William & Mary supplemental essays

• Prompt 1Optional300 words max

  Academic interest or goal

  Share more about a personal academic interest or career goal.

  How to approach it

  This prompt wants the origin story and the proof, not your resume. Pick the moment the interest became yours. Show one or two things you did about it on your own. Let the school see how you think when nobody assigns the work.

• Prompt 2Optional300 words max

  Your communities

  Are there any particular communities that are important to you, and how do you see yourself being a part of our community?

  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.

• Prompt 3Optional300 words max

  Family and background

  How has your family, culture and/or background shaped your lived experience?

  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.

• Prompt 4Optional300 words max

  Why William & Mary

  What led to your interest in William & Mary?

• Prompt 5Optional300 words max

  A challenge you've faced

  Tell us about a challenge or adversity you've experienced and how that has impacted you as an individual.

  How to approach it

  The challenge is the setup, not the essay. Spend most of the words on what you did and how you changed. Readers are wary of a hard story used as currency. Growth is the currency.

• Prompt 6Optional300 words max

  Show us your town

  If we visited your town, what would you want to show us?

These prompts are program-specific.

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

• 1693 ScholarsRequired300 words max

  1693 Apology

  Apologize.

• 1693 ScholarsRequired180 words max

  1693 Murray House

  Graduating 1693 Scholars often leave things like books, trinkets, and art at the Murray House (our on-campus home base). What is something you'd leave behind at the Murray House?