CollegeVine College Essay Team August 16, 2025 26 Essay Guides 2025-26,Washington University in St. Louis | WashU

How to Write the Washington University in St. Louis Essays 2025-2026

Washington University in St. Louis, commonly referred to as WashU, is a medium-sized, independent university dedicated to challenging its faculty and students alike to seek new knowledge and a deeper understanding of an ever-changing, multicultural world.

WashU requires all applicants to submit one essay and also offers an optional essay. Additionally, applicants to the Beyond Boundaries Program, the Joint Program in Business and Computer Science, the Danforth Scholars Program, and the Rodriguez Scholars Program will have to submit an additional essay for their respective programs. 

The application process at WashU is highly competitive, so you will need strong essays to stand out from the crowd. In this post, we’ll go over each prompt in detail and explain how to successfully write it to help guide you through the process.

Read this WashU essay example to inspire your writing. 

Washington University in St. Louis Supplemental Essay Prompts

This is a classic example of the “Why This Major?” essay question. The goal of this prompt is to understand your interest in your selected major and how your background supports that major. If you’re undecided, that’s fine (as the prompt even says!). But you’ll still need to explain your interest in the potential major you selected on your application.

You only have 200 words, so it’s important to keep your answer succinct and informative. The major you choose is likely related to one of your biggest interests or passions, which makes this a great opportunity to showcase your personality to admissions officers.

A good essay would introduce the major, articulate the core reason(s) that you are interested in this major, give specific examples from both inside and outside the classroom of your positive experiences with the subject, and describe what you hope to achieve with that major. To effectively answer this prompt, you need to show the admissions officers why you enjoy this topic, rather than just telling them. An essay that tells why you are interested in a major might look like this:

While this student does include everything they are supposed to, they tell the reader everything by directly saying what they enjoy or think, which leaves the essay looking a bit bland. The same student could write an essay that shows their interest in architecture if they write something like this:

This second response is engaging, descriptive, and it conveys the student’s passion for architecture without them having to say “I like architecture” even once. This student is also able to talk about how their passion developed both inside and outside of the classroom, demonstrating their true passion for the subject.

The other thing this essay does well is connect the student’s interest to WashU by mentioning specific classes and programs that appeal to them. This is much more effective in showing genuine interest to admissions officers than making vague statements about enjoying architecture, as the student does in the first response.

With this in mind, you are equipped to write a stellar response to WashU’s supplement prompt. Good luck! If you’re applying to any special programs, stick around for a breakdown of those prompts. 

While this prompt is optional, we highly encourage you to respond to it. This is another opportunity to share your story with WashU. By responding, you strengthen your application and demonstrate your interest. On the flip side, if you skip this prompt, it sends a message that you may not want to attend WashU. Let’s dive into the options and how to respond. 

This essay falls into the Impact on Community archetype, meaning the goal is to show how you’ve engaged meaningfully with one community and what role you’ve played in it. WashU wants to see that you already have the mindset to participate in and contribute to St. Louis during your time there.

WashU is asking you to define a community you belong to now. It can be geographic, cultural, school-based, online, professional, or interest-based. Then, explain your role. What do you do in that community, not just that you’re a member. Show your impact and how you’ve contributed to or changed that community. Indirectly, show that your approach to community in general will fit WashU’s “For St. Louis” philosophy.

What Makes a Good Response

A strong essay will begin by clearly defining the community you’re writing about, and it should do so within the first few sentences. This doesn’t mean flat-out saying “A community I care about is X”, but rather painting a picture of who makes up the group and why it matters to you. Whether it’s your robotics team, your church choir, or the neighbors who gather at the community garden, give the reader a concrete sense of place. By grounding your essay in specific details early, you ensure the admissions officer knows exactly what “community” means in your context.

Once the community is established, show yourself in action through vivid examples. Maybe you’re organizing schedules, teaching younger members a skill, or creating a safe space for others to share their ideas. Strong responses also highlight the people around you—your essay shouldn’t read like a solo performance. If the impact is only framed in terms of how you felt, it risks sounding self-centered. Instead, show how your efforts affected others, whether that meant making someone feel included, solving a collective problem, or helping the group thrive.

Finally, emphasize growth and authenticity. Admissions officers are less interested in the title you held and more interested in what the experience taught you about leadership, empathy, or service. Perhaps you learned that listening often accomplishes more than directing, or that the most meaningful impact can be quiet and consistent rather than flashy. Avoid framing your involvement as something you did just to boost a résumé; authenticity resonates far more strongly than perfection.

Hypothetical Student Examples

Fatima, a cultural bridge-builder, is part of the Pakistani-American student association in her city. She created interfaith cultural nights with other student groups to share traditions and food, and to help break down stereotypes.

Luca, an adaptive sports volunteer, is part of a local wheelchair basketball league. He designed custom practice drills and secured funding for new equipment, helping younger athletes develop confidence and skills.

Naomi, a teen library council leader, is a member of the local public library’s teen advisory board. She launched a bilingual story hour, bringing in immigrant parents and children, to foster literacy and connection.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

One frequent mistake is choosing a community that is too large or vague. Writing about “my school” or “readers” without narrowing it down makes your response feel unfocused, since almost anyone could claim those as communities. Instead, zoom in on a slice of that larger whole: perhaps your school’s theater tech crew rather than the entire school, or your neighborhood book club instead of “the world of readers.” This makes your story specific, memorable, and easier to tie to concrete experiences.

Another pitfall is treating the essay like a résumé by listing every role you’ve held without going into detail. For example, saying “I was president of the student council, captain of the soccer team, and a volunteer tutor” doesn’t leave space to show what those roles meant to you or your community. Instead, it’s more powerful to choose one example and unpack it  with vivid anecdotes, like organizing a food drive that collected 2,000 cans or designing drills that helped a nervous freshman gain confidence on the field.

Finally, many students skip the “how,” which makes their impact feel vague. Writing “I helped my community” or “I made people feel welcome” doesn’t show admissions officers how you did that. Instead, describe the specific actions you took. Maybe you created bilingual flyers so parents could understand announcements, or you started a buddy system for new members. These details make your contribution real and help readers appreciate why it mattered.

This prompt falls under a classic  Diversity essay. Admissions officers at WashU want to know what life experiences have made you you, and how that story shapes the way you’ll show up on campus.

WashU is saying, “We want to know the real you—the person behind the application.” That means your essay should share a specific, defining life experience (or a few connected moments). Explain how that experience has shaped your worldview, values, or goals. Show how this “story” will influence your presence in the WashU community.

Brainstorming Your Essay

The following questions might help you in your brainstorming process:

• Which life moments have most influenced how I see the world?
• Is there a challenge, responsibility, passion, or tradition that has defined me?
• How has my upbringing, culture, or environment shaped my values?
• When have I felt most “myself” — and what was happening at that time?
• How does this story explain the way I act, lead, or connect with others today?
• What future version of myself does this experience point toward?

What Makes a Good Response

A strong essay should begin by immersing the reader in a vivid, sensory moment—something they can see, hear, or even smell as they step into your story. This could be the sound of the basketball hitting pavement on a late summer evening, the nervous hum of a violin string before your first recital, or the brilliant color combinations of a community mural you helped paint. By grounding your essay in action, dialogue, or imagery, you don’t just tell the admissions officer who you are, you show them, right from the start.

The details you include should reveal your personality in ways that a résumé or transcript never could. If you describe translating for your grandparents at a doctor’s appointment, the action itself conveys responsibility, empathy, and adaptability without needing to explicitly state those qualities. The key is choosing experiences that would be difficult for another applicant to claim as their own, so it should be something distinct to your background, circumstances, or perspective.

From there, connect that single moment to the broader arc of your identity. Maybe translating for your grandparents didn’t just teach you empathy in the moment, but it also sparked your interest in linguistics, community health, or advocacy. Showing how past experiences shape who you are today demonstrates growth and reflection, which are essential qualities WashU is looking for in students who will bring depth to the community. See how the beginning of this essay follows these steps:

Finally, close with a forward-looking note that suggests the impact you hope to make at WashU. This doesn’t mean naming a laundry list of resources, but instead tying your personal qualities to how you’ll show up in the classroom, dorm, or St. Louis community. If your story reveals resilience, curiosity, or creativity, show how you’ll carry those traits with you. This helps the admissions team see the value of not just your story, but of you as a future WashU student.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A frequent mistake is writing too broadly. Phrases like, “I’ve done many things and learned to be a leader,” or “I value diversity,” are too vague and could apply to anyone. Without a specific story, the essay becomes forgettable. Admissions officers want to see your lived experience—the unique moments, conversations, or challenges that shaped you. Instead of stating values or traits outright, ground them in a concrete memory that only you could tell, so your identity comes to life on the page.

Another trap is relying on overly polished moral lessons or failing to connect the past to the present. If your conclusion reads like a slogan (“This taught me teamwork, perseverance, and leadership”) it feels forced. Authentic growth should come across naturally, without sounding rehearsed. Similarly, avoid stopping at the memory itself; admissions officers need to see how the story continues to shape your identity today and how it will guide the contributions you’ll bring to WashU. Without that forward-looking thread, the essay feels incomplete.

WashU’s Beyond Boundaries program is all about addressing the big issues facing the world and equipping students to be creative, informed problem solvers. Your essay will be an important factor in determining whether or not you are the type of person they are looking for, so your essay needs to emphasize personal qualities like global awareness, problem-solving, creativity, curiosity, and collaboration.

This prompt follows a pretty typical “Global Issues” prompt, but like other WashU prompts, there is an extra focus on teamwork. Not only do you need to demonstrate what problem you want to fix, but you also need to explain who you will work with and how you’ll work together to achieve the solution.

The first step is to choose a societal issue you want to focus on. It can be global, regional, or local. The key is to choose something that you genuinely care about and have some connection to. Don’t pick a topic just because you think it’s what admissions officers want to hear—that rarely goes well for applicants.

Your connection could be related to your lived experiences. For example, a student who lives in a food desert might choose to write about solving food insecurity. Alternatively, you might have exposure to an issue from a class or club. For example, a student who represented China in a Model UN conference learned about the mistreatment of the Uyghur people during their research, and might want to write about developing a solution to that issue.

In your essay, be sure to explain your connection to the issue you chose. This is where you can build credibility and empathy, while really showing the admissions committee your dedication to addressing problems facing the world. When considering explaining your connection, consider the following example students:

The second student very clearly has a personal stake in the issue and is passionate about solving it. Like the second student, you should write about an issue you are truly involved in. Strive to convey what solving this important issue would mean to you personally.

Next, you need to describe who will help you achieve your goals and what everyone involved will bring to the table, including yourself. WashU isn’t looking for you to list out a dozen NGOs or broad political structures like the Senate as your answer. Instead, they want to see that you make thoughtful, informed decisions.

Maybe you could pick an established organization like the NAACP that shares your mission and could provide you with resources to solve the problem. Or, perhaps you want to create a team of young, like-minded students you will meet in a particular class or club at WashU. Or, maybe there’s a WashU professor who is an expert on the issue you care about that you would love to work with.

The main takeaway is that you should focus on the depth you go into about why you choose a particular group, rather than the breadth of all the stakeholders who will be useful in solving the societal issue. When choosing members for your team, think quality over quantity.

As you discuss what others will contribute, also include what you will bring to the table. What knowledge or skills do you already possess that make you uniquely qualified to address this issue? Similarly, what knowledge and skills will you acquire with a WashU education that will be useful in tackling the issue? Don’t forget to highlight yourself in your essay—after all, you’re trying to convince WashU to admit you, not the other people helping to solve the problem. 

For this prompt, you want to convey how you plan to synthesize two different topics into one passion that you possess. The prompt itself lists possible careers and specifically asks “how you would use this combined degree,” so this essay should focus on your plans and the possible careers you are considering.

Since you only have 250 words, don’t spend half the essay discussing your interest in business and the other half discussing your interest in computer science. The majority of this essay should be about the fusion of the two subjects.

To successfully write this essay, you should include a discussion of what drew you to the intersection of business and technology, what your career plan post-graduation is and why, and what resources or offerings in the program would be helpful to you. Now, let’s run through what should and should not be included in each part of the essay.

What drew you to these topics?

While this shouldn’t be the majority of your essay, you must address this question to demonstrate your passion for this unique combination of disciplines. A brief anecdote would be good to include at the beginning of your essay.

For example, a student who was so fascinated by trends in the stock market that she generated detailed charts and graphs could discuss how she organized data and analyzed the graphs she made. Or, a student who coded her app so customers of the bakery she worked for could order ahead might describe the challenges she overcame to make the app.

What do you plan to do?

Answering this question should be the bulk of your essay, as admissions officers want to know what creative aspirations you have that other applicants don’t. For this section, you might want to expand on an experience or project you worked on in the past that you want to delve deeper into. If you don’t already have a good amount of experience in these two fields, you can go into detail about your aspirations.

For instance, if you want to start your own technology company, you should discuss your inspirations, how you plan to overcome challenges with the knowledge and skills you’ll acquire at WashU, and why these two disciplines are essential to your future goals. The key is to be specific and exciting. WashU is looking to admit students who will be impressive alumni, so show them how you plan to make an impact down the road. What resources will you use?

Finally, you should mention how the goals you want to accomplish will only be possible if you obtain this education from WashU. You could talk about specific classes that pique your interest, professors you want to conduct research with, and extracurricular opportunities that fit your niche.

It’s important that you intertwine the program’s resources with your plans and interests to actually demonstrate your passion for these topics. You want to convey specific ways in which WashU will provide you with a fulfilling education. You do not want to simply name-drop random professors or classes without establishing a connection, though. Additionally, the resources you discuss should be unique to this specific program at WashU, and not available anywhere else. 

This is an Impact on Community essay, but it’s also a Leadership-focused question. The admissions committee wants concrete, specific examples showing how your leadership style empowers others, not just how you achieve your own goals.

They’re looking for your leadership philosophy. Do you lead through collaboration, mentorship, example-setting, or advocacy? How did your actions help others grow or create lasting change in your community? You want to make a connection to Danforth values like integrity, humility, service, and empowering others. Importantly, they want to see that leadership for you isn’t about titles, but about influence, growth, and service.

Brainstorming Your Essay

Consider the following questions to guide your brainstorming process:

• When have I taken initiative in a way that directly empowered someone else’s growth?
• Have I mentored, coached, or supported others to develop skills or confidence?
• Did I help create an environment where others could take ownership or leadership themselves?
• What challenges did I face as a leader, and how did I adapt?
• How do my actions reflect values like integrity, collaboration, and humility?
• Which communities have I impacted — school clubs, local organizations, online networks, cultural or religious groups?

What Makes a Good Response

The most compelling essays will show leadership in action rather than telling the admissions committee about it. Consider opening your essay with the nervous buzz of your robotics team right before competition, the hush before you spoke at a town hall, or the overlapping voices of classmates during a debate you moderated. By grounding your essay in sensory details, you let the reader experience your leadership firsthand and understand how you operate in real time.

Once you’ve set the scene, shift the focus to those you empowered. The Danforth Scholars Program emphasizes fostering growth, so admissions officers want to see how your actions helped others develop. Instead of simply saying, “I organized tutoring sessions,” you might describe the pride on a student’s face after finally mastering a tough algebra concept, or how a once-hesitant teammate began confidently pitching ideas after your encouragement. These concrete outcomes demonstrate that your leadership isn’t about authority—it’s about cultivating the potential in others.

It also helps to highlight tangible results that illustrate your impact. Did your guidance lead to higher participation rates, a successful new initiative, or a culture shift within your group? Even small but specific changes make your leadership real. Pair this with self-reflection. What did you learn about yourself in the process? Perhaps you realized leadership means listening more than speaking, or that humility often inspires more trust than control. Showing awareness of your own growth makes the essay stronger.

Above all, root your narrative in values that align with the Danforth pillars of integrity, humility, and community-building. Admissions officers aren’t looking for positional power; they want to see how you embody servant leadership. By connecting your story to how you uplifted others while staying grounded in shared values, you’ll demonstrate both your impact and your fit with WashU’s vision for Danforth Scholars. Ending with a forward-looking note about how you’ll carry these values into WashU brings your essay full circle.

Hypothetical Student Examples

Kiran, the STEM outreach leader: As president of his school’s engineering club, Kiran started a partnership with a local middle school to run weekly STEM challenges. He could describe how one shy seventh-grader went from hesitant participant to leading her team in competition.

Lila, the peer mental health advocate: Lila founded a peer support group to address stigma around mental health. She could tell the story of how an open discussion night gave one student the courage to seek professional help and start her awareness project.

Diego, the community garden coordinator: Diego organized a neighborhood garden, teaching volunteers planting techniques and empowering younger members to take ownership of their plots, eventually turning them into teaching leaders for the next group.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

You will want to avoid framing leadership entirely around yourself. If your essay focuses only on what you accomplished or how impressive your role was, it misses the heart of the question. WashU wants to see how you used your leadership to empower others, not just advance your own achievements.

Another mistake students can make is leaning too heavily on titles or vague claims of authority. Saying “I was captain of the soccer team” or “I was president of the club” doesn’t tell the reader anything meaningful. Instead, admissions officers want to know what you actually did in those positions, and what difference it made. 

Additionally, leadership can sometimes be more meaningful when you exhibit it without having a title. Maybe you mentored a younger student on your debate team even after you lost club elections and didn’t hold a single “official” leadership position. Don’t fall into the trap of limiting your leadership to areas where you have a title.

Finally, avoid glossing over results or skipping reflection. You should show the concrete changes your leadership sparked — whether that’s a peer gaining confidence, a project succeeding, or a community shifting in some way. Then, connect those outcomes back to what you learned about yourself and your approach to leadership, because the “how” and “why” are just as important as the “what.”

This is an example of an Impact on Community archetype essay because it asks you to connect your actions and values to social justice work, specifically in marginalized communities. The key here is specificity. You’ll need to bring one or two moments to life with detail, and not just list your volunteer résumé.

This question wants to know what you’ve done in real, concrete actions that you’ve taken to promote social justice or improve marginalized communities. Spend some time thinking about your role, not just “what” you did, but why you did it and how you approached it. Align your work with Dr. Ervin’s legacy. Even if you don’t know all the details of his work, this is about embodying his values: equity, advocacy, and meaningful community engagement.

They’re asking for impact, not just participation. That means showing your contribution and its ripple effects.

What Makes a Good Response

When writing this essay, make sure you explore a single way you’ve made a positive impact on marginalized communities. For example, instead of saying, “I’ve volunteered at food drives, coached soccer for underprivileged youth, and attended protests against unfair policing policies” a stronger approach would be to pick one: “As I stacked cans of beans in the food pantry, I noticed the same mother come in every week, her toddler clinging to her leg. One afternoon, I knelt down and offered the child a picture book from our donation shelf — the first time I saw her smile.” This pulls the reader into a single, meaningful moment and reveals leadership and empathy in action.

Reflection is what transforms an anecdote into an admissions-worthy essay. Be sure to explain not just what happened, but why it mattered, to both your community and yourself. For example: “Seeing her smile over a simple book reminded me that helping others isn’t about big gestures but about paying attention to the small needs that often go unnoticed. That day taught me that dignity and joy can be restored in small ways—a lesson I carry into every project I lead.” By tying the story to your ongoing values, you show that your commitment to social justice is part of your identity, not just a single experience. Admissions readers want to know you’ll bring this same spirit to WashU and beyond.

Hypothetical Student Examples

Samira, the health equity advocate: Samira volunteered at a free clinic serving immigrant farmworker families, translating intake forms into Spanish and helping patients navigate health insurance. She could describe the first time she explained a complex medical form to a mother in her native language and saw the relief in her eyes.

Daniel, the youth mentor: Daniel led a coding club for middle school students in an under-resourced neighborhood, creating lesson plans that didn’t require expensive software. He could describe the moment one student proudly showed him a game she built, and how that pushed him to advocate for more funding for technology access.

Aaliyah, the housing justice organizer: Aaliyah joined a local tenants’ rights group, going door-to-door to help residents understand their legal protections. She could share the story of an elderly tenant who avoided eviction thanks to their efforts.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A word of caution when you approach this essay: don’t make yourself sound like a savior. Students can fall into the trap of embellishing their accomplishments, and as a result it can sometimes come off like these students single handedly are fixing racism or sexism. Be careful in how your words come across, and if you are in doubt, ask yourself if you’ve described a story of partnership and empowerment, or one of charity and pity.

This is another example of the Impact on Community archetype, however this essay has two layers:

1. A story that explains why you serve.
2. Two examples that show you’re not just inspired, but consistently act on that motivation.

They’re looking for your personal “why,” the deeper reason behind your commitment to service, ideally rooted in a formative moment or relationship. Admissions wants proof that this isn’t a one-time project but a pattern in your life. Think about the impact of your work and how it benefits others and shapes you. Again, they value students who act with empathy, persistence, and humility.

Brainstorming Your Essay

For the motivation story:

• What was the first moment I truly felt the importance of service?
• Was there a specific person, event, or need that opened my eyes?
• What emotions did I feel — frustration at injustice, joy from connection, determination to fix something?

For the two examples:

• What are the most meaningful service roles I’ve held?
• What specific impact did I make — a measurable change, a personal connection, a ripple effect?
• How do these examples connect to my original motivation?

What Makes a Good Response

Since the prompt specifically asks you to share a story, you can jump right in with the story as the hook of your essay. You can place the reader in the middle of the action to draw them in, use imagery or onomatopoeia to create the visual, etc. What you want to avoid, though, is something like this:

This is what we would consider telling, not showing. In contrast, this opening sentence shows the reader how the student’s motivation developed:

Although sharing vivid anecdotes like the one above are critical to this prompt, you can’t just leave it at that. You will also need to show your personal growth by connecting how that initial moment changed your perspective or goals. 

Maybe you used to want to be a corporate lawyer, but after that experience you were only interested in immigration law. Or maybe you had a basic understanding of Spanish before that, but after you committed yourself to learning Spanish in your free time and attending an immersion program in Mexico City to become fluent so you can better help the population you worked with.

It’s important that you highlight the impact of your commitment to service, even if it’s just in small ways. In fact, sometimes small impacts can make for better stories. However, keep in mind that you shouldn’t frame yourself as a savior as you describe the impact you had. 

Hypothetical Student Examples

Jamal, a food justice advocate, watched his grandmother skip meals to feed her grandkids. He was motivated to start a weekend food delivery program for seniors in his neighborhood. He also lobbied the school board to add fresh produce to the cafeteria menu.

Abby, a refugee tutor, wanted to help her Syrian neighbor learn English and navigate grocery shopping. So, she co-founded an ESL club at the local library. She also created a mentorship program pairing high schoolers with refugee middle schoolers.

Mateo, an environmental restorer, watched his childhood creek become polluted and lifeless. So, he decided to organize monthly cleanups with local scouts. He also partnered with a biology teacher to test water quality and present findings to the city council.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Keep in mind that you don’t want to use generic phrases like “Helping people is important to me” in your essay. You should be showing the admissions officers that it’s important to you through the anecdotes you highlight in your essay, but a phrase like this comes off as lazy and sometimes even disingenuous. 

Another thing to avoid is just listing out the different ways you’ve engaged in service. Yes, the prompt asks you to include two examples, but you shouldn’t just drop them in the essay. Make sure these two examples are tied into the overall flow of the essay so it reads as a cohesive piece from your initial motivation to your continued dedication, to your future plans, and not a list. 

Finally, while your examples can be from different activities, clubs, actions, etc., they should have a common thread that times them together. For example, if the thing you became passionate about is helping animals through your experience adopting a rescue dog, your two examples don’t also have to be related to dog rescuing, but they do need to be related to helping animals.

Where to Get Your WashU Essays Edited for Free

Do you want free, nearly-instantaneous feedback on your WashU essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. So, meet Sage, our AI tutor and advisor, who will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Sage can improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school by helping you show what you have to offer beyond the numbers!