How to Write the Howard University Essays 2025-2026
For the 2025-2026 application cycle, Howard University has two essays for all applicants: a diversity essay, and a why major essay. While both are optional, we always recommend that you take advantage of any extra opportunities to share more about yourself with the admissions officers, especially at schools that receive thousands of applications from talented students like Howard.
Read this Howard University essay example written by a real student to inspire your own writing!
Howard University Supplemental Essay Prompts
Prompt 1 (optional): Diversity of all kinds is important to enriching the educational experience at Howard University. Please share with us anything in your background or lived experience that has shaped your perspectives and how that would contribute to the classroom and community at Howard. (500 words)
Prompt 2 (optional): Please describe the major you intend to study and how you hope to use your Howard education to support you in achieving your passions and goals. Please address your first-choice and second-choice major selections. (500 words)
Prompt 1 (optional)
Diversity of all kinds is important to enriching the educational experience at Howard University. Please share with us anything in your background or lived experience that has shaped your perspectives and how that would contribute to the classroom and community at Howard. (500 words)
Brainstorming Your Topic
This prompt is a version of the common Diversity Essay, with the added layer of explicitly connecting your identity to how you will show up on Howard’s campus.
The first thing to note is that the way colleges factor race into the admissions process changed when the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June 2023. Colleges can still consider race on an individual level, however, so if you would like to respond to this prompt by talking about how your racial background has impacted you, you are welcome to do so.
You are also welcome to write about a wide range of other aspects of your identity; an individual is more than just their race, gender, sexuality, and other attributes that typically come to mind when you hear the word “diversity.” We are also shaped by the communities we’re in, the hobbies we enjoy, our interests, and so on. So, if you are having a hard time coming up with a topic for this prompt, shift to that line of thinking. Here are some examples of less traditional topics that could work:
- The people you see every day while walking your dog before school
- A group sea kayaking trip you did one summer
- Being raised in a single-parent household
- Your passion for the color purple
- The online community you are part of that shares sewing patterns
The main requirement for your topic is that it has “shaped your perspectives,” per Howard’s request. Note that this connection doesn’t have to be direct. If your parents immigrated to the United States from Jamaica, you don’t have to write about wanting to pursue the Caribbean Studies minor. You can, of course, if you genuinely are interested in that academic field. However, the connection you make can also be more nuanced.
For example, say that some of your relatives are still in Jamaica and you don’t have anything in common with them, but you have developed a relationship with them through visits to their house where you play music with them. These experiences have shown you the unifying power of music, which is a phenomenon you’d like to explore more through Howard’s unique Music Therapy program.
Although this connection may not be one your reader was expecting, it works, as this explains it in a clear, easy-to-follow way. Plus, this essay is on the longer side for a supplement. You have 500 words at your disposal, so you have plenty of space to draw more sophisticated connections.
Tips for Writing Your Essay
If you have done a thorough job of brainstorming, writing the actual essay should be pretty straightforward: you want to describe the aspect of your identity you’re focusing on, and then connect it to the type of student you will be on campus. As just noted above, you have room to work with, so there’s no need to rush anything.
The only real rule here is that the connection you’re drawing is explained clearly. For a rather extreme example, if you just said, “I have family in Jamaica, which makes me want to study Music Therapy,” your reader would have no idea what you’re talking about. So, just make sure you’re able to articulate the link you see, so admissions officers understand how we got from A to B.
If you’re having a hard time with that, maybe take a step back from your essay and come back the next day with a clear head. Sometimes, spending too much time on an essay will bog you down and make it hard to see where to go next.
If you’re still having trouble the next day, you might want to return to the brainstorming stage, and either focus on a different aspect of your identity, or connect it to a different goal you have for college. There’s no shame in hitting rewind. Most students do at some point in their essay-writing process, as even topics that seem perfect at first can prove to be not quite right once you start trying to write about them.
Finally, like with any college essay, your writing will be stronger if you show, rather than tell. That means you want to rely on specific anecdotes and experiences to support your points, as that will make your essay more engaging. You can compare the two approaches below:
Telling: “I have quite a few family members still in Jamaica. They are much older than me and don’t understand a lot of what I’m interested in but we can bond over music.”
Showing: “The warm Kingston night air was heavy with silence as I quickly realized my 40 and 50 year old cousins had no interest in the TikTok trend I was trying to explain. But when my great aunt’s rhythmic taps began and my cousin’s baritone voice filled the silence, I couldn’t help but join in.”
The information communicated is the same, but the showing approach paints us a picture, rather than reading us a list of facts like the telling approach. Because we are immersed in the student’s story, we feel much closer to them, and the whole point of college essays is to get admissions officers to understand who you are.
Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest potential pitfall here is answering the second half of the prompt (the “how that would contribute to the classroom and community at Howard” part) in a way that isn’t specific enough to Howard. This subset of the prompt is essentially a mini “Why This College?” essay, which means you don’t want to just share a perspective you will take with you to college, but rather something you hope to achieve at Howard specifically.
The examples above show the level of specificity you want to achieve. Contrast those examples with vague versions of the same goals: “At Howard, I hope to research Caribbean culture,” or “At Howard, I hope to study Music Therapy to further my interest in the topic.” These goals would be fine to share with a family member at Thanksgiving, but for Howard admissions officers, they’re too general, as these are things you could do in some form at plenty of other schools around the country.
By going a level deeper, to a particular professor who does the kind of research you’re interested in, and a particular program that will allow you to study art, you show the Howard admissions officers that you’ve done your homework on their school, which gives them confidence you’re ready to hit the ground running when you arrive on campus.
If you’re not sure about how to get to this level of specificity, hop onto Howard’s’ website and skim their course offerings, faculty directory, study abroad programs, club pages, and so on. Odds are, you’ll see something there that aligns with the general goal you’ve identified for yourself, which will take you from the big picture to the narrower focus you want.
Example Essay
“The smell of jasmine flowers and street food—fried plantains, chapati, and marinated goat—fills the air as I walk down the dusty roads of Nairobi. My skin feels the dry heat of the Kenyan sun, but my mind is focused on the rhythm of the Swahili words spilling out of every shop and market stall. The phrase “habari gani” (how are you?) greets me more times than I can count. But I always feel like a foreigner.
Born in Atlanta to Kenyan parents, I’ve spent much of my life balancing the richness of two worlds—one where I’m seen as “too American” and another where I’m “too African.” In America, I was the girl with the different lunch, my ugali and sukuma wiki earning confused stares from my classmates who had peanut butter sandwiches. In Kenya, my English-tinged Swahili drew skeptical glances from cousins who asked why I couldn’t speak the mother tongue fluently.
This constant duality has shaped me into someone who never sees the world in absolutes. Instead, I see the power of intersectionality, as my dual identity has allowed me to navigate vastly different social and cultural landscapes, which in turn has allowed me to bridge gaps between people from disparate backgrounds.
At Howard, I would work to ensure students who may not immediately feel like they belong, such as international students and first-generation college students, find community. Student organizations like Howard University International Pals would allow me to both mentor others using my existing skills, and continue refining my perspective by learning from older students.
Through my experiences straddling two worlds, I’ve learned to be adaptable, empathetic, and open-minded. By drawing on my unique experiences as a Kenyan-American, I look forward to working to ensure all students feel welcome at Howard.”
Prompt 2 (optional)
Please describe the major you intend to study and how you hope to use your Howard education to support you in achieving your passions and goals. Please address your first-choice and second-choice major selections. (500 words)
This is a typical “Why this Major?” prompt, which colleges use to learn more about your current experience with a subject you’re interested in, where your passion comes from, and how you plan to continue pursuing this passion beyond your college career. The committee can also gain a better understanding of your interest in Howard specifically and an idea of how you plan to utilize its resources to enhance your learning.
When brainstorming content for this prompt, think about what initially drew you to the subject. Avoid using general statements like “I want to be a civil engineer because I have always enjoyed working with my hands.” Dig deeper into your passion and provide specific details—one applicant might share how a Lego set they received for Christmas during their childhood first sparked their love of building. Another might talk about how they always admired the architectural genius behind their favorite structure in their city.
You should also tie your response to future goals you hope to accomplish with this major. A common mistake many students make here is being too general. Rather than using platitudes like “making the world a better place” and “helping others,” talk about specific things you could do to achieve these goals. Though you by no means need to have your career plans figured out, you can explore potential options to add depth to your response.
For example, a prospective chemistry major might discuss wanting to invent a non-teratogenic pesticide. Someone applying as a math major might want to develop an online teaching program for students who struggle with the topic and implement it at underprivileged schools.
Another factor to consider is how you plan to pursue this major at Howard, so that admissions officers will have a better idea of how you will fit into the campus culture. You should research specific classes, research opportunities, programs, student organizations, and other opportunities for involvement that tie into your major. For example, a prospective psychology major might discuss how Howard’s specific psychology programs tie into their dedication to activism. A response could go something like this:
“Participating in the Black Lives Matter movement has underscored my desire to explore the neural circuitry behind racism. As a psychology major, I plan to pursue this topic in classes like Psychology of Race of Racism, and by working with the Social Justice Consortium to develop active bystander training for police. I believe this biological approach to activism will go a long way in fomenting sustainable change at the systemic level.”
Keep in mind that this is not a full response, but it does demonstrate the tone and level of detail you should aim for when writing a response to this prompt. Adding details like this will lend authenticity to your response and make it more fun to read. Admissions officers want to know why this major is important to you, so let your creativity and passion flow—the possibilities are endless!
Remember, you are asked to talk about both your first and your second choice majors in this essay. While it’s okay to devote the majority of your essay to the first choice (since it is your first choice after all), don’t neglect the second choice major in the process. In fact, if you are able to discuss both at once, that would be great. For example, a student who’s interested in both Computer Science and Finance could allude to both in a story like this:
“The summer Bitcoin surged, I spent hours refreshing price charts, watching numbers rise and fall like a roller coaster. At some point, refreshing wasn’t enough—I wanted to predict. I opened my laptop and began writing code that scraped data and plotted real-time price movements. Seeing the jagged lines dance across the screen, I felt like I had built a living pulse of the market. That project showed me that finance wasn’t just numbers in a textbook—it was dynamic, alive—and computer science gave me the tools to understand it.”
Hypothetical Student Examples
- Lila, first-choice: Biology, second-choice: Psychology: Lila became interested in biology after volunteering at a healthcare clinic in an underserved community, where she saw the need for more doctors who understand the challenges of marginalized populations. Her second-choice major, Psychology, stems from her interest in mental health advocacy and understanding the intersection of physical and mental health, especially in underserved populations. She’s drawn to Howard’s focus on health disparities and opportunities for undergraduate research in that area, through programs like the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), as she feels this is exactly the environment that will prepare her to become a doctor herself.
- Isaac, first-choice: Computer Science, second-choice: Mathematics: Isaac’s passion for problem-solving and technology led him to his first-choice major, Computer Science. He’s been coding since middle school, when he began developing small apps to help his parents manage their business. Isaac is excited about Howard’s supportive environment for Black tech innovators, which he feels will help him continue to expand his skills, through opportunities like the Robotics Organization. He’s also interested in Mathematics as a second-choice major because of the overlap in concepts with programming and data science. He plans to use his Howard education to launch a tech startup focused on addressing economic inequality in urban areas through infrastructural initiatives.
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