I mentioned in the last post that Richmond just released their supplemental essay topics, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share a bit more about how we approach supplemental essays in our office and why!
We actually take a very different approach to supplemental essays than most other college counseling firms. Instead of waiting until the school-specific prompts come out and trying to help our students tackle each of them from scratch, we use what we call the Four Story Approach. This process saves students an enormous amount of time later while also leading to stronger essays, which is win-win!
At its core, the Four Story Approach revolves around what we call generic supplemental essays.
Generic supplemental essays (generics for short!) are not essays that students submit to colleges.
Instead, they are four pieces of writing built around the types of questions colleges ask most frequently. We use them as a foundation that students can later adapt and repurpose for school-specific supplemental essays.
The reason this works is that most colleges are ultimately asking variations of the same questions! They want to know what you want to study, what activities matter to you, how you contribute to a community, and what experiences or perspectives have shaped who you are.
Because of that, we begin by having students develop four core essays centered around these common themes:
Academic Interest
Activity
Community & Belonging
Background & Perspective
Again, Students will not actually submit these essays anywhere! Instead, the goal is to identify four strong stories, reflect on them deeply, and polish them until they become exceptionally strong pieces of writing.
Once those essays are complete, students have a toolkit they can draw from throughout application season. When a college asks about leadership, students often pull from their Activity essay. When a school asks how they have contributed to a community, they frequently adapt their Community & Belonging essay. When a prompt asks what makes them unique, they may start with ideas from their Background & Perspective essay.
Of course, this doesn't mean students simply copy and paste. Every college asks its questions for a reason, and every response still needs to be tailored to the specific prompt. However, it is SO much easier to adapt a strong existing piece of writing than it is to start from a blank page every time.
The University of Richmond's new supplemental essays provide a perfect example of how this works in practice, so I thought it could be helpful to share how we’d help our students approach them using their generic content. Notice how each Richmond prompt maps back to one of the four generics, allowing students to start with an existing piece of writing rather than a blank page. We also help students determine which prompt gives them the best opportunity to showcase their strengths and how to build from the writing they have already completed.
Richmond asks students to choose one of three prompts.
CHOICE #1: Richmond is a community that strives to be relentlessly welcoming. Tell us about a time you made a space better for other people by helping them feel welcome, heard, included, or supported.
For this prompt, we advise our students to start with their pre-written content from Generic Essay #3 (Community & Belonging). Both prompts focus on their role within a community and how their actions positively impacted the people around them. Students can often adapt their existing essay by placing greater emphasis on inclusion, support, and helping others feel valued.
CHOICE #2: Richmond students turn ideas into actions. Tell us about a time you learned by doing, making, building, testing, helping, or leading and what that experience taught you about yourself, the world, or the kind of impact you want to have.
For most students, this prompt pairs naturally with Generic Essay #2 (Activity). The same activity, project, job, leadership role, or initiative can often serve as the foundation for both essays. Students simply need to expand the reflection and focus more heavily on what they learned and how the experience shaped the impact they hope to make in the future. We generally recommend this option over Choice #1 because it also creates a natural opportunity to incorporate some "Why Richmond" content and demonstrate how the student plans to engage with the Richmond community.
CHOICE #3: Richmond’s mascot is the Spider. Just as you are unique, this singular mascot represents over 52,680 unique species of spiders. Tell us about the communities, experiences, or ambitions that have shaped you into the unique person you are and how you will make your mark as part of a Spider community.
For this option, we usually recommend Generic Essay #4 (Background & Perspective). Both prompts focus on identity, values, experiences, and perspective. In some cases, students may also draw from their Community & Belonging essay if a particular community played a major role in shaping who they have become. The strongest responses, however, typically focus less on a specific community impact and more on the broader experiences and perspectives that define who the student is and what they will bring to Richmond. For that reason, we also recommend this option over Choice #1. Any opportunity to share an authentic interest in the Richmond community (and plans for future engagement) should be taken!
The key takeaway is that when students have already done the hard work of identifying meaningful stories and reflecting on their experiences, supplemental essays become far less intimidating! Instead of reinventing the wheel every time a new prompt appears, they start with a strong foundation and then tailor it for each school. As a bonus, they also help students tell a more consistent, thoughtful, and compelling story across all of their applications.
We are all about working smarter, not harder!