short answer questions and supplements of their own. Even the recommended word count varies between schools.

Here’s a quick snapshot into the unique essay requirements of a few top ApplyTexas colleges:

University of Texas at Austin:

• Choose between Topic A, B or C (optional). 
• 1 short answer responses, 1 of which is optional.
• Additional major-specific materials/requirements for art/art history, architecture, nursing, and social work programs .
• Also accepts the Common App.

Southern Methodist University:

• Topic A essay required, B is optional. 
• Also accepts the Common App, Coalition Application, and its own application.

Texas A&M University, College Station:

• Topic A is required. 
• 8 additional short answers for all applicants, 1 of which is optional.
• 1 short answer for applicants to the College of Engineering.

Baylor University, Waco:

• Also accepts the Common App and its own application.

Texas Christian University:

• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional)
• 3 additional short answer questions, 1 of which is optional.
• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional).
• Additional major-specific essay for Architecture, Art, Art History, Design, Studio Art, and Visual Art Studies/Art Education.

Never ignore optional prompts! Taking the time to complete them shows that you truly care about the school. Ignoring them will make admissions officers wonder if you even like it enough to actually attend it if accepted.

If you are applying to any of these universities and feel you would rather use the Coalition Application or the Common Application, see our Coalition Application Essay Guide and our Common Application Essay Guide . Keep in mind that essay requirements will vary depending on which platform you use. For instance, some schools (SMU, TCU, Baylor) may have additional short essays if you use the Common App.

If you still feel ApplyTexas is the platform for you, read on!

Before You Begin

It’s important to verify that your desired schools are featured on the ApplyTexas platform. Certain private schools—Rice University, for example—use the Common Application instead of ApplyTexas.

And while all the public universities in Texas accept ApplyTexas, some of them also accept the Common Application and Coalition Application, as we’ve seen. The Common Application , Coalition Application , and ApplyTexas offer tools to determine whether a university is included in their platform. Be sure to verify which application is better suited to your college list. Many students can tackle all their schools with just the Common App, but others may have to use a couple different platforms.

Approaching the ApplyTexas Essays

So you’ve worked through the application form, requested copies of your transcript and recommendation letters, effectively described your extracurriculars, and sent in your scores, if any. All that remains now are the essays: your best shot at showing admissions officers how you think, who you are, what matters to you, and why!

As you may remember, ApplyTexas contains three essay prompts: Topics A, B, and C. Each school may have different essay requirements, so it is best to familiarize yourself with all of them. For instance, even if you’re bursting with knowledge about your future major, these essays are an opportunity to speak holistically with regards to your life and experience.

Essay-Writing Strategies

With few parameters aside from the word limit of approximately 800 words (and with each school often setting different word counts), the ApplyTexas essay may seem intimidating. Luckily, the prompts can act as a creative and procedural tether. Whereas students applying via Common Application may begin by shaping a central idea before matching it up to one of the various prompts, ApplyTexas essays grow from the prompt up . Because of this, the best brainstorming and organizational practices for each prompt are unique. The one factor that remains ubiquitously relevant is writing — good writing. Before we get into the details of ideation and organization for each prompt, we’ll review some ways to ensure your writing is clear, communicative, and evocative.

Tips for writing well:

• Show, don’t tell (you’ve heard it before, but it’s worth hearing again!)
• Use active, rather than passive, sentence construction.
• Write with precision.
• Avoid clichés

The somewhat hackneyed advice of “Show, don’t tell” is nevertheless crucial to writing a compelling application essay. The meaning of showing a reader rather than telling them is best interpreted literally. Imagine you’re outside your house and you see a dog skateboarding on it’s two front paws. You run inside, eager to { tell, show } whoever is home. You fling open the door and narrowly avoid a collision with your brother, still unlacing his shoes from basketball practice.

You tell him: “Aamir, I just saw a dog skateboarding on its two front paws!”

You show him: You grab Aamir by the corner of his Jersey. “Come quick” you squeal, and he stumbles out after you, tripping on his laces. Thankfully, the dog is still there. “Just look,” you breathe out, already mesmerized by the wind rushing through the schnauzer’s mustache. Wobbling ever so slightly, the pup remains confident as he shreds the inclined blacktop of the cul-de-sac. Then, a moment later, it’s over. Unaware of the scale of his accomplishment, the dog scratches behind his right ear. You look over at Aamir. “Whoa.”

Out of these two scenarios, we can be sure that Aamir will only remember the second. It’s much the same for admissions committees; they’re more likely to remember you if you show them what you want to communicate. Now, showing doesn’t need to be much longer than telling. In fact, succinct writing is just as important as descriptive writing. Abandoning the literal narrative of “showing,” we’re left with something like this: A schnauzer puppy from the cul-de-sac was balanced on his front paws—miraculously, on a skateboard. Man, that dog could shred.

Using active voice is another crucial component of clean, clear writing. It’s also pretty simple. Make sure your sentence’s subject performs the action indicated by the verb. For example, instead of writing “the skateboard was maneuvered by a schnauzer,” you would opt for, “the schnauzer maneuvered the skateboard.” The only exception to this rule is when you want to bring explicit attention to the person or thing affected by an action. Our story is actually a decent example. What’s more noteworthy? The skateboarding? Or the fact that a dog is doing it? An acceptable passive construction might look like this: “the skateboard—would you believe it—was being maneuvered by none other than the schnauzer from across the cul-de-sac.” In this instance, we’re able to use passive voice to create humor and suspense. That being said, the vast majority of your sentences should employ the active voice.

The active voice is also a big part of writing with precision , and word choice may also make writing precise or imprecise. For example, while “evasive” is a synonym of “oblique” in one sense, it would nevertheless be embarrassing to write that, “John sat in the armchair evasive to the television.” Rather than picturing a chair positioned diagonally (obliquely) from the television, readers are left wondering what in the world an evasive chair might be. So use your thesaurus — carefully. 

It is common for burgeoning writers to get a little too adjective-happy. Adjectives’ power correlates inversely with their use. If each of your sentences is flush with adjectives, you’re diluting their impact.

Finally, avoid any clichés, aphorisms, etc. that fail to add value to your essay. Admissions officers will read countless essays boasting “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  If you’re tempted to use a hackneyed phrase, find its seed instead. Clichés are cliché because they stem from important thoughts, universal truths, and romantic principles. In the case of “Be the change you want to see in the world,” the seed might be an individual’s ability to impact a community, or to transform outdated and unjust systems. The seed of a clichéd phrase may still be worth writing about, but it’s important that you write authentically and originally.

Dissecting the Prompts

ApplyTexas features two sets of prompts, one for incoming freshmen (both domestic and international) and one for transfer, transient, or readmit applications. In this article, we will cover the first set to help freshman applicants. Want to know your chances at an ApplyTexas school? Calculate your chances for free right now.

While different schools require different combinations of essays, most students should be prepared to deal with topics A, B, and C. Students intent on pursuing a degree related to art and design should also be ready to answer topic D. Check out this ApplyTexas database to scout out which schools will require which essays . 

Here are this year’s prompts:

• Topic A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Topic B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.
• Topic C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?
• Topic D (specific to majors in architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education): Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Notice how you are encouraged to speak about an opportunity or a challenge. Many students believe that they must talk about a tragedy in order to grab the attention of admissions officers, but this isn’t true. An essay can easily be thoughtful, insightful, and an engaging read without utilizing this specific emotional appeal.

Still, stories about difficult circumstances are often memorable. They are most effective when focused primarily on the student’s journey of working through the challenge instead of the challenge itself. Check out Collegevine’s article if you would like more tips on writing about challenges .

You’re trying to stand out, so beware of overused tropes like the following:

• Mental illness: It takes enormous strength to heal from and learn to manage a mental illness. Still, they may be tricky to write about. Read our article for more information on covering mental illness and disabilities within your application .
• Getting a bad grade in a class but then working hard to raise it.
• Sports stories such as winning/losing the “big game” or getting injured.
• Death of a pet or family member.
• Mission trip which made you realize how lucky and privileged you are.

Side note : Sometimes students face challenges that are outside of their control and which have negatively impacted their academic and/or extracurricular performance. If this has been your experience, and you don’t plan to explain them within this essay response, you may ask one of your recommenders to do so through their letter of recommendation.

Now, there’s no such thing as a “bad” or “good” essay topic; students have gotten into top schools with essays about Costco, pizza deliveries, and sparkling water. It often matters less so what you write about than how you write about it! 

These common essay topics are only doable when well-written, specific, and featuring a fresh take. The story of how fixing your Calculus grade taught you the value of hard work is not nearly as interesting as that of a student who is diagnosed with dyscalculia—a disability which creates a difficulty in understanding and working with math and numbers—and then opens up a dyscalculia awareness club with plans to become a special education teacher. The latter story would demonstrate the student’s ability to turn preconceived weaknesses into strengths, and admissions officers will quickly see that though he may initially struggle with long division, this student is nonetheless a creative problem-solver.

Please be aware that although it is possible to make a “common” topic interesting, it is easier to write about a situation that is unique to begin with. Also, don’t feel pressured to write about a challenge, especially if the situation has happened so recently that you haven’t fully finished processing or growing from it.

With all of this in mind, let’s get into brainstorming! Many people begin their ideation process through writing long lists or even talking into their phones in an untethered stream-of-consciousness. Do whatever it takes to get your creative juices flowing! 

As you reflect, you may consider these questions:

• Which values and skills do you hold closest to your heart? Honesty? Hard work? Clear communication? Diversity? Environmental stewardship? Activism? Where did these priorities come from?
• What are you most grateful for? What are you most proud of? What risks have you taken which have paid off?
• What do you like to do? When and how did you get into it?
• How would your family and friends say you have changed for the better over the years, and why?
• Look back at your list of extracurricular activities. Which ones were challenging and/or special opportunities? When have you tried something new?

Practice self-compassion while considering topics, and know that none are too big or too small. You can write about anything from taking a summer math class (even though you’re more of an English person) to being a camp counselor to giving your first speech in front of a crowd.

Overall, the admissions officers are looking for growth. They want to see the circumstances you turned into opportunities for improvement. You may even reflect upon a situation that initially seemed like an unpleasant challenge but later revealed itself as a hidden opportunity. For example, you may have reluctantly let your friend drag you to a business club meeting before discovering a passion for economics and rising as a club leader.

Ideally, your story will be unique and offer a fresh perspective. Be specific about the challenge or opportunity you were presented with, and think about how it changed you for the better. 

Remember, they are literally asking for you to “tell [them] your story,” so consider using a narrative format, especially if storytelling is a talent of yours. 

Here’s a general outline: 

• If you choose to go with a traditional storytelling format, we recommend beginning with a vivid anecdote featuring rich imagery to draw the reader in or an unexpected premise which makes one have to read on in order to fully understand. 
• From there, you may dive into who you were at the time, how you felt and how you acted, before moving towards your turning point—the challenge or opportunity—from which you decided to grow. 
• Explain how, exactly, the turning point influenced you. Ask yourself: How did it make you feel? Excited and ready for more, or initially anxious? How did it impact you? Perhaps you learned something new about yourself, or maybe now you’re kinder, more confident, or a harder worker. 
• To mix it up a bit, you could even play with sequencing, perhaps starting with a moment of success before reflecting on all of the growth you had to complete to get to that point.

Finally, you are human, so you don’t have to portray yourself as perfect in the end. You are using this essay to talk about what may be one of your greatest strengths or sources of pride, but make sure to stay balanced with a humble tone.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic A:

The morning of the Model United Nation conference, I walked into Committee feeling confident  about my research. We were simulating the Nuremberg Trials – a series of post-World War II  proceedings for war crimes – and my portfolio was of the Soviet Judge Major General Iona  Nikitchenko. Until that day, the infamous Nazi regime had only been a chapter in my history  textbook; however, the conference’s unveiling of each defendant’s crimes brought those horrors  to life. The previous night, I had organized my research, proofread my position paper and gone  over Judge Nikitchenko’s pertinent statements. I aimed to find the perfect balance between his  stance and my own.

As I walked into committee anticipating a battle of wits, my director abruptly called out to me.  “I’m afraid we’ve received a late confirmation from another delegate who will be representing  Judge Nikitchenko. You, on the other hand, are now the defense attorney, Otto Stahmer.”  Everyone around me buzzed around the room in excitement, coordinating with their allies and  developing strategies against their enemies, oblivious to the bomb that had just dropped on me.  I felt frozen in my tracks, and it seemed that only rage against the careless delegate who had  confirmed her presence so late could pull me out of my trance. After having spent a month  painstakingly crafting my verdicts and gathering evidence against the Nazis, I now needed to  reverse my stance only three hours before the first session.

Gradually, anger gave way to utter panic. My research was fundamental to my performance, and without it, I knew I could add little to the Trials. But confident in my ability, my director  optimistically recommended constructing an impromptu defense. Nervously, I began my  research anew. Despite feeling hopeless, as I read through the prosecution’s arguments, I  uncovered substantial loopholes. I noticed a lack of conclusive evidence against the defendants  and certain inconsistencies in testimonies.

My discovery energized me, inspiring me to revisit  the historical overview in my conference “Background Guide” and to search the web for other  relevant articles. Some Nazi prisoners had been treated as “guilty” before their court dates.  While I had brushed this information under the carpet while developing my position as a judge,  it now became the focus of my defense. I began scratching out a new argument, centered on the premise that the allied countries had violated the fundamental rule that, a defendant was “not guilty” until proven otherwise.

At the end of the three hours, I felt better prepared. The first session began, and with bravado, I  raised my placard to speak. Microphone in hand, I turned to face my audience. “Greetings  delegates. I, Otto Stahmer would like to…….” I suddenly blanked. Utter dread permeated my  body as I tried to recall my thoughts in vain. “Defence Attorney, Stahmer we’ll come back to  you,” my Committee Director broke the silence as I tottered back to my seat, flushed with  embarrassment. Despite my shame, I was undeterred. I needed to vindicate my director’s faith  in me. I pulled out my notes, refocused, and began outlining my arguments in a more clear and  direct manner. Thereafter, I spoke articulately, confidently putting forth my points. I was  overjoyed when Secretariat members congratulated me on my fine performance.

Going into the conference, I believed that preparation was the key to success. I wouldn’t say I  disagree with that statement now, but I believe adaptability is equally important. My ability to  problem-solve in the face of an unforeseen challenge proved advantageous in the art of  diplomacy. Not only did this experience transform me into a confident and eloquent delegate at  that conference, but it also helped me become a more flexible and creative thinker in a variety of other capacities. Now that I know I can adapt under pressure, I look forward to engaging in  activities that will push me to be even quicker on my feet.

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

This prompt is a more varied than the first one, and gives you more leeway in choosing what you’ll actually be talking about. Someone’s identity, talents, and interests, might be linked together but they just as easily might not. Either way, don’t worry. With regards to this prompt, there is no ideal angle. Let’s break down what it could mean to address each of these categories.

Identity can refer to any number of traits that you feel define you. This includes race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and other more community-based identities such as gamer, athlete, artist, weaver, dancer, Democrat, etc. Your identity is simply what makes you, you. Essays about identity are a great opportunity to demonstrate your critical and political acuity, personal convictions, and social history. However, they also pose certain risks. The premise of writing about identity is that you’ll demonstrate what makes you unique as a person. Even though many of us share certain identity traits, we’ve all experienced them differently. It’s especially important to focus on those details. Essays about identity that lack individual texture risk making you appear almost clone-like. That being said, there is no topic that is inherently cliché for this prompt.

Talent is a topic that will surely feel familiar to you as a prospective college applicant. Frankly, that’s what can make it tricky to write an essay about your talents—it risks echoing the several other parts of an application that are designed to draw out and display your talents for an admissions committee. Even so, if you believe that you have gained an especially insightful lesson or reflection from one of your listed activities, it may still be worth writing about. Just make sure you’re elaborating on your talents rather than reiterating them. Beyond the talents already featured in your application, many applicants have a talent that stands out from their formal talents and activities. One might be a master bird-caller, for example, but not have it listed as an extracurricular. Often times, writing about a wild-card talent is a way to introduce a facet of your personality that would otherwise remain invisible. The topic of talent also gives you the opportunity to write about certain interpersonal skills that might be especially important to you but impossible to express on a resume. For example, if you cultivate your skills as a listener and have a well-formulated political or philosophical imperative for doing so, that could make a great topic.

Interests are unique from talents in that you need not necessarily be good at them. They might not even be skills-related to begin with. For example, you might be supremely interested in pigeons but unable to include that interest in any other part of the application. Interests can make for especially unique, quirky, and fascinating essays. That being said, such essays also risk missing the whole point of the prompt. You need to tell the committee about yourself. If you choose to write about an obscure interest, it’ll be crucial to relate it back to your personality, outlook, or identity.

Now that we’ve addressed the differences between the subsections of this prompt, let’s review some ways in which you can brainstorm. While writing about identity, talents, or interests will result in slightly different essays, the goal is the same: to show the admissions committee—through your own eyes—who exactly you are.

The first step in brainstorming for this prompt is making a list of your defining characteristics. As you do this, you’ll want to prioritize characteristics that paint you in a generally positive light. While you don’t want to brag, you definitely want to be optimistic about who you are.

Second , you should make a sort of genealogy for each characteristic. How did they come to be so important to you? What experiences built up to the point where you’d consider a trait to be essential to your personality?

Finally , you’re going to need to rank your traits and their accompanying genealogies. For some students, who have a very central and defining trait, this won’t be tricky at all. But for students who are less certain what to write about, it will be important to prioritize the traits with the most interesting genealogies. Seeing as you want to show the committee rather than tell them, it’s crucial that you pick a trait that has a compelling history—that fits into a narrative or intellectual picture of yourself. This is especially essential for students intent on taking a more creative tone with this prompt. While an obscure interest can be interesting and endearing, it needs to have a compelling genesis and impact within your personal history.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic B:

In one of the side streets of Rabat, one of the many winding corridors in the Medina, a long-abandoned house is standing, dilapidated from its years of neglect. The windows have been smashed; valuable materials have been ripped out of the floor and graffiti smears peeling walls. Yet remnants of its old life still remain intact; photo albums clutch family moments as cobwebs dangle from their spines. A mini plastic basketball hoop clings to a wall and a handmade poster above it reads “Senior League: Armond – Junior: Sasha and Lucy” but the faded yellow of the net suggests that no games have been played here for a long time. Not since we left. Mom left him just as I was turning four. The relationship had been emotionally stressful for the past few years and the threat of physical danger forced her to make a secret escape with us. We left everything behind.

Thousands of miles away and thirteen years later, I have never been back. I have never met him. As young as I was, I have not been oblivious to his absence. Even now, there are moments when I experience this emptiness inside of me. A sensation so overwhelming, I can’t believe I have managed to ignore it for so long. I lie down, close my eyes and grieve. Not just for him but for the life I never had, or at least, the one I left behind and can no longer remember. As the tears stop, I slowly drift to sleep. Sometimes I dream that he has unexpectedly turned up on the doorstep of our Chicago house especially for me. I open the door and immediately recognize him. I jump into his arms, simultaneously crying and laughing. I wake up, the empty feeling has passed and I know that he will never come. But I can’t help romanticizing the first time we meet.

However, going on eighteen, reality is soon catching up with me. Four years ago at the age of eighteen my brother, Armond, travelled to Morocco to meet him. Last year my sister, Sasha, did the same. So now, it is my turn; my own rite of passage awaits me. I have been waiting for this opportunity my whole life, even imagined it ten times over. But the more I thought about it, the more I doubted it. As the youngest in the family, I have striven to emulate my siblings in many ways. I could feel the assumption that I would go to meet him just as they did. However, I know that I am not yet ready. Unlike Sasha and Armond, my memories of Rabat are just a haze. I do not know whether they are real, or dreams or stories I have been told. I don’t understand any Arabic, and his English is very broken. And most of all, I cannot remember his face. The emptiness still comes back every now and then. But I know that the hole is not father-shaped, and if I meet him now, he might think it is. What I need to do first is to find out who I am before I can know what shape that hole really is. And when I know, I will understand what it would mean to meet him. For now at least, that tired old home stays suspended; a three-dimensional snapshot of my forgotten childhood. I like to think it’s waiting for me; waiting for when I’m ready to go back.

You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Topic C stands opposed to Topics A and B in that it is almost entirely oriented towards the future. While each of your essays should demonstrate a degree of imagination, this prompt also carries the most overt call for creativity. There are two main genres of responses to prompts like this. The first genre adds to the forecasting effort found throughout your whole application. The second represents a creative departure from the path of your ambitions.

Choosing a Genre:

Forecasting is what you do when you make promises or predictions about what you’ll do with an educational opportunity. You’re forecasting when you tell UT Austin that you want to attend their engineering program in order to realize your dream of developing clean, public transportation. You’re forecasting when you draw conclusions from your past accomplishments to predict your future success. The act of applying to a school is inherently future-oriented. That being said, good applications demand cohesion and balance. An application that is too future-oriented will leave the admissions officers wondering who exactly you are . An application that is too auto-ethnographic will leave them wondering about your ambitions .

A forecast oriented answer to topic C will likely link-up with other parts of your application. For example, the engineering student from the example above might write that they’re holding a ticket for the very first 100% green, interstate transportation system—a system that they’ve spent the past 15 years building from the ground up. In this case, the essay looks back from a future point in which the student has fulfilled the ambitions they forecasted. It’s also possible to write this essay looking forward. Students that hope to attend medical school or law school might write about holding a “ticket” to their tertiary degree. These essays would go on to imagine the important, transformative work that those students would accomplish when they get to medical/law school.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic C:

I’m holding a flyer that declares the date and time—this coming Tuesday at 7:30 PM—for a meeting of the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. Twelve years ago, when I started my undergraduate degree in public policy, the union was only a flicker of a thought, housed somewhere in the back of my mind. Still, those years were crucial. With every class I took, whether in policy studies, environmental science, or history, that flicker grew stronger. Following my interest in labor, I developed a rapport with the university employees that kept things rolling on campus—the people that took care of us, really. For my senior thesis, I made it my mission to collect and present an oral history of labor on campus. Many university workers expressed a sense of relief at being employed by the university. It allowed for decent wages and preserved the dignity of it’s workforce through open dialogue and worker representation. Through this sense of relief—or rather, through its negative—my thesis became invested in the alternatives for these laborers, in what lay on the other side of their relief. Though they were specifically skilled in care work, janitorial work, landscaping, and more, most of them told me that outside the university there was little opportunity for the advancement of worker’s interests. Finding work on a free-lance basis or through predatory placement companies, these care-laborers were largely on their own.

After graduating, I stayed in touch with my contacts at the university. Throughout law school, I made time to continue coordinating with them. We were hatching a revolutionary idea. Our goal was to create a union that could unite the various forms of under-the-radar care-work that was so often left out of organized bargaining units. The plan that we finally realized was even bigger than that. Not only would it unite domestic workers, janitors, and landscapers, its umbrella would extend to cover teachers, day-care supervisors, nurses, artists, and agricultural workers. This was the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. While it contained specifically oriented compartments, each aimed at advancing the rights of a particular sub-group of laborers, its superstructure was perhaps the more significant. In the same way that my senior thesis became invested in its negative all those years ago, this union stood as a foil to the socially and environmentally destructive tendencies of so many economic giants. We mobilized and housed research regarding Green-GDP, environmentally adjusted Gini coefficients, and other methods aimed at illuminating the real cost of having an economy predicated on environmental exploitation. As a political and intellectual force, the union gained ground in reevaluating the ways in which we value certain kinds of labor over others.

I’m smiling as I tack the flyer to the community board at my old university. I step back to look at it. “I can’t believe this is where it all started,” I think to myself. “Well, see you all this Tuesday.”

The genre of creative departure allows you to focus more on your personality, imagination, and capacity for critical thought. If you feel that your application already does enough to forecast your ambitions, you may opt to write about something completely unrelated. Especially for students applying to creative programs such as theatre or studio art, this can be a good moment to demonstrate your fit. Students who pick this genre can write about almost literally anything. The ticket in your hand could be for a time-machine to the Renaissance, a one-way expedition to Mars, or a mysterious back-alley puppet show. The important thing is that you use the premise of your essay to reflect on the world in a mature and thoughtful manner.

Here’s another Example Essay for Topic C:

“Take a number” buzzes an automated voice from somewhere inside the ticket booth. I reach out and tear off a slip of blue paper. 96. “Great,” I snort, “might as well settle in for the long haul.”

Someone behind me notices my annoyance and pipes up.

“I know right? I’ve never seen the time machines so crowded in my life.”

“Me neither,” I respond, “application season I guess.”

“Must be. Damn ticket prompts.”

I turn around to address my queue-compatriot. He’s a tall guy, pretty built for our age—probably a football player or something. He looks anxiously down the line, craning his neck to see something or someone just out of view.

“What’s got your nerves up?” I ask, “where are you headed?”

“You know,” he shrugged, “the usual. Off to 1904 to encourage Hitler to pursue his passion for painting. I’m just worried she’s gonna get there first.” I stepped out of line to see where he was looking. Fourth in line was a girl decked out in all black, determination etched into her features.

“Is she carrying a rail-gun?” I ask, stepping back into line. Football nods. “Yeesh…that’s a bit extreme but to each their own I guess. Wonder how the AdComms are gonna feel about that.”

Football fidgets for a few minutes before asking, “And you? What’s your plan?”

“Way back. Off to the early fifth-century to help Pelagius argue against St. Augustine.”

“Pelagius. He was an early theologian that rallied against Augustine’s notion of original sin.”

Football nods. “So all that with Eve and the apple, yeah?”

“Exactly. The doctrine of original sin says that because Adam and Eve had the apple, every human from then on was infected with their sin. That’s one of the reasons babies are baptized, to cleanse them. It’s behind a whole host of other things too. All the indulgences that people paid into the church, our long-standing association of sexuality with guilt and impurity, not to mention most of the pessimistic philosophies surrounding human depravity.”

Football chuckles. “So let’s say you win” he proposes, “then what? Babies don’t get baptized? There are still nineteen people ahead of us. You might want to change plans.”

My brow furrows a bit as I consider his suggestion. “I don’t know,” I say, “Pelagius argued for a whole lot of things. He was a big proponent of free will and accountability. He thought we should do good for the sake of good, not for salvation. He even countered a lot of hang-ups that endure to this day—bedroom stuff, bathroom stuff, all of it. Where Augustine saw sin and depravity, Pelagius saw beauty and Grace.” I continue. “I mean, I’m not even religious. I just think we could use a sort of ‘reset’ for our collective psyche. People are too caught up in hating themselves. We’re subconsciously misanthropic and it hurts. It hurts when a corporation takes advantage of a mining community because profit is the only legitimate motive in a world that seems like a lost cause. It hurts all the young people who hate their bodies and strive for an unrealistic ‘cleanliness’ from deformity and irregularity. It hurts women who get told they’ll be ‘second-hand stock’ if they have sex before marriage. It hurts when the police open fire in a neighborhood because they’re scared a kid might do it first.”

“Yeah” he nods, “hey, do you mind if I tag along? Mine might be a lost cause anyways—that girl was scary.”

Just then my number comes up on the time machine’s display. I look up at Football. “Sure. Why not. Oh, and I don’t think I caught your name.”

“It’s Bryan.”

“Well Bryan, we’re off.”

(Please Note: The essay in this section is specific to certain college majors and is not required by all colleges/universities that accept the Apply Texas Application. If you are not applying for a major in Architecture, Art, Art History, Design, Studio Art, Visual Art Studies/Art Education, you are not required to write this essay.)

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space affected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?”

Topic D is a situational prompt for students looking to engage with art, design, and image. Unlike topics A and B, topic D is specifically asking you to tell a story. Regardless of the mode of narrative you employ, your essay should start with a moment of confrontation, observation, and reaction. Whether you engage with a piece of art or a lecture from design class, this step is crucial. It is here that you will demonstrate your ability to sift through your feelings about art, pulling out the concrete variables and specific vocabularies to describe why the art made you feel that way in the first place. It’s unsurprising that the prompt is so intent on drawing this out from you—understanding how art has impacted you is the first step towards creating art to impact others.

The second part of this process should move you beyond the moment of interaction detailed in step one, either to the present or the future. In this section, you’ll want to set your compass, so to speak. Using the lessons from part one, you should forecast the ways in which your future ambitions will be uniquely impactful. This can include anything from aperture to allegory. Whether technical or philosophical, your art is largely a product of your inspiration—being able to trace and predict this link demonstrates your maturity as a budding artist or designer.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic D:

Standing in the Musée de l’Orangerie, surrounded on all sides by Monet’s Water Lilies, I felt myself melt away. The noise of the room seemed to dim, even as my perception heightened. I was somewhere else. The water lilies had swallowed me whole. They were beautiful, certainly, but also tense. One of the lesser-known iterations, flush with the purples, golds, and oranges of autumn, reminded me of the fluttering dance of falling leaves. And yet, its leaves were static—not because they weren’t real; they were real to me in that moment—but because of the water’s tension. Tethered to the surface of the pond, equally unable to float up or down, the leaves were trapped in a planar prison. The painting was practically bursting with the energy of an infinite autumn, but the water held it all together with its sticky buoyancy. Surface tension is far crueler than gravity, I thought to myself. My throat tightened and I felt paralyzed, peacefully imprisoned along with the lilies and leaves.

“Huh.” My brother stepped up beside me. “Look, you can see the canvas poking through,” he whispered, nudging me. He was right. As my eyes latched onto those bare fibers I felt a gust of release; I was back in the room.

To this day, that remains one of my most intense experiences with art. While it wasn’t exactly euphoric, it was transformative. Spanning the whole wall, the water lilies are all you can see; they colonize your reality. It was that quality—the quality of transportation out of time and space—that has stayed with me most. Monet’s techniques, brushstrokes that infuse the canvas with texture and momentum, allowed for a sort of virtual reality. VR before VR. It was the power of that experience that prompted me to combine my art with contemporary VR techniques. My first VR project pays homage to the water lilies. Putting on the headset, you find yourself in a blue green film, replete with flowers of every kind. It’s peaceful but when you try to move you find that the further you stray, the slower you get. A few feet out and you’re snapped back to the start. The piece explores movement and energy through anxiety and ensnarement.

As I continue my education in fine art, I’m primed to explore the range of possibilities allowed by VR technology. I’m eager to create landscape experiences that more directly implicate art and embodiment. My current project also takes inspiration from Monet’s impressionism. Entering the reality, one finds oneself on the top of flower-freckled hillside, umbrella in hand despite the blue skies. It is windy and the grasses sway around you. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, you begin to blow away, to disperse, until there’s nothing left. The viewer is utterly gone, yet utterly present.

Want to learn more about how to write the ApplyTexas essays? Check out one of our popular recorded live streams on this topic.

Where to Get Your ApplyTexas Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your ApplyTexas essays? 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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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN APPLICATION

Writing a compelling personal statement for your university of texas at austin application.

UT’s new essay requirements include a more open-ended personal statement. All freshman applicants to the University of Texas at Austin must submit a personal essay, between 500 and 650 words, which plays a crucial role in the holistic review process.

This long essay is a student's primary vehicle for communicating the aspects of their personality, perspectives, and relationships that a resume alone can't convey. It's their chance to give the admissions committee a sense of who they are and how they see the world.

HERE’S THE PROMPT

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.

Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Students are used to writing academic papers, where their teachers provide clear prompts, a list of expectations, and even a rubric that lays out exactly what they need to do to earn full credit. Personal essays are a different beast. This prompt is particularly open-ended. That means the expectations can seem frustratingly amorphous, and no one can tell your student with 100% accuracy what they need to do to succeed. That freedom of thought, though, is representative of what college will be like for your student, so it’s a great chance to embrace that new mindset.

Need help with your UT Austin Application?

You might be interested in our 1:1 Coaching Program for Students Applying to the University Of Texas at Austin

how to approach UT’s personal essay

Refer to the Common App Prompts

Since this essay prompt aligns with the Common Application's personal statement, students can simplify their application process by using one of the Common App prompts for their UT Austin essay. This will allow them to write a single essay that can be submitted to all their schools.

Choose a Topic that Led to Growth

When choosing a topic for the personal essay, students should explore moments that have produced some type of change in their life or thinking. It could be a significant event or experience that completely changed the course of their life, or it could be a smaller, more personal experience that holds special meaning to them. The admissions committee wants to get a glimpse of who the student is beyond their application, understanding what they care about and how they make sense of the world. Students should choose a story that has a clear narrative arc demonstrating how they have grown or changed as a result of the experiences they describe, while showcasing their personality, values, and growth.

Focus On Recent Experiences

Although the story a student chooses to tell might be rooted in their earliest experiences, the primary focus of the narrative should be on the past three or four years. For most teenagers, high school is a period of rapid personal and interpersonal growth. During that time, students have probably begun to form their own individual ideas and beliefs, explore new interests, and take on more responsibility at school and home. They've also gained experience navigating new social and emotional challenges, and they may have started developing a stronger sense of what they have to contribute to the communities they belong to.

Use Specific Examples and Anecdotes

Specificity and vivid details are what make personal essays come alive and make them memorable for the reader. Students should make sure their essays sparkle with unique aspects of their experiences. This is why revision is key to personal essay writing—sometimes it takes multiple drafts to remember and layer in meaningful details.

Aim for At Least 30% Reflection

While the narrative part of a student's essay tells us what happened, the reflection tells us why living those experiences mattered to a student—not to the person next to them and not to a generic student, but to that student personally. The reflection aspect of the essay helps the reader understand how the student has grown and changed over time. It's where a student will look back at the narrative and think seriously about how they have changed because of it.

Ask for Feedback, But Proceed Cautiously

While we encourage students to have others whose opinion they respect review the essay for feedback on clarity, coherence, and impact, we do caution students not to have too many people weigh in. Sometimes having too many people offering different opinions about the essay can be paralyzing—especially when those well-meaning readers might not understand the job of a personal essay in college admissions. Ultimately, it should be an authentic essay a student feels represents them well, one they feel proud of sharing with admissions.

Proofread Carefully—But Don't Obsess If a Typo Slips Through

It goes without saying that once a student has completed their final draft, they should proofread it carefully. Using apps such as Grammarly can be helpful, but another set of human eyes is always a good idea. Despite a student's best efforts, sometimes a typo or a mistake can slip through, making them paranoid that this one detail will derail their entire application. Admissions counselors assure us that this is not the case. They realize everyone is human and mistakes happen, especially in such a stress-filled process as college applications.

The college essay & resume for UT Austin process can feel overwhelming. Our program provides an experienced coach and a proven framework, working one-on-one to reduce the stress so the student can tell a compelling story.

Our program for students applying to UT Austin includes:

• Guiding students through the UT expanded resume development process
• Managing your student’s essay timeline for one long essay and four school-specific supplemental essays
• Coaching students through a targeted set of college essays, including one long essay  and four school-specific supplemental essays
• Providing students with suggested edits and proofing for this targeted set of college essays
• Review of essays and application by our internal admissions committee

Your student will be carefully matched with a coach based on personality, working style, and first-choice major—it’s just one of the many ways we modify our proven process to meet individual student needs.

THE BIGGEST PERSONAL ESSAY WRITING MYTH

Students often assume the admissions committee must want to hear about either their most impressive achievement or their most harrowing defeat. In brainstorming examples from their lives, students tend to focus almost exclusively on extremes (the highest highs, the lowest lows), which are usually things they've already listed on their resume as well.

These don't necessarily make for bad essay topics—in the hands of a thoughtful, introspective writer, virtually any subject can make for a compelling and personally revelatory piece. But both have certain risks.

Focusing too narrowly on extreme highs and achievements (including activities, honors, and so on) can result in essays that read more like long-form resumes than visceral, compelling stories. Too much of an external focus makes the essay flat, giving the reader little sense of the writer's inner life.

By contrast, when students write about extreme lows, including a traumatic event or loss, they can sometimes get too caught up in exploring painful thoughts and feelings. They also may not yet be ready to reflect on the experience. The experience begins to define the writer, instead of the writer defining the experience and placing it within the broader context of their personality and life. 

We often remind students that it's okay to pick what feels like a small topic. Often, it's the subtler experiences that are more defining.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REFLECTING ON INTERNAL EXPERIENCES

As students flesh out their essays, they should remember to include both external and internal experiences. 

Let's say, for example, that your student is a compassionate, caring person who has always believed in using their talents to strengthen their community. In their essay, they would want to include some details or examples that would help demonstrate how this quality manifests in their life. It's easy to talk about how they completed 150 hours of community service every year at a local homeless shelter—and they've no doubt already listed that on their resume. But their essay can—and should—explore aspects of those experiences that aren't communicated by the resume if they are truly meaningful for your student.

There's likely more to the story—an internal journey that your student hasn't yet communicated. Perhaps they were raised in a family that prided itself on toughness and self-sufficiency. As a child, they often heard adults in their life urge others to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" or pass harsh judgment on people who were out of work and unable to support their families. When your student first started volunteering, they sometimes found themselves echoing these beliefs in their thoughts, especially during challenging or frustrating moments. 

But then they began to pay attention to those thoughts and reflect on moments where they arose. As they observed the social workers and other adults who worked at the shelter, they sought to learn from the way they talked about the communities they worked with. During your student's volunteer shifts, they began spending time talking with the people who came to the shelter, forming relationships with them and seeking to better understand their lives. In their free time, they watched documentaries about homelessness and checked out books from the local library. Eventually, as their convictions became stronger and their sense of purpose clearer, they began to have conversations with their family about the work they were doing, even inviting family members to start volunteering with them once a week. 

This learning process may still be ongoing, but they're proud of the change they've seen in their own thoughts and behaviors. They feel like they've finally begun to develop a more nuanced understanding of an issue they care about, as well as a more empathetic perspective toward the people they work with. And within their own family, they are making a quiet but intentional effort to expand their worldview and advocate for those communities. 

Bottom line: Unless the student articulates their internal experiences, the admissions committee won't know how important they were to the student's personal growth.

How UT Reviews Applications

UT Austin has a special way of looking at applications from students who want to go to their school. It's called the fit-to-major model, and it means that they look at everything in your application—your grades, test scores, essays, resume, and recommendation letters—to see how well it matches up with the major you want to study. They really want to find students who have shown that they're interested and good at the things they'll be learning about in their major. They also want to see that you've done things outside of school that relate to what you want to study.

Choosing the right major is super important because it's the biggest part of your application. UT Austin wants to see that you understand why you picked your major and how it fits with what you want to do in the future.

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