How to Write the Stony Brook University Essay 2022-2023
Although Stony Brook’s supplement is technically optional, we strongly encourage you to respond to this prompt. College applications don’t give you a ton of space to share your story, so make the most of this opportunity!
Stony Brook Supplemental Essay Prompt
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (1-250 words)
If you haven’t already, we first recommend that you read our general guide on extracurricular essays, which provides a good overview of how to approach this kind of prompt. Here, we’ll recap the most important points from that post.
First, you want to select an activity that you can write a strong essay about. While this might be the thing that you’ve done for the longest, or that you’ve had the most success with, that isn’t always true. You want to choose an experience that you are truly passionate about, and that has been important in making you who you are. No matter how accomplished a soccer player you are, if you hate soccer, that will show in your essay.
Also keep in mind that your essays should always tell your reader something new about you. So, if you wrote your Common App essay about your volunteer work at your local animal shelter, you don’t want to repeat that story here. That being said, you can certainly elaborate on one of the activities in your extracurriculars list, as that list doesn’t tell your admissions officer anything about how a particular activity has shaped you personally.
Finally, college applications can sometimes be quite narrow in the scope of topics they encourage you to share. You might have an activity that’s important to you, but hasn’t come up anywhere yet, like making art from your bird’s feathers, or collecting stamps. This prompt can be a great place to share something like that.
Once you choose a topic for your essay, the writing part should be fairly easy, so long as your topic is strong. Like with any good college essay, the most important thing is to illustrate your point(s) with a strong anecdote. Since this essay is relatively short, you probably want to focus on just one anecdote, or maybe two if they’re brief and clearly related.
For example, say you want to write about how starting a book club at your high school taught you how to be more empathetic. You could describe how your lab partner, who always seemed so smart and confident, recommended a book about the struggle of being introverted. This experience helped you internalize the realization that you truly never know what someone else is experiencing on a daily basis.
Where to Get Your Stony Brook Essay Edited
Do you want feedback on your Stony Brook essay? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool, where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.
If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!
