How to Write the Gonzaga University Essays 2025-2026
Gonzaga University is a private Jesuit institution in Spokane, Washington, known for combining academic excellence with a deep commitment to service, ethics, and leadership. Whether cheering for the Zags or volunteering in the Spokane community, Gonzaga students learn to lead with compassion, integrity, and courage.
This year, Gonzaga has one required essay that applicants can choose between two prompt options for. Additionally, applicants to Gonzaga’s nursing program will have to submit an additional essay about their interest in nursing.
In this post, we’ll go over our advice to write the strongest Gonzaga essays possible!
Gonzaga University Supplemental Essay Prompts
All Applicants
Prompt 1: Please choose one of the following questions to answer below. (300 words)
Option A: A Gonzaga education promotes dedication to human dignity, social justice, diversity, global engagement, solidarity with the vulnerable, and environmental stewardship. Reflecting on these values, how have you shown your commitment to standing for and with others in your actions?
Option B: Gonzaga’s Presidential Speaker’s Series invites leaders from around the world (such as LTC Olga Custodio, America’s first Latina military pilot or Cotopaxi founder Davis Smith) to share their work and passions with the GU community. If you were able to invite any living person to come and speak to the GU community, who would it be? Why would you want to invite them?
Nursing Applicants
Prompt: Gonzaga University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program is grounded in Jesuit and nursing traditions and focuses the student experience on community, reflection, servant leadership and social justice. Students learn to promote health, care for patients with acute and chronic illnesses, and to support patients and their families.
As a direct admit program, Gonzaga seeks prospective nursing students who have challenged themselves with science courses, have taken math all four years of high school, and who have an understanding of the field.
What experiences have led you to choose the field of nursing? Why do you believe nursing is a good career path for you? (In 5-10 sentences) (800 words)
All Applicants Prompt, Option A
A Gonzaga education promotes dedication to human dignity, social justice, diversity, global engagement, solidarity with the vulnerable, and environmental stewardship. Reflecting on these values, how have you shown your commitment to standing for and with others in your actions? (300 words)
This essay can be classified as an Impact on Community essay where you will demonstrate how you live by Gonzaga’s Jesuit values in your own life. The admissions officers aren’t just looking to admit strong students—they also want engaged citizens.
The key for this essay is to have strong examples of how you’ve committed yourself to issues of social justice, diversity, philanthropy, or environmental stewardship. You don’t just want to tell the admissions officers that you care deeply about helping others without being able to back it up with actionable ways you’ve done so in your life.
A nice thing about this prompt is that it is rather open-ended in how you can show your impact on community. One student might want to talk about their work volunteering at their local library for storytime hour, while another might talk about planting a community garden in their town, and another could share a time they stood up for their friend who was bullied because of her ethnicity. No story is better than another; what matters is you choose one that is important to you.
Once you have an idea of what you would like to focus on, you can begin writing. We recommend starting your essay with a detailed account of you in action. This pulls your reader in off the bat and helps them visualize your passion for helping others. The age old advice of show, don’t tell comes into play here. Consider the following two examples and which is more interesting to read:
Telling: “Every Saturday morning, I volunteer at the local food pantry, combining my love of cooking with my desire to care for others. What began as a simple way to share my favorite recipes has become one of the most meaningful parts of my week. Cooking there has taught me that food is more than nourishment; it’s connection. Each dish reminds me that compassion doesn’t always require grand gestures—sometimes it’s found in a pot of soup made with care.”
Showing: “The first sizzle of onions hitting the pan always makes me smile. It’s the same sound I hear at home when my mom cooks, but here—inside the cramped kitchen of the food pantry—it means something more. The air fills with the smell of cumin, tomatoes, and garlic as I stir slowly. Around me, volunteers move in a rhythm, chopping, seasoning, tasting. I think about the families who will pick up these meals tonight—how something as simple as a warm dish can carry comfort, dignity, and care. Every spice, every stir, feels like a small way to say: you matter.”
Not only do we feel like we are in that kitchen with the student smelling the food cooking, but we also see their passion for cooking through the details they include. Not only that, we understand more about how they care for others with their internal monologue in the showing example (i.e. “I think about…” and “a small way to say: you matter”).
After you’ve established the situation and your actions, you want to expand on your motivations. What made you step in and help others? This is where you should do some self-reflection and expand on the values or ideas that you live by.
For example, a student who stands up for their friend who was being bullied might reflect on their motivations like this:
“I didn’t act because I always know what to do—I acted because I couldn’t bear how wrong it felt to do nothing. My fear of confrontation normally kept me silent, but in that moment, silence felt like granting her bullies a stamp of approval, and I knew her dignity was more important than my fears. Speaking up for Sadie allowed me to be someone who leads with empathy, not someone controlled by fear.”
Your reflection doesn’t necessarily have to be as long as this, but hopefully this gives you an idea of the type of self-reflection you should be aiming for in your essay.
Finally, you might want to conclude by sharing the lessons this experience taught you. This is another way to engage in self-reflection and demonstrate your maturity to the admissions officers. Letting them know that this wasn’t a one-time action, but an example of your character on a larger scale, might help them envision you as a Gonzaga student more.
All Applicants Prompt, Option B
Gonzaga’s Presidential Speaker’s Series invites leaders from around the world (such as LTC Olga Custodio, America’s first Latina military pilot or Cotopaxi founder Davis Smith) to share their work and passions with the GU community. If you were able to invite any living person to come and speak to the GU community, who would it be? Why would you want to invite them? (300 words)
This is a more unique prompt that allows you to discuss a person you find inspirational that you think the Gonzaga community would benefit from learning from. If you choose this option for your essay though, don’t fall into the trap! While this prompt does ask about another person, your essay still needs to highlight you.
It might be more helpful to think of not just a person that you would want to speak at Gonzaga, but a person that connects to you in some way—whether it be through shared interests, backgrounds, life experiences, etc. For example, while it would undoubtedly be cool to have Simone Biles speak, just choosing her because she’s a decorated athlete wouldn’t have the same effect as choosing her because her public discussion of mental health helped you work through your own struggles with handling pressure. Similarly, as a Latina woman, you might want to choose Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because you’re inspired by what someone from the same background as you has accomplished.
If you start by thinking about what you want to share with the admissions officers about yourself—because at the end of the day college essays should always share more information about the applicant—you can find a person that aligns with that. By thinking about this question in reverse, you will get to the heart of why you want to invite them, which is really where the heart of this essay lies.
Consider the following examples of students choosing speakers:
- Brandon is passionate about civic engagement and volunteers with his friends on political campaigns to try and energize voters. He chooses the poet and activist Amanda Gorman because he’s inspired by her ability to connect and unite people through words and poetry.
- Lily loves storytelling and dreams of being a director. Her guest would be Greta Gerwig who writes and directs stories about coming-of-age and being a woman that Lily is obsessed over. She would want to hear more about Greta’s approach to appreciating the journey of life.
- Matt has struggled with dyslexia all his life and worked hard to not let that obstacle get in the way of his success. He would invite basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo who overcame financial challenges and moved to a new country to become one of the best players in the NBA.
- Zoe is the president of her school’s Girls Who Code club and has actively worked to encourage more girls to get involved in fields that women are underrepresented in. She chooses Malala Yousafzai because she shares a commitment to empowering girls to learn and Zoe is inspired by the work Malala has done not just for women in STEM, but for female education across the board.
- Carolina’s parents immigrated from El Salvador and she would be the first of her family to go to college. She would invite migrant worker-turned-astronaut José Hernández because she’s inspired by the way he chased his dreams and didn’t let his family’s circumstances stop him from reaching his potential.
As you can see from each of these examples, there is a personal connection drawn between the student and the speaker. This will allow each student to write about their own experiences in their essay because it naturally connects to the person they have chosen.
One thing we would recommend you keep in mind is that you don’t want to choose someone too obvious for this essay. You want to pick a speaker that you are genuinely inspired by or look up to, but you want your essay to be unique. Choosing someone extremely well-known and popular like Barack Obama or Taylor Swift doesn’t reveal as much about you as choosing your favorite indie author would.
Another thing to remember is that you by no means are limited to “famous” people. You could very well choose your softball coach or the police chief in your town who everyone looks up to. This essay simply wants to hear about leaders, but it’s up to you who would be an inspirational and impactful speaker. Keep in mind though, if you do choose someone who is not widely-known, you should briefly describe what they do/who they are.
Nursing Prompt
Gonzaga University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program is grounded in Jesuit and nursing traditions and focuses the student experience on community, reflection, servant leadership and social justice. Students learn to promote health, care for patients with acute and chronic illnesses, and to support patients and their families.
As a direct admit program, Gonzaga seeks prospective nursing students who have challenged themselves with science courses, have taken math all four years of high school, and who have an understanding of the field.
What experiences have led you to choose the field of nursing? Why do you believe nursing is a good career path for you? (In 5-10 sentences) (800 words)
This prompt follows a typical “Why This Major” essay, with the major in this case being nursing. Your goal for this essay is to communicate your interest in the field of nursing. This is your chance to reflect on your personal connection to nursing, highlight specific experiences that have inspired you, and demonstrate your commitment to the profession.
This prompt has two main pieces to it: sharing experiences that motivated you to become a nurse and explaining why this is a good career path for you. While talking about your interest and where it might come from is pretty manageable, describing relevant experiences might sound daunting. Here, it can be helpful to think expansively about what experiences might be relevant to a career in nursing. Let’s consider some examples of relevant experiences.
- Shadowing, working, or volunteering in a healthcare setting.
- Tending to a sick or disabled loved one.
- Research or academic exploration of healthcare related topics.
- Health-related clubs, extracurriculars, or activism.
- Working with or spending time with sick or disabled loved ones or community members.
- Certifications or credentials related to healthcare.
- Being a peer counselor or working in a support role.
For this supplement, you’ll want to pick one or two examples of your relevant experience, so you can really dive deep into them. Listing off accomplishment after accomplishment means you won’t get to go as deep, so for your essay we recommend focusing on quality over quantity.
As you choose what experience to highlight, consider what’s most important to you. A personal connection sometimes stands out more than a slightly more impressive one, so weigh these carefully when choosing. If you have something especially unique to talk about, that should also be a consideration, as something that makes you stand out from the crowd may be the most meaningful.
If this sounds like a lot to consider, it’s okay to take some time to think about it, and try a few different angles. Consider the following students as examples of how to balance several different considerations.
- Elena cared for her diabetic dad, administering insulin shots and helping manage his diet. This experience sparked her interest in nursing, particularly the holistic care nurses provide. After volunteering at a nursing home, where she assisted with daily activities and observed nurses in action, Elena became committed to pursuing a career in nursing, drawn to the emotional and physical support nurses offer to patients.
- Carlos has volunteered at a local hospital for three years, where he assists in patient care, observing nurses manage multiple patients in fast-paced environments. He’s inspired by their calm under pressure and the hands-on nature of the work, especially in critical care situations. After seeing how nurses advocate for their patients, Carlos is excited to pursue a nursing career, hoping to eventually work in emergency medicine.
- Ankita was fascinated by her experience in a high school anatomy class, where she was particularly drawn to learning about the circulatory system and patient care. She shadowed a pediatric nurse and loved seeing how the nurse balanced medical knowledge with comforting anxious patients. This combination of science and human connection solidified her interest in pursuing nursing.
Remember, the admissions committee is most interested in hearing about your specific experiences that will make you a passionate and dedicated nurse. There is no “right story” they are looking for; as long as it comes from you, your essay will align with their expectations.
Once you’ve picked your experiences to highlight, don’t forget there is a second half of the prompt. When it comes to discussing your fit for nursing, you want to focus more on the characteristics you will bring to nursing rather than aspects like the pay, stability, etc. The admissions officers would much rather read about your compassion or attention to detail rather than your desire for a well-paying job.
The best way to answer both parts of the essay effectively is to weave in your fit with nursing into your experiences. How do you do that? For example, say a student thinks nursing is a good path for them because they like to bring joy to others. As they are describing their experience volunteering at a senior center, they can write about ways they made seniors’ days by telling jokes, playing card games, or making TikToks with them.
Incorporating these details allows the reader to see that this student is a natural source of positivity, and we don’t have to rely on the student telling us this to see they possess a trait that would make them a good nurse.
Remember, you have up to 800 words for this essay (although you shouldn’t aim to write that much as the recommended length is 5-10 sentences). Still, you should have ample room to be detailed and specific. The more details you are able to include in your essay to bring your experiences and actions to life, the more your passion for nursing will come across to the admissions officers.
Where to Get Your Gonzaga Essays Edited for Free
Do you want free, nearly-instantaneous feedback on your Gonzaga essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. So meet Sage, our AI tutor and advisor, who will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Sage can improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school by helping you show what you have to offer beyond the numbers!
