Known for its legendary school spirit, top-tier athletic program, and student body the size of a small city, Pennsylvania State University is chock-full of personality and opportunity. Because it’s such a large school with a vast array of resources ( 632 athletic scholarships alone!), it’s good to have a clear sense of what you want going into your college experience. Whether you’re delving into meteorology (one of Penn State’s strongest academic programs) or yelling your heart out at football games, there’s something for you if you want it and look for it. The tips and examples below will help you get started.
Want to get an even better sense of what Penn State is looking for before brainstorming? You’ll 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. For deep insights into how this public university envisions student success (and how it wants to grow and evolve), read through its most recent self-study report—a simple way to get a strong idea of what Penn State values.
What are the Penn State University supplemental essay prompts?
Penn State Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
(optional; max 650 words) This is your opportunity to share something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records. Tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at Penn State. While the Personal Statement is not required, it is highly encouraged.
Penn State Supplemental Essay Prompt #2
Educational Gap Statement: In this section, it is required for you to share how you have spent or will spend the time between your high school graduation and your anticipated enrollment at Penn State. This may include, but is not limited to, college or university coursework, certification programs, English language preparation, employment, or other significant experiences. Note: In the Colleges & Universities section of your Common App profile, you must also list any attempted, in-progress, or planned coursework taken after high school graduation.
How to write each Supplemental Essay Prompt for Penn State University
how to write Penn State Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
(optional; max 650 words) This is your opportunity to share something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records. Tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at Penn State. While the Personal Statement is not required, it is highly encouraged.
Even though this prompt is technically not mandatory, we’d tend to recommend not skipping out on any opportunity to tell admission officers more about yourself.
But that advice doesn’t actually apply to all students equally.
Here’s why:
We’ve spoken with people inside Penn State’s admissions office, and they’ve said that
The Penn State admissions process relies heavily on academic data/info, and not as much on the writing
They get 100k applications, so it isn’t feasible to read everything
In certain situations, it could be helpful to use the optional writing section "if the application is hand read" (implying that many decisions are academic data-based and writing isn't considered)
They get 100k applications, so it isn’t always feasible to read everything
Using the Common App PS alone is totally fine
The opportunity to add more is great (if it will be additive), but there's no penalty for not doing it at all
Because of those points, we think whether or not you write something additional here depends on how you compare to other applicant profiles. As mentioned above, a large part of Penn State’s process is academic data-driven—so take a look at things like the academic profiles of first year students.
If you’re solidly above those middle 50% ranges, the optional essay might be worth skipping if you’re already a strong candidate without special circumstances, so you can use that writing time elsewhere. (Though if you’re taking a super essay approach and adapting a supplemental essay you’ve already written for another school, rather than writing from scratch, the writing time may be minimal.)
If you’re below or around that middle 50, this might be an opportunity to strengthen your application.
Insider tip: be sure you are showing with this “optional” Penn State essay how you fit with the college and what you will add to the school/community.
For how to approach this essay:
This prompt itself is about as broad as it gets. Penn State wants you to elaborate on some aspect of your life experiences, identity, or actions that would highlight your ability to succeed on campus should you be accepted. Think of this as a slightly smaller personal statement that gives you a chance to make your application more multifaceted.
To be clear, this should not be a repeat of what you already wrote in your Common App personal statement (assuming you’re submitting it, which, again, we recommend). What you write for this “optional” prompt can be connected to things you’ve already written, but it should bring something new to the table.
If you’re not sure where to start, we would recommend checking out our Values Exercise, 21 Details Exercise, Essence Objects Exercise, Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me Exercise, and Feelings and Needs Exercise to dig deeper. Once you’ve done some brainstorming and generated some possible topics, you’re ready to start writing.
Here’s a great example essay for this prompt:
Example:
For as long as I can remember I have written and sung songs. Apart from concerts I would put on for my family when I was younger, complete with costumes and excessive choreography, I initially refrained from sharing this with the world. I saw it as an outlet rather than a performance.
That being said, there have been times the songs I created were the definition of unique, to say the least. Once when I was drafting an email to my math teacher about having a field trip on the day of the test, I got carried away with the clacking of my typing and started to hum the words being written. Eventually, I ran to my keyboard and added a few chords before finally creating “Ode to Test,” a power ballad about how I was going to have to take the test an hour early. However, this was nothing compared to “Why Me,” a sad song detailing the fateful day on which I lost my precious water bottle, and I use the word precious because, oddly enough, there were numerous references to Gollum throughout it.
As I started to have more assignments in school and more activities outside of school, I began to share my music, to some extent. When a cross country meet got cancelled, I created a song loosely based on “Hallelujah” called “Thank you, Thunder” and it ended up becoming the team’s faux anthem, making it into the end-of-the-season awards ceremony slideshow. That was the last song I have allowed others to hear, but I hope to share many more, including my latest creation: “Hate to See You Go,” an upbeat song that describes my sentiments whenever my wifi disconnects.
These fabrications bring a certain sense of vibrancy to my life that many other things do not provide. They allow me to turn experiences as simple as sending an email or losing an item into an event that means so much more, letting me gain a better understanding of just how significant each and every action I take truly has on me as a person.
The creativity associated with this will enable me to thrive in the innovative environment that Penn State fosters. Whether I finally muster the courage to audition for the Pennharmonics, or I just decide to continue to write music on my own, I will always have room to grow, not just as an amateur musician, but as a person as well. (409 words)
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Tips + Analysis
Use humor … or don’t. This author is clearly quirky and funny, and that comes through in her essay. Her second paragraph is a humorous retrospective commentary on her many elementary songwriting experiences involving Gollum, water bottles, and getting out of math tests. Right off the bat, the author’s use of humor brings the reader into her world, making her relatable and allowing her to include unique details about her life in relation to music. But—and this is a big but—if you’re not funny or trying to be funny feels forced, don’t try too hard.
Find a common thread. The great thing about this essay is that, although it moves among fragmented memories in time and space, it feels like a coherent narrative, because the author cleverly weaves these memories and values together by connecting them back to her love of music. More specifically, she regularly introduces and contextualizes different song names to give the piece a sense of consistency. These songs end up becoming a de facto timeline for the author’s musical journey, helping us understand how various aspects of her life relate. When you’re writing, try to find a common thread like this to “hang” your values and experiences in a way that shows how they intersect.
Find uncommon connections. When you’re brainstorming, it’s important to think about the core values you want to come through to your reader. By that, we’re asking: What are the essential values you want to convey in your writing/topic (without you having to explicitly tell your reader)? When you’re generating these values, ask yourself whether they’re expected (i.e., common). For a topic like music, we might expect values like beauty, harmony, practice, or skillmanship. However, this author emphasizes unconventional values like empathy, vibrancy, and humor. When you write, try to incorporate your values in unconventional or unexpected ways that will stand out to your reader.
how to write Penn State Supplemental Essay Prompt #2
Educational Gap Statement: In this section, it is required for you to share how you have spent or will spend the time between your high school graduation and your anticipated enrollment at Penn State. This may include, but is not limited to, college or university coursework, certification programs, English language preparation, employment, or other significant experiences. Note: In the Colleges & Universities section of your Common App profile, you must also list any attempted, in-progress, or planned coursework taken after high school graduation.
Many students, for various reasons, choose or are forced to take off time after graduating high school and before going to college. If this applies to you, you shouldn’t feel that this makes you any less of a great candidate for Penn State—or any college for that matter! In fact, taking time off can help you reflect more on yourself and your experiences in a meaningful way. With this prompt, Penn State is offering you an opportunity to discuss what this time off has been like and what you’ve taken from it. At a basic level, it can also help you explain any gaps in your transcript or family/financial situations that may be important to consider in the application process. Don’t feel pressured to use all 500 words here. Instead, think of it as yet another opportunity to reflect on your path since high school, what you’ve learned from it, and how the experiences you’ve gained will enrich the contributions you add to your college campus.
Here’s an example that wasn’t originally written for this prompt but could work with some small tweaks:
Example:
My dad is the master of turning life into a game.
Who can squish their face in the funniest shape for the camera? Don’t tell mom. Who can find the weirdest snack in the supermarket? Ready, go!
But when my dad got sick the summer after my senior year of high school, the game was up.
Instead of running around at top speed with “salad-flavored Doritos,” I helped my dad rest after chemotherapy. It was impossible to go to college during this time of crisis, so I took the year off to support my family. Many days, my dad and I would talk. Our new game was one of curiosity.
How do you feel? Who are you?
That spring, my dad beat cancer. Although that year was hard, it was defined by a clearer understanding of my relationships to others. I was profoundly affected by the new bond I shared with my father. My fascination with connectedness in times of crisis led me to take an online course in advanced psychology and design an independent research project on psychotherapy.
My dad and I still turn pretty much everything into a game, but we also show up for each other in newly meaningful ways. My year away from school taught me the importance of reciprocity and responsibility, no matter the game you’re playing. (222 words)
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Tips + Analysis
Keep the question in focus. Remember, the key here is to convey when you missed school and why. Even though this essay follows a narrative arc, it doesn’t lose sight of the question being asked. The author is clear about why she took a gap year: because she had to take care of her dad while he battled cancer. As you write your essay, make sure you’re thinking back to the main question and checking that you’re answering the key components.
Highlight specific details. Many people take off school for similar reasons (personal tragedy, study abroad opportunities, internship, financial burden, etc.). Although these reasons are valid, you’ll want to use the space to explain specifically what this year off meant to you and which values you developed or strengthened. This author uses specific details to show the kinds of games they play, but she’s also careful to focus on specific values she gained: especially connectedness and reciprocity. Details make the essay memorable; values help give the reader a sense of how you’ll contribute to Penn State.
Demonstrate growth. Just because you weren’t in school doesn’t mean you weren’t learning. In this essay, the author does a great job of showing us how she truly connected to her father and her culture while also fostering a growing love for psychology/psychotherapy. When you write, make sure to highlight how your experience away from school helped you develop academically or personally (or better yet, both!). Giving specific examples of how you grew is also really important. Talk about classes you took on your own, trips you went on, jobs you worked, or projects you started. Penn State wants to see that you maximized your time, even if you weren’t at school.
With these tips and examples in mind, you’re ready to start writing!
Special thanks for Julia for contributing to this post.
Julia published her first “book” on the elusive Pika in elementary school and has been writing fervently ever since. She’s thrilled to unite her quirky love of grammar and master’s in psychology to help students tell their most meaningful stories. Her favorite punctuation mark is the apostrophe because, in the words of Imagine Dragons, it’s “a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see.”
Top values: Collaboration | Family | Productivity
