How to Write the Mount Holyoke College Essays 2025-2026
Mount Holyoke College, founded in 1837 in South Hadley, Massachusetts, is a pioneering women’s college and a member of the prestigious Seven Sisters. Renowned for its academic excellence, global perspective, and commitment to empowering women leaders, Mount Holyoke offers a rigorous liberal arts education within a supportive and inclusive community.
For the 2025-2026 application cycle, Mount Holyoke has one optional essay with three different prompt options applicants can choose from. In this post, we’ll cover each prompt to help you pick the best one for you.
Although this essay is optional, we encourage students to respond to it as it’s a great opportunity to provide extra detail to your application. You never know, your essay might just be the deciding factor between your application and a student with similar grades and test scores.
Mount Holyoke College Supplemental Essay Prompts
Prompt (optional): Please select one of the three prompts below. Your essay should be between 250-400 words.
Option A: What unique characteristic about Mount Holyoke makes you interested in attending?
Option B: Every day, our students cultivate the competence, confidence and courage to make an impact — whether on a personal, community or global level. Tell us about the context in which you have grown up, what forms your aspirations and how your community has shaped your outlook.
Option C: What do you find fascinating? Choose a person, place, concept, idea, or theory and tell us why!
Option A (optional)
What unique characteristic about Mount Holyoke makes you interested in attending? (250-400 words)
This is a very traditional “Why This College?” essay prompt. This is a good option to choose if you want to share more of your enthusiasm for attending Mount Holyoke with the admissions officers. The goal is to convince Mount Holyoke that you have done your research on their school and you see yourself fitting right into the campus community.
What NOT to Include
Before we share what a good essay consists of, it’s important to get a few common mistakes out of the way so you don’t include them in your essay.
First of all, you don’t want to repurpose the same “Why This College” essay you might have written for other schools. Admissions officers are able to tell when students use the same essay and just replace the name of the school. Essays like this tend to be very general and say things like “exceptional academics”, “a welcoming and inclusive community”, “prestigious professors”, etc. Avoid vague statements like this in your essay as it doesn’t say anything specific about Mount Holyoke.
Another mistake is to focus on aspects of Mount Holyoke that you could find at dozens of other schools: the weather, the beautiful campus, the liberal arts education, etc. Even focusing on Mount Holyoke’s status as a women’s-only institution shouldn’t be one of your main reasons for wanting to attend since you could apply to one of the other Seven Sister Colleges for that experience. You can still include its status as a women’s-only college if it is genuinely something you are looking forward to, but don’t make it your primary motivation for attending.
If it helps, you can think about this essay as your chance to ask Mount Holyoke out, so to speak. You want them to feel special and like they have unique characteristics that you are drawn to; you don’t want to flatter them with statements that could apply to a multitude of other schools.
What to Include
Now that you know what to avoid in your essay, let’s move on to consider what a strong essay would contain.
The most important thing is that your essay describes specific and unique aspects of Mount Holyoke and you explain why you are drawn to them. Many students neglect to include the second part where they tie the school’s resources back to themselves, but that is where you get to share more about your interests and goals with the college, so you definitely don’t want to forget that part.
When it comes to discussing resources, we recommend doing extensive research on Mount Holyoke’s website. Look for things that intrigue and excite you. They could include:
- Unique classes (not something you could find at most schools like Biology 101)
- Professors and the research they conduct
- Special programs
- Extracurriculars and student organizations
- Study abroad opportunities
- Research or volunteer opportunities
- Living learning communities
You should find 3-4 resources that really speak to you—it’s better to dive deep into a few resources you have a connection to rather than listing out 10 things and not elaborating on them. For example, here’s what it looks like when you include a bunch of resources at a school versus focusing on a few select ones:
Example 1: “I’m excited to take classes like Molecular Genetics, Cell Biology, and Human-Animal Interactions. I hope to work with Professor Schwartzer on his autism research. Additionally, I look forward to the opportunity to join the Beckman Scholars Program. I see myself joining the Pre-Health Association and the Cantonese Club to bond with students like me.”
Example 2: “The opportunity for hands-on exposure to environmental conservation at Mount Holyoke will allow me to start chasing my dream of helping the planet while I’m still in college. Taking Restoration Ecology and joining Project Stream will allow me to participate in real restoration efforts—testing water quality, planting native species, and helping ecosystems recover. I’ll have the chance to take meaningful action that at other schools would just be theory in a classroom.”
Because the first example included so many offerings, it wasn’t able to elaborate on why the student was interested in any of them nor how they connect to their experiences or goals. The second example, on the other hand, was able to share more about the specifics of the offerings and how they will help them reach their goal.
Finally, keep in mind that while the prompt asks you to focus on Mount Holyoke, you should still share stories or anecdotes from your life to help the admissions officers understand your motivation. For example, the student from example 2 above should start her essay with an anecdote that explains how she became passionate about environmental conservation, like this perhaps:
“I’ll never forget the spring when the river behind our house turned from a clear shimmer to a dull brown, fish floating lifelessly down the bank. I remember standing with my dad, holding my nose against the sour smell, wondering how something once so full of life could die in a single season.”
You want your essay to have some common throughline—in this case, the student’s throughline is a passion for environmental conservation—so your anecdote, the Mount Holyoke resources you highlight, and your goals all connect to one another. Doing so, will result in a more cohesive essay.
Option B (optional)
Every day, our students cultivate the competence, confidence and courage to make an impact — whether on a personal, community or global level. Tell us about the context in which you have grown up, what forms your aspirations and how your community has shaped your outlook. (250-400 words)
This prompt resembles a Diversity essay by asking students to talk more about their background and community. Not only do the admissions officers want to know what was unique about your upbringing, but they are also curious about how it has shaped you—whether that’s your goals or your perspectives.
If you have a unique background you haven’t had a chance to discuss on your application thus far, this would be a good prompt for you. Keep in mind, ever since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in 2023, colleges can only consider race on an individual basis. If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this is the place to discuss that.
However, you can also choose this prompt even if you aren’t planning to discuss your racial background. Diversity could also look like ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, first-generation status, having a physical or mental disability, unique hobbies or interests, and more. All that matters is you pick something that you consider to be a significant part of your identity that has shaped you.
When it comes to actually writing your essay, anecdotes will be your best friend! Including stories will 1) make your essay more engaging, but 2) allow you to bring your background to life to show the admissions officers a glimpse of what your upbringing looked like. It also helps show your thoughts and feelings because you can include dialogue or an internal monologue to show your readers exactly how you think and feel.
Let’s compare two examples, one that begins with a strong anecdote and one that just tells the reader about the student’s background.
Showing: “The clang of the sewing machine was the soundtrack of my childhood. I’d sit on the floor of my mother’s tiny tailoring shop in El Paso, surrounded by fabric scraps that smelled faintly of starch and lavender detergent, listening as she chatted with customers in a mix of Spanish and English. “Cada puntada cuenta,” she would remind me—every stitch counts. I didn’t realize then that she was teaching me more than the patience of sewing; she was showing me how small acts, done with care, could hold a community together. Watching her alter uniforms for students who couldn’t afford new ones or mend curtains for the elderly Gallego’s next door taught me that impact isn’t always loud or global—it can be quiet, stitched into the fabric of daily life.”
Telling: “I grew up in a hardworking family that taught me the importance of community and helping others. My mom runs a tailoring business, and I often watched her sew clothes for people in our neighborhood. This experience showed me that making a difference doesn’t always have to be a big action—it can be something simple, like helping someone in need.”
The first example makes us feel like we are sitting besides the student in the tailoring shop, watching customers come in and out. The reader immediately feels more connected to the student than they do in the second example, and we get to see through details the student included how she developed her perspective, rather than just being told her experiences formed her perspective.
This essay should be rather narrative in its style, so don’t shy away from including more details—just make sure your details serve a purpose and they aren’t irrelevant to the broader theme of your essay.
While you should focus on your past for a good chunk of your response, don’t forget that you should also look to the future. Mount Holyoke wants to know how your past has shaped your outlook and aspiration for the future, so make sure you reserve room in your essay to fully explore how you will take what you’ve learned from your previous experiences with you to college and beyond.
For example, the student from above might write something like this to address her future goals:
“Now, as I look beyond my neighborhood, I carry that same belief in meaningful, everyday impact. My mother’s shop taught me to see people not as customers, but as stories—to notice how their struggles and triumphs are woven into the things they carry. That perspective has shaped my aspiration to study sociology and community development, to understand how economic systems and social policies can better serve those often left on the margins. I want to learn how to build structures—literal and social—that hold people up the way my mother’s hands held fragile fabric. At college, I hope to bring that same mix of empathy and practicality to every discussion, research project, and collaboration—stitching together ideas and people to create something stronger, more equitable, and enduring.”
Option C (optional)
What do you find fascinating? Choose a person, place, concept, idea, or theory and tell us why! (250-400 words)
This prompt is extremely open-ended, so if neither of the other two options stood out to you, this one should give you the flexibility to write what you want. Here, it’s all about sharing your passions with the admissions officers, while also showing your intellectual curiosity.
In terms of brainstorming, you should start by considering what you could talk about for hours on end. Maybe you’re a competitive gymnast so you love to talk about the evolution of floor routines and how scoring systems have adapted as baseline difficulties increase. Or maybe you’ve always loved learning about the British monarchy and can share all the details of each king and queen when prompted. Perhaps you’ve always been drawn to the wildlife on the Galapagos Islands and desperately want to visit to see the diversity of species.
The possibilities really are endless here! And, as you can see from the examples above, you by no means have to talk about a “traditional” academic concept. If you genuinely find Einstein’s theory of relativity or Shakespeare’s life fascinating, then by all means make that the focus of your essay—just don’t choose it because you think that’s what the admissions officers want to hear.
Mount Holyoke is far more interested in understanding what genuinely interests you—and they will be able to tell when your fascination is fake or forced—so pick a topic you are actually passionate about.
As you begin writing, you want your fascination to jump off the page. You don’t want to say things like “I love…”, “I think it’s so cool that…”, or “I’ve always been interested in…”. Rather than telling your reader about your topic, you want to show them, and the best way to do that is to bring them into a moment with you.
You could talk about your first encounter with the subject, walk through an example of a time you did a deep dive on it, or share a bunch of fun or niche facts. Here are some examples of ways students could show their fascination:
“The darkroom light glowed red, and the photo tray smelled like metal and memory. Slowly, an image surfaced—my best friend laughing mid-spin. I held my breath. I just froze time. It wasn’t magic, but it felt close enough.”
“‘Two particles can affect each other even across galaxies,’ my physics teacher said, as if it were nothing. My pen froze. Wait—what? Across galaxies? That night, I sat staring at the stars through my bedroom window, wondering if somewhere out there, a speck of matter was waiting for my next move.”
“When the Library of Alexandria burned, we lost between 400,000 and 700,000 scrolls—entire lifetimes of thought turned to ash. But fragments survived: the Rhind Papyrus, early geometry; the Epic of Gilgamesh, humanity’s first recorded epic. Later, Baghdad’s House of Wisdom translated Greek philosophy into Arabic, saving it from oblivion.”
In each of these examples, the imagery and level of details included make the students’ fascinations come to life. Regardless of how you begin your essay, we recommend continuing to infuse facts (like with the Library of Alexandria example) throughout your essay to keep your interest alive and prove you really know a lot about this topic.
However, the sole point of this essay isn’t to impress the admissions officers with your knowledge—you also need to explain why you find this topic so fascinating. This is where you connect it back to you.
Perhaps you love mythology because you are an aspiring author and understanding the tropes that exist across cultures helps you piece together core human experiences for your own writing. Maybe after watching the movie Hidden Figures you became fascinated by the women who worked as computers at NASA and you look to them as a source of inspiration to pursue STEM even when you feel overwhelmed by the lack of female representation. There’s endless ways you can connect your interest in the subject back to you, so just figure out what reason resonates the most with you.
The ultimate goal of your essay should be for the admissions officers reading it to learn both about your fascination, as well as you. Through describing the topic, you should share details and stories about yourself to elaborate on why you’re drawn to that subject. If you can do both of these things, you should have a strong essay.
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