College Essay Questions

Choose and discuss a quotation or personal motto that reflects your values and beliefs and tells us something about the kind of person you are.---Cornell University

Describe a character in fiction, an historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you and explain the influence. --Harvard

Recall an occasion when you took a risk that you now know was the right thing to do.

--University of Pennsylvania

What is your favorite word and why?---University of Virginia

Have you witnessed a person who is close to you doing something you considered seriously wrong? Describe the circumstances, your thoughts, and how you chose to respond. If you discussed it with a person, was his/her justification valid? In retrospect, what, if anything, would you have done differently and why?---Duke University

Life brings many disappointments as well as satisfactions. Could you tell us about a time in your life when you experienced disappointment, or faced difficult or trying circumstances?---MIT

What has been your most profound or surprising intellectual experience?---Duke

Of all the activities in which you have been involved, which has meant the most to you, and why?--Emory University

Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way. ---Stanford

Tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. ---Stanford

Using the quotation below as a jumping off point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world.

"Some questions cannot be answered./ They become familiar weights in the hand,/ Round stones pulled from the pocket, unyielding and cool."Jane Hirshfield, poet, Princeton Class of 1973 ---Stanford

Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a jumping off point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation at the beginning of your essay. ---Stanford

Write an essay that conveys to the reader a sense of who you are. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, experiences that have shaped your life, the circumstances of your upbringing, your most meaningful intellectual achievement, the way you see the world—the people in it, events great and small, everyday life—or any personal theme that appeals to your imagination. Please remember that we are concerned not only with the substance of your prose but with your writing style as well.
---Columbia University