You probably already know that the supplemental essay for
either the University of Pennsylvania (Upenn) or Pennsylvania State University
(Penn State) should be focused on your suitability to the specific university
you’re targeting. However, there are specific instances where you can talk
about a different college in the essay (typically in transfer essays).
Let’s start with the basic facts about the Penn supplement
essay.
Facts about the Penn Supplement Essay
To handle this part of the application process, you must
understand what to include and what to avoid. Everything else will fall into
place once you observe those two crucial components.
What You Need to Know About the Penn Supplement Essay
The admissions process for the University of Pennsylvania
(UPenn) includes prompts for personal and supplemental essays.
UPenn's official guidelines clearly state that these essays serve to assess your thought process,
values, and worldview. For the Penn supplemental short answers, you must be
precise in explaining why you're applying to college and why you chose a
particular undergraduate school. Overall, the Penn supplemental prompts focus
on your single-degree or single-school choice. However, some specialized
programs feature additional essay prompts.
The Pennsylvania State University is a bit different.
With Penn State, applicants don't need SAT or ACT scores. In
fact, no additional documents or supplemental materials are necessary. But then, a
personal statement is important to improve your chances of admission.
If you’re applying to the Dickinson Law School at Penn
State, you’ll have an option to include a supplemental essay. This supplemental
essay is meant to address discrepancies between your LSAT and GPA. It will also
give you the opportunity to address your contribution to diversity and other
relevant information.
So far, these requirements don’t give any hint of the need
to mention other colleges in the application process.
Let's explore the supplemental requirements in more detail.
Requirements of the Penn Supplement
Note that, each year, the Penn Supplement essay prompts may
change, so you have to check and see the prompts that apply to your specific
year.
For the 2023-2024 admission cycle, here are the requirements
and the essay prompts:
1.
Write a short thank you note to someone you have
not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge (150-200 words length).
2.
How will you explore the community at Penn?
Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective and how your experiences
will shape Penn's (150-200 words length).
3.
Respond to a school-specific prompt based on the
undergraduate school you have selected, such as the School of Nursing, College
of Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School, and the School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences.
4.
For coordinated dual degree and specialized
programs, answer a question specific to your single degree school choice.
5.
Additional prompts apply to programs such as DMD,
Digital Media Design, Huntsman Program, LSM, Roy and Diana Vagello Program in
Life Sciences and Management, M&T, Jerome Fisher Program in Management and
Technology, ETS, Rajendra and Neera Singh Program in Networked and Social
Systems Engineering, NHCM, Nursing and Healthcare Management, Seven Year
Biodental Program, and VIPER, Roy and Diana Vagello's Integrated Program in
Energy Research.
Based on the prompts, it's clear to see that there is no
specific mention of different colleges in the Penn Supplement essay. The first
two prompts cover areas regarding your personal character, motivations and
contributions to the university. The last prompts cover your school-specific
motivation and how your career choice aligns with the specific university.
Can I Use the Same Essay for Different College Classes?
As you have seen from the prompts, the supplemental essay is
supposed to address a specific undergraduate school. This means that you would
not focus on any different classes or programs in your essay.
Therefore, you should focus on indicating how your
motivations align with the values and offerings of the desired program you have
in mind.
Where You Can Talk About a Different College?
Transfer students would have a different set of prompts,
unlike first-time applicants. Here, transfer students can provide extra
information about their previous experiences in other colleges.
This is evident in the Common App, which requires the
students to indicate the colleges or universities they attended, the dates they
enrolled in such institutions, the college coursework they completed, and their
GPA. The requirements of the UPenn Transfer essay, which applies to all transfer applicants, involve giving reasons for transferring to another
institution. This should be covered within 4,150 characters.
There are various examples of supplemental essays on various
official university websites from which you can get an idea of how other
students have addressed this issue of mentioning different colleges in the
supplemental essay.
Here is a sample transfer supplemental essay for a different university (Carnegie Mellon University),
which can give you a bit of insight on how to mention your previous institution
in a Penn supplement essay:
“I
am eager to gain a sophisticated understanding of computer science conventions,
as well as Artificial Intelligence technology, at the Carnegie Mellon School of
Computer Science. From numerous and cutting edge computer labs to professional
leaders in research like Professor Scott Fahlman, there are opportunities that
will allow me to achieve my research goals at Carnegie Mellon that would be
otherwise unavailable. Specifically, I want to help construct search and
inference interfaces that mimic human recall, and help make such interfaces a
commonplace feature of modern technology, like Professor Fahlman’s work with
the Scone program. Although my previous university (Gotham University) did not
have CMU’s range of courses or the focus on AI, my faculty there did impart to
me the value of risk-taking research, from their exploratory work on
cryptography. CMU embodies this value by funding research that pushes the
boundaries of Artificial Intelligence technology. I look forward to
collaborating directly with my professors on their AI research, and working
towards being a critical and valuable member of Carnegie Mellon’s computer
science community.”
Now, let's explore the intricacies of the college
supplemental essays to understand how you can mention different colleges in
your supplemental essay.
Facts about College Supplemental Essays
Generally, college supplemental essays allow applicants to
highlight their individuality and how that aligns with a specific institution. Showing
this link between your aspirations and the college you desire is particularly
important, especially if you have to mention different colleges.
Understanding how to do this will help you get admitted.
Here are a few ideas.
What Not to Write on College Supplemental Essays
The general rule is to avoid generic responses. The reason
being that your experiences are different from other students and each
institution that you apply to has different missions, visions and programs
compared to any other college. This is particularly important if you have to
mention different colleges in your essay so that the focus is on the university
that you want rather than other institutions.
Therefore, make sure that your essay highlights your
authenticity and genuine connection to the college you desire.
Can You Use the Same Supplemental Essay for Different Colleges?
Unlike a personal statement that can be used for multiple
colleges in the Common App, a supplemental essay must be customized to suit a
specific college. So, you should craft a unique supplemental essay that targets
Penn State or UPenn. You should customize it to suit the distinct values,
offerings and mission of the institution.
In fact, the University of Pennsylvania specifically
highlights this issue in the admission guidelines. It requires you to
understand the Penn's undergraduate school academic coordinated dual degree and specialized programs.
Online Opinions
It can be useful to get insights from other students or
professionals who have some experience in this area. You may ask friends or
relatives who may have gone through the application process for Penn State or
UPenn.
Online platforms like College Confidential also provide some insights from experienced professionals. In
one discussion, a contributor indicates the possibility of using a similar
supplemental essay for different colleges. However, this comes with a caveat
that you should tailor it to suit each college even if you use a similar
template.
Although there may be similar elements that you can adapt to
different essays, you should not use a one-size-fits-all approach.
Crafting a Unique Supplemental Essay for Success
Now that you know the requirements, let's explore how you
can write your supplemental essay to gain admission. For transfer students, it
will be helpful to figure out how to talk about different colleges in order to
focus on either Penn State or UPenn.
Here is how to do it:
·
Understand the college's mission and values
Always take time to go through the official website of the
institution. Learn about the mission and values of the college so that you can
highlight such aspects and show how your values align with the institution. For
instance, UPenn emphasizes global leadership. It can be useful to highlight
this as a reason why you would transfer from a different college in your essay.
·
Highlight your alignment with academic pathways
Each institution has unique academic pathways that apply to
different schools or programs. For instance, UPenn is known for programs in law,
design, education, social policy, nursing, communication, and many more. Understanding
these pathways and mentioning your desired program can show that you have a clear
intention to join the institution and that it has some difference from any
other institution that you attended previously.
·
Showcase personal experiences
Although a supplemental essay is not focused on your individuality
or character, your personal experiences can indicate how you are aligned to a
college's value. These personal experiences may involve your attendance in
previous colleges; hence, providing a chance to mention other colleges and to show
how your preference for UPenn makes it a better choice for you.
Conclusion
Evidently, there are several direct and indirect
opportunities to talk about different colleges in your Penn supplement.
The critical rule that applies in all instances is that you
should always show the value you expect to get from Penn compared to any other
college that you mention. If you don’t do that, you’ll be watering down the
main objective of this type of content: to determine your specific interest in institution
that you want to join.
Even so, take into account all other rules concerning this
type of content.
Frequently Asked Questions
To clarify any issues that may still be unclear, we’ll address
a few more queries that you have concerning this issue.
Do colleges really look at supplemental essays?
Supplemental essays have become increasingly important in
the application process of many colleges today. Many institutions are choosing
to go test-optional for this crucial entry process. Generally, if the institution
doesn’t state that your essay is optional, you should definitely consider it as
a vital component that they use in assessing new applicants.
Can I change my college essay if I’ve already submitted it to one college?
The general rule for the Common App’s personal and
supplemental essays is that once your essay is submitted to a college, you
cannot change it. The only option at that point is to contact the specific college's admissions office with such a request, in case they
would allow you to change your essay. If you submitted applications to multiple
institutions, that would be quite a task.
Fortunately, some colleges can allow modifications within a limited
timeframe, generally if the application deadline hasn’t passed. Therefore,
timely communication is key.
Can you reuse supplemental essays for transfer?
Transfer supplements needs to be just as unique as normal supplemental
essays. The issues that you highlight in a supplemental for one institution
might not be equally important for another college. You can easily figure this
out from the specific requirements that they provide.
Is Penn on Common App?
UPenn accepts the Common App, the Coalition Application, and
even QuestBridge. The university treats all such applications equally, so the choice of application depends on your
personal preference.
The good thing about the Common Application is that you
submit one essay for multiple schools, but that only applies to the personal
statement since the supplemental questions are specific and unique to Penn
University.
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