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How To Answer Stanford's 2024/2025 Supplemental Essays: Tips & Insights
09/09/2024•17 minute read
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Essay Prompts
Intellectual Curiosity Essay
The Roommate Essay
The Personal Essay
Stanford Essay Examples
As a former admissions officer at Stanford, I've noticed a few elements that all strong application essays have in common. Likewise, there are common mistakes that can make a student's essay much less likely to stand out.
In this guide, I’ll explore the best practices and common pitfalls when answering Stanford’s essay prompts—from the famous roommate essay to the community essay. Let’s go over everything you need to know.
Stanford’s Essay Prompts & Requirements
Gaining admission to Stanford University is a competitive university, with its acceptance rate ranging from 3.6 to 4.6%. To gain admission, your application has to be as close to perfect as possible - supplemental essays included!
Besides the common app and coalition app, Stanford requires you to submit 3 additional short essays in answer to these following prompts or questions for the academic year of 2024/2025:
- The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
- Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
- Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University.
For all three of these essays, the length has to be between 100 to 250 words. You don’t have a huge word limit, so every word counts. Let’s get right to business: how should you answer each Stanford prompt, and what mistakes should you avoid?
Prompt #1: The Intellectual Curiosity Essay
Prompt 1
The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
How To Answer It
This is a fairly common prompt across many schools—what I call the "intellectual curiosity" essay. The key to standing out is to focus on a topic you’re genuinely curious or passionate about.
There’s no right or wrong answer here. I’ve read essays on everything from the Pythagorean theorem to Schrödinger’s cat. As long as you choose an intellectual idea that excites you, even if it’s niche or unfamiliar to the admissions committee, you’ll be on the right track.
In this essay, you'll need to embrace your inner nerd and dive deep into a topic that interests you. For example, as a psychology major, one of the things that fascinated me was parapsychology—the study of the supernatural, like telepathy and telekinesis.
While many would argue it’s not a critical science, I believe it’s an intellectually stimulating topic that fits within the realm of my studies - and it made my essay stand out.
An admissions officer has only 15, maybe 20 minutes to review your application. If you can talk about something that is both personally meaningful and unique, it becomes a trigger for them to remember you.
I’d start by jotting down all the different intellectual ideas that fascinate you, whether or not they're related to my declared major. Even if they don’t seem to connect at first, just write them down—you can decide later which one to focus on.
Think about what excites you about these topics, how you've explored them so far, and how you hope to explore them further.
Mistakes To Avoid
A common mistake that students make is thinking they need to write about a specific topic because it aligns with their chosen major. For example, if you’ve listed mechanical engineering as your first major of interest, you might feel compelled to write about mechanical engineering.
This isn’t necessarily true. If it fits your application and you find it compelling, then by all means, go for it. But keep in mind that admissions officers aren’t looking for an essay that simply supports your major. They want to see you nerd out on a topic you genuinely love. Focus on what excites you, not what you think they want to hear.
It’s that intellectual curiosity that catches their attention and sets you apart. They’re more interested in seeing your personality and passion than just how well your essay aligns with your major.
That said, if you’ve built your entire application narrative around your passion for a particular discipline, writing about something related to your major might make sense—as long as it fits within your overall application structure. Even then, it needs to be something where your genuine passion shines through—something that shows that intellectual spark!
Otherwise, this essay is a great opportunity to showcase other interests and broaden the character you present to admissions officers.
Prompt #2: The Roommate Essay
Prompt 2
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
How To Answer It
The roommate essay has been a Stanford staple for quite a while. The key to answering it isn’t so much about standing out as it is about avoiding common pitfalls.
The goal is to show that you’d be a good, empathetic, and thoughtful roommate. Admissions officers want to understand who you are within the community—who you’ll be when you finish your classes and get back to your dorm. How do you share space with others? How do you build relationships and contribute to your living environment?
This essay is all about highlighting the ways you want to connect with your roommate and foster a positive relationship. There’s no single way to go about this, so you have some flexibility.
One option is to talk about the campus events and activities you’d want to experience with your roommate, and how you’d want to go take your roommate to them to experience these things together or create a bond together.
- An example of this: I’ve seen an essay in the past written about making homemade ramen, which was a favorite activity of the student. They talked about how they planned to bring a small warming set to teach their roommate how to make it their own way, sharing what the process meant to them. It was a cute and personal way to express how they wanted to build a relationship
- Another example: A student wrote about a favorite Stanford tradition—jumping in different water fountains on campus. They described a day where they and their roommate could go around campus, hopping into all the fountains, creating a great experience they can share. They imagined repeating the tradition four years later, just before graduation.
This essay worked well because it referenced a specific tradition Stanford is known for while also tying it to building an authentic relationship with their roommate.
A lot of people have the question of whether they should write this as a normal essay or as a letter to their roommate. I recommend writing this essay as a letter to your roommate—not in the typical format of your other supplemental essays.
Even though it won’t actually go to your future roommate, pretend it will. The goal is to make it feel like you’re writing to someone you’re about to meet and embark on an adventure with. Try to tap into the heart of that connection—that’s the essence of this essay.
Basically, when writing this essay, it’s important to stay true to yourself while avoiding common pitfalls. Speaking of which…
Mistakes To Avoid
In the roommate essay, the worst mistake you can make is presenting yourself as an unlikeable or unwelcoming roommate. Highlighting any non-community-oriented qualities is something you absolutely want to avoid.
For example, if you focus too much on a rigid schedule—like waking up at 8 AM, going for a jog, and detailing all the things you do—it can come across as self-centered. If your essay is more focused about what you want to do at Stanford, with little regard for how you’ll create a shared, communal space with your roommate, it’s not going to win the admissions officers over. This approach can be off-putting.
A good way to gauge if your essay is hitting the mark: imagine receiving a letter from your future roommate. If all they did was talk about themselves and what they want to do at Stanford, how excited would you be to meet them?
Compare that to a letter where they talk about creating memories, sharing experiences, or building a specific environment together. Which would you prefer?
Prompt #3: The Personal Essay
Prompt 3
Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University.
How To Answer It
This essay prompt is designed to delve into the personal experiences that have shaped who you are.
The approach I’d recommend here is to aim for impact rather than just trying to stand out. Your goal should be to leave a lasting impression on the admissions officer, giving them a moment to pause and truly understand who you are as an applicant.
In this essay, be candid about the experiences and relationships that have profoundly impacted you—how they’ve shaped your thinking, your character, and how you hope to bring those qualities to the Stanford community.
- An example of this: I’ve seen students write about caring for a parent with a degenerative disease. That experience instilled a deep sense of empathy and a collaborative spirit, making them realize that we accomplish things better together rather than alone. They then expressed a desire to bring that energy to Stanford, to be actively involved in a community that values and lives by collaboration.
This type of essay is powerful because it shares a specific, personal experience that allows the admissions officer to see a unique layer of who you are. It also illustrates how that experience has shaped your character and how you’ll bring that character to campus.
- Another example: An essay that really stood out to me was a blog about Hot Cheetos. Initially, I was skeptical—why would someone write about Hot Cheetos? But as I continued reading, the story revealed a deeper message. The student’s grandmother used to give her Hot Cheetos every day, and at first, the student just enjoyed them without thinking about sharing. As she grew older, she noticed that her siblings didn’t receive the same treat. Eventually, she realized her grandmother was teaching her a lesson about privilege and sharing resources.
This was a profound lesson about sharing, privilege, and responsibility, which the student planned to carry with her to Stanford.
The essay highlighted how she intended to use her intellectual growth to contribute positively to the community, and to continue building on her own intellectual interest to build knowledge that can help make the community better. By the end, the story left a strong impact on me—I’ll never forget that Hot Cheetos essay!
When writing your essay, consider what values Stanford cares about—community, social responsibility, contributing positively to the world—and connect those values with your personal experiences.
Focus on the relationships and moments that have shaped how you think, interact with others, and engage with the world. Then, explain how you’ll bring those qualities to Stanford in a way that aligns with the university’s values, such as social good and intellectual curiosity.
Mistakes To Avoid
The biggest pitfalls you can run into with these kinds of essays are being too vague or staying too surface-level.
Sometimes students think they shouldn’t get too personal or too detailed because they assume admissions officers don’t want to read such personal pieces. However, this is exactly what can make your essay forgettable.
If you don’t personalize it and dive into your own history and experiences, you miss the chance to stand out. While many people may share similar experiences, only you have lived your unique version of it. If you don’t speak directly to that, you’re not giving yourself the chance to shine.
Another common mistake is focusing too much on someone else without relating it back to your own experiences.
- An example of this: a student wrote about someone they deeply admire—a grandparent who survived difficult circumstances and showed incredible resilience. While that’s a powerful story, if the essay spends too much time on the grandparent and doesn’t connect it to the student’s own life, the admissions officer may end up knowing more about the grandparent than the applicant. By the end of the essay, I might be ready to admit the grandparent, but I still won’t know much about you.
The key is to ensure that, while you can certainly highlight the influence others have had on you, the essay should ultimately focus on your personal experiences and how they’ve shaped you. That’s what makes your story unique and memorable.
Stanford Essay Examples
The Intellectual Curiosity Essay Example
The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (250 words)
When taking Abnormal Psychology freshman year, I was fascinated to learn that my family’s stoic attitude under stress stems from culture's influence on human behavior. The course concluded, but I hungered to learn more about culture’s connections with the mind. Sunlit days crept into moonlit nights as I learned that culture impacts visual perception (that’s why East Asian websites are more “cluttered” than Western ones) and influences decision-making (such as through a focus on collectivism or individualism). Some cultures even have unique disorders, like ataque de nervios, a panic disorder in Latinx patients. I fell in love with reading about culture influencing cognition and plunging into the science explaining it.
My fascination led me to conduct two independent studies assessing mental health apps’ cultural competency and the DSM’s cultural elements. I was mesmerized by case studies like one about a Japanese woman, “M,” who was misdiagnosed with depression instead of adult separation anxiety because her psychiatrists didn’t factor in the cultural context of her immigration story. While assembling my papers, I grappled with even more questions. How do sociocultural frames of reference influence the way mental illness is treated? How can technology provide more equitable access to mental health care?
If I’ve learned anything from theater and literature, it is that context deeply affects how humans think and act. Sherlocking the connections between culture and cognition and analyzing their impact on science, medicine, and design doesn’t just feed my curiosity; it energizes my soul.
The Roommate Essay Example
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
Dear Roommate,
My bedroom is my refuge, and I hope ours will be the same. Through immersive design, there are countless possibilities to personalize our room. All it takes is the simple command: “Alexa, it’s Christmas time,” and we teleport from a hot, stuffy room in June to a winter wonderland. The ceiling lights turn red and green, Christmas lights begin to sparkle, “Jingle Bells” bounces through the speakers, and The Christmas Story is cued. My friends giddily sing along to Christmas carols, and we joke about Alexa’s unquestioning loyalty. When my friend [Name Redacted] got dumped last summer, he asked for “Christmas time” in my room to cheer him up. And when my basketball team won the semi-finals, we said “Alexa, it’s party time” and celebrated as disco lights whirled and “Bohemian Rhapsody” blasted. We have a command for (almost) every occasion. Rigging my room has brought laughter and joy into the lives of friends and family and is something I look forward to doing with you. We can learn about each other while we set up our room. Whether it’s our music, lights, jokes, or auto-stocked products, I’m excited to create a room that reflects both of our identities, cultural backgrounds, and humor. In our spare time, I also look forward to taking a hiatus from indoors to head out to surf, play basketball, or plan spikeball matches on the oval. Whether we’re indoors or out, I can’t wait to get to know you. “Alexa, it’s Cardinal time.”
The Personal Essay Example
Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University. (250 words)
Starling murmurations move synchronously, traveling across oceans. Each bird focuses on supporting its seven neighbors, which lets over a million birds fly at once. [Organization Redacted] is my murmuration.
Growing up, my passion for Taylor Swift songs (“Red” is still a bop!) morphed into a love for opera. However, when I joined the [Organization Redacted] Opera, though other queer artists surrounded me, I quickly realized I was one of two people of color in the room. I cherished how opera let me tell stories through music, but the stories didn’t represent me.
So, I joined [Organization Redacted], where I’m surrounded by starlings telling the stories of marginalized communities. At [Organization Redacted], I learned how to create art centered around the decolonialist principles of sustainability and equity. I learned through outreach events on [Place Redacted] how art brings glimmers of joy into the eyes of children and elders alike. I learned through working on “[Redacted Content],” which showcased the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, how art unites people and creates social change. I was finally surrounded by artists like me, who tell stories about blazing our path in a society that often silences BIPOC and queer voices.
At Stanford, I hope to become a student fellow with the IDA to spotlight marginalized voices. Within the IDA, I’d connect my fervor for music with my passion for analyzing STEM’s impact on society by designing and collaborating on an opera with my peers about data justice or colonialism’s negative impacts on South Asian healthcare.
The Best Way To Stand Out
The best way to perfect your essay is to work with an expert.
Working with expert strategists makes you 7x more likely to gain admission to your dream school! Our experts, including former admissions officers, guide you through the admissions process from A to Z, tailoring your application to maximize your chances of admission.
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Key Resources & Further Reading
- Acing your College Application Essay: 5 Expert Tips to Make it Stand Out from the Rest
- MIT Supplemental Essay
- Northwestern Supplemental Essay
- Harvard Supplemental Essay
- Columbia Supplemental Essay
- Princeton Supplemental Essay
- Cornell Supplemental Essay
- Brown Supplemental Essay
- UPenn Supplemental Essay
- Dartmouth Supplemental Essay
- Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essay
- University of Chicago Supplemental Essay
- NYU Supplemental Essay
- How to Tackle Every Type of Supplemental Essay
- What are the Most Unusual US College Supplemental Essay Prompts?
About the Author
Shane Trujillo
Former Admissions Officer
With experience in highly selective admissions at Stanford and Haverford College, and a master's degree from Harvard University, Shane has worked with thousands of students who have been admitted to some of the most prestigious schools and programs in the United States, including Stanford University, the Wharton School of Business at UPenn, and Harvard University.
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