University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is a public research university. It is one of the oldest public universities in the US and boasts over 70 courses of study. The school has a largely suburban campus and has about 20,000 undergraduate students. Since it is a public school, the acceptance rate for instate students is much higher than its out-of-state acceptance rate. The in-state acceptance rate is about 42% while the out-of-state rate is only about 10%. Their supplement isn’t too long, but there are a lot of questions (thankfully, most of them are short answers.) This is our advice on how to tackle UNC’s supplement.
Their writing questions are in a section called “Short Answer Questions” even though the first two are 250 words… which we wouldn’t exactly call short.
They say:
In addition to the essay you provided with your Common Application, please choose two of the prompts below and respond to each in 200-250 words. Your essay responses below should be different from your common app essay response.
Carolina aspires to build a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that students can only achieve their best when they learn alongside students from different backgrounds. In reading your responses, we hope to learn what being a member of such a community would mean to you.
They then list 4 prompts of which you need to choose two.
Describe an aspect of your identity and how this has shaped your life experiences or impacted your daily interactions with others?
If you choose this prompt, you need to tell a story. The easiest way to structure this essay is to identify an aspect of your identity and then tell a story about how it has been challenged or affirmed in some way by someone. The identity doesn’t need to be racial, religious, etc. But it can be. For example, an aspect of your identity might be being a good listener or being committed to a cause. Whether you write about wearing a hijab or not being competitive, you want to center your story around how that aspect of yourself interacted with a real-life situation. This story should have a beginning, middle, and end as well as specifics and probably dialogue.
Describe a peer who is making a difference in your school or community. What actions has that peer taken? How has their work made a difference in your life?
This is a tricky question. We don’t love questions that ask students to write about someone other than themselves. They are tricky to write because they usually end up saying more about the other person than they do about the writer. If you choose to do this question, you need to use your peer as a reflection of yourself and your values. It’s easier to choose someone doing something small and personal here. Maybe it’s the person who runs a community fridge that you volunteer at. Or maybe you and your friends host open study nights. The closer you are to the action, the better here.
If you could change one thing to better your community, what would it be? Please explain.
We really like this prompt. There are so many issues that you can write about. Be specific and make sure it connects to your community. If you can keep it local, that’s usually for the best. Tell a story about how this issue has affected you and the people around you then be specific about how that solving that issue would change the community. For example, saying people shouldn’t be racist at your school is a bit of a no-brainer. Saying that your school’s theater club that you are involved in should do more plays from minority voices says more about you, your community, and your perspective. Don’t be afraid to get specific about how or why something needs to change.
Former UNC-Chapel Hill employee, community service member, and civil rights activist Esphur Foster once said “We are nothing without our history.” How does history shape who you are?
This is a great prompt if you can tell a specific story about your family or where you are from. This isn’t the time to explore the nature of history in general. Choose something specific from history that has impacted you or your family. Whatever you choose to write about, make sure that it is a story with a beginning, middle, and end and not a free-write style exercise.
Once you have completed the two 250-word essays, UNC asks for a bunch of really short answer questions. These are super short. Think around a sentence or two at most. This is a great opportunity to show sides of yourself, your personality, and quirks that you may not have shown elsewhere.
Please complete these short fill-in-the-blanks in 25 words or less.
One family, friend, or school tradition I cherish…*
Traditions can be anything. Thursday night movie night is a tradition. Baking cookies before a big test. Try to get personal or specific. Going to church on Sunday is a tradition but it doesn’t say much about you. Picking up your friend and carpooling to church and singing the whole way there? It gives the reader a better understanding of who you are.
If I had an extra hour in every day, I would spend it...*
Our biggest suggestion is don’t say studying or sleeping. We all need more sleep and more time to work, but it’s kind of the “don’t talk to me until I have had my coffee” mug of answers. You can be more unique. Think of things that bring you joy or projects you have wanted to do and just keep putting off.
If I could travel anywhere, near or far, past, present or future, I would go…*
Our advice here is to think outside the box. There are a lot of answers and most of them work here. The big challenge with this question is to not sound trite. This is especially important if you chose the past. This is not the time to say “kill Hitler.” Anything that has become a time-travel meme or go-to probably doesn’t say enough about you. If you are getting stuck, think about an interest you have and connect your travel to that interest.
The last time I stepped outside my comfort zone, I...*
This can be a hard question because if you don’t choose something really obvious, you might have to explain it a little. This gets tricky because this isn’t a lot of words. You don’t have to really explain something like “public speaking” or “auditioning for a new club,” but those answers run the risk of not feeling personal enough. Something like “wearing a dress to prom” on the other hand might need some explaining such as “wearing a dress to prom even though I am masc, non-binary, but I felt beautiful and powerful.” Comfort zones are personal, so you might have to define yours to show why you stepped out of it.
People who meet me are most likely to notice...and least likely to notice...*
You can make these too items related but you don’t have to. Rule of thumb, don’t write anything physical here. Think less “my eyes” and more about personality traits. Think of this question like astrology. In astrology, your sun sign is listed first, but the moon is how you present internally. This question is kind of asking for your sun personality and your moon personality, but instead of Leo or Aries, use important markers about you. This is also difficult because you only have 25 words overall and not each. You are going ot have to keep these traits short!
Colleges ask short answer questions often to be fun and quirky. However, we have found that they don’t feel fun to a lot of students. Instead, students often freak out over them. It’s ok to show off your quirks with those questions! We promise. Colleges love interesting candidates and that includes quirks. Make sure you give yourself enough time to do some drafts and some brainstorming. Even if the essays are short, that doesn’t mean you can you should rush through them.
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