2026–27 Common App cycle · Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado College supplemental essays
1 prompt, 0 required, 1 optional, about 300 words in total. Below: each prompt, what it is really asking, where drafts go wrong, and the shape of an answer that works.
Free, no card. Paste a draft and Admitify reads it line by line against the prompt. It never writes for you.
The prompts, one by one
- Block Plan deep focus essay (optional)up to 300 words · Activity
“One of the benefits of Colorado College's Block Plan is the opportunity to immerse yourself fully in a single subject for 3.5 weeks. We see this as the luxury of focus — the joy and value of directing your full attention to one thing. Tell us about a time when you experienced this kind of deep focus in an academic or extracurricular setting. What were you doing and how did it turn out?”
What it's really askingDepth on one activity: what you actually did, what was hard about it, and why it mattered to you beyond the title. Colorado College already has your activities list; this is the story behind one line of it.
Where drafts go wrongRe-listing the activities list in prose, or choosing the most prestigious activity rather than the one you can say something true about. Starting with "I joined X in ninth grade."
The shape of a strong answerStart inside a specific moment of the activity. Explain one problem you solved or one thing you built, with detail only a participant would know. Close on what it changed in how you think or work.
Every US applicant also writes the Common App personal statement: 650 words, seven prompts. Don't repeat it here; the supplements are for what the statement didn't show.
A self-check before you submit
Cover the school name and read the essay. Then cover your name and read it again. It should fail the first test (it only makes sense for Colorado College) and pass the second (only you could have written it). If it passes the first test, it's a brochure. If it fails the second, it's a template.
Run your draft through Admitify, free →Prompts verified September 2026 against Colorado College's published application. Admission facts and requirements for Colorado College are on its university page. Spotted a change? Tell us.