Supplementary essays advice? *For last minute crammers....Desperately need some help.

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
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Hey all,

how long does an supplementary essay take you? I’m currently stuck on the “why you should join our college” part. I know its vital and every college demands it, but I dont know how to approach it. Please tell me it can be moderately done in a few days. People tell me to recycle this prompt, just substitute the terms and words specific to that school.

And do they read all responses seriously? For USC, they ask for fav foods and artists, and I know they just wanna see my personality, but they ask where I spend my browser history. I admit, its just watching basketball highlights and going on reddit. I wanna be honest, but should i still take it seriously. sounds like a fun prompt, but how can they “grade” it. Ofc I ll try my best, but I dont want to stress over it.

Will a Beast Commonapp essay overcome a crappy supplementary? mine is pretty good, but i dont have time to make my supps as good as I want them to.

For schools that have a lot of supps (rice stanford, usc in particular), need the responses reflect my major?

If a have an art portfolio but I’m going in as an EE major, should I submit it?

How optional are “optional” essays, I know they want it but if its gonna be crap, should i just avoid doing it?

Can someone read over my supplementary essays?

sorry if I sound like a lazy procrastinating guy, but I decided last minute to shoot for 5+ more colleges than is on my list.

Appreciate any input!! THANKS!!

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Isn’t the deadline for california schools Nov 30th?

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Thats for UC, this is for CommonApp.

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for usc deadline is the 15th

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@MayiqueCynthia ik that was just an example.

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  1. The more time you take, the better. However, it can be done in a moderate amount of time. Just remember to talk about what you can bring to the school instead of what the school can do for you. In other words, don’t talk about something the school already knows about itself.

  2. The short answer questions are just ways for the school to get a better picture of you. Don’t worry about this section; as long as you don’t put something bad on here, a school isn’t going to reject you because of where you spend your time online. Just be yourself.

  3. It all depends. I’m not an admissions officer so I can’t really say. However, your CA essay has to be really really good for it to overshadow a bad supplement. A poorly written supplement may indicate a lack of interest in the school or time management, and that may be looked down upon.

  4. No, but it can help if you focus on your passions.

  5. Yes. You don’t have to be an art major to submit art supplements! It can only help your application.

  6. Optional essays are optional, but it might hurt you if you don’t do them. Unless you’re seriously cramped for time, do these.

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@azwu331 thanks so much! I submitted half my apps yesterday and i pretty much used your advice. And yeah, my CA essay is, may I say, impeccable for a 17-year old. Many people read it, and I feel confident that the essay was well written and worth months of work. Thanks again for the clear responses1