Santa Clara University supplemental essays

The prompts, one by one

1. Changemaker issue essay (optional)150-300 words · Community

   “At Santa Clara University, we encourage our students to be creative, embrace challenges, and become changemakers. Think about an issue you care about and believe is important to address. This can be something happening in your local community or more globally. How can an SCU education help you prepare for and address this challenge?”

   What it's really asking

   Two things at once: which community actually shaped how you think, and what you will bring to Santa Clara University because of it. The second half is where most drafts stop short.

   Where drafts go wrong

   Describing the community instead of your role in it, or choosing the one that sounds impressive rather than the one that changed you. "Diversity" as an abstraction, with no scene.

   The shape of a strong answer

   Pick a community you can describe with a scene, not a label. Show one moment where it taught you something or asked something of you. Spend the last third on what that means you'll do at Santa Clara University: a specific contribution, not "bring my perspective."

2. Why this major short answerup to 50 words · Why this major

   “Why are you interested in pursuing the [Division or Major] selected above?”

   What it's really asking

   The moment this subject stopped being a class and became a question you couldn't drop. Santa Clara University wants evidence you've chosen on purpose, not by default.

   Where drafts go wrong

   Turning it into a résumé: grades, awards and "I have always been passionate about." A list of achievements is not a reason to study something. Grand missions ("to cure cancer") read as borrowed.

   The shape of a strong answer

   One specific experience, one specific confusion or question it left you with, and what you did about it on your own. Then one or two things in Santa Clara University's version of the major that match that question. Small and real beats big and vague. At 50 words there is room for exactly one example, explained properly.

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 Santa Clara University) 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.