Are you thinking about applying to Yale? Here's how you can really excel at answering their supplemental prompts: The prompt: Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the list provided. What the Prompt is About: This “prompt” is straightforward and doesn’t even require an essay. All it asks is that you click the link in the prompt and select three of your favorite academic areas. Tips: Be experimental. Try to exhaust your range of interests and list areas that you don’t know much about now—but would love to learn more about later! Include variety. Don’t just stick to one field. Even if you’re all about Sociology, you might want to try out Gender Studies—you never know, maybe you’d love it! The prompt: Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer) What the Prompt is About: What Yale really wants to you do to is PROVE your interest in a chosen academic area, to make sure you aren’t just listing things for show. Tips: Draw from personal experience. Have you ever taken a summer course in coding that made you want to study Computer Science at Yale? If so, explain how it inspired you to learn more about a topic or subject. Be passionate. Every great essay, no matter how short, has room for passion. Be sure to express your excitement to learn in your hook and conclusion, especially. The prompt: What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer) What the Prompt is About: This is what we like to call a school’s “Why Us” prompt, or the prompt that wants to know what you like about Yale and why. Tips: Be well-researched. Mention specific features you like about Yale in your essay (if you’re a literature buff, maybe mention that the Yale Library has more than 15 million books). Think about the future. Try to explain how Yale will help you achieve your future goals. For instance, if you’re a Cognitive Science major hoping to run your own practice one day, list one of Yale’s course offerings you think could set you on the right track! The prompt: Respond to the short answer questions, in no more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words): What inspires you? If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be? Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application? What the Prompt is About: By making you write extremely short responses, Yale wants to get to know who you are academically, creatively, and personally—without the “yada yada.” Tips: Be creative. Instead of writing about how challenges inspire you to do better (we’ve all heard this), what if you wrote about how the smell of an old book gets you passionate about writing poetry? Be honest. Don’t tell Yale what you think they want to hear. Make sure that your answers are true to who you are. If they are, no one else can write the same thing as you and you’ll be sure to stand out. The prompt: Respond to one of the following prompts in 400 words or fewer:1. Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful?2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you? What the Prompt is About: This is the longest essay you’ll write for Yale. In it, they want you to combine your unique background and experiences with your goals for attending Yale. Tips: Organize your essay. Whichever prompt you pick, be sure to create an outline before you write that includes an introduction, body, and conclusion section. As you’re working with a 400-word maximum, you can aim to write a 4-5 paragraph essay. Tell a story. This essay is almost like a Common App essay because Yale wants you to utilize storytelling techniques to make the narrator—YOU—stand out as a unique applicant with valuable hopes and dreams.
