CollegeVine College Essay Team August 11, 2024 27 Essay Guides 2024-25,Washington University in St. Louis | WashU

How to Write the Washington University in St. Louis Essays 2024-2025

Washington University in St. Louis, more affectionately known as WashU, requires all applicants to submit two essays, one of which offers three options for students to choose from. Additionally, applicants to the Beyond Boundaries Program and applicants to the Joint Program in Business and Computer Science will have to submit an additional essay for their respective program. There are also 2 required prompts for each of WashU’s three scholarship 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 totally 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:

“I want to study architecture at WashU because I want to build houses one day. I love looking at buildings and seeing all the different designs and structures. I have enjoyed building things from a young age. When I was five years old, I got my first set of Legos and I have built countless houses, skyscrapers, and landmarks since then. I also enjoyed my wood-working class sophomore year of high school, where I tried to build scale models of buildings I had seen while traveling.

An architecture major would be perfect for me, since I would be able to continue building different structures. I’m also interested in studying abroad to experience different types of architecture in different countries. I think WashU’s architecture program would be perfect for me to build on my current interests and learn new skills.”

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:

“My feet were aching after walking through the streets of Paris all day, and I begged my mom to go back to the hotel so I could relax. Three more blocks. Eagerly picking up the pace, I rounded the corner and my little brother knocked into my frozen body. Marble pillars glistened in the sunlight, intricate carvings graced every side, and a giant green dome crowned the top of the Paris Opera House.

All the pain dissipated as my feet carried me closer to the most breathtaking feat of architecture I had ever laid my eyes on. Fascinated by the glamor and opulence of the opera house, I took in every detail from the giant arches to the tiny inscriptions. The next fall, when my wood-working teacher announced our independent projects, there wasn’t a moment of hesitation in my mind when I decided to construct a replica of the Paris Opera House.

At WashU, I will take classes like Architectural History: Antiquity to Baroque and participate in the Sam Fox Florence Architecture study abroad program to continue learning about European architecture. With the skills and knowledge I will gain at WashU, I will be able to combine the splendor of old architecture with the practicality of modern architecture.”

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 actually want to attend WashU. Let’s dive into the options and how to respond.

Choosing this prompt will give you the option to discuss traits like your creativity, teamwork, intelligence, leadership, and ingenuity. If any of these characteristics sounds like you, you should seriously consider responding to this option. Admissions officers are asking this question to learn both about your intellect and problem-solving skills, as well as how you work with others.

When it comes to writing this essay, the best strategy is to tell a story. That doesn’t mean you should just include an anecdote in the hook and then transition away from it—writing like that tends to be less engaging and more focused on telling, rather than showing. In order to fully captivate your readers, you need to pick a specific moment and expand it into a story that encapsulates the entire essay.

To ensure your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end, you can use the following steps as guidance for your writing.

Step 1: Set the scene

Like any good story, you need to start by establishing the equilibrium that exists before any conflict arises. If you think about your essay in the context of a traditional story arc, this would be the exposition.

Show the reader where you are, why you’re there, who you’re with, when it is, etc., so that they have enough imagery to place themselves in the situation. Since this essay is on the shorter side, you won’t have a ton of space to focus on setting the scene. A sentence or two should be sufficient. The examples below demonstrate good hooks that are both enticing and provide context:

“Whoever said group projects are a blast has clearly never endured the cosmic slowing of time, the rhythmic tapping of pencils, and the zoned-out stares that result from Mrs. Green’s third-period English book clubs.”

“Seated criss-cross-applesauce on the lip of the stage in a semicircle, the cast of Hairspray anxiously awaited our director’s notes on our abysmal run-through.”

Step 2: Explain the conflict

The next step in a good story is some sort of conflict—and no, we don’t mean a physical fight. While conflict can be physical, it will probably be emotional or mental in most of the stories you would share with a college admissions committee. You want your essays to be free of any violence or similar questionable subject matter.

This should be pretty straightforward and, like the setting of the scene, shouldn’t take up too much space in your essay. You need to highlight that there was some interpersonal or situational issue that prevented your group from performing at its best—that way, your contribution and solution to the issue can be the main focus of your essay.

It’s possible that you think your story is free of conflict, but conflict can really come up anywhere. Maybe your group just had no ideas about what topic to choose for a presentation—that’s conflict. Or perhaps your entire group agreed on one way to complete a task, but you wanted to try something new—that’s also conflict.

Step 3: Show the reader what you contributed

This is where the bulk of your essay should be focused, but notice the keyword: show. Telling the reader your new idea or opinion would make for a rather straightforward essay that reveals very little about your thought process and interpersonal skills. By showing with imagery and details, you can make much more of an impression on the admissions committee.

You might want to include your internal dialogue to demonstrate your inner thoughts and feelings towards the situation:

“Everyone was talking over one another and not a single word was processed. If we could just discuss this civilly, then we might stand a chance of turning the paper in before the deadline.”

Another strategy to show what you brought to your group is including dialogue. Adding snippets of conversation between you and your team members adds some flow to the essay and can easily demonstrate your attitude towards the situation with the word choice you use. Just be careful not to include too much dialogue, otherwise your essay might read like a novel.

You can also choose to focus on your feelings and your group members’ feelings. For example, maybe everyone was feeling unmotivated and lazy, which made you upset, but rather than accept defeat you decided to use humor to diffuse the tension and started suggesting silly ideas until something stuck.

There’s many ways to go about showing rather than telling, so don’t feel like you’re just constrained to these options. As long as you’re able to communicate what your fresh perspective or idea was and how you presented it to your group, you should be fine.

It’s also important to include where your idea came from. Whether you had a fresh perspective because your background is different from that of other people in your group, or you’re generally a creative person who’s always coming up with new ideas, make sure the admissions committee understands where your contribution came from.

Step 4: Demonstrate your impact

In the conclusion of this essay, you’ll want to demonstrate how your idea or opinion impacted your group. While the impact could be something along the lines of getting a good grade or winning some competition, we’d urge you to dig a little deeper and think about a more personal impact you had.

Did your perspective change your group members’ minds about the topic? Did your solution allow your team to engage in an activity they were unfamiliar with and, in turn, they all learned a new skill? Try and think about the impact you had on others beyond the obvious things that come to mind and you will impress the admissions committee with your astute perspective.

College is one big community, and WashU is curious to see how you will fit into their campus community. This prompt is very straightforward, but it also gives you a lot of freedom to talk about any community that is meaningful to you and what you do as a part of it. The goal of this essay is to demonstrate that you are an active community member and can fit right in at WashU.

It’s extremely important that you pick a community that is central to your life and that you play a large role in. Here are a few examples of communities you could consider:

• Religious community
• Racial or ethnic community
• Sports teams
• Clubs and extracurricular organizations
• Volunteer organizations
• Political movements
• Apartment building or street block
• Online communities or groups
• Community of people who share a similar hobby or interest

As you can see, there are many different ways to approach this essay. Once you know what community you want to write about, you need to discuss your role within the community.

A quick note if you intend to write about your racial background: In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race on an individual basis, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts as one of their supplemental essay prompts.

This is not exactly a traditional diversity prompt, and by no means are you required to choose your racial or ethnic community as your topic for this essay, but if you feel that this aspect of your background has impacted you significantly, you may wish to consider choosing the third option for this prompt instead. That said, feel free to write about a racial or ethnic community for this option if you want to.

When choosing a community, don’t make the mistake of thinking you can only talk about one where you were a leader or contributed to some big project—even as a member of the community you could still play a large role. When you’re thinking about the role you played, ask yourself these four questions:

1. What actions do I take?
2. Why do I enjoy being in this community?
3. How do I impact others in my community?
4. What do I learn from being a part of this community?

If you can answer these questions, you can write an essay that is personal and informative. Including self-reflection, especially for the third and fourth question, will demonstrate your critical thinking and maturity to the admissions committee.

Finally, the last part of this essay is being able to look beyond your past experiences in your community and apply them to a broader context. The first way you can go about this is by applying a lesson you learned from being a part of the community that you take with you in all other aspects of your life.

For example, a student might have learned the power of collective action from being a part of the March for Our Lives community, which they have applied to other issues they care deeply about so they can achieve results when everyone bands together.

The other way to broaden the horizons of your essay is to talk about WashU. In fact, even if you go the first route and discuss a lesson you learned, you should still consider bringing WashU in to show how you can apply that lesson on campus.

Maybe your Indian community at home is extremely important to you, so you’re looking forward to joining the Indian dance team on campus to stay connected to that community. Or, perhaps you’re planning to start a fashion entrepreneurship club on campus to create a community that currently doesn’t exist.

By the end of your essay, the admissions committee should know exactly what you value in a community and should be able to imagine you in specific WashU communities. Ending the essay with your community involvement at WashU is a nice way to leave the admissions officers with a positive impression of you as an involved student.

A quick note: As mentioned before, the recent Supreme Court decision striking down the use of affirmative action in college admissions has caused many colleges to implement open-ended prompts like this that allow you to discuss life experiences. Colleges are still allowed to consider race on an individual basis, so if you feel as though your racial background has impacted you significantly, use this prompt to share that with the admissions committee.

Race is by no means the only way to approach this topic; students with any impactful life experience are welcome to choose this option. You might consider answering this prompt with what you think is the most important part of your identity, then continue with a small discussion about how that aspect of your life is relevant to you and your other general experiences.

Such a response might be written about one of the following scenarios:

• Using your fluency in another language to help members of a specific community.
• Interpreting a text in class differently from your classmates because of your ethnic culture.
• Having a friend of a different background who has changed your perspective on something important.
• Having an illness or disability that helps you view accessibility through a different lens than your peers.
• Being part of a niche interest group/fandom and trying to represent the group faithfully when talking to people who aren’t members of it.

Simply listing things that generate diversity should be avoided. Sure, your identity includes your ethnicity/race, gender identity, sexual orientation, country of origin, and even languages you speak, but writing that laundry list out with no elaboration doesn’t contribute much to your application. Instead, pick one or two aspects of your identity, and elaborate on them using anecdotes about your experiences.

Also, bear in mind that the traditional markers of identity listed about aren’t the only ones you might discuss. There are other aspects of identity that can contribute to the ways in which you might interact with the community around you, including your socioeconomic class, your hometown, any illnesses/disabilities you might have, and even your interests or hobbies.

You are the only person who has lived your own unique life, so strive to convey that through individuality and specificity in your response. This prompt, like all the others, is an opportunity to showcase your unique life perspective. You don’t want to waste this opportunity by writing down some bland dictionary definitions.

Think of what life experiences have been meaningful to you, or what you consider to be a particularly significant aspect of your life. From there, think of personal anecdotes or stories about how these experiences have contributed to your growth or development as a person.

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 structure “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 almost never 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 first student writes: “Addressing rising sea levels before it is too late must be the number one priority of our generation.”

The second student writes: “The deafening crash of the waves drowns out the sounds of my childhood. I can’t bear the thought of the pastel blue houses I’ve known all my life being pulled out to sea as nothing more than driftwood when the sea level rises a mere two inches more.”

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 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 future plans and possible careers you are considering.

Since you only have 200 words, don’t spend half the essay discussing your interest in business and the other half discussing your interest in computer science. In fact, 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, it’s important that you 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 own 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 much 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 future 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.

Apart from Dr. Danforth’s quote, this is a fairly standard instance of the community service essay, so check out CollegeVine’s guide dedicated just to this kind of prompt!

Brainstorming Your Topic:

This prompt essentially boils down to its last sentence—how will your lived experiences impact this program? That is a very open-ended question, which you could use as a road into just about any topic. That freedom means that the brainstorming process is crucial to writing a strong response. If you don’t already have a clear sense of what you want to say, your essay may end up all over the place.

One good way to focus your brainstorming is through the prompt’s attention to dialogue. You’re likely going to share anecdotes and advice with your peers at WashU, as you probably already do with your friends and family right now. Questions like the following may help you start figuring out what you want to write about:

• Which stories do you tell most often?
• When you meet someone new, what are some of the first things you usually talk about?
• When you give advice, which experiences do you draw on?
• How have the experiences from the previous question shaped you into who you are today?

Hopefully, thinking through these slightly more targeted questions will give you some ideas about what you might want to include in your essay. You only have 200 words to work with, so you’ll probably have to home in on one experience to use as the foundation for your essay. Once you have an idea of the general structure for your essay, you can then connect bigger picture takeaways to it, which ensures that your essay is cohesive.

One thing you should avoid is rewriting the same essay as the previous prompt. You don’t need to go into another story about your impact on your community here. You have more of a chance to be creative and try to convey a different message from the previous one.

For example, maybe you choose to focus your essay on your tradition of getting an owl-themed trinket anywhere you go on vacation, and how this small, seemingly silly routine has given you something consistent across different periods of your life. Perhaps this consistency is something that grounds you, and you might share this story with your future peers to help them come up with their own ways to order and appreciate the big events in their lives.

Remember, the Danforth Scholars Program, as well as the Ervin Scholars Program and Rodriguez Scholars Program, are centered around the ideas of leadership, community service, and diversity. Try to find a life experience that touches on at least two of those values so you can discuss how you will bring the lesson it taught you to WashU.

Tips for Writing Your Essay:

As noted above, for this prompt, brainstorming is more than half the battle. If you have a clear game plan before you start writing, actually getting the words down will hopefully be more about finding the right phrasing and crafting smooth transitions than actually generating content.

You do want to make sure that, like in any college essay, you’re utilizing the “show, don’t tell” strategy. In other words, rather than telling something to your reader directly, describe a moment or situation that illustrates the point you’re trying to make. To see the benefits of this approach, compare the following two excerpts from hypothetical essays:

Excerpt 1: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve collected owl trinkets on family vacations. In 2009, I got my first one, a ceramic burrowing owl from Tucson, Arizona. The most recent addition to my collection was a dense, bronze owl from Athens, who I was especially excited about since owls are the symbol of Athena, the patron goddess of that city.”

Excerpt 2: “As my family enters the small, dimly lit shop at the end of one of Athens’s many winding streets, my eyes immediately lock onto the shelves upon shelves of owls. Huge, marble ones that cost hundreds of euros, and tiny, wooden ones as spindly as a toothpick. After much deliberation, I select a dense bronze fellow who is barely an inch high. I can already envision how he’ll look on my desk at home, lined up next to all the other owls I’ve collected over the years.”

These two excerpts give us basically the same information, but the first presents it to us in a very dry, factual way. The second, on the other hand, drops us right next to the writer as they pick out their latest owl, and includes vivid descriptions that make this excerpt much more engaging to read.

Since you only have 200 words at your disposal, you should keep your stylistic flourishes limited, but don’t feel like you can’t use them at all. That being said, in your early drafts, don’t focus on this kind of finer detail. Make sure you have a personal, informative, cohesive essay first, then take the time to add the cherries on top later.

To connect your experience and its lesson to the program, visit the program’s web page and do a little research on the values it holds in high regard. Since each of the three scholarship programs offers this as their second prompt, all three program web pages are linked above, just before this tips section.

Mistakes to Avoid:

As we hinted at in the brainstorming section above, the biggest potential pitfall with this essay is that—because of the open-ended, narrative nature of this essay—you may end up adrift, without any clear focus point to anchor you. To avoid that happening, don’t just rattle off a bunch of vague, Hallmark card lessons. Instead, follow the strategies laid out in the previous two sections to ensure that the points you make are clearly connected to your own personal experiences.

The other thing you want to be sure to avoid is repeating information that can already be found elsewhere in your application, namely in your Common App essay. If you already wrote about your owl collection there, you want to pick something else to focus on here. You only get so many opportunities to share your personality with Princeton’s admissions officers, so don’t waste one by telling them things they already know.

At its core, this is a standard diversity prompt. Be sure to check out our linked post for all the tips and examples you need to write a successful essay! That being said, there are a couple of things to note:

First and foremost, you should note that earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race on an individual basis, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts as one of their supplemental essay prompts. If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this is definitely the place to discuss that.

Second, a typical diversity prompt generally asks about your background, life experiences, or identity, and how these things have shaped you into the person you are now. This prompt is a little bit different in that it’s asking how you’ve “taken action to champion diversity in your own life.”

The act of championing diversity can take many forms. Perhaps you’ve led a march for gender equality after a major institutional injustice occurred, or maybe you do something on a much smaller scale, like teaching kids in your neighborhood your native language. However you support and advocate for diversity is fair game for this prompt.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box—after all, diversity encompasses many things. You might think of a more traditional aspect of identity, such as ethnicity/race, country of origin, first language, gender identity, or sexual orientation. But diversity also includes things like your hometown community, socioeconomic status/income class, illnesses/disabilities, and even interests or hobbies!

Like the Danforth Scholars Program’s second prompt, this is a great example of the classic “Community” essay!

Looking through the lens of Annika Rodriguez’s enduring legacy at WashU, this prompt asks you how you’ve demonstrated your commitment to two things—serving others and championing cultural awareness and understanding. In order to successfully address both parts of the prompt, you’ll want to incorporate elements of both the community service essay and the diversity essay.

The most effective response to this prompt should reflect on your community service experiences from the perspective of cultural awareness. If you volunteer at a local cultural center—like one that practices and preserves traditional Indian dances, or one that teaches children about traditional Mexican holidays and cultural practices, for example—this is the perfect place to write about that.

Even if you don’t have a service experience that is directly tied to cultural awareness, you can respond to this prompt. For example, you might tutor someone in another language, or perhaps you volunteer at a nursing home and teach the residents a card game from your hometown. Remember, the idea of “cultural awareness” encompasses many things that can be used to respond to this prompt—even something as simple as spreading a tradition that began in your city.

This prompt is identical to the Ervin Scholars Program’s Prompt 2, apart from the name of the program, so you’ll once again want to tackle this as a traditional “Community” essay!

Where to Get Your WashU Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your WashU essays? 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.

Need feedback faster? Get a free, nearly-instantaneous essay review from Sage, our AI tutor and advisor. Sage will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Use these tools to improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school!