How to Write the MIT Supplemental Essays: Examples + Guide 2024/2025

 
 

If you’re applying to MIT, odds are high that you’re a pretty exceptional student (and human). Your GPA sparkles, your test scores soar, and your activity list practically sings with meaningful accomplishments. This is great for you, and great for the 20,000+ other people applying annually. In a sea of highly successful seniors, your responses to MIT’s essay prompts will help distinguish you from the pack (or pod if we’re sticking with our aquatic metaphor). The best news: MIT gives you many  chances to make an impression. To this end, we’ve put together the following set of examples, tips, and ideas for each of MIT’s 7 supplemental essays. 

 
 

What are MIT's supplemental essay prompts?

A note from MIT’s website: "Depending on the question, we’re looking for responses of approximately 100–200 words each."

Prompt #1:

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

Prompt #2

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it. (150 words or fewer)

Prompt #3

While some reach their goals following well-trodden paths, others blaze their own trails achieving the unexpected. In what ways have you done something different than what was expected in your educational journey? (225 words or fewer)

Prompt #4

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer)

Prompt #5

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 word or fewer)

Prompt #6

Please list up to four activities—if you have more than four, choose the ones that are most important to you. (40 words or less per activity description)

Prompt #7

Optional: No application can meet the needs of every individual. If there is significant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in the application, you may include it here. (Many students will leave this section blank—and that’s okay.)

Please note, we may not be able to access all links you share. If you have supplemental materials you would like to submit, please refer to our optional creative portfolios. (350 words or fewer)

Prompt #8

Optional: If you have additional information about your family that you think is important for us to know, please include it here. (100 words or fewer)

How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for MIT

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #1

What field of study appeals to you the most right now? (Note: Applicants select from a drop-down list.) Tell us more about why this field of study at MIT appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)

This is a super short “Why major?” essay, with an option for some “Why us” detail. Because it’s so short, the key will be to briefly share the origin story for the major you’re considering. Here’s a guide to the “Why major” essay.

Example: 

Why Electrical Engineering?

My decision to major in Electrical Engineering was inspired by my desire to improve security through technology. When I lived in Mexico, my father’s restaurant security system lacked the ability to protect our property from robbers, who would break in multiple times a year. Thanks to the influence of my cousin, who now studies Autonomous Systems, I developed an interest in electrical engineering. I am inspired to not only improve my father’s security system, but contributing to security innovations for larger companies and perhaps, one day, national security. (89 words)

— — —

Here’s a simple outline for this essay:

Why Electrical Engineering?

  • Thesis: I want to improve security through technology

  • Robbers broke into dad’s restaurant

  • Cousin taught me about Autonomous Systems

  • In the future: work with large companies or on national security  

Note that your thesis statement should probably be clear and it could come either at the beginning, middle, or end.

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #2

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.
(150 words or fewer)

Picking a Topic:

Ideally, your topic will be something that is actually fun. (Not something that, for example, is actually academic that you’re trying to justify as also being fun.) Take a look at your brainstorming work and see if there are any random/odd/fun parts of you that haven’t yet made their way into your application. Past students have written about geocaching, doing impersonations, and “Jedi Juggling Club,” among others. 

Here’s an example we love, though since MIT dropped the word count this year, you’d have a bit less space to work with.

Example:

One activity which I simply do for the pleasure of it is playing cricket–not on a proper team or league, but casually along with friends and family.

Though I have enjoyed competitively participating in soccer, ultimate frisbee, and table tennis in the past, the lack of competitive nature in cricket is refreshing, especially because I am not that great of a player. The whole playing experience with other casual cricket players is more enjoyable: Though the goal is to win, we can learn and grow without the stress of losing an “important” match.

The connectivity with others is another reason I enjoy being a casual cricket player. I usually play with my family, and have taught many friends with non-cricketing backgrounds how to play. One time, my friends and I were playing at a local park, and a family of three generations joined us: representative of how casual cricket is welcoming to all.

The accessibility of the sport in my backyard, where I can pick up the bat and hit a tennis ball around during an evening walk, and sometimes having my parents bowl at me/me bowl at them, shows the spontaneous fun that I can have at any time.  

As someone who likes to watch cricket, Indian cricket specifically, it is enjoyable to be able to casually play a sport that many in the US have never properly experienced. It also connects to my identity as an Indian who grew up with stories of “gully cricket.” (248 words)

— — —

Tips & Analysis:

  1. Showcase something new about your personality. Use this prompt as a way to showcase a part of your personality that you haven’t been able to express elsewhere in your MIT application. For example, we love how this essay is about an activity that likely didn’t make the student’s activities list (since he only plays cricket for fun), but also how he’s able to find joy in playing cricket, even if he’s not “great” at it (#vulnerability).

  2. Give specific examples to show why you like the activity. These details allow admission officials to learn about your way of viewing the world. So, don’t hold back on that color and specificity. Share details about how you became interested in the activity, what keeps you interested, and how the activity influences your connection to other aspects of your life. In this example, notice how the author weaves multiple stories together with specific examples that give the essay a nice flow from start to finish.

  3. Connect it to your intellectual curiosity. MIT is looking for intellectually curious students. So, even though this prompt asks about an activity you do purely for pleasure, it helps if you can at least hint at how the experience of it also sparks your mind to think deeply in other ways—like how this student ties his cricket play to the benefit of not always being competitive and finding connection with others.

Here are two more great examples we encourage you to read for inspiration (though, again, the second one is a little over the current word count). 

Examples:

I love collecting, whether it be playing cards or arrowheads, my most significant collection. I first started my arrowhead collection after a trip to an ancient adobe village in Sonoma, California. I was fascinated by the idea that ancient peoples had walked where I walked and had a life where I was standing. When I arrived, I realized how the stories behind the bricks of the buildings tell of the past and can predict the future, as trends repeat themselves.

This principle of trends repeating themselves is important to me, and I strive to apply it through volunteering with the Smithsonian, transcribing and editing historical documents to preserve them digitally for future generations. By securing a moment in time, I can help protect future communities from mistakes of the past. 

Now I seek out other places and stories that document moments in time, like a Boomtown from the gold-rush era in Jamestown, California. Arrowheads are often difficult to source; my collection of 13 represent my strategy of remembrance and preservation. (170 words)

— — —

Beyond my busy life at school, I compose and perform music as a way to channel my creativity to escape the rigidity of my course curriculum through improvisation.

When I was eight years old — after years of school-mandated recorder classes — I begged my mum to let me graduate to the clarinet. I spent hours each day practising scales and climbing the grade ladder in Classical music. 

But I found myself gravitating towards the sounds of jazz — and the opportunities for improvisation that the genre provided. Through secondary school, I continued practising my favourite jazz short pieces, eventually performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue which I played for my mother’s birthday.

Entering GCSE Music, I found a perfect opportunity to combine my talents as a musician with my passion for creating new things as a programmer. Specifically, I spent two years developing a piano-clarinet jazz duo that I premiered for the class at the end of the course.

More recently, then, I have moved beyond the clarinet to begin composing music myself — not only jazz, but also electronic music that I can bring to life on my computer. Combining Icelandic vocals and California drum solos, I aim to create music that stretches across genre and geography.

Whether I actually release anything, of course, a different story. But as I prepare to ship off to college, I look forward to the chance to find new collaborators that can both teach me new skills as a composer and play alongside me in the ensemble. (250 words)

— — —

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #3

While some reach their goals following well-trodden paths, others blaze their own trails achieving the unexpected. In what ways have you done something different than what was expected in your educational journey? (225 words or fewer)

You can define “educational journey” 

  1. more narrowly here, focusing purely on academic opportunities (though likely those outside of the classroom)

or potentially 

  1. more broadly, focusing on experiences that, while not traditionally academic, have shaped your values and understanding in profound ways (so long as you justify them as part of your “educational journey.”)

One important factor in choosing a topic will be to make sure that you’re showing a different side of who you are, what you value, and how you’ve developed your character than you’re showing in the other MIT prompts.

One option is to approach this prompt similarly to how you would write the UC PIQ 4 or PIQ6 (and if you’re applying to the UCs in addition to MIT, it’s a great idea to try to reuse some content between one of those prompts and this MIT prompt, to save yourself some writing time).

You can use the BEABIES Exercise to brainstorm your content.

You can structure this as either a brief montage, or a narrative. If taking the narrative approach, try devoting about ⅓ of your essay to each of the following: 

  • Challenge (the Problem You Solved column)

  • What I Did About It (What I Did and Impact I Had columns)

  • What I Learned (Lessons Learned/Skills I Gained, and How I Applied What I Learned columns)

We don’t have an MIT example for this prompt yet, but here are some example UC PIQs that can show you possible directions to head in. (Though note that these would need cuts for MIT.)

Here’s one that frames “educational journey” more broadly:

UC Prompt 4 example essay: Construction

Five years ago I took up a job in construction from a couple of neighbors who needed help doing a demolition job on an old house. I saw this as an opportunity to help pay bills around the house as well as cover my own personal expenses. I did a good enough job that my neighbors told me that, if I wanted, I could continue working with them. 

It has been a demanding job and I made numerous mistakes at first, like using the wrong tools for different tasks or the wrong size screw. On occasion, I was scolded for my mistakes and I felt incompetent, as I wasn’t able to complete tasks as fast as my co-workers. There were even days that I considered quitting, but I stuck with it. 

 Since then, I've built, repaired, and remodeled numerous homes for family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. I’ve removed and replaced carpets; broken down walls as well as driveways; installed cabinets, lights, both wood and tile flooring; and painted room after room. 

Working in construction has made me feel like a bigger part of society, because I’m shaping the buildings and offices my community uses. Although I don’t make the choices in design, my workmanship is reflected in every job I’ve done. Because of this, my most memorable projects are those that I’ve taken on by myself.

It has been a personally fulfilling experience—there’s just something about peeling away the last strip of tape off a new floor that’s indescribable—and getting to see hours of planning, preparation, and work come together is such a rewarding experience. The best part? Knowing that some family will get to enjoy my work.

But this is not what I will do the rest of my life. 

There are other ways I can help cover my family’s expenses, and getting a degree is the next step. In fact, I have a feeling that would be an even more fulfilling journey.

— — —

Tips & Analysis: 

  • For this prompt, many students will choose to write about a course taken outside of school, or an internship—which are totally valid topics—but this author defines “educational opportunity” in an unconventional way. Working in construction has, in fact, taught him a lot. If you’ve worked a job, perhaps to take care of your family, you could write about it here as well.

  • The author uses active verbs to describe what he actually did. we’ve highlighted them in bold above. 

  • He also shares the personal significance of his work: “Working in construction has made me feel like a bigger part of society, because I’m shaping the buildings and offices my community uses.”

  • I also appreciate that this author reveals a wide range of values in this PIQ, including: family, perseverance, hard work, community, pride, independence, ambition.

  • The author provides great insight into his main takeaway from his work experiences: “But this is not what I will do the rest of my life.” This demonstrates his ambition and helps us understand why he wants to attend college: Although he’s found value in his construction work, he hopes to one day do work that might lead to “an even more fulfilling journey.”

— — —

Here’s another example.

Example essay:

Freshman year, I fell in love with the smell of formaldehyde for its promise of an especially exciting day in Biology. Although my school’s STEM education excelled in theory and concepts, career-focused hands-on experience was lacking and I grew nostalgic for dissections. By junior year, I still had almost no idea what I would do in the future. When asked, I’d mumble a response about biochemistry or technology without daring to specify a job.

Then, I discovered MIT’s Women’s Technology Program and its mission to allow high school girls with little experience in engineering and CS to explore the fields. Naturally, I applied in a blink, and somehow even got accepted.

When I started the program, I never expected to become so enamored with computer science. Every day, I took pages of notes during the class lecture, then enthusiastically attacked the homework problems during the evening. In fact, most nights I stayed late in the computer lab trying to finish just one more (optional) challenge problem or add more features to already completed programs. The assignments themselves ranged from simply printing “hello world” to completing a functional version of Tetris. One of my favorite programs was a Hangman game that made sarcastic remarks at invalid inputs.

However, some programs were notoriously difficult, sparking countless frustrated jokes among the candidates: a version of the card game War overly prone to infinite loops, a queue class apparently comprised entirely of index errors. The sign-up list for TA help overflowed with increasing frequency as the curriculum grew more difficult. So, after I finished a program, I often helped my peers with debugging by pointing out syntax errors and logical missteps. In the final week, I was chosen to be a presenter for CS at the Final Dinner, speaking about the subject I loved to program donors and peers alike.

In that amazing month, I discovered a field that blends creativity with logic and a renewed passion for learning and exploration. Now, imagining my no-longer-nebulous future brings excitement.

And somehow, that excitement always smells faintly of formaldehyde.

— — —

And here’s one more.


Example essay:

If given an eye test with the standard Snellen Eye chart (y’know, the one with all the letters on it) you will be asked to stand 20 ft away, cover one eye and read off the letters from the chart as they get increasingly smaller. If you can read up to the lines marked “20” at 20 feet away, you have normal 20/20 vision and your eyes can separate contours that are 1.75 mm apart.  Knowing visual acuity is important because it helps diagnose vision problems.

But the challenge? Usually people have to go into eye doctors and get an eye test to determine their acuity. However, since more than 40% of Americans don't go to an eye doctor on a regular basis and access to eye care is extremely rare and usually unavailable in third world countries, many people who need glasses don't know it and live with blurred vision.

To tackle this problem, I’ve spent the last four months at the Wyss Institute at Yale University working on an individual project supervised by Yale Medical School professor Maureen Shore. I’m coding a program that measures visual acuity and can determine what glasses prescription someone would need. My goal is to configure this into a mobile app so that it's easy for someone to determine if he or she needs glasses. I hope to continue using my programming skills to make the benefits of research more accessible.

If this technology isn't accessible to society, we’re doing a disservice to humanity. The skills, experience, and network I will build at the computer science department will help me devise solutions to problems and bring the benefits of research to the public.

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #4

MIT brings people with diverse backgrounds together to collaborate, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to lending a helping hand. Describe one way you have collaborated with others to learn from them, with them, or contribute to your community together. (225 words or fewer)

This prompt can be a great chance to talk about whichever extracurricular activity or community service project you’ve been most involved in, but notice that the prompt specifies things like “diverse backgrounds” and “collaboration.” Because of that, you’ll want to make sure whatever experiences/actions you discuss allow you to directly discuss collaboration (ideally with people from diverse backgrounds) and how that collaboration allowed you to directly contribute to your community, while also expanding your understanding.

To help you brainstorm ideas for this prompt, here’s a step-by-step guide we put together for this one based on two strategies we recommend: the uncommon connections technique and the Powerwall structure. 

Give it a read and see if you can: 

a) Come up with 1-2 ideas that may work  (making sure to look for community contributions that involved collaborating with others, ideally from diverse backgrounds).

b) Pick which structure might work better.

Bonus points: Spend 10-15 minutes mapping out a basic outline based on either the uncommon connections technique or the Powerwall structure.

We don’t have an example that hits all the elements above, but check out this example, and the tips and analyses below for how it could be tweaked to fit.

Example:

From a young age, teaching has been my way to give back to my community, whether it’s my immediate family or neighbours on the opposite edge of London.

My first teaching experience took place when I was 10. My five-year-old sister took a principled moral stand against homework by getting under the table and refusing to do her maths additions tables. After almost an hour of negotiations, our mother admitted defeat, so I jumped in to assist her. My sister and I worked patiently through the tables, finding new tricks to help her master the relationship between the numbers. And I found myself genuinely thrilled to have helped her — and my mother — in that difficult moment.

I have been teaching regularly ever since. At Imperial College’s programming club, I volunteered to help show young people the creative side of coding through graphical programming. At people’s homes, I have adapted to people’s needs, from teaching Computer GCSE to helping a group of four girls make a moving Raspberry Pi robot. And during lockdown, I offered free Python coding classes to kids of essential workers. In each, I not only provided support to students to complete their stated assignments. I also found myself learning from the students along the way, helping me to find novel solutions to my own challenges as a programmer. It is this two-way exchange between teacher and student that I find so rewarding in this contribution to my community. (241 words)

— — —

Tips + Analysis

  1. Demonstrate a different set of values. MIT is giving you lots of opportunities to show different sides of yourself. That also means multiple chances to show the diversity of your values. Since this prompt is narrowly asking for a specific way you’ve impacted your community, you may not have a ton of options for topics. But you can look for ways to expand on the values you’ve already shared. How? Check out this Values Exercise and scan your essays for the values that are already coming through, making a list as you go. Are some missing, even important ones? If so, look for ways to demonstrate those here. For example, this student was able to inject some humor in their description of their little sister taking “a principled, moral stand against homework” by planting herself under the table and refusing to come out—maybe they weren’t able to smuggle that value in elsewhere? 

  2. Explain how your collaboration partner(s) was(were) different from you. Were you working with peers of the same age but vastly different backgrounds? Did you find opportunities to collaborate with unusual partners, like special-needs students or adults in a different country? Make sure the reader will understand the differences involved, and if they’re not obvious, make the space to explain what made your partners different, and what you gained from working with them. For example, if this student were writing to this prompt, they may have expounded on the “two-way exchange between teacher and student,” using that as the basis of their collaboration and showing how these students’ input and involvement led to “novel solutions to [the student’s] own challenges as a programmer.]”

  3. Show the opportunities and obstacles of the collaboration. MIT admission officials want to see your collaboration skills in action. And when you’re collaborating with someone with a different point of view or background, things don’t always go smoothly. But it’s the friction that can create new solutions while also leading to personal growth. Your goal in this essay is to show both sides—so make sure to note your contributions to the collaboration, but also ways you grew from learning from others. If this student were to tweak this essay to fit the prompt, they may have, say, shared details on a challenging yet beneficial collaboration with a fellow programming tutor or an improvisation that arose from ongoing conversations with an argumentative student. 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #5

How did you manage a situation or challenge that you didn’t expect? What did you learn from it? (225 word or fewer)

Picking a Topic:

Essentially, MIT wants to see how you solve problems. Brainstorm a list of challenges you’ve overcome and times things didn’t go according to plan. 

Consider the following:

  1. The “Powerwall structure” can work really well for this essay, since you don’t have to have solved the problem in order to write about it. 

  2. This is a chance to show a side of yourself the admissions counselors haven’t seen yet. Read through the rest of your application and see if any activity or experience is missing. In most cases, something went wrong at some point, and that can be your topic. 

  3. Finally: Most students write about something going wrong in a robotics competition (“Our robot broke!”), so we recommend thinking of other options.

Now, create a basic outline that answers: 

  1. What was the problem?

  2. Why was it a big deal? 

  3. What did you do about it? 

  4. How were you crucial to helping solve it or what gifts or talents were you able to bring to the situation?

  5. How did it turn out? Were there any larger impacts or lessons learned?

Let’s check out an example of this structure coming to life (though, since MIT dropped its word count slightly this year from 250 to 225 words, you’d have a bit less room to work with). 

Example:

Off the crack of the bat I tracked the first two hops, but when I looked down, all I saw was a crooked finger.

It was the game before CIF, our year to take the championship that had eluded us the year prior. I had received Honorable Mention All-League and Rookie of the Year awards my sophomore year, and this year was my time to help break school history.

But a misplaced pebble guaranteed I wouldn’t have the opportunity to live my decade long goal of winning CIF. During the first playoff game, I simply watched from the dugout, restricted by my cast. I felt useless.

In the next game, I completely altered my gameplan; I talked to our coach about my helping to manage the team. I traded my glove and bat for a clipboard and pencil, keeping score and tracking pitch counts; I used the data to alter defensive formations based on opponents’ batting tendencies and advise on pitching strategy, allowing us to conserve our ace for the championship. I applied my problem solving skills and led my team from the dugout. 

Our team broke school history for the second year in a row, making it to the CIF championship, but fell two runs short of victory. While I could think “What if I had been playing?”I don’t have to, because I know I played a valuable role and was just as much of a threat at left bench as I was making diving stops at second. 

— — —

Tips + Analysis

Let’s take a look at how this student used the structure outlined above.

  1. What was the problem? Although the crooked- finger image is a bit graphic, it makes it easy to see this student’s problem. Using a quick descriptive anecdote like this student did can be an effective way to set the scene and get to the juicier parts of this prompt: your actions. Right before you get there, though, let us know:

  2. Why was it a big deal? Raise the stakes. In the example above, the author mentioned a championship and school history. Providing context for your challenge (what you had done to build up to this moment, the investments other people made in getting to this moment, etc.) will help the reader care. 

  3. What did you do about it? Specifics, specifics, specifics. This student shares high-impact actions (tracking pitch counts, using data to alter defensive formations) and does the work for the reader, naming the higher-level skills required (problem solving and leadership). 

  4. How were you crucial to helping solve it? This student doesn’t answer the question directly, but it’s clear that his unique circumstance—a player thrust into a different role—gave him the opportunity to leverage his skills (analyzing data on baseball strategy). If your prior experience (maybe taking a summer course on using Excel) helped you adapt on the fly or overcome a challenge (maybe by creating a spreadsheet to analyze how time of day impacted student conflict during class change time), share it! 

  5. How did it turn out? Were there any larger impacts or lessons learned? Leave the reader with a satisfying conclusion, even if you haven’t fully resolved the challenge. If you’re still working to overcome that challenge, tell us how. And if you learned something valuable along the way, like this student’s new comfort with having a positive impact regardless of his role, don’t hesitate to share it explicitly. 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #6

Please list up to four activities—if you have more than four, choose the ones that are most important to you. (40 words or less per activity description)

Simple. 

  1. Pick your top four activities (from your Common App list).

  2. Write 40-word descriptions. Our tips for the Activities List live here, and apply them to this writing as well. 

Examples:

Citizen Scientist Marine Protected Area Watch

Monitor local Marine Protected beaches for illegal activity; coordinate with Park Rangers and fellow Citizen Scientists to deter visitors from abusing the beach habitats and creatures; complete surveys on activity at the beaches: published data 15 times for academic studies (40 words)

— — —

2019 Captain; starter MHS Varsity Baseball

Starter at 2nd or 3rd base; bat 2nd in lineup; made school history by making 2017 CIF semi-finals, 2018 CIF finals; 2017 Rookie of the Year Award, 2017 All-Frontier League Honorable Mention; to be Captain in 2019 Season (38 words)

— — —

Educator Heal the Bay’s Pier Aquarium

Teach and engage in discussion with guests at touch tanks, shark tanks, and whale exhibit; coordinate whale watching events, encourage ocean respect and environmentalism; received Dolphin Pin for 150 hours of service (32 words)

— — —

Starting Driver MHS Water Polo

Starter, sprinter; 2018 Conejo Classic Tournament Champions, 2018 Oxnard Tournament Champions; 2nd Team All-Frontier League 2017 Award, 2016 MVP of JV team, Frontier League Champions 2015-2018; club season: start for S&S Bruin Water Polo - driver, compete in local tournaments (40 words)

— — —

Tips + Analysis

For a comprehensive list of tips and ideas, head over to our full activities list writing guide. 

Most importantly:

  1. Emphasize tangible, measurable impact.

  2. Use active verbs.

  3. Use lists and incomplete sentences

  4. Cut extra words by using more specific words (i.e., “told people about” → advertised, “came up with” → brainstormed). 

How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #7

Optional: No application can meet the needs of every individual. If there is significant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in the application, you may include it here. (Many students will leave this section blank—and that’s okay.)

Please note, we may not be able to access all links you share. If you have supplemental materials you would like to submit, please refer to our optional creative portfolios. (350 words or fewer)

This is basically the Additional Info section of your Common App. You can find a complete guide for that section here.


How to Write MIT Supplemental Essay prompt #8

Optional: If you have additional information about your family that you think is important for us to know, please include it here. (100 words or fewer)

Picking a Topic:

This prompt is optional, but can be a useful way to help MIT understand more about who you are and what perspective/s you bring to the campus community.


One way to approach this prompt is as a form of a “diversity” essay—for a full guide to “diversity” prompts, head here.

Here are a few questions to get you thinking:

  1. Does your family have strong values that span generations? Are you from a family of creators? Educators? Doers? Risk takers? Write a list of traits and values you see in your grandparents. Underline any that you also see in your immediate caregivers. Put a star next to any you embody yourself. Those might just be worth writing about. 

  2. Are there two or three values of yours that you learned from specific people? You might be able to answer this prompt with a montage of “inherited values.” Make a(nother) list of some core values that aren’t a focus of your personal statement. For those values, underline any that make you think of a specific person in your life. Choose three, think of how those values show up in your life today, and get started writing a draft. 

  3. Give your grandparents a call! Not only will Nana appreciate it, but your elders might just have a sense of cultural heritage you weren’t aware of. Hearing a family member’s take on this question might make you realize you have more of a cultural background than you initially thought. 

Here’s an example essay written for an older version of this prompt

Example:

4 eggs. 2 cups milk. 1 cup flour. 1 tablespoon sugar. 1 teaspoon salt. 

Swedish Pancakes have connected my family for generations. Learning the recipe with my aunt during Christmas brought us together and unlocked the secrets of the most delicious food on earth. Serving them to my Farmor and playing “Let it Be” on the piano was my way to say goodbye before she passed. 

While their taste is divine, it’s what Swedish Pancakes represent that really matters to me. They’ve been a portal to understanding my heritage and connecting to the people in my life who matter most. 

Tips + Analysis

  1. Set the scene with a clear image. This student doesn’t use a traditional description, but he manages to set a clear scene, baking in the kitchen, with a short list of five ingredients. Descriptions can lend a warm and fuzzy feeling to this short essay and give your application depth and humanity. 

  2. Connect culture to values. What? We love urging  students to ground their writing in values? We know you’ve heard this one before, but this prompt is an open invitation to explicitly share your values, specifically those you’ve inherited from your family or community. This student names his values in the final sentence: heritage and connection to loved ones. But even before that, he shared his values of service (in this case, literally serving food) and music. 

  3. Use Tip 1 for paragraph 1 and Tip 2 for paragraph 2—and there’s your outline! Showing your cultural heritage in action using a descriptive anecdote, then unpacking what those cultural elements mean to you, is just about all you need to (and perhaps can) do in a 100-word supplement. This strategy of “show and then tell” will be valuable in many of these MIT supplements. 

_ _ _

You may notice you’re describing a community here, if briefly. For more on this type of essay, check out our comprehensive guide on how to write the community essay here.

And here’s a bonus example that we love:

My last name: Pritamani, Mother’s maiden name: Kalvani, Grandmother’s maiden name: Kewalramani. Almost every Sindhi, along with enjoying shiny clothes, can be identified by the -ani. Though the Sindhi language may be dying, pre-partition Sindhi culture is truly alive with daal pakwan and sale mani being dishes I have learned to make. 

Though my roots are Sindh, post-partition most of my family moved to Mumbai, which has now become my “home” in India. I can vividly remember the off-and-on monsoon rains and drinking from fresh nariyal (coconuts) when coming out of Jogger’s Park.

I celebrate Diwali, use my Hindi written and spoken skills to read the shudh (pure) Hindi from the prayer books, recount lessons from the Ramayan and Mahabharat, and fast from eggs every Monday as prayer for my parents’ long life.

Growing up watching Sunday football, learning and exploring American history.

I am Sindhi, Indian, Hindu, and American.

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Special thanks to Ameer for his contributions to this blog post.

Ameer is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about college admissions and career development. Prior to freelancing, Ameer worked for three years as a college admissions consultant at a Hong Kong-based education center, helping local high school students prepare and apply for top colleges and universities in the US. He has a B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Spanish Linguistics from UCLA. When he’s not working, Ameer loves traveling, weight lifting, writing, reading, and learning foreign languages. He currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Top values: Growth / Diversity / Empathy