How to Write the Elon University Essays 2024-2025
Elon University has one relatively traditional supplemental essay, which is focused on your identity, and two short “fun fact” style questions, which ask you to name three songs from your perfect playlist and provide a top 5 of something you love. Applicants to an Honors, Fellows, or Scholars program will also have to write an additional essay focused on a transformative leadership experience or academic project.
Because Elon’s supplemental essay package is a little quirkier than most, you want to make sure you take the time to give each prompt the attention it deserves. Here, we’ll explain how you want to brainstorm for, draft, and revise your response to each one, so you can be sure you’re putting your best foot forward and maximizing your chances of acceptance.
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Elon University Supplemental Essay Prompts
All Applicants
Prompt 1: What aspect of your identity do you find most meaningful, and why? (200 words)
Prompt 2: Name three songs from your perfect playlist. We look forward to creating a Spotify playlist from your answers.
Prompt 3: Tell us your top 5. Take this opportunity to let Elon Admissions know more about you. Your top 5 should be something unique to you and will give us a glimpse of who you are. Be creative! You may choose any theme for your top 5. Do you love cooking? List your top 5 recipes. Are you enthusiastic about anime? Name your top 5 characters. Do you watch or participate in a lot of athletic events? Name your top 5 moments. Explain why these are your top 5. (150 words)
Honors, Fellows, and Scholars Applicants
Prompt: Briefly describe a significant leadership experience or academic project during which you created positive change or experienced transformational learning. Share how that experience or project impacted your development as a leader or learner and elaborate on how you envision making an impact in the future. (100-750 words)
All Applicants, Prompt 1
What aspect of your identity do you find most meaningful, and why? (200 words)
This prompt is an example of the very common Diversity archetype, which seeks to know more about your personal background and its impact on your worldview. The first thing to note is that identity can encompass a broad range of characteristics, including traditional markers like race or ethnicity, but also hometown, culture, values, religion, socioeconomic status, passions, hobbies, or really any personality trait that makes you who you are.
However, unlike most iterations of this archetype, this prompt isn’t directly asking how you’re different or unique. Your goal here is to focus less on describing the aspect of your identity, and more on how it shapes your worldview, influences your actions, and defines you as an individual.
Again, there are lots of different markers of identity that you can draw from. Consider the questions below to help you brainstorm what you might want to focus on:
- When you introduce yourself, is there any aspect of your identity that you hope to share right away?
- Is there a specific value or belief that drives your decisions and actions?
- Are there any personal passions that are central to your identity?
- How does this aspect of your identity impact your relationships with others, or yourself?
- Has this part of your identity helped you overcome challenges, achieve goals, or grow as an individual?
A quick note if you intend to write about your racial background: In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race and ethnicity as part of a student’s overall story, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts as one of their supplemental essay prompts.
If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this is the place to discuss that. Otherwise, Elon admissions officers will be forbidden from factoring your race or ethnicity into their decision.
Regardless of which attribute you focus on, it should allow you to showcase your individuality. Remember, the point of the college essay is to set yourself apart from other academically qualified applicants, by sharing your unique perspective on life that can’t be captured in a transcript alone. Don’t just list accomplishments or factual information related to your identity. Instead, really dive into how this aspect influences your daily life.
Look over the excerpts below for some ideas about how to respond to this prompt:
- A surfer who grew up in a coastal town and feels connected to the natural world through surfing could write about how this connection has inspired them to pursue environmental science with a focus on ocean conservation, aiming to protect the waters they grew up in.
- An artist who grew up in a biracial home, and in their art explores values and ideas that appear in both Mexican and Chinese culture. Because art has helped them understand their own identity better, they started volunteering at a youth art camp, to help others develop pride in who they are starting at a young age.
Notice that these examples are both specific and reflective. You don’t want to rely on general statements or clichés about identity, like “Art is a way to express myself.” Instead, personalize those ideas by explaining what exactly it is that you’re hoping to express.
Additionally, make sure your essay is forward-looking, as ultimately admissions officers aren’t just trying to understand who you are now: they’re trying to imagine who you’ll become over the next four years. So, incorporating details about how this aspect of your identity has shaped your broader development, decision-making, or goals is crucial.
All Applicants, Prompt 2
Name three songs from your perfect playlist. We look forward to creating a Spotify playlist from your answers.
In this prompt, you want to use your three choices to showcase distinct aspects of your personality and identity. However, rather than brainstorming specific songs you may like, it will be easier to brainstorm a short list of genres that you love. Songs you like while writing the essay may not be the songs you like in two weeks, and most certainly won’t be the songs you like in two months. On the other hand, genres stay with you and will allow you to paint a complete picture of your music taste.
When listing your favorite genres, don’t simply resort to broad terms like “rock” and “rap”, go further and try to research what kind of music some of your favorite artists are making. “Folk rock” and “pop rap” will lead to better eventual song answers. Also, remember that these genres shouldn’t overlap with one another, so be sure the three genres you brainstorm summarize your holistic music taste. And if there’s a unique genre of music you’re into, make sure to include that! An answer that someone wouldn’t be able to guess just by speaking with you will serve you well.
After you’re done brainstorming your favorite genres, think about your favorite song from each. Don’t feel like you have to pick songs that everyone would know; admissions simply want to get a better glimpse of your personality from fun prompts like these, and they state on the Common App that they’re planning to create a playlist of favorite songs from their first-year class.You also just need to name the songs and the artists; there’s no space for any explanation.
A well-rounded answer may sound like Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer”, Kanye West’s “Through the Wire”, and something like Grover Washington Jr.’s “Just the Two Of Us” – but remember to have fun with it! This is essentially the same as someone asking what your desert island songs would be, so when all else fails, just think about what songs you would be unable to live without.
All Applicants, Prompt 3
Tell us your top 5. Take this opportunity to let Elon Admissions know more about you. Your top 5 should be something unique to you and will give us a glimpse of who you are. Be creative! You may choose any theme for your top 5. Do you love cooking? List your top 5 recipes. Are you enthusiastic about anime? Name your top 5 characters. Do you watch or participate in a lot of athletic events? Name your top 5 moments. Explain why these are your top 5. (150 words)
This prompt is left intentionally open-ended, so that you can write about something you are passionate about, so make sure that before you start writing that you are truly interested in your chosen topic. For example, if you don’t care much for movies, don’t name your top 5 movies as a means to appease the admissions counselor. They want to hear what your interests are, not the interests of everyone else.
Unlike the prompt before it, this question also wants to know why you’re listing the choices you are, which will actually show more about you than the choices themselves. For example, anyone can say that cheesecake is their favorite dessert, but only you may say that your love for cheesecake is what bonded you to your grandparent.
As such, make sure the choices you are making genuinely say something about who you are, rather than just something you find fun. Don’t just write about your favorite video games unless you really feel they are a core part of your identity because, at the end of the day, that identity is what the admissions counselor wants to learn about.
While Elon lists several examples of lists you can make, we would also recommend coming up with your own if you can. This shows creativity, initiative, and that you’re invested in the prompt itself, and will also set your response apart from many who choose to piggyback on one of the examples given to them. Some additional topics may be as follows:
- Concerts/Events You’ve Attended
- Places You’ve Visited/Landmarks
- Animals
- Books
- Artists
- Comedians, Creators, etc.
You also might consider something more personal, such as:
- High school memories
- Items of clothing and the stories behind them
- Words in a foreign language you’re learning
- Plants in your house
However, if you find that you do truly connect more with one of the topics listed in Elon’s prompt, that’s okay! Elon includes them for a reason.
When writing about your choices, remember that you don’t have to explicitly rank them. Your explanation should not be why you prefer one thing over the other, it should be why they made it into your Top 5 in the first place. It’s not about comparing and contrasting, but rather why it’s important to you.
However, remember that the admissions counselor may not be particularly knowledgeable about your chosen topic or choices, so be sure to provide some brief background. It may help to think of explaining your choices like you were explaining them to one of your teachers.
Finally, keep in mind that the Common App gives you space to list out the top 5 separately from the 150-word explanation, so take advantage of that extra space as you’re writing!
Honors, Fellows, and Scholars Applicants
Briefly describe a significant leadership experience or academic project during which you created positive change or experienced transformational learning. Share how that experience or project impacted your development as a leader or learner and elaborate on how you envision making an impact in the future. (100-750 words)
If you’re applying to an honors, fellows, or scholars program at Elon, you’ll submit a response to this prompt as well. This is an opportunity to reflect on an experience that was especially formative for you as a student, and an overall person, and in so doing demonstrate your aptitude for one of these more rigorous programs.
The first thing to note is that Elon casts a broad net for potential topics. You could write about an academic project, or about the more loosely defined “leadership experience,” which could be through an extracurricular activity, community service, a job, or even something personal like a family responsibility or hobby. The key is that you choose something which led to true personal growth, and connects to the impact you hope to make at Elon and beyond.
To make your writing process easier, as you brainstorm try to avoid short-term projects and stand-alone events. Deep involvement, ideally over several months or even a year or two, will be more conducive to demonstrating growth and future commitment to your cause.
Of course, sometimes a shorter term involvement, or even a single-day event, can make a big impact on you. If that’s the case, you can discuss such an experience–just make sure you reflect deeply on why it was so transformative.
For example, don’t just say “Volunteering at my local animal shelter’s adoption fair made me passionate about animal rights.” Instead, describe how, although originally you signed up just for something to do, getting to know the personalities of the animals over the course of the day and collaborating with your colleagues to pair cats and dogs with families gave you a deep respect for these creatures as autonomous beings, who should be treated as such by the law.
Here’s a more fleshed out example of what your response could look like:
Context: “When someone left a flier on our porch for the animal shelter’s adoption fair, which included a plea for additional volunteers to sign up as Adoption Coordinators, I initially went to recycle it. But then I remembered cross country season had just ended, so I’d probably be bored that Saturday and looking for something to do anyways. What started as a whim would end up transforming my view of animals, and the rights they should have in a human-dominated society.”
Actions: “I arrived at the shelter at 6 am, and if I wasn’t awake already, I certainly was then, as yips and meows reverberated off the stone walls. I had been expecting some sort of training, but instead the frazzled shelter manager simply handed me a t-shirt, a name tag, and a stack of blank adoption forms, and told me I would be responsible for rows 10 through 15.
Families would start arriving at 7, so I spent the next hour trying, as someone who didn’t grow up with pets, to get a sense for what distinguished one ball of fluff from the next. Fortunately, my first family was easy: they wanted an orange cat, and we only had one. Relieved, I filled out the form for ‘Hobbes,’ and sent them up to the front to pay.
My next customers were trickier. They already had a cat at home, and wanted to be sure the new kitten would get along with it. For a second, my head spun. I had just met these animals an hour ago–how was I supposed to know which ones were solitary versus social? But as my eyes darted around the cages, I realized that subconsciously, I had noticed that little black and white one was always tangled in a pile of other kittens. A few minutes later, ‘Moo,’ was on his way to his forever home.”
Outcome and Impact: “By the time we closed at 3, I had facilitated 17 adoptions. And like the families who were taking home new companions, I was also going home with something new: a changed perspective on animals as autonomous beings. After just a single 9-hour shift, I was stunned that I would ever have had trouble distinguishing Moo from Hobbes, or Barry from Betty. Before I went home, I asked the manager if she knew of any organizations that specialized in animal rights advocacy work, and she gave me the card for ‘Pawsteps to the Future.’”
Personal Growth and Future Aspirations: “This experience taught me a new kind of empathy: for creatures who do not communicate or interact like humans do, but who have lives that are just as full and worthy of protection. Since that day, I have not eaten a single bite of meat, and I’m working towards becoming a vegan. And I’ve also become an Ambassador for Pawsteps to the Future, leading fundraisers for shelters to give them the resources to become no-kill.
In college, my hope is to expand this work to endangered species in the wild, and to lead workshops for my peers on easy steps they can take to protect animal rights. Some of my colleagues at Pawsteps to the Future say they’re fighting for animals because they don’t have a voice, but I see things differently. I think animals have a voice–we humans just need to learn how to listen.”
This response includes specific details that demonstrate the leadership role the student unexpectedly had to take on, the challenge they overcame, and what they learned, both in the moment and on a broader scale. We can clearly see why this single day made such a profound impact on them, and how it will continue to shape them moving forward.
If you decide to focus on an academic project instead of a leadership experience, you’ll want to keep many of the same things in mind, but there will be some differences. First, think about whether you want to write about a research project, a major paper, a presentation or a group assignment. Whatever you choose should allow you to demonstrate specific skills that are essential to understanding who you are as a student.
Next, reflect on how this project contributed to your intellectual growth. What did you learn about the subject, and how did those lessons change your perspective on the world as a whole? How do you plan to apply what you learned from this project in college and beyond? Will you continue researching this topic, or do you plan to explore related fields?
You’ll want to clearly lay out the intellectual project, your approach, the learning process, and the significance of the project for your overall development and ambitions. Here’s an example of what that could look like:
Context: “In my chemistry class, I embarked on an independent research project exploring the efficiency of various catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells. The challenge was not only to understand the complex chemistry behind catalysis but also to design an experiment that could measure efficiency with precision. Limited access to lab equipment made this even more daunting.”
Actions: “I began by conducting extensive literature reviews to understand the current advancements in fuel cell technology. Working with my teacher, I devised a method to synthesize and test different catalysts using a homemade setup. The process involved careful measurement and data collection, often requiring me to troubleshoot unexpected issues, such as maintaining consistent temperatures in the reaction chamber without lab-grade insulation.”
Outcome and Impact: “The results showed that an alloy catalyst significantly improved the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells compared to traditional, single-element catalysts. This discovery, although on a small scale, contributed valuable data to the ongoing research in sustainable energy solutions.
I presented my findings at the regional science fair, where I was able to connect with a researcher at a local university lab. He took enough of an interest in my work that I was able to spend that summer as his research assistant, double-checking his calculations, keeping an eye on days-long experiments, and even occasionally offering my own suggestions for potential experiments.”
Personal Growth and Future Aspirations: “This project taught me that, if I’m truly passionate about what I’m studying, there is no obstacle I can’t overcome. I will say that I hope to one day be able to use actual erlenmeyer flasks, not mini Coke bottles, but I would also use Coke bottles forever if that was what would lead to a more sustainable future.
Moving forward, I plan to major in Environmental Engineering, with a focus on renewable energy technologies. I am eager to continue this line of research in college, where I hope to contribute to the development of more efficient and accessible green energy solutions.”
This response is specific, detailed, and reflective. The student clearly describes their project, the process they followed, and the impact their work made on their growth and future planning.
Regardless of the topic you choose, you should be sure to address how your experience, and the values you took away from it, will continue shaping your life in the future, potentially even by hinting at something you’re hoping to contribute to the Elon community. Admissions officers should be able to clearly see why this story matters for understanding what kind of college student you’ll be.
To ensure you incorporate this element, don’t be afraid to cast a wide net with your definition of “learning.” Your lesson could be academic knowledge or a particular skill, but it could also be a moral or life lesson, like in the animal shelter example.
Finally, keep in mind that this prompt has a significantly higher limit than most other supplements you’re likely to encounter. With 750 words at your disposal, you should have plenty of space to provide details about your experience and its impact on you.
Additionally, do make sure you take advantage of the space given to you. While you don’t have to hit 750 on the dot, as your exact word count depends on individual phrasings and word choice, you should be above 700 at minimum. Writing 200 words may make admissions officers think you aren’t truly invested in this opportunity.
At the same time, you don’t want to get carried away. Your essay should still feel like a cohesive unit, so focus on one story, rather than trying to tie together two tangentially related experiences. Use the space, but do so thoughtfully. The various pieces of your essay should all fit together naturally, and enhance admissions officers’ understanding of who you are both individually and as a collective.
Where to Get Your Elon University Essays Edited For Free
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