CollegeVine College Essay Team August 15, 2025 7 Elon University,Essay Guides 2025-26

How to Write the Elon University Essays 2025-2026

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. 

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, 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

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 prevented 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.

• A student who’s the oldest of five siblings has learned responsibility, leadership, and empathy through caring for their younger siblings. They could connect their experience of being a leader in their family to their passion for being a leader in the community by one day running for a congressional office.

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.

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”, Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble”, 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.

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’re not a big movie fan, 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!

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