With only one short supplemental essay prompt, this application is sure to be a breeze—or at least that’s the goal of this guide.
As an aspiring American University Eagle, you likely already identify with this student-centered research institution’s groundbreaking spirit. Founded in 1893 by respected Methodist Bishop, John Fletcher Hurst, on the values of social responsibility and diversity, its first-ever graduating class included both women and African-American students, at a time when women couldn’t vote and Washington, D.C. was still segregated. Think about those values, and how they resonate with you, as you go to write this “Why us?” essay, and see other tips and advice below.
But first, want to get a better understanding of what American is looking for? Check out its strategic plan to see how it envisions student success and the legacy it wants to leave in the world. You’ll also find an extensive, by-the-numbers look at its offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information, on its Common Data Set.
What is the American University supplemental essay prompt?
American University Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
Optional: American University students identify as changemakers and describe themselves as passionate. Describe a belief, hobby, idea, issue, or topic about which you’re excited. (250 words)
how to write American University Supplemental Essay
how to write American University Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
American University students identify as changemakers and describe themselves as passionate. Describe a belief, hobby, idea, issue, or topic about which you’re excited. (250 words)
This prompt is pretty wide open in what it asks you for (“a belief, hobby, idea, issue, or topic about which you’re excited”)
That might feel fun and exciting—you can dive in with a huge range of stuff.
Or it might feel a bit unclear or intimidating—what direction should you head?
Here are some ways to narrow it down.
First, remember that the core function of your college essays is to show colleges the core values, insights, skills, qualities, interests, and perspective you bring to a campus and community.
As you think about topics for this prompts, try to filter using that lens—what are things this college isn’t seeing (or seeing much of) in the rest of your application (like your personal statement)? How could you use this prompt to show them?
Based on that, you can approach this potentially as a
Community essay
Diversity essay
Extracurricular activity essay
Or maybe “intellectual vitality” essay
(With the option to throw in a bit of brief “Why Us” detail at the end.)
For full guides to those kinds of prompts, click on the links above, but here’s a short version.
For a “Community” approach:
Step 1: Create a “communities” chart by listing all the communities you’re a part of. Keep in mind that communities can be defined by ...
1. Place: Groups of people who live/work/play near one another
2. Action: Groups of people who create change in the world by building, doing, or solving something together (Examples: Black Lives Matter, Girls Who Code, March for Our Lives)
3. Interest: Groups of people coming together based on a shared interest, experience, or expertise
4. Circumstance: Groups of people brought together either by chance or external events/situations.
Step 2: Use the BEABIES Exercise to generate your essay content. Once you’ve chosen a community, map out your content using the BEABIES Exercise. That exercise asks:
What did you actually do? (Tip: Use active verbs like “organized” and “managed” to clarify your responsibilities.)
What kinds of problems did you solve (personally, locally, or globally)?
What specific impact did you have?
What did you learn (skills, qualities, values)?
How did you apply the lessons you learned?
(Optional) Step 3: Do some “how will you contribute” research.
If you want, and have word count space, you can offer a few specific ways that show how the experience/s you’re discussing in your essay will allow you to contribute to the college. The easiest way to do this is to do some “Why Us”-like research and find ways you’ll engage with and contribute to the school’s community.
Step 4: Pick a structure. Narrative Structure works well for students who have faced a challenge in or with this community. Otherwise, Montage Structure works well. (See full Community Essay guide for examples + explanation of “narrative” and “montage”.)
For a “diversity” approach:
Two general approaches that might work:
Go broad, with an identity that lets you highlight a few different activities/experiences.
Brainstorm some shared values you have with your family (“I come from a community/family of _____________.”)
Consider if any of these shared values have connections to activities you do.
For example:
Creators → Film makers club, stage crew, knitting
Storytellers → Theater, young historians, Sunday school teacher
Educators → Tutoring, student council, babysitting
Skeptics → Debate team, student representative in local government
Optimists → Environmental club, neuroscience research
Go super specific and make it a more focused community/extracurricular essay.
Make a list of clubs or activities you’re involved in that have a sense of purpose. Spoiler alert: Almost any club or activity can fit this description.
Identify one or two that have a strong sense of community (Stereotypically: theater kids. But we’ve also heard of close-knit Science Olympiad teams, political clubs, etc.)
Some examples (but again, almost any can work):
Progressive Students Council
Wikipedia editors
Community Beautification Club
Model UN
For an “extracurricular activity” approach:
Go to your Common App activities list and pick 2-3 of your most impressive or important (to you) activities.
Then, go through the Best Extracurricular Activity Brainstorm I’ve Ever Seen (AKA BEABIES exercise), either mentally or by filling out the chart. This will help you decide which topic might yield the most content for your essay. If you’re unsure, maybe do a simple outline for two different topics.
Write a draft! To guide you, each of those columns could provide a sentence or two of your first draft that you can later tweak and add some style to.
For an “intellectual vitality” approach:
Get really specific with what the idea is. (In our experience, a very particular idea tends to work better than an experience.)
If possible, clarify what the idea is in the first 50 words (some students wait too long to clarify and the essay feels vague as a result, as we’re not sure what to focus on).
Consider using this as an opportunity for sharing some side of yourself you haven’t already shared elsewhere.
Connect the idea, if you can, back to you. Many students keep the essay focused outwardly (on ideas) and as a result the essay feels abstract and swimmy. (Yes, that’s a technical term.)
If you need some inspiration, check out this Excel document with several thousand TEDTalks.
Check out this example, and we’ll break down why it works. And note that this essay was actually written for a different school and prompt—but that just illustrates how nicely you can double these up sometimes.
Example 1:
Here’s a secret: I didn’t always enjoy living in Mexico. Sometimes I was ostracized for looking Chinese, my family faced impunity, insecurity, and negligence, and many of the injustices were never resolved. But it's true that it’s hard to appreciate what you have until it’s gone.
After arriving in the US, I noticed that Latinos faced inferiority and prejudice and, for a short while, I considered returning to Mexico. But the Latino community had given me a unique identity and voice that I took pride in and I wanted to give back, so instead of complaining about what I couldn’t do (as I had against the injustices in Mexico), I saw the potential to effect change here in the U.S.
I began to devote my time to break the negative connotations set on Latinos through the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project where I debated real assembly bills amongst 124 Chicano/Latino students. I also chose to lead the Association of Latin American Students at my school, helping those like me seek higher education. But what truly warms my heart is seeing young Sophomore Latinos striving in the STEM field during our math tutoring sessions.
My goal is to uphold the diversity and voice of Latinos in the U.S., and someday initiate a cultural/educational revolution that Mexico desperately needs. I don’t feel ostracized anymore. Instead I have come to love and advocate for this community. (237 words)
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Tips + Analysis
Name your community clearly, and add some nuance. It’s clear from this student’s first sentence that he’ll be writing about his belonging in the Latino community. But he doesn’t stop there. Through the first two paragraphs, he layers on some other identities (“looking Chinese” in Mexico, Latino community in America) that highlight his unique perspective. Adding nuance to your community can help you stand out and help set you up to share specific insights you’ve gained.
Identify the conflict you worked to resolve in your community, and name specific actions that led toward that resolution. Control your own message by naming the specific conflict you’re writing about (as this student did: “in the US, I noticed that Latinos faced inferiority and prejudice”), and share specific things you’ve done to help resolve that conflict (ex.: debating bills with the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project, leading the Association of Latin American Students). Use the actions you took to demonstrate your values and your community engagement.
Zoom out and look to the future. Even if they don’t say it outright, colleges love to know how you’ll use your conflict-resolution skills while you’re on their campus, and beyond. This student takes the long view, sharing his goal to “uphold the diversity and voice of Latinos in the U.S., and someday initiate a cultural/educational revolution that Mexico desperately needs.” One thing that could take this to the next level? Adding just a dose of “Why us?” content. This student could have included one or two resources or organizations on campus that would help him start on his path toward his long-term goal.
Or here’s an essay originally written for UNC Chapel Hill that could work:
Example 2:
You wouldn’t think an American Asian Affinity Space would be diverse, after all its whole premise is centered around one specific identity. However, members of the affinity space at my high school come from several different grades, genders and ethnicities. The group included a sophomore from China, a junior from Pakistan, and members from Korea, Japan, and even Israel. We each had unique stories of living as an Asian-American, yet, we had all chosen to come to this affinity group. As we spent time together, we were able to find shared experiences, like our parents preparing packed lunches for us from our country and being too embarrassed to bring them to school. Whether eating humbow or biryani, we all knew what it was like to feel out of place.
My work with the AAAS got me thinking about what diversity can look like, and what it means to embrace diversity. On the one hand, you can find diversity even when people appear to be alike. By exploring our differences, we can continue learning from each other even when it seems we have shared backgrounds and values. At the same time, people who seem really different may have shared human experiences, feeling like the "other" or being embarrassed by their parents, that can bring them together. Moving forward, I want to learn about people’s differences, hearing their stories and learning about their backgrounds while also creating spaces for people to have shared experiences that bring people together. (246 words)
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Tips + Analysis:
Be specific when describing your experiences. This student does that well, relating how the value of diversity (“different grades, genders and ethnicities”) impacted her American Asian Affinity Space club, using details like “eating humbow or biryani” to describe shared experiences. As you go to write, try to engage your 5 senses in the color and examples you use.
Be you. In other words, pull from your own experience. There’s not exactly a right or wrong answer to this prompt. The admission team merely wants to understand more of who you are and how you fit with their community. You could have grown up in a homogenous community and still have important insight to share. You could talk about how you hope to be in a more diverse environment in college, for instance, to have the opportunity to learn about different cultures and perspectives. You don’t have to have a crazy story of your experience as a marginalized group or of living in a robustly diverse city to write an impactful essay.
Here’s a nice example that takes an “intellectual vitality” “topic/idea” approach:
Example 3:
What’s more probable: dying from a shark attack, or dying from falling airplane parts? Surprisingly, the answer is falling airplane parts. But why does our intuition point us towards shark attacks?
The answer lies in the availability heuristic, or the WYSIATI (“what you see is all there is”) rule, which describes how our minds evaluate decisions based on how easily we can think of examples to support both sides. From Jaws to YouTube surfer videos, we have all likely heard of a horrific shark attack, and by WYSIATI, the ease with which we conjure up that memory leads us to assign greater probability.
Learning about WYSIATI evolved the way I communicate my ideas. When I first started debate, I over-focused on comparing statistics at the expense of clearly communicating larger arguments. WYSIATI taught me that a more effective approach involves weaving in memorable images like that of a horrific shark attack.
This past summer, when debating whether labeling environmental activists as “eco-terrorists” is justified, my opponents cited dozens of crimes associated with activists from 1995-2002. With my knowledge of WYSIATI, I looked past the numbers and searched for more memorable, image-based examples and discovered that most of the so-called terrorist acts were actually “pie-ings”: environmental groups throwing pies to protest. So, instead of responding with only numbers, I declared that “the only thing that could make pie-ings terrorist acts is if the activists didn’t know how to make a good key lime pie!”
Much clearer. And perhaps, a little bit funnier.
And here’s a nice example that takes more of a community/issue approach:
Example 4:
As a child, I was a Monopoly Champion. After all, I did as I was taught—use every tactic possible to bankrupt my opponents into surrender.
Granted, Monopoly is a game whose ostensible purpose is to create and hold monopolies, but I have realized through my experiences in the Texas mathematical community that life is a bit more complex.
A significant issue for mathematical competitions is asymmetric access to study resources. Schools do not share study materials so that they can preserve their competitive edge. This behavior carries serious implications including student discouragement. After another school swept regionals when I was in sixth grade, many of my peers, seeing the shiny study booklets in the hands of the winning team, quit the activity. Asymmetrical access to resources turns the original goal of fostering interest in mathematics on its head by discouraging students, ultimately having toxic effects for the community.
Since ninth grade, I have worked to combat this problem by co-founding the San Antonio Math Club, a non-profit organization that works to provide equal access to resources by holding free monthly meetings where students from all over the state can get together and discuss challenging problems.
Don’t get me wrong—I love to win. But I believe that some players can’t begin with $8000 while other players begin with $1500, and through endeavors like the San Antonio Math Club, I strive to maintain the sustainability of the game so that everyone will play again without fear of bankruptcy.
Because to me, equity matters.
