How to Write the Emory University Essays 2025-2026
Emory University is a liberal arts research university in Atlanta. Its active community of innovative student leaders use what they learn at Emory to impact the world as change agents, risk takers, and audacious doers. It’s hardly a surprise that Emory attracts some of the brightest high schoolers in the country.
For this application cycle, Emory has two required essay prompts for applicants, one of which is the same question for all applicants, while the other has four different options for applicants to choose from. The prompts are relatively short, clocking in at 200 words and 150 words, respectively, which means every word counts towards making your application stand out.
Read these Emory essay examples written by real students to inspire your writing!
Emory University Supplemental Essay Prompts
Prompt 1: What academic areas are you interested in exploring at Emory University and why? (200 words)
Prompt 2: Please answer one of the following questions: (150 words)
Option A: Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community you have been part of where your participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.
Option B: Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
Option C: Emory University’s core mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission.
Option D: In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?
Before You Begin
As Emory’s website states regarding these essays, “We encourage you to be thoughtful and not stress about what the right answer might be. We simply want to get to know you better.” This space is an opportunity for you to present yourself as a complex and unique human being.
Remember that before reading your essays and recommendations, your admissions officers will only have seen data points and test scores that describe you. While these numbers are important, you are so much more than a test score. Admission officers want to sympathize with you. They want to root for you. They want you to give them a reason to admit you. And your essays are a great place for you to give them one! Don’t be afraid to be your true, gloriously-weird, self.
It’s worth noting that the word limit for these essays is only 150-200 words. That’s not a lot of space, so brevity is the name of the game. This is not the place for purple prose or modifiers—instead of “very hungry”, try “famished”. Consider using “sprinted” instead of “ran as fast as possible”. It may seem like a small change, but every word is important here.
Prompt 1
What academic areas are you interested in exploring in college? (200 words)
This is a very straightforward “Why This Major?” prompt that should follow the typical structure for an essay of this archetype. A good response needs to do three things: (1) show your interest in the major through an experience, (2) explain how the major will help you achieve your goals, and (3) demonstrate what resources at the school will help you achieve your goals.
1. Show your interest in the major
You want to start your essay by showing admissions officers your excitement and engagement in the major you have chosen. What positive (or even negative) experiences have you had with this subject that have influenced you?
A student interested in Creative Writing might talk about how she sees characters in people walking down the street, mythical lands in the places she’s traveled, and new stories that must be told whenever she listens to conversations around her.
A student interested in Nutrition Science could describe how understanding the science behind the food he ate through independent research helped him turn around his life and lose weight. The easiest way to convey your interest is to use a strong, detailed, and meaningful anecdote.
2. Explain how this major will help you
What do you want to be when you grow up? You aren’t required to have it worked out to a “t”, but you should have a pretty decent idea of what field you are interested in or what type of work you see yourself enjoying.
If you know that you want to generate cleaner forms of energy to solve the climate crisis, you would mention how majoring in Environmental Sciences will teach you not only the ecological origins of issues facing the world, but also how to think creatively to develop feasible solutions.
Maybe you’re not sure what you want to do, but you are deeply concerned by racial injustice. You could describe how the African American Studies major will allow you to learn about the history of oppression in this country, so you can gain a better understanding of where you could devote your time to do the most good one day. For this section, you must establish a link between your current interests and your future.
3. Demonstrate how Emory can help you
This final step shows the admissions officers that you are genuinely interested in their school and took the time to do outside research. You will want to include resources (classes, professors, research opportunities, study abroad, extracurriculars, etc.) that are specific and unique to Emory that you plan to take advantage of while on campus. Just casually mentioning three different resources you plan to take advantage of doesn’t add anything to your essay. You need to connect these resources to your future goals by elaborating on how they will help you.
For example, a student who is fascinated by the economic causes of war could say they want to work with Professor Caroline Fohlin on her research of pre-war Germany to learn how the economy can predict conflicts.
Another student who wants to apply AI to smart homes one day would write about their excitement to take the Artificial Intelligence class at Emory since it is wholly dedicated to a topic they are interested in. Remember, what you choose to highlight should align with your reasons for applying to this major in the first place.
You can think of the entire essay like a bridge. On one side, you have your past experiences and passion for a topic. On the other side, your future career goals and aspirations await you. The only way to get to the other side is by studying your intended major at Emory and utilizing the resources available to you, or crossing the bridge.
Prompt 2, Option A
Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community you have been part of where your participation helped to change or shape the community for the better. (150 words)
This prompt tasks you with describing a community that has both helped you grow and allowed you to shape its future.
Brainstorming Your Topic
“Community” can be defined in many different ways. It can be an extracurricular that you’ve been involved with for many years, an aspect of your identity that you feel is important to you, a cultural, religious, or ethnic background you share with others, or something else you’ve sought out as a way to belong.
Community is what you define it as, so don’t limit yourself when brainstorming your topic. Instead, think about what you would say to someone who asked you to introduce yourself and explain the kind of things you’re interested in. What comes to mind? What could you not imagine living without? Or, who could you not imagine living without?
You could also approach the prompt by thinking about some of your achievements that you’ve been proud of. This is a two-pronged prompt: you’re tasked with describing not just a community you’re a part of, but also your contributions to that community. If anything, the second piece of the prompt is the more important one, as Emory admissions officers want to know how you’ll contribute to their overall campus community and the smaller communities that exist all across the college. So it’s imperative that whichever community you choose to write about is one that you’ve been actively engaging with for some time.
Whatever comes to mind, you need to make sure it can be connected to a future community at Emory in some way. For example, sharing that you and your family’s weekly Shabbat dinners have been a stable outlet for you to lean on your family and get in touch with your religion and wider religious community shows a thoughtful, touching sentimentality, but it doesn’t actively exemplify how you’ve changed or shaped a community at large. That being said, perhaps you’ve invited friends from school to your dinners, or attended some of theirs. You could write about how what started as a family tradition eventually led you into a much broader community, and how you hope to attend Shabbat at Emory Hillel to broaden your Jewish community even further.
Tips for Writing Your Essay
As with many other prompts, starting with an anecdote is a surefire way to quickly engage the reader and put them into your shoes. You can write about the time you found or joined the community, a time you felt most proud of your community, or a time you felt most indebted to or grateful for your community. Whatever you choose to do, remember to include details—what did you see, feel, taste, smell, and so forth.
“Standing on stage, with our foreheads sweating under the bright spotlights, I looked around at my castmates and felt I was home.”
Without having to say it explicitly, it’s obvious that the student’s chosen community is a theater group, and that the community gives the student a sense of great pride and comfort. Now it’s time to dive into greater detail about the significance of this community.
“But it’s hard not to think about how recently I was a freshman in the ensemble, in over my head, not knowing a single soul, but fighting insecurities that they were all more talented than me. But the seniors, who were all cast as leads, made it a point to make me and the other freshman feel not just included, but like an essential part of the machine.”
Here, the student starts to explain not just what the community is, but how it has helped them grow, and which lessons they’ll take from their experiences in it to college. To continue answering these more specific questions, they might go on to say something like:
“When I became an upperclassman myself, I knew I had big shoes to fill. Whether it be by organizing movie nights outside rehearsal, having younger cast members lead warmups, or even just encouraging the cast to sit together at lunch, my goal is that whenever any member of our group looks at the stage, they’ll know they’re a part of a community that will last forever.”
Finally, this essay will conclude with how this student will take their experiences to communities at Emory. It’s important to note, just because the community this student wrote about it a theater ensemble, does not mean they have to join the theater community at Emory. It’s more important to show how you will apply the lessons you’ve learned and characteristics you’ve developed to any community than finding a community that is a continuation of your previous one.
“When I step foot on campus, I imagine it’ll be easy to feel like that lonely, inadequate freshman. But now I know I don’t have to rely on upperclassmen to create community for me. I’ll walk up to my fellow freshmen and say, ‘Hi! Have you ever been in an ensemble before?’”
Prompt 2, Option B
Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness. (150 words)
This prompt is ideal for those who have prioritized cultural sensitivity and/or have engaged with people from diverse backgrounds, as you are being asked to think about a time when you intentionally expanded your horizons, and how that deliberate action catalyzed your growth.
So, think of a time when you consciously decided to expand your cultural awareness. For example, perhaps your lab partner was a foreign exchange student whose first language was not English, and rather than simply getting through the term as best you could, you used it as an opportunity to recognize your privilege as a native English speaker and appreciate the culture of a non-English-speaking country.
Do be careful that you don’t come across as self-absorbed by suggesting this experience taught you everything there is to know about cultural awareness. Admissions officers aren’t expecting that, and if anything, taking that stance could make you come across as naive to the world’s complexity. Instead, acknowledge that you will never know everything there is to know about other cultures, but you are committed to continually growing and learning, as that openness is what colleges value.
Along those same lines, as you brainstorm, keep in mind that college essays, like any other genre of writing, have cliches. Many applicants have had a “voluntourism” experience—that is, a service trip that benefited the student more than the community they were visiting. Not only are voluntourism stories cliché, but they can also make you sound privileged and condescending. Every admissions officer has read countless “I was there to teach them, but they taught me” essays.
That said, you can still talk about your service trip experience! Just try to put a unique spin on it by focusing on a personal anecdote that only happened to you. The more specific, the better. Acknowledge your privilege and explain how you grew from it, and make sure your reader comes away actually knowing something substantive about your personality, not just that you once spent a month in Thailand.
Finally, with a prompt like this, it’s easy to accidentally spend too much of the essay talking about someone else (such as your lab partner). But remember that you only have 150 words, and ultimately, you’re the one applying to Emory, so you should be the protagonist of this story. If you’re wondering if you’ve fallen into the trap of spending too much time describing someone else, look at your verbs. You should be the subject of most of those verbs, because you are the star of the story.
For example, you might consider changing “My lab partner taught me about her culture and allowed me to grow” to “By engaging in vulnerable conversations about the challenges of communicating in a new setting, I became more empathetic to the challenges non-native English speakers face every day in the United States.”
Prompt 2, Option C
Emory University’s core mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission. (150 words)
This is a standard “Community Service” essay, which asks you to share how you will embody Emory’s commitment to community service and humanitarian efforts. It’s a great option if you have a robust history with community service, or even just one highly formative experience.
Brainstorming Your Topic
Research opportunities for service that already exist at Emory. The school’s website summarizes service opportunities for students, from organized volunteer efforts in Atlanta to service trips abroad.
You can also think about things you’re personally invested in, even if nothing on Emory’s site quite aligns with it. For example, if you’re passionate about children’s literacy, maybe you want to talk about your goal of organizing a book drive for elementary school students in Atlanta.
Remember, you’re not expected to save the world in your response. The simpler and more feasible your proposed service opportunity is, oftentimes, the better. Emory admissions officers want to hear about what you’re genuinely most interested in, and how you will make an impact in the Emory community, so writing about something you could realistically accomplish in college will answer those questions better than saying you’d like to eradicate world hunger.
Tips for Writing Your Essay
Once you have an idea of what you want to write about, it’s time to organize it into a response. The best way to start is by sharing a little bit about yourself and your connection with community service. This can come in the form of a personal anecdote about a time you volunteered, an issue you’ve encountered in your community or elsewhere that has inspired you, or something you’ve found on Emory’s website that resonates with you on a personal level.
After you share your connection with service, tie in the initiative you brainstormed, while also explaining the importance of service to your life as a whole. Here’s an example of how to do that:
“I grew up in a town bordering the Ohio River, well-regarded as the most polluted river in America. As such, I’ve been involved with sustainability efforts since I was little. My parents would take me on ‘river sweeps,’ where we’d travel up and down the river, clearing the water of any debris or litter we could find. At first, I thought of it as just a family bonding activity, but now I see environmental service as the foundation upon which my future, and the future of the world, depends.
At Emory, I will remain committed to building towards a greener future by rallying my peers for river sweeps at the Chattahoochee, joining Emory’s various sustainability organizations such as AltKEY, and using my electives to take courses in the Environmental Sciences program. I’m ready to make an impact not just on the community where I grew up, but on Atlanta as well, and eventually, communities all across the country.”
This essay provides the reader with the students personal connection to service through a specific example, points to unique resources at Emory that will allow them to continue their service, and connects to a larger, overarching motivation: this is great!
Prompt 2, Option D
In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?
This prompt tasks you with thinking through how you handle disagreements with others in a productive way. Colleges are curious to see how you approach diverse perspectives, as a hallmark of the college experience is engaging with different viewpoints in your classes, dorms, dining halls, and more. You want to convey that you are open-minded and empathetic through this essay.
Brainstorming Your Topic
Before you even begin writing, ask yourself: What’s a memorable moment when you disagreed with someone in class, a club, or a group project? Were you debating an academic concept like the 8th Amendment, arguing over organizational procedures of how to run your DECA chapter, or fighting over something personal like different values or beliefs?
For the moments that you come up with, really try to put yourself back in your shoes and recall how you responded in the moment. Were you listening to the other side first before speaking? Maybe you were asking questions to try and get to the root of the disagreement. Or did your mind immediately jump to compromises and solutions? Really think about your thought process and emotions in the moment—these will be incredibly useful details to weave into your essay later on.
Finally, reflect on the result of the interaction and what you took away from it. This part is crucial for your essay, so make sure you give it a good amount of attention during your brainstorming phase. How did you balance holding onto your convictions while being open to new perspectives? Did you develop a solution or deeper understanding about yourself or the person you disagreed with as a result of this interaction?
And perhaps most importantly: What did you learn about yourself from this disagreement?
Tips for Writing Your Essay
Once you have a meaningful example to focus your essay around you can begin writing. Don’t waste any time getting straight to the point. Place your reader in the disagreement to immediately draw them in. Incorporating snippets of dialogue can be extremely useful to bring the argument to life; just remember, this is an essay, not a novel, so use dialogue sparingly as a a literary tool and not a crutch.
After establishing the disagreement, you need to highlight your approach to handling it. This is the part the admissions officers are especially curious about. The details you brainstormed earlier about your thought process and emotions will come in handy here.
Next, you want to show your growth. Showing a capacity to change and adapt is crucial, as college is all about changing and adapting as you enter young adulthood.
Growth doesn’t necessarily mean that you change your stance on the issue. A student could show his growth by sharing a story of how he argued with his cousin over the minimum wage at every family gathering, but he learned he was more convincing when his points were grounded in statistics and logic, rather than emotion. He started incorporating journal articles and scientific studies into his arguments to better make his case at the next family debate. This student didn’t have to change his position on the topic to show the admissions officers he learned how to promote deeper, more meaningful dialogue.
Finally, it never hurts to finish your essay with a forward-looking approach. Show the admissions officer how this wasn’t a one time occurrence, how you apply what you learned from this experience to other disagreements (or just areas of your life in general), and how you will carry these lessons with you to Emory.
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