CollegeVine College Essay Team August 9, 2024 4 Essay Breakdowns,Essay Guides 2024-25

How to Write the Pepperdine University Essay 2024-2025

Pepperdine University is a private research Christian university near Malibu, California. There are over 40 areas of study for undergraduates to pursue, including two certificates. The largest academic divisions for undergraduates include business, communication, social science and natural science. Over half of Pepperdine students study abroad at some point. 

Outside of the classroom, there are numerous Division I sports, and the Volunteer Center offers extensive opportunities for students to participate in service. Students will need more than strong academics to be admitted to this university, and writing strong essays can certainly give you a boost. Read on to get our best tips on this year’s Pepperdine supplement. 

Pepperdine University Supplemental Essay Prompt

This is essentially a “why this school” essay, but with an emphasis on the religious aspects of the school. To write this essay, you’ll need to have a grasp on how your own faith fits into your life so that you can discuss what you’ll bring to Pepperdine.

The first part of this prompt, however, is much simpler: why are you interested in attending Pepperdine? The more specific you are, the more genuine your interest seems. The best way to do this is to find a few aspects of Pepperdine that appeal to you, like programs and clubs, and describe why those are important to you. 

For example: 

• Your involvement with your church at home might lead you to want to continue that kind of work at college, and the Student-Led Ministry Service would appeal to you. 

• If you’re passionate about filmmaking—and maybe incorporating your faith with your film—you might be interested in the Sundance IGNITE club, where you can learn how to prepare for a career in film. 

• Students interested in pursuing a career in law might be interested in the Certificate in Conflict Management, where they could enroll in courses in Pepperdine’s law schools to supplement their undergraduate classes. 

You’ll have to do some research into Pepperdine to find those specific programs—whether academic or not–that interest you. If possible, try to incorporate your faith into at least one of these programs, like the Student-Led Ministries, since the prompt specifically notes that Pepperdine is a Christian university. 

The second half of the prompt is how you’ll contribute to conversations of faith on campus. This is a little more complicated, but there are several ways you could think about it. 

• What unique religious experiences have you gone through that caused the development of your perspectives? Did you turn to faith after some sort of trauma, like a death in the family or a serious injury? Did you travel to a place where you had the opportunity to delve deep into your connection to religion?

• Do you have some unique way of practicing your religion? Pepperdine is a Christian university, but perhaps you feel that you can better understand Christianity by learning about and engaging with other religions. 

• Maybe you’re fairly new to religion and still questioning and challenging—your contributions to conversations might be very different from that of other students, but you would be able to push people to think about things in a way they hadn’t before.

• You might not be a Christian at all, but your experiences with a different religion might allow you to engage in more thoughtful conversations about the differences in faiths and beliefs. 

Overall, the way you contribute to conversations of faith is really a commentary on how your faith is a part of you. It’s how you think about or practice your faith. You can also refer back to the programs and groups at Pepperdine that appeal to you. There, you could bring your own personal faith and beliefs to the student body. By pointing that out, Pepperdine can see that you’ve thought about how to combine your faith with your life on campus. 

The ultimate point of this essay is to show to Pepperdine that you are genuinely interested in the school, and have put some thought into how your faith will fit in with the Pepperdine community at large. You’ll accomplish this by pointing out specific details about both Pepperdine and your unique perspective on faith, which will show us how you plan to find your place at the school.