How to Write the Carleton College Essays 2025-2026
Carleton College has one required essay and one optional essay. The first essay asks you to discuss someone who has impacted you. While normally we would encourage you to also respond to the optional second prompt, this is the kind of “additional information” question that is truly optional, so only answer if there is truly something that you don’t feel is captured anywhere else in your application.
Carleton is one of the most selective liberal arts colleges out there, so strong essays are key to set yourself apart in a talented applicant pool. Read on for our expert tips and tricks!
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Carleton College Supplemental Essay Prompts
Prompt 1: Think about someone you connect with who’s different from you. What do you find most meaningful about your interactions with them? (300 words)
Prompt 2 (optional): Anything missing? Do you want to share more with us? If so, use this space to fill any gaps you think would assist us in reviewing your application. (250 words)
Carleton admission staff provide helpful essay tips on their admissions website. This is great advice for writing college essays overall. They encourage students to see the essay as an opportunity to share information that won’t be found elsewhere in your application and to show who you are beyond test scores and GPAs.
- Be genuine. Write what you want to say, not what you think they want to hear.
- Answer the question.
- It is an essay, so remember to come up with a thesis, an introduction, body, and ending.
- Don’t set out to write the perfect admission essay. Write the best essay for you.
- Proofread. Errors and misspellings are distracting. Take the time to create a clean, error-free essay.
Residential liberal arts colleges like Carleton know that students have a better experience and greater success when they feel that they belong at their school. This is especially true for smaller colleges where students and faculty know each other by name. These prompts give admission staff an opportunity to get to know you as a person and how the Carleton community might be a good fit for you.
All of these options will require some introspection on your part. You may even surprise yourself as you consider these prompts.
Prompt 1
Think about someone you connect with who’s different from you. What do you find most meaningful about your interactions with them? (300 words)
Understanding the Prompt
Carleton is known to value diversity, so they are interested in understanding how meaningful connections with people who are different from you have shaped your perspective. Being able to express your openness to engage with people who have different backgrounds, ideologies, or opinions is an important quality you want your essay to possess.
Questions to Help With Brainstorming
It might seem daunting to pick one person to center your college essay around. Hopefully, these questions can help ground you and narrow down your decision.
- Who is someone in your life that has a different background, belief system, or personality from yours?
- How did you first meet or get to know this person?
- What are some key differences between you and this person? How do those differences impact your relationship?
- What have you learned from this person that you might not have learned from someone more similar to you?
- How has your relationship with this person influenced your views, values, or behaviors?
- What specific moments or interactions with this person stand out to you as particularly meaningful?
- How do you think your relationship with this person will continue to impact you in the future?
What Makes a Good Response
There are a few things to keep in mind as you approach this prompt to make sure it impresses the Carleton admissions officers, rather than boring them with the same cookie-cutter response.
First off, be as specific as possible in your essay. Pick a singular example to show, rather than tell, how you differ from the person you choose. Make it clear exactly what you get out of your interactions, as well as why the interactions are meaningful to you. Consider the following two examples:
Option A: “I believe raising the minimum wage is a good thing, however my cousin thinks the economic implications would be hurtful in the long run. Any time I see him, we end up in the same fight, but I find it enjoyable to engage in our lively debates.”
Option B: “Most people can’t wait to eat mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving; I can’t wait to silence my cousin with the results from a new comparative study that highlights the immense benefits of raising the minimum wage. Before the turkey is carved, we’ve picked up our debate from where we left it on Labor Day. I whip out statistic after statistic from my hours of research, rebuttals swirling through my head as he speaks.”
Chances are, you find Option B to be more engaging. This is because it gets specific about what the interaction looks like between the student and their cousin. It shows the reader how passionate the student is about debating their cousin, whereas Option A simply tells the reader it’s enjoyable.
Another thing good responses will highlight is the student’s personal growth. Carleton wants to see that you are open to learning from those who are different from you, not that you merely interact with them. So, using the example from above, they could show their personal growth by maybe saying when they began debating their cousin, their argument was purely emotional. Over time though, they learned that arguments rooted in facts and logic were far stronger, so they started incorporating research and statistics to get their point across. Maybe they also learned the value of understanding both sides of an argument to learn how to appeal to someone with a different view as well. Including details like these shows that you are a better person because you’ve been challenged by a different view than your own.
Also remember to keep the focus of your essay on how your differences have made you (and even the other person) stronger. While it’s important to discuss the differences that exist, you want to make sure you drive home the point that there is a deeper meaning to your interaction.
Hypothetical Student Examples
- Ethan, a shy introvert: Ethan was initially put off by his outgoing and extroverted theater camp roommate, Liam. Over time, Liam’s infectious enthusiasm and willingness to push boundaries helped Ethan step out of his comfort zone. Ethan might describe a specific moment when Liam encouraged him to audition for a bigger role in a play than he normally would have, which reignited his passion for theater and gave him more confidence in social situations overall.
- Sarah, a liberal activist: Sarah grew up in a politically progressive household but formed an unexpected friendship with her conservative neighbor, Mr. Johnson, an elderly veteran. She might write about how their respectful debates while she helped him garden taught her to appreciate the complexity of his views and the importance of dialogue, even when they don’t agree.
- Maria, a first-generation immigrant: Maria befriended Emily, a wealthy classmate from a privileged background. Initially, Maria felt out of place among Emily’s affluent friends, but over time, they bonded over a shared love of animals. Maria might reflect on how Emily’s openness and curiosity about Maria’s cultural heritage allowed them to build a deep friendship that transcended socioeconomic differences.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
As you write, try and steer clear of making your essay too vague. Broad statements like “I learned a lot from them” don’t reveal anything new about you or your interaction. Instead, use detailed descriptions of concrete moments to specifically cite the lessons you learned. Writing a generalized essay that could apply to just about any student won’t help you stand out from the applicant pool.
You should also avoid making your essay about differences instead of connections. It’s all about how you frame it. Differences can enrich your relationships and help develop your own personal character. Focus more time on the positives that arise from your interactions, rather than getting bogged down in listing all the ways you are different or disagree.
Similarly, you are meant to show that you appreciate someone different than you in this essay. Be careful to avoid turning the essay into a critique of the other person.
Finally, some students might be tempted to write about multiple people they differ from to show how good they are at fostering connections. Don’t overextend yourself; focus on one person and one interaction. This allows you to dig deep and really explore your differences and relationship.
Good and Bad Examples
Good Example
“My friendship with Olivia, a girl I met during a summer coding camp, has been one of the most eye-opening relationships I’ve had. Olivia was born deaf, and though I initially thought our communication would be challenging, it quickly became clear that the richness her perspective added was worth navigating any logistical hurdle.
During group projects, Olivia would always suggest incredibly creative ways to visualize coding problems—solutions that I never would have considered. One time, when we were struggling to debug a tricky program, she suggested thinking of the code in terms of visual patterns rather than lines of text. That moment completely changed the way I approach coding.
Over time, I’ve realized that her deafness isn’t a barrier at all, but a unique strength that adds incredible value to any team. Our friendship has taught me that sometimes, a major difference between me and someone else is simply a chance to broaden my mind beyond what I originally thought was possible.”
Why this works: This example is personal, specific, and highlights a clear interaction (debugging session at coding camp) that shows how the relationship has affected the writer’s thinking. The essay focuses on the student’s growth and learning while also showing admiration for their friend’s strengths. Finally, the vivid storytelling and details make the essay unique and memorable.
Bad Example
“I have a friend who is from a very different background than me. He is from Pakistan, and I’m from the U.S., so we grew up with very different cultures. He practices Islam, and I don’t follow any religion, but we still get along well. I’ve learned that even though we come from different places, we are all human and can still be friends. It’s made me more open to meeting people from different cultures in the future.”
Why this doesn’t work: This response is too vague. There are no specific examples of the moments the student has shared with their friend, and as a result the lesson learned feels cliché. There’s little depth or personal reflection, so the essay doesn’t do much to show us what distinguishes this student from any other Carleton applicant.
Prompt 2 (optional)
Anything missing? Do you want to share more with us? If so, use this space to fill any gaps you think would assist us in reviewing your application. (250 words)
Usually, at a school as selective as Carleton, you want to take advantage of any and all opportunities to share your personality. This prompt, though, is an example of one that’s truly optional. If you feel that the rest of your application already fully captures who you are, there’s no need to force anything here.
However, if you feel as though there is something about your identity or about why you want to go to Carleton that is important to your application and hasn’t yet been addressed, don’t hesitate to include it here. Here are some examples of details you may wish to write about here:
- Unusual circumstances or hardships (financial hardships, first-generation status, illness, tragedy, etc.)
- Family responsibilities that may have prevented students from taking traditional extracurriculars
- Unique extracurricular that wasn’t written about in another part of the application outside of the Activities section
- Describing your identity in the context of race, gender, or sexuality
This prompt is going to be on an extremely case-by-case basis, so do what feels right for you and remember that you don’t have to embellish anything about yourself or your life in an attempt to make it sound more interesting to an admissions reader. They really just want to get to know you as your authentic self, so if you do choose to answer this prompt, make sure that you’re doing it in a manner that is genuine and honest.
Also, even though this prompt has a 250-word limit, feel free to only write a few short sentences if that feels more appropriate to you. Again, this prompt is truly optional, so unlike with other essays, don’t feel like you have to use up every last bit of space.
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