University of New Mexico-Main Campus supplemental essays

These prompts are program-specific.

They apply only if you’re applying to the named program or school.

• Honors CollegeRequired250 words max

  Why Honors College

  Why are you interested in joining the Honors College? How do you think Honors will contribute to your experience at UNM?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.

• Honors CollegeOptional200 words max

  What matters most

  Choose one of the items on your list and tell us why it's important to you.

• Honors CollegeOptional

  Anything else

  Is there anything else you'd like the admissions committee to know? This could include your strengths and challenges as a student, or information about your family or background.

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.

• Honors CollegeRequired250 words max

  Fifty years from now

  50 years from now, your picture is hanging somewhere, and someone is looking at it. Where is it, what is it doing there, and who is looking at it?

• Honors CollegeRequired250 words max

  A community you've built

  Community is an important value in the Honors College. Tell us about a community you have contributed to and why it is important to you.

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.