Acing University Washington in St. Louis's 2024-2025 Supplemental Essays

2024-2025 UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON IN ST.LOUIS  SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY PROMPTS

Washington University in St. Louis has unveiled its supplemental essay prompts for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle. Prospective students applying to WashU’s Class of 2029 will need to respond to a mandatory essay prompt and have the option (it really isn’t an option) to complete an additional essay prompt and an optional  (which isn’t really optional)  video upload. Let’s take a look at these prompts!

Learn how to ace their supplemental essays and video uploads below!

Below are WashU’s instructions for the required essay, which is hidden within the Academics section of the supplement. Applicants can respond to the prompt in up to 200 words.

Please tell us what you are interested in studying at college and why. Undecided about your academic interest(s)? Don’t worry—tell us what excites you about the academic division you selected. Remember that all of our first-year students enter officially “undeclared” and work closely with their team of academic advisors to discover their academic passions. You can explore all of our majors and programs on our website.

This is a classic "Why Major" essay. Start by explaining an idea in the field you wish to study, why you are passionate about it, and how you first became exposed to it. Make sure your exposure is recent, such as during high school. Then, convince the reader why they should be interested in this idea and how it relates to a problem in the field you want to major in, and explain why they should care about any progress you can make towards solving this problem.

Optional Essay Prompts

Below are WashU’s instructions for the optional essay for all applicants, for which students can choose one of the two prompts and include a response of up to 250 words:

This optional question allows you to add another dimension to your application – something that the admissions committee might not learn by reading your transcript or your personal statement.

If you prefer, you may focus your optional 90-second video submitted through the WashU Pathway on addressing one of these three questions. (Students who choose to submit a written response to one of these questions may still opt in to sharing an optional video).

WashU is a place that values diversity of perspectives. We believe those perspectives come from a variety of experiences and identities. Respond to one of the following prompts to help us understand “Who are you?”:

Please choose one of the following:

1. WashU supports engagement in the St. Louis community by considering the university as “In St. Louis, For St. Louis.” What is a community you are a part of and your place or impact within in?

You want to give the reader a clear first-person account of your experiences in a community, showcasing your interactions with its members and highlighting both how you benefit from being a part of it and how you contribute to it. Ideally, choose a community that closely resembles student-centric communities typically found on a college campus. When describing the impact you have had on the community and the impact it has had on you, make sure your descriptions are specific, clear, and tangible.

2. WashU strives to know every undergraduate student “By Name & Story.” How have your life experiences shaped your story?

Despite the prompt sounding very open-ended, they are looking for something quite specific. They want to understand how your lived experiences have shaped your intellectual journey, including the development of your thoughts and perspectives. Colleges value intellectual diversity, and what one believes or how one perceives the world is strongly influenced by one's lived experiences. Therefore, applicants should summarize their worldview or provide a perspective on something very important to them and defend that worldview or perspective through their lived experiences.

Optional Video

WashU applicants, through the WashU Pathway, have the chance to upload an up to 90-second video introducing themselves — if they so wish. The instructions for the optional video are as follows:

All applicants have the option to upload a video to help the Admissions Office get to know you better. This video is not intended to be a professional-quality production or rehearsed audition. Simply capture a quick video of yourself telling us about something important to you.

Ideas to consider:

• Do you have a hobby? Show us how you spend your free time.

• How do you express your most authentic self? Through art, cooking, poetry, stand-up comedy?

• What do you most want to experience at WashU?

And if you don’t want to submit a video, that’s OK. Applicants will not be penalized for opting out of submitting a video. It is an optional video (and we mean optional).

At Cosmic, we always advise our clients to share only practical information in their college applications. This means providing information that will directly and unambiguously help admission officers decide if a candidate would be a good addition to their campus for four years and if they are worthy of taking a seat that could have been given to another qualified applicant. This principle holds true for video submissions as well. Ideally, the video should corroborate some aspect of the main thesis of your Common App essay. You can do this by showing how the key ideas introduced in your Common App essay allow you to enrich other activities you pursue, such as hobbies. Another approach is to showcase the hidden story behind one of your achievements, facilitated by showing the viewer a physical artifact related to it.

Don’t overly produce the video. Doing so can make you appear unlikable to the viewer, and, in itself, it does not provide practical value to someone trying to determine whether you are the best candidate to admit.

If you would like a review of your Washington University in St. Louis essays by an admissions expert or have any further questions about Washington University in St. Louis’s essays or other college admissions essays, please schedule a free consultation with us below. We would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.