How to Write the University of Washington Essays 2025-2026
The University of Washington has one required essay for all applicants that is similar to a personal statement. They also have an optional essay that allows students to share any additional information with the admissions committee. While we normally encourage you to write optional essays, this one is asking about exceptional circumstances, so you should only respond unless you actually have something relevant to share.
Additionally, applicants to the UW Honors College will have to submit an additional essay about their passion for learning.
Read these University of Washington essay examples written by real students to inspire your writing!
The University of Washington Supplemental Essay Prompts
All Applicants
Prompt 1: Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. (650 words)
Prompt 2 (optional): You are not required to write anything in this section, but you may include additional information if something has particular significance to you. For example, you may use this space if: (200 words)
- You have experienced personal hardships in attaining your education
- Your activities have been limited because of work or family obligations
- You have experienced unusual limitations or opportunities unique to the schools you attended.
UW Interdisciplinary Honors Program Applicants
Prompt: We want to understand your enthusiasm for learning unfamiliar things and exploring different ways of thinking. Tell us why you are excited to push your education outside the areas of learning you are most comfortable with. (450 words)
All Applicants, Prompt 1
Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. (650 words)
Understanding the Prompt
The University of Washington does not accept the Common App essays, so this required prompt serves as your personal statement. However, the open-ended nature of this prompt means that you might be able to repurpose your Common App essay here. However, if you don’t already have a personal statement written, have no fear—we’ll break down exactly how you can approach this essay.
Brainstorming Your Topic
The nice part of this essay is that you can write about nearly anything. The admissions committee wants to learn about you—your interests, your personality, your background, etc.—through a specific experience or story. That could be a moment of growth, a decision that reflects your values, or an instance where you demonstrated important traits like resilience, empathy, leadership, or adaptability.
At 650 words, you have enough space to share a rich, detailed narrative. However, avoid trying to cram in two unrelated stories, or cover too many themes. Instead, focus on one clear, cohesive experience, and dive deeply into it. Your goal is to show, through storytelling, how this experience either revealed or shaped a key part of who you are.
To find the right story, ask yourself:
- What is a moment in my life where I was challenged, and how did I respond?
- Is there an experience that shaped how I see the world or approach problems?
- When have I had to make a difficult decision that required me to reflect on my values?
- What’s a moment where I helped someone, stood up for something, or took a risk?
- When have I learned something important about myself or the world around me?
Try to come up with a list of 10-15 possibilities. Even if you’re drawn to one story right away, having options allows you to choose the one that’s truly the best fit for this prompt. Plus, thinking through different experiences can help you start to identify common themes throughout your growth, which you could highlight in this essay.
What Makes a Good Response
As you begin writing, there are three key things you’ll want to accomplish in your essay. The first is bringing a story to life with detailed descriptions and vivid imagery. The second is showing aspects of your personality that are central to who you are. And finally, the third is to be forward-looking and tell the reader “what’s next” for you.
Let’s walk through each of these steps with a sample student, Tara. After brainstorming, Tara realized a critical part of her personality she wanted to share with UW was her love for journalism. She isn’t going to start her essay by saying “I love journalism because…” though. Instead, Tara is going to pick the specific example of when she reported on her school’s budget cuts. This will allow her essay to be more focused and let her zoom in on her process of researching, writing, and finding the story—after all, it’s in these details that a student’s personality and values come through.
In order to bring her story to life, she might write about her process of interviewing different stakeholders, even including lines of dialogue to make the conversation more engaging. Should come describe her experience actually writing her article—is the smell of coffee wafting through the air, is the blue light from her screen she’s stared out for hours burning her retinas, does she have a favorite rocking chair in her house or a nook in the library she does her best thinking in? However she chooses to go about it, the key is to make the reader feel like they are in the moment with you.
The next thing this essay needs to do is to dig into why this experience is important to Tara and how it reveals aspects of her personality, interests or values. This is where she will provide insight to her approach to journalism—or her broader approach to life works too! For example, she might explain how journalism is special to her because it shows that everyone has their own story. Or maybe writing makes her think more broadly about how our current world is losing empathy for people different than ourselves, but when Tara interviews others and puts herself in their shoes, she sees the importance of having empathy.
It’s important that your personal statement shows your thoughtful reflections on what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown from your experiences. If you are focusing your essay around a story that doesn’t allow you to delve into these deeper concepts, you might want to rethink your topic.
Finally, good essays will not just focus on your past experiences, but they will connect to your present and future. This allows the UW admissions officers to see how your experiences continue to influence who you are and what type of person you will be at UW.
For Tara’s sake, she might write about how that particular story made her a more empathetic person who is more interested in writing human interest stories now to show how we are more alike than we might think. She doesn’t need to explicitly lay out her exact college and career plans in this essay, but it also can’t hurt for her to mention that she looks forward to honing her interviewing skills and one day she might even want to explore telling people’s stories in her own magazine or book.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While there are many ways to approach this essay, there are a few things you should avoid regardless of your topic and structure.
The first is being too general or vague. You aren’t expected to share your whole life story in 650 words, and if you try to cover multiple experiences or personality traits in that space your essay will likely feel scattered.
Another thing to avoid is overloading on your achievements. The point of this essay is to demonstrate your character, not to list accomplishments. Be sure the essay focuses on the story’s emotional impact and your personal growth, not your more objective achievements that admissions officers can already see in other parts of your application, like your transcript.
Also, writing about cliché topics without having a unique angle is generally frowned upon. Avoid overdone topics like a sports victory or a volunteer trip unless you can provide a truly fresh perspective that is highly personal and not predictable.
Finally, don’t just tell the story—explain why it matters for understanding what kind of UW student you’d be. Reflect on how it shaped you, what it taught you, and how it will continue to guide you moving forward.
Example Essay
Now that you understand what goes into a strong response, let’s look at an example.
“The clatter of pans echoed through our small kitchen, but the dinner we were about to serve didn’t match the chaos. I carefully plated the tamales, as my mom directed me in Spanish, her words cutting through the steam rising from the stove. The smell of masa and roasted chiles filled the air, grounding me in the rhythm of folding, wrapping, and stacking each bundle with care. This wasn’t just any dinner—it was a meal for the Lopez family, who had recently lost everything in a house fire.
My mom had volunteered our family to help, and for the first time, I realized how much work goes into preparing a meal for someone in crisis. Every step—the chopping, the stirring, the wiping down of the counters—felt heavier, more purposeful. It wasn’t just cooking anymore; it was an act of care. Hours later, when we carried trays of steaming tamales to the Lopez family’s temporary apartment, I saw the exhaustion in Mrs. Lopez’s face soften into relief. She whispered gracias, her voice catching, and in that moment, the fatigue of the day melted away.
That night, as we cleaned the kitchen, my mom explained why she always helped others, even when we didn’t have much to spare. “When you give,” she said, “you make the world feel a little lighter for someone.” Her words stuck with me, and I began to notice opportunities to do the same. When a classmate struggled in algebra, I stayed after school to tutor her until she finally solved problems on her own. When our student council organized a winter clothing drive, I stepped in to coordinate donations, tracking every hat and jacket until we surpassed our goal. Even with my closest friends, I found that sometimes the most meaningful thing I could do was simply listen.
Preparing tamales that night shaped my understanding of service. It taught me that helping others isn’t about dramatic gestures or recognition—it’s about showing up with consistency and kindness, no matter how small the act may seem. Service, I’ve learned, is both humble and powerful.
Now, as I apply to college, I carry that lesson with me. I want to pursue a career in social work, not only to advocate for families in need but also to ensure that others feel the same kind of support and dignity that my mom showed the Lopez family that night. Service is no longer something I do occasionally; it is the foundation of who I am becoming.”
In Conclusion
By choosing a personal, meaningful story and reflecting on how it shaped you, you will create an essay that gives UW’s admissions committee a strong sense of who you are, what you value, and how you’d contribute to their campus community in a way nobody else can.
All Applicants, Prompt 2 (optional)
You are not required to write anything in this section, but you may include additional information if something has particular significance to you. For example, you may use this space if:
-
You have experienced personal hardships in attaining your education
-
Your activities have been limited because of work or family obligations
-
You have experienced unusual limitations or opportunities unique to the schools you attended. (200 words)
This portion of the application is optional, and while we recommend that you fill out most “optional” essays, this space is truly optional. If you don’t have any unusual circumstances, you can leave it blank without being penalized. However, if you feel that there were extenuating circumstances that affected you, this is the place to share it .
This is your chance to explain anything that hasn’t been addressed in other parts of your application. Since the maximum is 200 words and the prompt is straightforward, you can (and should) also be totally straightforward in your response, rather than painting a picture with vivid imagery.
For example, a statement like the one below would be perfectly acceptable:
“In my sophomore year of high school, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and it profoundly affected multiple areas of my life, including my academic performance. I found it difficult to focus in class and I spent my time at home helping my mom rather than studying. For that reason, there is a significant dip in my grades in the spring semester of that year.”
Something like this would also make sense to include here:
“Because my parents own a small restaurant, it is often my responsibility to watch my younger siblings while they are working, and even help out by doing the dishes or bussing tables in my free time. Since I spent hours a day on these responsibilities, I was unable to join as many extracurriculars as I would have liked.”
However, one piece of advice we can offer for this prompt is to not ask for pity. Although you might not have always had the chance to “overcome”, so to speak, the obstacles you faced, you can still demonstrate some growth or maturity in this essay. Take the example of the student helping out at their parents’ restaurant. They could add this to their essay to show how they made the most of the situation:
“While I didn’t have the chance to be a club president or join the basketball team, being responsible for my siblings taught me time management and conflict resolution skills I’m not sure I could have learned in any other setting.”
Yes, the point of this essay is to provide context for the difficult circumstances you faced, but approaching it with humility and maturity will leave a much better impression of you with the admissions officers.
UW Interdisciplinary Honors Program Prompt
We want to understand your enthusiasm for learning unfamiliar things and exploring different ways of thinking. Tell us why you are excited to push your education outside the areas of learning you are most comfortable with. (450 words)
This prompt asks you to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and willingness to challenge yourself academically. The admissions committee is looking for students who are excited to engage with diverse subjects and new ways of thinking—students who thrive when stepping outside their academic comfort zones, and thus will take full advantage of the unique opportunities at UW’s Honors College.
Understanding the Prompt
This essay is almost the opposite of the traditional “Why Major?” question, in that you’re being asked not what you’re currently most passionate about, but why you’re eager to engage with topics that you’re unfamiliar with or that are outside your main areas of expertise.
Your essay will need to show the following things:
- Your desire to be intellectually challenged.
- Your openness to interdisciplinary learning and diverse perspectives.
- Your motivation to pursue a holistic, well-rounded education in the Honors Program.
Brainstorming Your Topic
To get started, you’ll want to think about subjects that you are interested in that aren’t related to your intended major. Consider classes you’ve enjoyed, extracurriculars you find fascinating, topics you’ve read about or researched independently, and more.
For example, a student interested in biology might recall how they loved learning about the New Deal in their American History class. A student who wants to major in philosophy might focus on the time they spent an entire winter break researching how rollercoasters are engineered.
As you’re brainstorming, go deeper than just coming up with topics you were curious about. Think about what drew you in, what about that subject in particular got you excited, and how it felt to learn something new.
Also consider what excites you about learning in general. Why do you think it’s important to explore topics outside of your comfort zone? What strategies or mindsets do you adopt when you are learning?
Having all these thoughts in your head will help you feel more prepared when it comes time to write.
What Makes a Good Response
Once you have a good topic in mind, you can begin writing. Remember, what’s really important in this essay is to highlight your intellectual curiosity—essentially, show your reader how the topic was unknown or challenging for you, yet you were still genuinely excited to learn more.
You don’t want to spend too much time focusing on your comfort zone. Instead, make it clear from the beginning of your essay what this new topic was and how it differs from what you are typically interested in. For example,
“The first time I looked at a page of code, it felt like staring at sheet music written in an alien key. I wanted to slam my laptop shut, the way I had once wanted to slam the piano lid as a child. The colorful concoction of abbreviated terms, brackets, and parentheses was just a cacophony of noise in my brain.”
This example provides a contrast between piano and coding to show us just how uncomfortable they originally were. It’s important your essay includes this “before” state of discomfort or unfamiliarity so we can understand the growth you underwent to eventually enjoy learning something new.
A big chunk of your essay should be devoted to showing your emotional and mental state while engaging with this new topic. Make it clear that you are open to new perspectives, but also show how your interest in this topic broadened your general thinking and understanding of the world. Maybe you now have a deeper appreciation for the topic you are interested in because you’ve opened up your mind to interdisciplinary thinking. The student from the example above might show their mental process with a paragraph like this:
“But instead of giving up, I forced myself to notice patterns. The longer I looked, the more the unfamiliar started to hum with a kind of rhythm I understood. Variables reminded me of musical themes, reappearing in unexpected places. Loops echoed the rising and falling arpeggios I practiced during scales. And just as a pianist can’t simply play notes but must listen for phrasing, a coder can’t just string commands together but must anticipate how the logic will flow. What started as an elective quickly became an obsession as I forwent piano practice some nights in favor of debugging my code.”
You also need to reflect on your personal growth and how you are now prepared for the UW Honors Program. Make it clear that you will continue to push your educational boundaries when you get to college—a great way to do this is to include specific aspects of the UW Honors Program that you hope to engage with that fall outside of your intended major.
Continuing with the example, the student could show their growth and their forward-looking approach with these paragraphs:
“As I became more fluent in coding, I started noticing changes in the way I approached other challenges. In math class, instead of getting frustrated when a proof seemed impossible, I broke it down line by line, the way I would debug a stubborn program. In history, I began to question the “why” behind events instead of memorizing dates, treating each cause and effect like a branching logic tree. Coding had trained me to see complexity not as chaos, but as a system waiting to be understood.
Now, the unknown doesn’t feel like a barrier; it feels like an invitation. I’m excited for the UW Honors Program precisely because I know I’ll encounter subjects that look as foreign to me as code once did. Whether it’s diving into neuroscience, literature from a culture I’ve never studied, or even a philosophy seminar, I want to embrace the strangeness, knowing that every unfamiliar language has its own rhythm—and that I can learn to hear it.”
Example Essay
Now let’s take a look at what a full essay might look like:
“As someone who has spent most of my high school years immersed in STEM, enrolling in a creative writing class last year felt like diving into the deep end of unfamiliar waters. I signed up on a whim, hoping to add some variety to my schedule, but I soon realized just how uncomfortable I was when I couldn’t rely on formulas or equations to find a ‘correct’ answer. Instead, I had to navigate the ambiguity of fiction, where the strength of an idea came not from its accuracy, but from its emotional resonance.
I struggled at first, feeling out of place among students who seemed more naturally inclined toward literary expression. However, as we studied authors like Gabriel García Márquez and Virginia Woolf, I began to appreciate how stories could explore human experience in ways that science alone couldn’t.
One assignment required us to write a short story based on an emotion we’d never personally experienced, and I chose grief—a daunting task. I spent hours researching the psychology of loss, reading memoirs, and watching interviews with survivors of tragedies. Immersing myself in the grief of others showed me the power of emotion alone to communicate lessons that empirical data alone cannot.
In the Honors Program, I’m eager to push my boundaries even further by enrolling in classes that challenge me to think outside of the scientific framework I’m most comfortable with. ‘HONORS 210 D: Aristotle’s Concept of The Tragic in Theory and Practice’ would be a fantastic opportunity for me to continue my exploration of grief through philosophy, a field I’ve never explored, and ‘HONORS 220 A: Storytelling in the Sciences’ would give me guidance on how to bring some of the lessons I’ve learned from the humanities back to my STEM work.
My experience in my creative writing class taught me that knowledge from one discipline alone is incomplete. In college, I look forward to continuing to open doors that I previously would have never even knocked on, as there’s no telling how what lies behind them could shape my understanding of the world.”
In Conclusion
By selecting a specific example of when you’ve explored unfamiliar areas and reflecting on what you learned from the experience, you can craft a strong, engaging essay that demonstrates your intellectual curiosity and readiness for the challenges of the University of Washington Honors Program.
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