accepted uva essays

UVA Admission Essays Are Posted. Learn How to Write Your Best One

• By Rob Seal , [email protected]

Want to join these students on the Lawn at UVA? The key may be crafting an authentic, original admissions essay. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

High school students looking to get a jump on joining the University of Virginia’s Class of 2023 got some big news recently: This year’s essay questions have been unveiled.

Associate Dean of Admission Jeannine Lalonde shared this year’s essay prompts, then took some time to explain why the essay remains an important part of the application process and shared some writing tips for prospective applicants.

“I think that it helps us get insight into the personality, voice and style of the student,” she said. “The rest of the application consists of forms and other people telling us about the student. This is their chance to talk directly to us.”

As for the writing, Lalonde said she typically shares three tips with high school students when it comes to putting together an application essay.

1.  Don’t overthink the topic

“The questions are broad because we want the students to go in whatever direction makes sense for them,” Lalonde said. “The topic is just a vehicle that the student uses. They should pick a topic that lets them be interesting and authentic in their writing.”

2. You don’t have to write like it’s a school essay.

“Don’t feel limited to the formulaic way that most students are taught to write for class,” she said. “This is a different sort of writing. The more standard format used in academic writing is fine for school and it’s great when writing under pressure. But prospective students should feel free to use whatever format makes sense for the message or story that they want to get across.”

3. It’s smart to get advice, but be authentic.

“It’d be foolish to submit an essay without having someone you trust take a look first and give feedback, but essays shouldn’t read like they were done by committee. And if you don’t like the advice someone gives, feel free to ignore it. When you submit it, it should feel good to you, and it should sound like you.”

Here’s a look at the essay prompts for the coming application season. Stay up with news about admission by following Lalonde’s blog, Notes From Peabody , or following her Twitter, where she’s @UVADeanJ.

2018-2019 First-Year Application Essay Questions 

1. We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer the question that corresponds to the school/program to which you are applying in a half page or roughly 250 words.

• College of Arts and Sciences  - What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences  - If you were given funding for a small engineering project that would make everyday life better for one friend or family member, what would you design?
• School of Architecture  - Describe an instance or place where you have been inspired by architecture or design.  
• School of Nursing  - School of Nursing applicants may have experience shadowing, volunteering, or working in a health care environment. Tell us about a health care-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying nursing.
• Kinesiology Program  - Discuss experiences that led you to choose the kinesiology major. 

2. Answer one of the following questions in a half page or roughly 250 words. 

• What’s your favorite word and why?
• We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are.
• Student self-governance, which encourages student investment and initiative, is a hallmark of the UVA culture. In her fourth year at UVA, Laura Nelson was inspired to create Flash Seminars, one-time classes which facilitate high-energy discussion about thought-provoking topics outside of traditional coursework. If you created a Flash Seminar, what idea would you explore and why?
• UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message?

UVA students are charged with pushing the boundaries of knowledge to serve others and contribute to the common good. Give us an example of how you’ve used what you’ve learned to make a positive impact in another person’s life.

Media Contact

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[email protected] 434-982-5315

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July 12, 2018

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University of Virginia Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

By Eric Eng

A vital part of succeeding in the University of Virginia’s 2023-2024 application season is doing well on its supplemental essays. These essays are not just formal requirements; they are ways for the admissions committee to learn about your personality, goals, and how well you fit into the university.

In this blog, we will go into detail about the University of Virginia’s supplemental essays. We’ll give you tips and advice on how to write responses that reflect your unique story, whether you’re interested in engineering, history, or still exploring your academic interests.

Let’s start this journey together, breaking down each essay question and providing you with the skills to create compelling stories that will set your application apart. Remember, these essays are more than just answers; they are your chance to connect with the University of Virginia and show why you’re a great fit for this prestigious school.

How Many Essay Prompts Does the University of Virginia Have?

While there is one general prompt required for all applicants and an optional prompt for those with specific connections to UVA, the total number of supplemental essay prompts a student might write varies based on the school they are applying to within the university. This structure allows UVA to gain a comprehensive understanding of the applicant not just in terms of general university fit, but also in terms of their specific academic and personal alignment with their chosen field of study.

What are the 2023-2024 University of Virginia Supplemental Essay Prompts?

The University of Virginia has several supplemental essay prompts for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle. These prompts vary depending on the app licant’s background and the specific school they are applying to within the university. Here are the detailed prompts:

General Prompt for All Applicants

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you. (250 words)

Optional Prompt

If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the University, please share your thoughts here. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs. (100 words)

Prompt for School of Nursing Applicants

Describe a health care-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying Nursing. (250 words)

How to Write the 2023-2024 University of Virginia Supplemental Essays

Required essay, understanding the question:.

This prompt is seeking to understand how a student’s unique background, experiences, and perspectives will contribute positively to the UVA community. It’s an opportunity for students to showcase their individuality and the distinct qualities they can bring to the campus. Here are four key points with detailed explanations on how students might approach this prompt:

Crafting Your Response:

1. Identify Unique Aspects of Your Background: Students should reflect on the elements of their upbringing, community, and personal experiences that make them unique. This could be related to cultural heritage, family traditions, a significant life event, or challenges they’ve overcome. For instance, a student who grew up in a multicultural environment might discuss how this experience has given them a broader understanding of different perspectives, which they can share with their peers at UVA.

2. Highlight Personal Growth and Learning: Students should give particular emphasis to how their experiences have contributed to their personal growth and learning. For instance, overcoming academic challenges offers a compelling narrative arc. This isn’t just about the challenge itself, but rather the journey and the transformation that followed. A student could delve into the specifics of the obstacles they faced – be it difficulties with a specific subject, balancing schoolwork with other responsibilities, or adapting to different learning environments. 

The focus should be on the evolution of their approach to these challenges. This narrative could highlight the development of innovative learning strategies, the discovery of unexpected strengths, or the realization of the importance of perseverance and resilience. 

By detailing this journey, the student doesn’t just share a story of overcoming adversity; they also showcase crucial qualities like adaptability, problem-solving skills, and an unyielding commitment to self-improvement. These are attributes highly valued in an academic setting, as they signal a student who is not only prepared to face challenges but also capable of evolving in the face of them.

Moreover, this approach allows the student to illustrate how these learned qualities are not just personal achievements but assets they can bring to the University of Virginia community. For example, the resilience and adaptability gained from overcoming academic challenges are not only beneficial for the student’s own academic journey but can also be a source of inspiration and guidance for peers. 

The student could discuss how these experiences have equipped them to contribute to study groups, lead peer-to-peer tutoring sessions, or participate in mentorship programs. This aspect of the essay is crucial; it connects the personal narrative to the broader UVA community. It shows that the student is not only prepared to succeed on their own but also eager and capable of uplifting others. This demonstrates a deep understanding of the university’s values and a commitment to being an active and contributing member of its vibrant academic community.

3. Connect to UVA’s Values and Community: It is crucial for students to align their personal experiences and perspectives with the values and ethos of UVA. To effectively achieve this, a student should first conduct thorough research to gain a deep understanding of what UVA stands for — its community ethos, academic values, and cultural priorities. UVA is known for its commitment to a vibrant community life, academic excellence, and a spirit of exploration and discovery. 

By delving into these aspects, students can identify specific values that resonate with their own experiences or beliefs. For instance, if a student has actively engaged in community service, and this aspect of service and community building is a prominent value at UVA, this should be a focal point in their essay. The student can narrate their experiences in community service, detailing the lessons learned, the impact made, and most importantly, how these experiences have shaped their character and worldview.

Furthermore, the student should not just reflect on past experiences but also articulate a forward-looking vision. This involves discussing how they envision carrying forward their commitment to service and community involvement at UVA. They could elaborate on specific initiatives or groups at UVA that they aspire to join or contribute to, demonstrating a proactive and thoughtful approach to their future college life. 

This connection between personal values and university ethos becomes more than just a narrative; it transforms into a commitment to actively contribute to and enhance the UVA community. In doing so, the student effectively communicates not just their fit for UVA, but also their potential to be a dynamic and contributing member of the university, furthering the values that both the student and the institution cherish.

4. Discuss Potential Contributions to UVA: The prompt asks how the student’s background will be a source of strength for themselves or others at UVA. Students should think about how their experiences could contribute to classroom discussions, student organizations, or community engagement at UVA. For example, a student with a background in environmental activism could talk about bringing new ideas to sustainability initiatives on campus.

5. Reflect on Future Goals and Aspirations: While the prompt focuses on past experiences, students can also touch upon how their background will help them achieve their future goals, particularly those they hope to pursue at UVA . This could involve academic interests, career aspirations, or personal development goals.

Each of these points should be deeply personal and specific to the student’s own experiences and aspirations, allowing them to creat e a compelling narrative that not only answers the prompt but also gives the admissions committee a clear picture of who they are and what they can bring to the University of Virginia.

This prompt is about exploring a student’s personal or historic connection to the university and understanding how this connection has shaped their readiness to contribute to the UVA community. It’s a chance for students to link their familial, historical, or experiential ties to their prospective future at the university.

1. Detail the Specific Connection: Students should clearly state their specific connection to UVA. This could be a family legacy (e.g., parents or grandparents who attended UVA), a personal experience (like participating in UVA programs or camps), or a more historical and profound connection (such as being a descendant of individuals who have contributed to the university’s history). The key is to be precise about the nature of this connection.

2. Reflect on the Impact of This Connection: In crafting a response that reflects on the impact of a familial or personal connection to the University of Virginia, students should delve deeply into how these ties have shaped their perspective and influenced their life decisions. For instance, a student with family members who are UVA alumni might have grown up immersed in tales of the university’s hallowed halls, historic traditions, and the spirited community that defines it. 

These stories, often shared during family gatherings, could have instilled a deep-seated appreciation for the university’s values, academic rigor, and the sense of belonging it fosters. This connection goes beyond mere familiarity; it’s about how the narratives of past generations have woven into the student’s aspirations, shaping their academic and personal goals. 

The student could discuss specific traditions or aspects of UVA culture that resonated with them, perhaps drawing parallels between the values upheld by their family – such as a commitment to service, excellence in scholarship, or a strong sense of community – and those championed by the university.

Moreover, this reflection should extend to how this connection has influenced the student’s life decisions and future ambitions. Perhaps hearing about the transformative experiences and opportunities at UVA has motivated the student to pursue particular fields of study or engage in community service. The student might share how witnessing the impact of a UVA education on their family members’ lives inspired them to set higher educational goals or instilled in them a desire to contribute positively to their community. 

This part of the essay should paint a vivid picture of the student’s journey, marked by a growing admiration for UVA, culminating in the decision to apply. It’s about connecting the past – the legacy and stories inherited – with the present aspirations and future dreams, all while highlighting how the university’s ethos resonates with their own values and aspirations. This approach not only demonstrates the student’s connection to UVA but also their thoughtful consideration of how their personal history aligns with the university’s culture and ideals.

3. Link Personal Growth to UVA Experience: If the connection has played a role in the student’s personal growth or academic interests, they should highlight this. For example, if participating in a UVA summer program sparked an interest in a particular field of study, the student could discuss how this experience guided their academic choices and how they plan to further explore these interests at UVA.

4. Discuss Contribution to UVA Community: The prompt seeks to understand how the student’s connection to UVA will enable them to contribute to the university. Students should brainstorm ways in which their unique insights or experiences could enrich the campus community. For instance, a student who grew up hearing about UVA’s history might have a deep respect for the university’s traditions and could contribute to campus activities that celebrate this heritage.

5. Convey Enthusiasm and Commitment: Given the brevity of the response (100 words), it’s crucial to convey a strong sense of enthusiasm and commitment to UVA. This can be achieved through a tone that reflects excitement about the prospect of continuing a familial legacy or building upon personal experiences related to the university.

In crafting their response, students should aim to create a concise yet powerful narrative that not only demonstrates their connection t o UVA but also how this connection has prepared them to be active and contributing members of the university community.

Describe a healthcare-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying Nursing. (250 words)

The prompt for the School of Nursing is designed to understand a student’s motivation and passion for studying nursing. It’s an opportunity for students to showcase their personal connection to the field, highlight their experiences, and demonstrate their commitment to nursing. Here are four key points with detailed explanations for brainstorming a response.

1. Identify a Defining Experience: Students should reflect on a specific healthcare-related experience or interaction that significantly influenced their decision to pursue nursing. This could be a personal health challenge, a family member’s medical journey, volunteer work in a healthcare setting, or witnessing a healthcare professional’s impact. The experience should be meaningful and have played a pivotal role in sparking their interest in nursing.

2. Detail the Experience and Its Impact: It’s important to not only describe the experience but to delve into how it shaped their understanding of nursing. For example, if a student volunteered at a hospital, they should describe their interactions with patients and nurses, observing the compassion and expertise required in nursing. The focus should be on what they learned from the experience and how it solidified their desire to enter the nursing field.

3. Connect Personal Qualities to Nursing: Students should link their personal attributes and skills to the qualities needed in nursing. For instance, if they have demonstrated empathy, resilience, or problem-solving skills in their experience, they should explain how these qualities are essential in nursing and how they plan to apply them in their studies and future careers.

4. Express Commitment to the Field: The essay should convey a strong commitment to nursing. This includes discussing long-term goals within the field, such as specific areas of interest (e.g., pediatric, oncology, public health nursing), and how they hope to make a difference in patients’ lives and the broader healthcare landscape.

5. Tie the Experience to Studying at UVA: Finally, students should briefly mention why these experiences and their nursing aspirations make UVA a fitting choice for their education. They could highlight specific aspects of UVA’s nursing program that resonate with their goals and experiences, such as particular courses, clinical opportunities, or the university’s approach to healthcare education.

This prompt is an excellent opportunity for students to tell a personal story that not only reflects their passion for nursing but also demonstrates their suitability for the field. The narrative should be engaging, heartfelt, and reflective, giving the admissions committee a clear sense of the student’s journey toward choosing nursing as a career path.

What You Should Know Before Start Writing

When preparing to write the University of Virginia supplemental essays 2023-2024, students should engage in thorough reading and research to ensure their essays are well-informed and tailored to UVA’s ethos and expectations. Here’s what they should consider reading:

1. UVA’s Mission Statement and Core Values: Understanding the University of Virginia’s mission and core values is crucial. These documents offer insights into what UVA stands for and seeks in its students. By aligning their essays with these values, students can demonstrate that they are not just a good fit academically but also resonate with the university’s broader community and cultural ethos.

2. Course Descriptions and Program Information: Students should read up on the specific programs, courses, and extracurricular activities that interest them at UVA. This information, which can usually be found on the university’s website , will help them to tailor their essays to show how their interests and goals align with what UVA offers. For example, if applying to the School of Engineering, understanding the unique aspects of UVA’s engineering program can help students articulate why they are drawn to it.

3. Current Events and Recent Developments at UVA: Keeping abreast of recent news, research breakthroughs, and developments at UVA can provide students with contemporary topics to reference in their essays. This shows the admissions committee that the student is genuinely interested in being part of the UVA community and is staying informed about its ongoing activities and achievements.

4. Student Blogs, Forums, and UVA Social Media: Reading content created by current UVA students, such as blogs or forum posts, can offer a glimpse into the day-to-day life and culture at the university. Following UVA’s official social media channels can also provide updates and insights. This can help applicants in crafting essays that reflect a realistic and enthusiastic perspective about becoming part of the UVA community.

5. Sample Successful Essays: While it’s important not to copy or mimic other essays, reading examples of successful University of Virginia supplemental essays can give students an idea of the tone, structure, and type of content that resonates with admissions officers. However, students should always ensure that their essays are unique and true to their personal experiences and aspirations.

In summary, extensive reading and research are key to writing compelling University of Virginia supplemental essays 2023-2024. Understanding UVA’s values, programs, and culture, as well as learning from the experiences of current students and successful applicants, can provide a solid foundation for writing insightful and personalized essays.

Structuring Your Supplemental Essays Effectively

The structure of suppleme ntal essays plays a pivotal role in how effectively a student’s message is communicated. A well-structured essay not only ensures clarity and coherence but also enables the applicant to showcase their thoughts and experiences compellingly. Here are three key points on how applicants can structure their UVA supplemental essays:

1. Begin with a Captivating Introduction: The opening of the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays should instantly engage the reader. A compelling introduction sets the tone and presents a glimpse of the essay’s focus. Applicants could start with a vivid anecdote, a surprising fact, or a provocative question related to their chosen prompt.

For example, if writing about a personal experience that shaped their perspective, starting with a brief story or a defining moment can draw the reader into their narrative. This approach not only grabs attention but also creates a personal connection with the admissions committee.

2. Develop a Coherent Body with Thematic Segments: The body of the essay should be structured in a way that each paragraph flows logically from one to the next, building upon the ideas introduced in the beginning. Applicants should use each paragraph to explore different facets of their response to the prompt.

For instance, in discussing how their background will contribute to UVA’s community, one paragraph could focus on personal experiences, another on learned skills, and a third on future aspirations at UVA. Using clear, thematic segments helps in maintaining the essay’s focus and makes it easier for readers to follow the narrative thread.

3. Conclude with Reflection and Forward-Thinking: A strong conclusion to the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays should tie back to the introduction and provide a reflection on the overall message. It’s an opportunity for applicants to reiterate their main points and express how their experiences or perspectives align with UVA’s values and academic environment. 

The conclusion should also look forward, perhaps by stating how the applicant plans to contribute to the UVA community or how attending UVA fits into their long-term goals. This not only shows a full-circle understanding of the topic but also demonstrates the applicant’s forward-thinking mindset and eagerness to be part of the UVA community.

Overall, the structure of your supplemental essays is as crucial as the content. A well-organized essay with a captivating i ntroduction, a coherent body, and a reflective conclusion can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the applicant’s narrative, making their application stand out in the competitive admissions process.

How to Effectively Revise and Proofread Your Supplemental Essays

When it comes to revising and proofreading the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays, attention to detail and a systematic approach are vital. Here are some key strategies to ensure that the essays are polished and impactful:

1. Take a Break Before Revising: After the initial draft of the University of Virginia supplemental essays, it’s beneficial to take a short break before starting the revision process. Stepping away from the essay for a day or two allows the mind to refresh, making it easier to spot errors and inconsistencies with a fresh perspective. This break can also help in reassessing the essay’s alignment with the prompt and UVA’s values.

2. Read Aloud for Flow and Clarity: Reading the essay aloud is a powerful technique to check for flow and clarity. This helps in identifying awkward phrasing, run-on sentences, or any parts of the essay that might be confusing. For the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays, ensuring that each sentence is clear and contributes to the overall narrative is crucial.

3. Check for Consistency and Relevance: During revision, it’s important to ensure that each part of the essay consistently supports the central theme and directly answers the prompt. Applicants should scrutinize each paragraph, asking themselves if the content is relevant and strengthens their argument. This is particularly important for UVA essays, where being concise yet comprehensive is key.

4. Seek Feedback from Others: Getting a second or third opinion can be invaluable. Applicants should consider asking teachers, mentors, or peers to review their essays. These reviewers can offer a new perspective and suggest improvements or areas that need more clarity. However, it’s important to remember that the final essay should remain in the applicant’s own voice and reflect their personal experiences and aspirations.

5. Final Proofreading for Grammar and Typos: The last step should be a thorough proofreading focusing on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Small errors can distract from the content and give an impression of carelessness. Tools like grammar checkers can be helpful, but they should not replace a meticulous manual review. For the University of Virginia supplemental essays, where every word counts, this step is crucial for presenting a polished and professional final draft.

In summary, effectively revising and proofreading the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays involves a combination of strategic breaks, reading aloud, ensuring consistency and relevance, seeking external feedback, and detailed proofreadi ng. This comprehensive approach ensures that the essays are not only free of errors but also compelling and reflective of the applicant’s suitability for UVA.

The Importance of University of Virginia Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

Supplemental essays play an integral role in the college admissions process, offering a unique opportunity for students to showcase their personal identity, values, and distinct experiences. Unlike grades and test scores, these essays allow applicants to tell their own stories and express their individual perspectives.

The 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays, for instance, provide a crucial platform for students to demonstrate how their backgro unds and experiences align with UVA’s values and culture. This personal touch can set applicants apart in a pool of similarly qualified candidates.

Furthermore, supplemental essays are a key medium for students to demonstrate their specific interest and fit for a particular university. Through the 2023-2024 UVA supplemental essays, applicants have the chance to articulate why they have chosen UVA, highlighting aspects such as unique academic programs, the university’s culture, or specific opportunities that resonate with their personal and academic aspirations. A well-written essay that echoes UVA’s ethos can significantly boost an applicant’s chances of admission by showing a thoughtful and informed commitment to the university.

These essays also provide an avenue for students to delve into and highlight specific skills, experiences, or achievements that are particularly relevant to their desired field of study or college experience. At UVA, applicants might discuss their leadership roles, community involvement, or personal challenges, showcasing how these experiences have equipped them for college life. This level of detail in the 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays helps admissions officers gauge the depth of an applicant’s abilities and their potential to thrive in the university’s environment.

Moreover, supplemental essays offer a space for students to provide context to their application, which can be crucial in cases where they need to explain certain aspects, such as an irregular academic record or unique life circumstances. The University of Virginia’s supplemental essays for the 2023-2024 cycle serve this purpose effectively, allowing students to furnish additional information that can influence admissions officers’ decisions.

In essence, supplemental essays are a critical component of the college admissions process, allowing students to present a compreh ensive and multi-dimensional profile. For applicants to the University of Virginia, crafting insightful and engaging supplemental essays is a pivotal step towards achieving their collegiate goals, highlighting their readiness and suitability for the academic and cultural environment at UVA.

Why Choose UVA?

The University of Virginia presents a compelling choice for your academic journey, distinguished by its prestigious rankings and a strong commitment to academic excellence. In 2023, UVA rose to the impressive No. 3 spot among public universities according to the U.S. News & W orld Report Best Colleges ranking. 

This achievement not only highlights UVA’s current prestige but also its consistent performance, as it has remained in the top four for over two decades in this category. Additionally, UVA is recognized as the No. 24 best overall university in the nation, showcasing its comprehensive strength across various disciplines.

Financial considerations are also a strong point for UVA. The university has been named the No. 2 best-value public university by The Princeton Review. This reflects UVA’s commitment to offering high-quality education at an accessible cost. Furthermore, UVA’s dedication to supporting its students is evident in its recognition as the best public college in the nation for financial aid for three consecutive years. This emphasizes the university’s efforts to make education attainable for a diverse range of students.

Specialized programs at UVA also stand out, particularly in business education. The Darden School of Business at UVA has been ranked as the No. 3 business school in the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek. This is the highest ranking ever received by the school for its Full-Time MBA programs, indicating a robust and evolving business education environment.

Overall, the University of Virginia not only boasts historic prestige and a beautiful campus but also excels in academic quality, value , financial support, and specialized programs. As you consider your options for the upcoming academic year, UVA offers an environment where tradition is blended with innovation, creating an ideal setting for realizing your academic and professional goals.

How Do UVA’s Supplemental Essay Prompts Compare to Other Top Universities?

The University of Virginia’s supplemental essays for the 2023-2024 academic year present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for applicants, distinguishing themselves from other top universities in several key ways. Unlike many other institutions, UVA’s prompts often focus on eliciting responses that reveal the applicant’s personality, interests, and fit with the university’s culture. 

For instance, one of UVA’s prompts typically asks students to discuss a work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature that has challenged or changed their perspective. This contrasts with the more common prompts seen at universities like Harvard or Stanford , where the focus might be more on achievements, future goals, or intellectual pursuits.

Another aspect where UVA’s supplemental essays stand out is in their emphasis on community and personal experiences. While schools like the University of Chicago are known for their creative and intellectual prompts, often involving unusual or abstract questions, UVA asks applicants to reflect on their experiences within their communities or families. This approach aims to understand how applicants interact with and contribute to their immediate environments. It’s a more grounded and practical approach than the philosophical or hypothetical scenarios posed by some other elite institutions.

Finally, UVA’s essays tend to be shorter and more focused than those of some peers, requiring applicants to be concise and dire ct in their responses. This brevity can be a refreshing change from the longer, more open-ended prompts of schools like Columbia or Yale , which allow for more extensive exploration of ideas but also demand a greater depth of thought and expression. UVA’s approach ensures that applicants get straight to the point, allowing the admissions committee to glean insights into the applicants’ personalities and thought processes efficiently.

The University of Virginia Application Deadlines and Acceptance Rate

The University of Virginia has set specific application deadlines for the 2023-2024 application cycle. These deadlines vary depending on the admission plan chosen by the applicant. For Early Decision, the deadline is November 1, with an extension to November 8, and decisions are communicated by December 15. For Early Action, the application deadline is also November 1, extended to November 8, with decisions announced by February 15. Lastly, for Regular Decision, the application must be submitted by January 5, with a grace period until January 10, and applicants will be informed of their status by April 1​​.

Regarding the acceptance rate, UVA is known for its selective admissions process. For the 2022-2023 application cycle, the university had an acceptance rate of 19% , indicative of its competitive nature. Out of the 50,926 students who applied, 9,676 were admitted. This selectivity highlights the importance of submitting a strong application, including well-crafted 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays, to stand out in a large pool of applicants​​.

When planning your application to UVA, it’s essential to be mindful of these deadlines and the competitive acceptance rate. The university’s selective nature emphasizes the importance of timely and thoughtful application submissions, where the supplemental essays play a crucial role. 

These essays offer an opportunity to showcase your unique perspectives and qualifications beyond academic records. Hence, understa nding these aspects of the application process is key to increasing your chances of being part of the select few who gain admission to this esteemed institution.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your Supplemental Essays

When crafting your 2023-2024 University of Virginia supplemental essays, avoiding common mistakes is as important as highlighting your strengths and experiences. Here are some key pitfalls to avoid:

1. Lack of Personalization: One of the most frequent mistakes is failing to tailor your essay to UVA specifically. Generic essays that could apply to any university miss the mark. UVA’s prompts are designed to gauge your fit with their unique community and values. Research UVA’s programs, culture, and values, and reflect on how they align with your goals and experiences.

2. Overlooking the Prompt’s Essence: Each supplemental essay prompt has a specific intention. It’s vital to answer the question directly and thoughtfully. For example, if a prompt asks about a piece of art that changed your perspective, focus not just on the art piece but also on how it transformed your thinking or actions. This demonstrates both self-awareness and critical thinking.

3. Ignoring the Importance of Brevity: UVA’s essays are typically concise. A common error is writing too much and not being succinct. This can lead to rambling or diluting the impact of your main points. Each word should serve a purpose – either advancing your narrative or illuminating your character. Editing and revising for clarity and brevity are crucial.

4. Neglecting Your Unique Voice and Experiences: Many applicants fall into the trap of telling admissions what they think they want to hear, rather than showcasing their genuine self. Authenticity is key. Share your unique experiences, perspectives, and aspirations. What makes you different from other applicants? How do your experiences shape who you are and your ambitions?

5. Not Proofreading: Grammatical errors, typos, or incorrect formatting can detract from the quality of your essay. They can give an impression of carelessness and lack of attention to detail. Always proofread your essays, and if possible, have a teacher, counselor, or mentor review them as well.

6. Playing It Too Safe: While it’s important to be professional and respectful, don’t shy away from being bold in your ideas or creative in your storytelling. UVA appreciates students who bring diverse perspectives and are willing to challenge the status quo.

7. Repeating Information from Other Parts of the Application: Your supplemental essays should provide new insights about you, not reiterate what’s already in your application. Avoid repeating content from your main Common Application essay or listing achievements that are already in your resume. Instead, use the supplemental essays as an opportunity to delve into aspects of your personality, experiences, and aspirations that haven’t been covered elsewhere.

8. Failing to Demonstrate Intellectual Curiosity and Growth: UVA values students who are intellectually curious and open to growth. Essays that fail to demonstrate a love for learning or an open-minded approach to challenges can be a missed opportunity. Share experiences that show how you engage with the world intellectually and how you’ve grown from these experiences.

9. Over-Reliance on Clichés and Overused Phrases: While it’s natural to want to use phrases that seem impactful, overused clichés can make your essay sound generic and uninspiring. Strive for originality in both your content and your language. Express your thoughts in a way that is uniquely yours, which can make your essay more memorable and engaging.

10. Neglecting to Connect Your Story to the Future: UVA is not just interested in who you are now, but also in who you aspire to be. A common oversight is not connecting your current experiences and interests to your future goals. How does what you’ve learned and experienced shape your future ambitions? How do you see yourself contributing to the UVA community and beyond?

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can create compelling, insightful, and impactful supplemental essays that will help you stand out in the UVA admissions process. Remember, the goal is to paint a comprehensive and engaging picture of who you are, what you value, and how you align with UVA’s community and academic environment.

Concluding Thoughts

As we wrap up our exploration of the University of Virginia’s supplemental essays for the 2023-2024 application cycle, remember that these essays are your chance to shine, to show the admissions committee not just who you are, but who you aspire to be. Each word you write brings you one step closer to walking the paths of the historic Grounds, joining a community of scholars and leaders who have shaped the world.

Craft your essays with authenticity and thoughtfulness. Reflect on your experiences, your dreams, and how the University of Virginia fits into your future story. Be bold in your aspirations, honest in your reflections, and meticulous in your writing. This is your moment to share your voice, your unique perspective that no one else can offer.

As you submit your application, take pride in the effort and heart you’ve poured into your essays. You’re not just submitting a set of documents; you’re presenting a piece of your journey, a snapshot of your life and ambitions. Whether you’re destined to be a Cavalier or your path leads you elsewhere, the process of articulating your goals and values is a valuable step toward your future.

We wish you the very best in your college application journey. May your essays be a powerful testament to your potential and a stepping stone to achieving your dreams. Go forth with confidence, and remember, the journey itself is as significant as the destination.

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Admissions strategy: AdmissionSight can help you develop a strategic plan for your college application process. Our professional consultants can assist with identifying schools that are a good fit for your academic, extracurricular, and personal goals and help you plan and prioritize your application strategy.

Application review: AdmissionSight can review your application and provide feedback on how to improve it. We can offer suggestions on making your application stand out and highlighting your strengths and unique qualities.

Essay coaching: AdmissionSight can help you craft compelling essays that showcase your personality, goals, and achievements. We can guide you through the essay writing process and provide feedback on your drafts to help you refine your writing.

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How to Write Your Way into UVA

In college admissions, essays can serve as the tipping point. Here are some tips, pointers and actual essays that recently made the cut.

To build the 3,974-member Class of 2023, UVA admission deans culled through 40,880 applications. How big a role did the student essays play in the final decision? We asked an expert: Macy Lenox (Col ’94), associate dean of undergraduate admission. Here’s our conversation, edited and condensed.

Virginia Magazine: What carries the most weight in the final admission decision?

Lenox: What we find on the transcript is going to be the first and most important aspect of the application. [Then] we’re going to start looking at impact and contribution, and we get to that through extracurricular activities and teacher recommendations.

The essay is the one time we’re going to kind of sit back in our chair and give students the opportunity to talk to us. So they want to use that time wisely. The best essays are those that you read and you don’t just want to admit the student, you want to take them out for coffee once they get to Grounds.

With that said, will an extraordinary essay make the case for a student who is not qualified? The answer is no. One of my former colleagues used to say: It can heal the sick, but it can’t raise the dead.

Are any essay topics better than another?

There’s no such thing as a golden-ticket topic. What makes the essay is not the topic; it’s how you approach your topic and what it reveals about you.

We read a lot of essays about sports and that sort of thing. And I would say most of them are solid, and they’re grammatically correct, and there are no typos, and they’re well-organized, and they tell me something about a student. It’s going to be confirming that you can write an essay.

But this is a process where you want to stand out. And so it’s a process of not just writing a confirming essay but writing an elevating essay. Don’t tell me everything that soccer has taught you. Tell me the one thing that’s been truly transformative. Tell it to me as a story. Be descriptive. Be reflective.

Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable—you know, to talk about shortcomings or areas where you felt weak. We all have that. It’s perfectly fine to be normal. And at no point should you say, “Soccer taught me to be a leader.” That should emerge from your essay. You know: Show me, don’t tell me.

What’s one common mistake you see in essays?

So many try to be the person they think we want them to be. Stay in your lane, if you will. If you’re a funny person, write a funny essay. But if you’re not really known as a funny person, don’t write a funny essay. It’s probably not going to be funny. If you write about something you love, it’s probably going to come through.

We are comfortable with a 17-year-old voice. We typically know when we’re hearing a 40- or 50-year-old voice.

Any final piece of advice for essay-writing?

What we caution against is what we call death by committee—where you’ve had so many people contributing little pieces of an essay [that] all of a sudden you’ve got five different voices in your essay.

I definitely recommend you get other people to read your essay for advice. But when you hand it to them, the question you should ask is, “Does this sound like me?” You should never hand a pen or pencil to someone when you give them your essay. Just have them read it, and then sit down with them afterward and talk about it, and you take notes.

We say this all the time: If it dropped out of your backpack and fell on the cafeteria floor, your friend could pick it up and, even if your name wasn’t on it, know it was yours.

Enjoy meeting a few individuals from the Class of 2023. In response to writing prompts with word limits, they each submitted several admission essays (both short and long). The ones published here, lightly edited, reveal a bit of the unique selves they will bring with them to the University of Virginia this fall.

Living Out-of-the-Box

A bead of sweat trickled down my temple. A wave of excitement crashed over me. With nimble fingers I tore the wrapping paper off of the Christmas gift before me. This is it. I was sure the box contained the Razor scooter that I had wanted for months. I envisioned myself skating through the neighborhood, Skechers lighting up with each kick off the ground, low ponytail protruding from my hot pink helmet. I would rule my cul-de-sac.

When I opened the box and dug through mounds of packing peanuts, my eyes finally fell upon the treasure beneath. But I was immediately overcome with paralyzing disappointment. My short life flashed before my eyes. Something had gone very, very wrong at Santa’s workshop. The item within the box had one less wheel than it should have had. In fact, it was not a scooter at all, but a unicycle.

Disappointment faded into acceptance and ultimately enthusiasm as I imagined the possibilities. I could learn to juggle on one wheel. I could unicycle to school. I could join the circus. Abandoning my other Christmas presents, I descended to the basement, which would become my training ground for the next three frozen months. Hugging a wall, straddling the seat and lifting my feet onto the pedals, I was ready to ride. Yet I sat frozen, unsure of how to proceed. I had read the instructions, but they were remarkably uninstructive. Awkward minutes ticked by.

Eventually I built up the courage to rock back and forth. But I never made it forth; instead, the wheel shot out from under me and I landed hard on my face. Pride and dignity extinguished, yet undeterred, I mounted again. I fell again. From dawn till dusk for days on end, I wrestled with that wheel. Eventually I learned to balance, and then to pedal.

When the snow finally melted, I was riding at lightning speed around my cul-de-sac, to the awe of friends and neighbors astride their strangely complicated two-wheeled contraptions.

Yet simply learning to unicycle did not quench my insatiable desire to expand my skillset. Uni-juggling bored me, so I taught myself to play basketball atop the wheel. And thus I developed a habit of concocting unconventional combinations, which would give birth to my most epic brainchildren.

I began performing my trademark magic shows on the unicycle. Using my black top hat, I impersonated Abraham Lincoln on the unicycle, reciting the Gettysburg Address from memory. (I wondered if Honest Abe would have been able to unicycle; considering the length of his legs, I concluded not.) I taught myself to solve a Rubik’s cube on the unicycle, a feat that required utmost focus, unwavering balance, and a street with no potholes.

I began applying that out-of-the-box mentality to my life off the wheel. I fused my love for paradoxes and poetry to create poems that could be read forward and backward to convey two contradictory messages. I layered peanut butter, avocado, and bacon atop toast to create an amalgam of my favorite foods, in the process inventing the world’s most delicious and substantial open-faced sandwich.

Conquering the unicycle made me realize that conventions need to be challenged. Just because some cycles have two wheels does not make them better. And who says that poems can only be read top to bottom? I thrive kinesthetically, learning by doing, dedicating countless hours to master anything that excites me in the slightest. But I believe there is more to life than someone else’s instruction book. I prefer to write my own instructions, try the unconventional, and explore the unknown. I am a unicyclist amongst scooterers. I make my own path, usually on just one wheel.

—Elizabeth Kilgore , Madison, New Jersey

Zoom In, Focus, Get Into the Rhythm

Cap off, shutter on. I am ready. There is a rhythm to it. I stand alone with my camera, surrounded by hundreds of people. I slowly scan the field and the stands, prepared for the unexpected scenes; the irony encourages me. Friday nights offer so many opportunities to focus on one moment, on one frame, blurring out all else around me.

There is excitement in my voice and, I have been told, a notable glimmer in my eyes when I talk about those Friday nights under the lights. These evenings challenge and excite me as I zoom in on one moment at a time, one frame at a time, quickly changing perspective and refocusing as the evening unfolds.

What am I looking for? The quarterback’s nervous focus as he stares down his targets in the face of the impending blitz, drum majors attempting to maintain a determined expression among the cacophony of the halftime festivities, and parents concealing their nerves, seemingly willing the team to a touchdown with the pressure of their clasped hands alone. Through the 200 millimeters of my lens, I am searching for the special moments that prove these are more than just games for everyone in attendance.

Endpin out, rosin my bow, tuned correctly, I am ready. There is a rhythm to it. Staring at the eighth notes that dance across the marked up score, I wait for my cue, blurring out the hushed whispers from the audience. As I anticipate the moment the curtains open, allowing me to pull my bow against the string, I am reminded of last night’s football game. I remember the way I zoomed in on each face, story and play, and now place this focus into my performance. Measure upon measure, the perspectives of the notes change, following the tone of the play, and these instant adjustments exhilarate me.

I play out; I am in the dark, but I am lit up by my desire to move someone with a strong melody that I have rehearsed time after time in my living room, until calluses are built, and I can hear the melody in my sleep.

The music that sits before me and the firm hand of the conductor are the only things I take in. Through the weight of my bow and the articulation in my left hand, I am seeking to give flight to the imagination so that the audience will be as moved as the composer intended.

Cap and gown on, Pomp and Circumstance echoing throughout the room, IB diploma in hand, I am ready. I know the rhythm. I know the rhythm because I’ve practiced all of my life. Focus on what’s important. Zoom in on what is to come. Change perspective and refocus when needed. Blur out the background noise. Through the experiences I seek out, I am invigorated and motivated by the challenges that accompany each new endeavor.

—Khuyen Dinh, Fairfax Station, Virginia

Stories From the Porch Swing

The wooden porch swing at my grandfather’s old house was very talkative. It used to creak and moan, irritated with eight-year-old me for attempting to swing so high I could touch my bare feet to the porch ceiling. It hummed as my mother gently rocked back and forth, drinking coffee. It laughed along with my little sister who used to leap off the swing as it was still moving, landing on her hands and knees with a thud. It took part in the family conversations every Sunday, faintly squeaking behind the noise of us chatting and eating dinner outside on warm nights. But when my grandfather told his stories, the swing didn't make a sound.

I remember the evening I first fell in love with stories. Under the weight of both myself and my grandfather, the swing was completely silent, careful not to interrupt. Listening earnestly with my hands resting in my lap, I was silent as well. The robin that was usually chirping in the front yard was quiet for a minute. The white oak trees with their wise faces and twisted limbs stopped whispering to each other. The world was still and listening; I could hear only my grandfather’s voice and my own soft, measured breath.

My grandfather is a storyteller. He always says that it’s his innate ability to tell a story that makes him good at his job. Whether he’s standing in front of a packed, buzzing courtroom or simply sitting on his creaky porch swing, the world listens when my grandfather speaks. From an early age, this has always been what I admire most about him. He is intelligent and kind. He is fiercely strong-willed in the way he values and fights for social justice. But most of all, he knows how to make people listen. His words inspire action. From him, I developed a strong fascination with stories.

Some of my favorite stories to hear growing up were the ones about my dad’s childhood. Although we’d heard the story hundreds of times already, my siblings and I would beg my grandfather to tell us about when my dad accidentally got stuck in a tree. My grandfather would also tell us about his own childhood during the Great Depression, his time as a drafted soldier in the Vietnam War, and the long hours he worked as a graveyard shift police officer to pay for law school.

Stories can be found anywhere. They are catalysts of social change and vehicles of shared knowledge. I find them in the pages of my history textbook, in the spirited conversations of the lunchroom, and in every person I meet. My avidity for learning has bloomed from my obsession with stories. From the fall of the Romanov Dynasty to how Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accidentally leaving out a moldy petri dish, stories prompt my active, electrified engagement in school. They have given me an unbounded curiosity about our world.

By reading my favorite novels, traveling to unfamiliar places, and even just talking to the stranger in line at the grocery store, I continue in my search for stories. That quiet evening on my grandfather’s porch swing unleashed within me a deep-seated passion for stories that has seeped into and invigorated my intellectual pursuits.

—Audrey Hicks, Fairfax, Virginia

One Small Touch 

“J’adoube,” I said, adjusting the placement of my queen to the center of her square.

My opponent looked at me with a puzzled gaze. As the game continued, there came a second time where saying j’adoube became necessary. But this time, after again seeing the puzzled look on my opponent’s face, I said, “It means the same thing as adjust.” This time it seemed to click in his head.

Since I began playing chess competitively, I have heard the word used less and less. J’adoube is announced by a player who is going to touch a piece to adjust its positioning but has no intention of moving it from its square. This one word changes the meaning of touching a piece. Without uttering j’adoube , a player must move the piece they touch, unless moving that piece would result in an illegal move.

The word is not something that you will find in a rulebook or necessarily learn from beginner chess lessons. I imagine that it has developed over time from chess players wanting to associate the beauty of perfectly aligned pieces on the board with the beauty of the French language.

When I hear the word whispered in my direction, I smile because to me it sounds so much better than “adjust.” J’adoube cannot win games, but by saying it, you can prevent yourself from making ill-advised moves. Like in life, saying j’adoube can neither fix the past nor change the future, but it does allow you to control the present.

—Kyle Goldrick, Jamison, Pennsylvania

Sea Creature #3

“Hi, my name is Marin and I’m a piece of coral.” These were my dignity’s last words as I realized I was cast in the ensemble of my high school’s production of The Little Mermaid . In spite of my consistency and experience within the department, I was a lowly sea-creature: a fish on roller blades. As rehearsals commenced, I attempted to decipher a complex emotion: jealousy.

My best friend of 11 years obtained a highly coveted principal role following her maiden high school audition, leaving me with the role of Sea Creature #3. I looked simultaneously something akin to a prepubescent middle school boy and an ’80s jazzercise instructor. I was mercilessly clad in a deep blue unitard, complete with unflattering biker shorts, neon pink fishnet crop top, and swim cap. My insecurities were further manifested in a pair of rollerblades.

My best friend, the mermaid I felt so inferior to, was adorned in a bejeweled crown, which seemed only to further emphasize our distance apart in the hierarchical class system that is high school theater. She was oceanic royalty, and I was a plebian parrot fish. I stood sheepishly in my unitard, in my swim cap, and in the most intense state of jealousy I have ever experienced. My humiliation was complete as I stumbled across the stage, fish puppet in hand, in front of my friends and family, while enviously watching her glide gracefully from stage right to stage left, singing angelic melodies.

Alongside me in this endeavor was someone completely unexpected: a cheeky, cherubic third grader who was cast not in the principal cameo role he’d hoped for, but as a humble sea snail. Wanting to make the most of a mediocre situation, I became the unofficial cast child wrangler for the duration of the show. Rhett and I spent copious amounts of time together doing schoolwork, eating various snack foods, and learning to rollerblade. For safety's sake, I chased him through the most remote stretches of Fairfax High School as he cleared flights of stairs, careened around corners and flung himself down steep ramps in his little plastic red and black roller blades.

We got along swimmingly. Our shared experience connected us. We were inseparable. Rhett was not open to forming friendships with cast members who treated him with condescension. I, however, proved to be a completely honest and consistent friend. I remained by his side, a third grader's loyal sidekick for the entirety of the show. I helped him with his schoolwork and he helped me forget my jealousy. I kept him entertained and he provided me with positive experiences to reflect back on. The attitude he helped me to embrace gave me reason to act with integrity: I assembled a nervous cast for a prayer circle before each performance, comforted mermaids in crisis, and even stepped away from myself to help the former object of my jealousy when she was struggling.

In the end, our small group of fish-wielding jazzercise instructors went on stage and took advantage of each and every moment we had. The tangible evidence that bad situations can reap surprising rewards came in the form of a D.C. area Cappie award for my contribution to our department and our show. My situation went from mildly humiliating to outwardly validating. The jealousy I had toward my friend for her seemingly endless opportunities dissipated daily as I discovered the sometimes hidden blessings found in humility, humor, friendship, and community. My unspoken fear that my value or worth was somehow in part determined by the role I secured in a show was completely and utterly demolished by an extremely sassy, blond, nine-year-old boy, dressed as a sea snail.

—Marin Bronaugh, Fairfax, Virginia

My Mom’s Gifts to Me

The scene is ingrained into my memory. It was 2nd grade, and my teacher asked all of the students in my homeroom to put up pictures of their family on the bulletin board. Kids scrambled to the front of the room to stick on their photograph. I was at the front of the pack, eager to show everyone my picture of my mom and me holding a parrot in Hawaii three years prior.

“Kendall, why don’t you have a dad?” a bewildered Sydney asked, almost skeptical.

Everyone froze and turned to me, expecting an answer. The teacher tried to lessen my humiliation saying, “Sydney, that wasn’t nice,” and some other impotent reprimands, but the damage was done. I looked at the other kids’ photos. Each of them the same: a mother, one kid, two kids, or three, and a father. A part of me was shattered. I believed that the absence of a father would deprive me of something; my life would never compare to kids who lived with two parents.

For a long time, that mindset remained. I was ashamed of having a single mother, so I went out of my way to act like my father was in my life. Talking to friends about “my parents” and fabricating stories about my dad were coping mechanisms I used to fit in. Attending independent schools for most of my life, it seemed like everyone’s family was intact and lived in mansions, so the possibility of people knowing that I never saw my dad was terrifying. It would be something else to set me apart.

Everything changed once I moved from California to Virginia, where I had no family or friends. This forced me to spend more time with my mom, giving me a new perspective on my situation. I began to understand the sacrifices my mom made, raising me on her own, providing me with the best of everything: education, opportunities, experiences, anything a child living with two parents would have.

I now acknowledge the privilege I’ve had growing up with a mother like her. She made a successful career for herself by promoting equity and diversity in education and has passed on her beliefs that all people are worthy of respect. This influenced my love of experiencing new people, cultures, and places. So far, I have traveled to Haiti on a service trip, and France on a cultural exchange. While both experiences had their own challenges, they contributed to my understanding of cultural competence and showed me the value of forming relationships with others abroad.

My mom also instilled in me a dignified work ethic that shows through my academics, athletics, and extracurriculars. I try my best in everything I do, mimicking the strength and perseverance she had while attending college without guidance from anyone. If that means having a softball game at 5pm, tutoring elementary school kids at 7pm, then studying and homework afterward, I do it all with my best effort.

One of my mother’s qualities that I admire most is the support and acceptance she continually shows me. Regardless of our differences or circumstances, I always know that my mom respects my individuality, something that, for many of my peers, is not true. And in turn, I try to treat others with the same amount of respect and compassion. Whether that translates as talking to a patient in distress while volunteering at my local hospital or simply comforting a friend during a difficult time, sympathy and understanding are traits that hold the highest value in my life.

The trust I’ve formed with my mom is something I doubt I would have experienced with my dad. She has taught me everything about what it takes to be a strong black woman.

If I could answer Sydney's question today, my response would be, “Because my single mom is able to fulfill the role better than any father could.”

—Kendall Davis, Arlington, Virginia

Transfixed by My Toaster

I think that the shower has been the birthplace of more innovative ideas than any other location. Maybe it’s the alone time, the aromatherapy, the water washing off the day, or the ability to watch your troubles go down the drain and step out brand new. I don’t know. But I wish I did. Because it is these very moments, times when a light clicks on or an apple falls on your head, that fascinate me. Even the smallest things, the seemingly insignificant details of our reality, carry with them a story that changed the world.

One day, I was making toast, a pretty mundane part of my day. But as I was staring at my toaster, trying to get the bread to the right degree of toastiness, I became captivated by the beauty of the machine that has become a certainty in my life. For months, I had a tab open on my phone about Charles Strite, the inventor of the pop-up toaster, and would read little bits and pieces about him any time I could. All the man wanted was an evenly cooked piece of toast and that quest, distant as it may seem, led him to create something that I now expect in my everyday life.

That’s magical to me. Every step in his life, every burnt piece of toast that he had to endure, led him to that idea. One defining piece of Strite’s life has become a part of so many others. The simple device that I am accustomed to was the result of a lifetime of experience. We may take his idea for granted, but I find it amazing that he managed to change the world in his own way.

Many creations that are now a fact of life were once brave new inventions. So what will be next? Could my writing down the simple phrase “snack pants” in the notes on my phone a little after midnight change the fashion industry forever? Could my restaurant idea “the Porque-sadilla” (a place with Mexican food and trivia) revolutionize the dining experience? Probably not. But one day some goofy idea might develop into something greater: my origin story. And every step that I took, every shower, every note, every essay that I wrote would have led me to that point. Because this is the one story that I get to live, not just read about.

And that’s what fascinates me. The people around me may seem distant at times, but they are each the center of their own story. You never know which one of the people you pass in the hallway or drive past on a busy road is going to change the world. It could be you or the person sitting next to you.

So every time that I see a small invention, I get caught up in the origin story and the beauty of the creation, and how the lives of others become part of our own, and how they connect us and bridge any physical or emotional gaps that arise, and all of this comes and washes over me simply because I wanted a piece of toast.

And so I thank Charles Strite and the inventors, pioneers, iPhone note-takers, and shower-thinkers. I hope one day to be among their ranks, a piece of their stories as they are a piece of mine.

(P.S. I have dibs on both “snack pants” and “the Porque-sadilla,” so don’t get any ideas.)

—Laura Boyle, Falls Church, Virginia

What Would I Paint on Beta Bridge?

“Write your story.” The phrase is printed across the face of a notebook stacked somewhere in my room. It materializes in my mind every time I read a different account of the same historical event. I mutter it under my breath for every word, every page I write of the novel I someday hope to publish. I would paint this phrase on Beta Bridge because I believe the most powerful actions start as words and I know the most intriguing adventures begin with a story.

To write your story is to hold your life in your hands. Your story is wholly yours, but it may impact your community and beyond, in more ways than you can imagine. The #MeToo survivors wrote their stories. The New York Times published them, and then the world reacted.

It’s important to first tell your story before you tell the story of others, and it’s even more pressing to write your story before someone else can write it for you. Winston Churchill once said, “History is written by the victors.” He was right. Someone will always attempt to distort a narrative; there will forever be stories written by liars, and sometimes those stories filled with half-truths will win. But they only have that chance at victory if the real story never makes it onto the page, let alone to the printer.

Write your story, even when the only light that hasn’t flickered out is the brightness from your computer screen.

Write your story, even when you think no one else will read it. Write your story, even when it’s only three words painted across a bridge on a university campus. Write your story, before someone else does.

—Alexa Clark, Vienna, Virginia

I laugh to myself all the time.

My sisters say it’s always the same thing: the near-silent, short puffs of exhalation, the shake of the shoulders, the slight rock back and forth. Realizing that no one else shares my amusement or (in some cases) even noticed that I attempted a joke, I’ll chortle all alone.

I am past wanting others to laugh with me. Quite frankly, it makes me sad how the best-received wisecracking almost always comes at someone else’s expense. I have noticed that it simply is not “cool” to find the joke about the hydrogen atom who was positive it lost an electron as entertaining as an unflattering imitation of a blundering freshman’s faux pas. I have noticed it, and I don’t like it.

I don’t want to renounce my own unique sense of humor simply because my jokes aren’t of the trendy sort.

Why must we laugh at the girl who tripped over her hand-me-down, glaringly yellow shoes on the way in? Who cares if the boy in the front row misspelled “February” and then proceeded to badly mispronounce it? Why can’t they all laugh, instead, at the grammar joke that caused so many in the classroom to collectively roll their eyes?

I want to laugh at the harmless puns and one-liners in life, the ones that make people whoop with laughter without grimacing on the inside. Even if that means looking a tad crazy as I laugh absurdly and all alone.

—Sophia Yi, Derwood, Maryland

Hi, I’m Zainab

Tugging at my shirt sleeves, I shuffle through the empty hallways of the new school. The butterflies in my stomach feel more like wasps, for my anxiety is less a nervous excitement, and more a dreaded anticipation of what’s to come. My backpack is filled with freshly sharpened pencils, new notebooks, and my mom has packed my favorite snack. I am more than prepared to thrive at this new school, but I can’t seem to get past this crushing worry: who will I sit next to at lunchtime?

The teacher pushes open the 4th grade classroom door, and all eyes immediately turn to me. She introduces me to the class, and I suddenly develop a great fascination with my fingernails. I avoid looking directly at any of the students and I quietly seat myself near the back. Midway through the year, all the other students have already created their social circles. Out of curiosity, a couple students approach me and ask for my name. Hesitantly, I introduce myself, “Hi. I’m the new kid.”

Being in a new, unfamiliar place will eventually become a normal situation for me after having changed schools nine times by the end of senior year. It would be incorrect to say that I enjoyed uprooting myself constantly, but it would also be incorrect to say that I never learned anything along the way.

From New Mexico, I learned about the magic in color. Our insufferably quaint town was filled with artwork and culture. The intricate tiles and paintings of local artisans in the Santa Fe Art Galleries, and the swirl of color and light in the sky at sunrise during the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival inspired me to surround myself with color and create art wherever I went.

From Massachusetts, I learned how hard my parents worked to ensure that my brother and I were happy. My mother would frequently come home with bags overflowing with books from the local library to keep us occupied when our one bedroom basement apartment was buried in snow. My love for reading can be traced back to her. She could turn our apartment into a wizard’s lair or a fairy forest during the cold, snowy days.

From Texas, I learned about the fragility of human life. My friend’s dad was battling with cancer, and her family became a big part of our life since they needed our support. He passed away on Christmas Eve, and while the world continued on and most people woke up to presents and holiday festivities, my friend woke up to the reality of her father’s death.

From Virginia, I learned about the importance of family. My social life was nonexistent, so instead of going out on the weekends, I stayed home for movie nights, thought-provoking conversations with my dad, and teaching my little sister her first nursery rhymes. By becoming more present in my family’s daily lives, I was able to escape my own self-centered bubble.

All these places collectively taught me two things. First, never knowing if this is the last time you ever see someone or go somewhere, you begin to appreciate everything more, including the little things in life. Second, I learned how to be adaptable and how to relate to others. In the early moves, I tended to dwell on everything I’d left behind, never stopping to reflect on what I’d gained. I’ve picked up flavors of people and places from all around the country, seeing that there is beauty in change, even if it took me more than a few moves to see it.

So, when I moved to my new school last year, instead of immediately labeling myself as “the new kid,” I started with a smile and “Hi! I’m Zainab. Is anyone sitting here?”

—Zainab Faisal, Ashburn, Virginia

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University of Virginia (UVA) Supplemental Essays 2023-24 Prompts & Advice

August 16, 2023

The University of Virginia is one of the handful of flagship public institutions in the United States that attract massive numbers of high-achieving applicants from around the country/globe each and every year. In the most recent admissions cycle, over 56,000 students applied (up 10% from the previous year) and only 16% were accepted. While becoming a Cavalier is challenging for a Virginia resident, out-of-staters and international applicants face an even tougher admissions gauntlet. You’ll likely need a straight A average (or very close) to get serious consideration at the 2023 version of UVA and an SAT in the 96th percentile (or better) doesn’t hurt either. And that brings us to today’s main topic- the UVA supplemental essays.

 (Want to learn more about How to Get Into the University of Virginia? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into the University of Virginia: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

With only one supplemental essay for the majority of applicants (you’ll only need to write more than one if applying to the School of Nursing or the Dance program), UVA’s supplemental section affords applicants the chance to illustrate what makes them uniquely qualified for admission. Below are the University of Virginia’s supplemental prompts for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with our advice for composing winning essays.

2023-2024 UVA Supplemental Essay (All Applicants)

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you. (300 words)

This prompt asks you to not only share a particular life experience, element of your background, or perspective but also describe why that experience, element, or perspective will help you serve as a source of strength to either yourself or those around you. Essentially, it’s asking you to take your essay’s reflection one step further—you’ll need to communicate why the experience or element you’ve chosen is important to you as well as why/how you believe it will allow you to thrive at UVA or positively impact the UVA community.

UVA Supplemental Essays (Continued)

First, choose a key aspect of your experiences, background, or identity that reveals something deep and meaningful. (Although you could choose more than one, we’d advise against it, given that you only have 300 words in which to respond.) As you brainstorm, consider the following avenues:

• Your role in your family.
• A challenge you’ve faced.
• A formative experience or realization.
• Important aspects of your upbringing.
• Cultural, religious, community influence.
• Racial background.
• Sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Second, you’ll need to explain how you’ll use what you’ve learned to persist through future personal challenges or strengthen others at UVA. Will your life experiences allow you to uplift those around you? Will your unique perspective enable you to connect more deeply with others? Lastly, will your background make it possible for you to advocate more effectively for specific populations? Alternatively, has your experience or background provided you with a perspective that will benefit and support you as you move on to college? If you connect with at least one of these questions, you’re headed in the right direction for this essay.

UVA Program-Specific Essays

School of nursing.

Describe a healthcare-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying nursing. (300 words)

“A nurse is not what you do, it is who you are.”

This quote from an anonymous source captures the idea that becoming a nurse is more of a calling than a profession you just stumble into. Nurses are willing to work long shifts in the service of others, be on the frontlines of a pandemic, and deal with life’s toughest challenges (e.g., suffering and death) on a regular basis. Many applicants share stories of caring for sick relatives or going through a tough medical episode themselves as inspiration for wanting to study nursing. This essay is a chance to show the admissions committee that you are a passionate and mature nursing candidate and that nursing is genuinely “who you are.”

Dance Program

Submit a short essay discussing your interest in dance as a practice and/or a form of scholarship. What roles have dance and movement played in your life thus far? What insights and connections have you made in your day-to-day and academic life through the practice and study of movement? What do you hope to explore further by participating in dance program courses upon entry to UVA? (275 words)

Essentially, UVA wants to understand how your participation in dance has impacted your life. How has it benefited, strengthened, and/or challenged you as a person? Moreover, they’d like to understand the connections you’ve made between dance and other academic subjects, if any—what interdisciplinary connections have you observed? How has your academic life been made richer by dance? Finally, in addition to how dance has already impacted you, UVA is looking for a brief discussion of what the future holds in regard to dance, and how you plan to pursue that future at UVA.

How important are the UVA supplemental essays?

The essays (both the Common App essay and the supplemental response(s)) are “important” to the UVA admissions committee. This places them in the same tier of importance as extracurricular activities and talent/ability. Standardized test scores are rated a notch below as “considered.” Read more about the importance of the UVA supplemental essays in the fabulous  Notes from Peabody blog .

At UVA, the rigor of your coursework, class rank, GPA, recommendations, character/personal qualities, and state residency status are the most important factors in the admissions process. However, application components like the supplemental essay can serve as a critical tie-breaker between similarly-credentialed applicants.

Want Personalized Essay Assistance with the UVA Supplemental Essays?

Are you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your UVA supplemental essays? We encourage you to get a quote  today.

• College Essay

Andrew Belasco

A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.

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The University of Virginia accepts applications from first-year and transfer students through the Common Application . Students are required to submit their portion of the application online. Counselors and teachers may choose to submit their documents online or by mail.

Please add  [email protected] to your address book so that important emails from us do not go to spam.

Admission Dates & Deadlines Summary

We do not accept resumes, research papers, or supplemental application items that do not fit the criteria for arts supplements.

We maintain a consistent review throughout the application process so there is no advantage to choosing one application plan over another. We hope to offer students multiple options and the ability to choose the option that is best suited for them. All students applying for financial aid who have submitted the required documents by the priority deadlines will receive a preliminary aid award shortly after admission decisions are released. Below is additional information about our application choices.

Early Decision is a binding admission plan for students who have determined that UVA is their first choice and who feel they can present a strong application without senior grades being reviewed. Students admitted through the Early Decision admission plan are required to cancel their applications elsewhere and enroll in UVA. Decisions of admit, deny, or defer will be released by December 15th. Admitted students are expected to submit deposits by January 15. 

Early Action is a non-binding and unrestrictive admission plan that may be an attractive option for those feel they can present a strong application without senior grades being reviewed. We aim to release decisions of admit, deny, or defer by February 15th. Students admitted through the Early Action admission plan will have until May 1 to reserve a spot by in the incoming class. 

Regular Decision is a non-binding and unrestrictive admission plan that allows students more time to complete the application and to have grades from the first term of their senior year considered in the review. Students will be notified of their admission decisions of admit, deny, or waiting list by April 1 Students admitted through the Regular Decision admission plan will have until May 1 to reserve a spot in the incoming class.

If you would like to change your chosen plan after submitting an application, you must  email us within 24 hours of submission.

There are eight undergraduate schools at UVA. First-year applicants can apply to: College of Arts & Sciences School of Architecture School of Engineering School of Nursing Kinesiology Those interested in the McIntire School of Commerce , Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy , School of Data Science , or programs in the School of Education and Human Development  other than Kinesiology should apply to the College of Arts and Sciences.

You may list two academic interests in addition to your undergraduate school choice. Unless you are applying to the Kinesiology program, you will not declare a major at UVA until the end of your first or second year.

If you would like to change your chosen school after submitting an application, please email us within ten days of the application deadline. Admitted students should plan to enroll in the school to which they have applied.

Test Optional

If you're applying for admission for Fall 2025, you'll have the choice of sharing or not sharing standardized test scores. Whichever path you choose, we'll consider your application with care and respect, and you won't be disadvantaged because of the choice you've made.

Reporting Scores

Applicants who wish to have SAT, ACT, AP, or IB testing considered during the application process should opt to submit scores and self-report them on the application. After the deadline, applicants may submit updated scores through their portal. Admitted students who applied with testing and decide to enroll at UVA must request official score reports for verification. Our ETS code is 5820. Our ACT code is 4412.

Super-scoring

For applicants submitting test scores, we consider the best combination of section scores without recalculation. Report your scores (section scores for the SAT or composite and sub-scores for the ACT) as they appear on your official score report. Our system will do the rest for you.

The ACT Writing sections are not used in our review. 

TOEFL/IELTS

Students whose first language is not English or who have attended an English-speaking school for fewer than two years are encouraged to provide evidence of their English proficiency by submitting the results of the TOEFL or the IELTS.

We require the secondary school report and one teacher evaluation from an academic subject teacher for each first-year application.

Your school counselor can submit the secondary school report online. A counselor recommendation can be submitted with the secondary school report. Your academic teacher recommendation should also be submitted online. In addition to the secondary school report, your counselor should submit the school profile and your transcript(s) online.

If your counselor is unable to write a recommendation letter, please request that the secondary school report still be completed and submitted online. If your counselor is unable to provide a written recommendation, you may submit a recommendation from another school administrator or academic teacher if possible. Please know that in this situation, a counselor recommendation is not required for your application to be reviewed.

If your school is unable to submit these documents electronically, they can be mailed.

Arts Supplements

The Admission Office actively seeks artists, musicians, dancers and students in all areas of theatre to invigorate our community through their dedication to the arts. Students who exhibit exceptional talent in the arts may submit an arts portfolio  through the Common Application via Slideroom . This portfolio is an  optional  part of the application process and is intended for those who plan to engage seriously in the University’s arts departments as students. Completed portfolio evaluations are shared with the admission committee and are considered as part of the overall application review. These portfolios are not required to enroll in arts-related classes at the University of Virginia and will only be used for the admission process. If a student who has already submitted their Common App wants to submit an art supplement, they may create a Slideroom account using their Common App ID.

Supplemental portfolios must be received by the application deadline and adhere to departmental guidelines to guarantee review.

Architecture Supplements

All transfer applicants interested in majoring in Architecture are required to submit a portfolio following the guidelines and submission requirements on the School of Architecture website . Transfer applicants interested in Urban Planning and Architectural History are not required to submit portfolios.

If you wish to claim entitlement to Virginia in-state educational privileges pursuant to the Code of Virginia, Section 23-7.4, you must complete the residency section of the application. If supporting documents are requested after an application is submitted, fax them to 434-982-2663 . See the Office of Virginia Status website for more information .

We do not track attendance at tours, information sessions, high school visits, or other programs (commonly referred to as demonstrated interest) to use during the application review.

All application updates should be uploaded via the student portal. Applicants received an email with login credentials for the portal a few days after their Common App was received. Please do not email updates to individual admission officers.

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University of Virginia | UVA’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Why this college short response.

If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the University, please share your thoughts here. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs.

Diversity Short Response

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you.

Common App Personal Essay

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don‘t feel obligated to do so.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you‘ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

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3 Expert Tips for Tackling the UVA Essay Prompts

College Essays

Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the University of Virginia boasts impressive academics, competitive sports team, and a long list of notable alumni. Though about 17,000 students attend UVA, the school has an admissions rate of 19%—meaning you'll have to work hard if you want to be a Cavalier.

One of the best ways to boost your chances of admissions is by writing great UVA essays as part of your application. In this article, we'll break down what the UVA essay prompts are and how you can write responses to each prompt that will make you stand out.

What Are the UVA Supplemental Essay Prompts?

In order to apply to UVA, you'll submit the Common Application . No matter which option you choose, you'll have to complete the UVA supplement, which includes three writing prompts.

The first prompt requires a response of about 100 words, and the other two recommend 50 words each. So these are definitely more short responses than full-length essays. For the first UVA supplement essay, you're required to write a response based on the school within UVA that you're applying to. For the second and third UVA writing supplements, you get to choose the topic that resonates most with you.

UVA Essay Prompts

Here are the UVA essay prompts for 2022-2023:

We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer this question, which corresponds to the school/program you selected above in around 100 words.

• College of Arts and Sciences — If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why?
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences — How will you use an engineering degree to change the world for the better?
• School of Architecture —Describe a significant experience that deepened your interest in studying in the School of Architecture.
• School of Nursing —Describe a health care-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying nursing.
• Kinesiology Program — Describe an experience that has deepened your interest in studying kinesiology.

Prompts #2 and #3

Answer one of the following questions in around 50 words. (You'll answer one question from this set for prompt 2 and a different question from this same set for prompt 3).

What's your favorite word and why?

We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are.

UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message?

About what topic could you speak for an hour?

Take us to your happy place. 

You can wake up tomorrow and a skill you already have will become expert-level. What skill is that?

What is the last gift you gave someone that wasn't bought with money?

What website is the internet missing?

After a challenging experience, how do you recharge?

Tell us about a place you'd like to share with everyone, but also keep to yourself.

Tell us about a time when, faced with an opinion or perspective that differed from your own, you responded as an empathetic speaker or a generous listener.

UVA Essays, Analyzed

Looking for advice on how to write amazing UVA essays? Let's break down how to answer each prompt.

UVA Prompt #1

The instructions are the same for all of the first UVA essays:

" We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer this question, which corresponds to the school/program you selected above in around 100 words ."

Let's look at how to answer each one.

College of Arts and Sciences— If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why?

This slightly unusual prompt lets you show UVA what knowledge you think every student there should know. The prompt isn't asking what you think would be an interesting or fun course necessarily, but a course that every UVA student should need to take and pass in order to graduate. To answer this prompt, you'll need to decide: what topic is important for every UVA student to think about and know before they graduate? 

You could take this in a lot of different directions. You might choose a practical topic, like Intro to Paying Taxes, Basic Home and Car Repairs, or Financial Planning 101. Certainly everybody will need to know that information sooner or later! You could also choose a more abstract topic that you think no one should graduate college without thinking critically about. Topics in this area could include living sustainably, understanding prejudice, or how to be a good communicator.

Whichever topic you choose, be sure to give a brief overview of what the course would cover and, most importantly, why you think every UVA student should take it. The topic you choose is less important than your reasoning behind it, so make sure you make a strong argument for why your course choice is valuable to the entire UVA community.

School of Engineering— How will you use an engineering degree to change the world for the better?

This prompt is all about you and your plans for the future. What specifically do you plan on doing as an engineer? UVA asks this to understand your goals and motivations for wanting to enroll in their School of Engineering.

When answering this prompt, you might feel pressured to write something really impressive, like designing a space shuttle that'll allow humans to travel to Mars or developing a cheap water purification system that can be distributed to the millions of people living without access to clean drinking water. And if you do have those goals for yourself, then go for it! 

However, if you have more modest goals, don't feel like you need to "dress them up" in order to impress UVA. Wanting to become an engineer so you can create safe buildings, help people  manage and protect their data, or even just build cool roller coasters that people enjoy are just as valid.

The key is to be honest and enthusiastic about your career goals. Let your passion for engineering and your excitement for your future plans shine through, and you'll be all set for this prompt.

School of Architecture—Describe a significant experience that deepened your interest in studying in the School of Architecture.

Inspiration comes in many forms —what's important for this prompt is to think about an experience that has inspired you. Also, keep in mind that this prompt isn't asking you about a specific building or project that you love. Instead, it wants you to tell a personal story about how architecture has inspired you...and how that inspiration led you to choose architecture as a major.

The trick for this essay prompt is connecting your experience to architecture . For example, maybe you wanted to be an architect because you visited the Academy of Sciences in California, and you thought their underground aquarium was amazing. That inspired you to want to learn to build structures that create that sense of awe in others.

Whatever you choose, you should be sincere about your inspiration. Anything that sounds trite will be really obvious to the admissions committee. They'll read thousands of applications about wanting to make the tallest building in the world—make yours sound different.

School of Nursing—Describe a health care-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying nursing.

Don't feel like you need to highlight a huge moment here—rather, focus on something that's significant to you even if that experience was small!

The key to this prompt is to make sure that you're highlighting something real that happened to you or someone important to you. The more personal you can make the experience, the better.

Saying something like "I want to solve cancer for everyone" is less impactful than saying that you have seen firsthand how cancer affected your grandmother. Nursing is a personal profession—lean into that for this essay.

Kinesiology Program— Describe an experience that has deepened your interest in studying kinesiology.

For this prompt, focus on one experiences and discuss it in detail. Don't give an entire overview of your history—describing something more fully will resonate more than trying to cram a lot of experiences into a relatively short essay.

Be honest about what drove you to kinesiology— don't write what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. Write what's true for you.

UVA Prompts #2 and #3

Again, for both prompts 2 and 3, you'll choose one prompt from the list below (so two different prompts total) and write a response of roughly 50 words each.

This is quite an eclectic list! Of the 11 prompts, you only need to answer two, so don't worry if you can't think of a good response to some or even most of the prompts. Don't worry about choosing the two "best" prompts either; UVA chose each of these prompts which means they think they're all valuable. Choose the two that speak to you the most and that you can answer in a way that lets UVA learn more about you as a person.

Also aim to choose two prompts that show different sides of yourself as opposed to two prompts where your answers are quite similar. That helps UVA get more of a look into who you are as a person, which is the entire point of the prompts.

To choose your prompts, go through the list and think about potential responses for each question. Some you might not come up with anything for, but hopefully for a few an answer will jump out at you. For example, do you have a passion for collecting Minnie Mouse figurines? Do you have to run four miles every single morning? Do you stop everything you're doing whenever the Red Sox are playing? Do your parents always make fun of you for pronouncing a word strangely? Then you might want to answer the question about quirks. 

Or maybe the prompt about students writing messages on the Beta Bridge speaks to you. As with the other prompts, the "why" is the most important part of this prompt. Whatever message you land on, make sure you have a good reason for it.

Avoid trite or cliched phrases, like "Be the change you wish to see in the world." The admissions committee will have seen thousands of these—and those words are probably already written on Beta Bridge. What do you have to say? What message is personal to you? What lesson have you learned that you specifically can communicate?

For whichever prompts you choose, be honest and reflective so that your response gives a window of insight into who you are and what matters to you. Another thing to note: 50 words is not very long at all! So keep things concise in order to stay within the word count.

How to Write UVA Essays

Here are some general tips for how to write UVA essays that will wow the committee.

Your UVA supplement essays are a chance to show the admissions committee who you are. Take that opportunity to flesh yourself out. You're not simply a collection of A's and B's printed on a transcript. You're a real person! Show that in your UVA essays.

#2: Feedback Is Cool; Plagiarism Is Not

It can be tempting to bounce essay ideas off your peers, parents, and teachers. That's fine! But don't rely on them too heavily. Your work should be your own—from the ideas to the execution. There's a fine line between receiving helpful feedback and using that feedback in a way that misrepresents your work and ability . Seek out help, but know that you have the first and final say.

#3: Play With Form

Your UVA essays don't have to follow the traditional five paragraph structure. UVA encourages you to play with form. That means you can submit a poem, if you want!

Take advantage of the freedom from structure to write in a way that feels authentic to you. If that means starting every sentence with the letter "E", then go for it! As long as your work is well-written and engaging, the form doesn't matter.

What's Next?

There are over 5,000 colleges in the United States—how can you possibly decide which to apply to? Using a college finder tool can help you sort through your options and find your ideal school without having to tour every single campus.

Once you've decided on some colleges or universities that you're interested in attending , our guide will help you narrow down your list to safeties, matches, and reach school.

Still not sure what you're looking for in a college? Read our articles on whether you should go to a school close to home and whether you should attend a large or small college .

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Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females.

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August 2, 2024

2024-2025 UVA Supplemental Essay Prompts

The University of Virginia has released its supplemental essay prompts for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle . In addition to The Common Application ’s Personal Statement, applicants to UVA’s Class of 2029 must answer one essay question. Additionally, like last year, an optional essay question is hidden at the bottom of the “General” section that we at Ivy Coach encourage students to write — even though it is the most inappropriate question posed by any of our nation’s elite universities this admissions cycle. So, what are this year’s essay prompts for Virginia’s flagship university?

2024-2025 UVA Essay Topics and Questions

Required essay prompt.

Students should answer the following prompt in around 250 words:

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you.

In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling outlawing Affirmative Action , America’s colleges are maneuvering around not being able to lawfully consider an applicant’s race in the college admissions process by capitalizing on a loophole penned in the majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts .

As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

This essay is an opportunity for applicants to discuss how their race has impacted their lives. Or they could write about their faith, their community, their sexuality, or their gender identity — the possibilities are endless. 

Optional Essay Prompt

Students should answer the following prompt in up to 100 words:

If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the university, please share your thoughts here. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs.

Like last year, we at Ivy Coach deem this optional essay question the most  outrageously inappropriate  prompt posed by any highly selective university during the 2024-2025 admissions cycle. Why’s that?

In our experience, most UVA applicants will not choose to write a response to this optional essay prompt because they’ll think they need to be legacies , students who attended fancy schmancy UVA summer programs , or the descendants of enslaved people. Yes, the question is as jarring as it seems and, for the first two groups of people (legacies and summer camp attendees), it caters to the privileged.

It’s why we encourage  all  applicants to answer this optional essay question by writing a Why UVA essay — one filled with specific reasons why they wish to attend Virginia’s flagship. Their response should include enduring aspects of the university — programs, institutes, activities, culture, traditions, etc. — rather than names of professors and classes, which can easily be found and replaced like a game of Mad Libs from one college to the next.

So, yes, we are saying even if an applicant has no familial connection to UVA or didn’t attend a UVA summer enrichment program, they should write this essay to make their case for admission. Essays give students an opportunity to tell their stories. Legacies and summer program attendees should not be afforded more space than everyone else. Shame on UVA!

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with UVA Essays

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission to UVA by submitting essays that compel admissions officers to wish to offer you admission, fill out Ivy Coach ’s free consultation form , and we’ll be in touch to outline our college counseling services.

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University of Virginia – UVA Secondary Essays Tips

• Cracking Med School Admissions

Getting accepted to University of Virginia School of Medicine is hard. Very hard. Submitting an OUTSTANDING UVA Med School secondary application is vital to receiving an interview invite, which ultimately can lead to an acceptance.

UVA gives applicants early interview invitations and they give a batch of acceptances earlier in the application process too. We would strongly recommend that applicants pre-write their UVA secondaries and also submit them early!

Our Cracking Med School Admissions team has a track record of helping our mentees receive acceptances to UVA School of Medicine.  Read our UVA secondary essay tips below to learn how to stand out in your UVA secondary application! 

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UVA Med School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2023 – 2024

• Please briefly describe how the pandemic impacted your ability to pursue experiences like clinical work, shadowing, research, or community service.
• Please list any and all future activities in clinical work, shadowing, research, or community service that you plan to pursue in the upcoming year.
• Why are you interested in attending the University of Virginia School of Medicine? What factors will be most important to you in choosing a medical school? (350 words max)
• How will you contribute to the diversity of your medical school class and the University of Virginia School of Medicine? (350 words max)
• Describe a situation which you found challenging. How did you manage it? (350 words max)

Tips to Answer UVA Secondary Essays

UVA Secondaries Pre-Writing Guidance: Several of our students received acceptances to University of Virginia School of Medicine in the 2023-2024 application cycle, and we have a strong record of acceptances for the past several years! UVA School of Medicine has not changed its secondary essays for years! UVA gives applicants early interview invitations and they give a batch of acceptances earlier in the application process too. We would strongly recommend that applicants pre-write their UVA secondaries and also submit them early! 

This should be one of the first secondaries that you write.

• Download  all  our HIGH-YIELD tips for secondary essays:  Cracking Med School Admissions Secondary Essay Guide

UVA Secondary Essays Tip #1:  The University of Virginia is a top medical school and it wants to recruit strong medical students. In order to stand out and get accepted, here are aspects that you should emphasize in your UVA secondaries:

• Abundant clinical experiences
• Desire to be a strong clinician
• Interest in research, specifically that you have experience as an independent researcher who has led a research project or a large aspect of a research project

UVA Secondary Essays Tip #2: Tell stories throughout your UVA secondary application. If applicable, write stories about patient care. You can add a story in every single UVA secondary question. 

UVA Secondary Essays Tip #3: For the UVA secondary diversity prompt, diversity does not necessarily mean your ethnic diversity. We recommend students write about their strengths, including exceptional extracurricular activity endeavors.

Many of our students write about research and patients they have helped. Make sure to link the essay to what you want to do in the future. 

UVA Secondary Essays Tip #4: For the UVA secondary application COVID-19 question, incorporate your personal experiences as well as healthcare current issues you noticed throughout the COVID pandemic. We have an entire healthcare current events blog post here, where you can read more about healthcare disparities and COVID-19. UVA is particularly interested in how you will help the Virginia community, so make sure to tie your response to thoughts about how to improve Virginia’s health. 

UVA Secondary Essays #5: UVA favors students who have lived or had experiences in the state of Virginia. Write about your affiliations with Virginia! If you have not lived in the state of Virginia, then you can talk about family who live in the vicinity or any visits you made to Virginia. Similar to our last tip, make sure to discuss healthcare current events in Virginia and your aspirations to improve the health of Virginia residents. 

UVA Secondary Essays #6: On a related note, the UVA secondaries question “ Why are you interested in attending the University of Virginia School of Medicine? ” is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. You must convince the admissions committee that you would be a great fit and love to attend the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Be specific in your reasons for wanting to attend UVA School of Medicine. These factors can include: the UVA medical school curriculum, research opportunities, and the location. 

Additionally, talk about why studying in Virginia is important for your career. If you have lived in Virginia, discuss ways in which you have already been involved with the Virginia community. Finally, if you plan on staying in Virginia in the long-term, definitely mention it! 

• Read our HIGH-YIELD blog post  Why this Medical School? Secondary Essay Example   for more tips on how to answer “Why University of Virginia School of Medicine.”

UVA Secondary Essays #7: Start early and get our help. UVA secondaries are not too long and should be submitted as early as possible. Have questions about how you can stand out? Contact us  below. Need editing help on your secondary? We can help you through our  secondary essay packages . Several of our students received acceptances to University of Virginia School of Medicine in the 2023-2024 application cycle, and we have a strong record of acceptances for the past several years!

[ Read more secondary essay tips:  Tufts University School of Medicine ,  Yale School of Medicine ,  Columbia University Vagelos , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ]

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UVA Med School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2021 – 2022

Uva med school secondary application essay prompts: 2020 – 2021.

• Why are you interested in attending the University of Virginia School of Medicine? What factors will be most important to you in choosing a medical school?  (350 words max)
• How will you contribute to the diversity of your medical school class and the University of Virginia School of Medicine?  (350 words max)
• Describe a situation which you found challenging. How did you manage it?  (350 words max)

UVA Med School Secondary Application Essay Prompts: 2019 – 2020

Uva med school secondary application essay prompts: 2018 – 2019, uva med school secondary application essay prompts: 2017 – 2018, contact us with questions, we'll answer any and all your questions about medical school we typically respond within 1 business day..

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UVA Essay Examples

Uva essay examples – introduction.

In this guide, we’ll learn about the University of Virginia supplemental essays through several UVA essay examples. We’ve included UVA supplemental essays examples, addressing various UVA essay prompts to teach you what a successful essay looks like. After each, we’ll discuss the parts of these UVA essays that worked. Read on to learn more about writing strong University of Virginia essays.

University of Virginia background

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, today UVA is home to over 27,000 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students. With UVA ranking among the top U.S. public universities, thousands of UVA applications flood the University of Virginia admissions annually. Of all the UVA application requirements, the University of Virginia supplemental essays are perhaps the most important aside from grades.

What are the UVA Supplemental Essays?

Ultimately, applicants to UVA will write three essays. The first has a 100-word limit, while the other two are 50 words or fewer. Since the UVA application is part of the Common Application , you’ll also need a personal statement .

When you apply to UVA through the Common App , you must choose to apply to one of UVA’s five schools and colleges. The school or college you select on your UVA application is an important decision as it will determine one of three essays that you will write. Below is a list of UVA’s five schools and colleges and their respective essay prompts.

University of Virginia- School-Specific Essays (100 words)

I. college of arts & sciences.

If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why? 

II. School of Engineering

How will you use an engineering degree to change the world for the better? 

III. School of Architecture

Describe a significant experience that deepened your interest in studying at the School of Architecture. 

IV. School of Nursing

Describe a healthcare-related experience or another significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying Nursing. 

V. Kinesiology Program

Describe an experience that has deepened your interest in studying kinesiology.

Mind the word limits

This first University of Virginia essay has a word limit of 100 words. For your second and third essays for the University of Virginia, you will choose from a list of eleven UVA essay prompts. Remember, the last two University of Virginia essays have a word limit of only 50-words. Below are the prompts students must choose from.

UVA Essay Prompts- Choose Two 

• What’s your favorite word and why?
• We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. What is one of your quirks?
• About what topic could you speak for an hour?
• Take us to your happy place.
• You can wake up tomorrow and a skill you already have will become expert-level. What skill is that?
• What is the last gift you gave someone that wasn’t bought with money?
• What website is the internet missing?
• After a challenging experience, how do you recharge?
• Tell us about a place you’d like to share with everyone, but also keep to yourself.
• UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message?
• Tell us about a time when, faced with an opinion or perspective that differed from your own, you responded as an empathetic speaker or generous listener.

Essay prompts do change

If you’ve read our University of Virginia supplemental essays guide from last year, you may be scratching your head. Weren’t there only two required University of Virginia essays? Well, the University of Virginia admissions team has changed the UVA application requirements when it comes to essays. This isn’t uncommon—college essay prompts usually change in some way from year to year. But the University of Virginia supplemental essays and UVA essay prompts have seen a pretty big change.

As a result of this change, the UVA supplemental essays examples we’ve included below may not exactly reflect this year’s UVA essay prompts. However, reading our UVA essay examples and other college essay examples can still help you brainstorm for other essays.

UVA Essay Examples – Prompt #1

To kick off our UVA supplemental essays examples, we have three UVA essays addressing a singular prompt. As mentioned above, the UVA essay prompts have changed pretty drastically this year. Therefore, this prompt isn’t part of this year’s UVA application. However, these UVA essays that worked have some strengths you can apply to any college essay.

Even if these UVA essay examples are different from what you’ll write, it’s good to consider how you might approach different essay prompts . 

Our First Essay Example Prompt

So, for UVA essay prompts like the one below, what should strong UVA essay examples have in common? Obviously, the work you choose should have impacted you deeply. However, it doesn’t have to be a world-famous work: it could be a manga, a theorem, or a video game. Most importantly, the impact this work had on you should reflect something about you, your values, or your worldview.

At the end of the day, successful UVA supplemental essays examples share traits with all effective college essays. They address the prompt, tell a compelling story, and shine a spotlight on you. Strong UVA supplemental essays examples, even short ones, add depth to your personal narrative — so make every word count! With that in mind, let’s look at three UVA essay examples for this prompt.

What work of art, music, science, mathematics, literature, or other media has surprised, unsettled, or inspired you, and in what way?

Uva essays that worked #1.

Staring blankly at a black square, I pull on my hair in frustration. As my teacher announces that there are three minutes left on the test, my frustrations turn into rage and I burst out in the middle of class: “How do we analyze this? This isn’t art!”

My love-hate relationship with Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square piece started when my middle school art teacher told us to analyze his work on a test.

Although I wasn’t a renowned artist, I thought Kazimir’s Black Square was nowhere near art. How could someone paint a black square, declare it art, and then call it a day? My dislike for Kazimir’s art, however, changed when I learned about the context behind his artwork. I became fascinated by how Kazimir was able to use his artwork to completely revitalize people’s definition of “art”. As I learned about Kazimir’s motives I had an epiphany: the Black Square was more than just… well, a black square. Instead, it was a revolutionary tool used to deconstruct reality and form a new perception of art.

To this day, Kazimir has taught me to not let my preconceptions of reality shape how I process information. I realized the importance of striving to understand cultures, identities, and ideas that are different from mine rather than reject them because of my preconceptions. With this in mind, I learned that any idea or concept is not static and can be expanded and changed; it’s imperative to not reject any ideas that are different from my own to expand my own understanding of a concept.

It’s safe to say that my 12-year-old self was wrong: black squares can be art too.

Why This Essay Worked

Most essay guides, ours included, will hammer home the effectiveness of narrative essays. This doesn’t make a narrative structure essential—as we’ll see, plenty of UVA essays that worked aren’t narratives. However, UVA essay examples that open with some action or scene have the power to instantly grab a reader’s attention. The vivid language this author uses in their opening to frame their topic quickly conveys their frustration.

Regardless of how they hook readers, strong UVA supplemental essays examples for any prompt will look inward. After the opening, the author talks about how their perspective changed. This is what the prompt asks, and strong UVA essay examples like this clearly define that change. Again, impactful language illustrates how the author’s new understanding of Kazimir’s work widened their perspective on art.

The author concludes by connecting their revelations from Kazimir to their worldview as a whole. All of these UVA essay examples show admissions officers who the author is and what they consider important. Effective UVA supplemental essays examples illustrate your values or background and how you’ll enrich the campus community with them. In your University of Virginia essays, be reflective in your writing to allow your principles to shine through.

Another Response to the First Prompt

Uva essays that worked #2.

I think that this is best answered by sharing the letter I wrote the author after reading A Place for Us :

Reading has always been my favorite escape, my favorite pastime. Only, your book was never an escape, but a mirror: the first time I saw my life truly reflected in literature, and not because you told an Indian-American story. I felt as though you had written my story, because of the raw and honest meditation on family that your book centers on. 

As is true with many immigrant families, my family resorts to anger often too quickly. We shy away from expressing love. I have cried out that I hated my father on more than one occasion and passionately believed it to be true each time, just like Amar did to Rafiq. As I read Rafiq’s dying words to Amar at the end of the book, expressing his regret, his love for his son–I couldn’t stop crying because suddenly, I saw my family in a completely different light. Not that we will never disagree or fight again, but I began to consider all that goes unsaid between us. A lack of communication caused their family to fall apart, and it made me examine the cracks in mine. 

Behind the anger is almost always love, and while I’ve known this subconsciously, there is something about seeing your struggles outside the context of your own life that forces you to confront the truth about them. I’m endlessly indebted to you, in awe of you, and I needed to say thank you. I cannot begin to express how much this book truly means to me, but I have tried to explain a little portion of my love for it. Thank you, Ms. Mirza, for my new favorite book. I will carry it with me always. Sincerely, [NAME REDACTED]

The second of our UVA essay examples also has a compelling frame: it’s a letter to an author. This opening immediately tells us just how deeply this work moved the applicant. It’s a unique hook among UVA supplemental essays examples. If you have a fresh frame, don’t be shy! This structure works because it allows the author to be emotionally open as well as specific in discussing the work.

By virtue of the subject, this University of Virginia essay is inseparable from the author’s background. Like all good UVA essay examples, this essay reflects on the author’s experiences. Instead of simply praising the book, the author connects it to their place within their family relationships. They describe how it gave them a different perspective on their family and a new awareness going forward.

Ideal UVA supplemental essays examples show readers that the author can reflect on and grow from their experiences. This author checks that box by illustrating the connections among the book, their experiences, and how they’ve reflected on both. Furthermore, they recognize the new ways they view their life and relationships thanks to this book. That’s growth! Take note of these UVA essay examples and include moments of personal growth in your essays whenever possible.

A Final Response to the First Prompt

Uva essays that worked #3.

I’m a firm believer that J.G Quintel’s Regular Show is the only TV series capable of portraying an apocalyptic, flesh-hungry black hole spiraling out of the skies while an anthropomorphic blue jay, Mordecai, and raccoon, Rigby, play nearly one hundred tied games of rock, paper, scissors. I knew that there was only one way for Mordecai and Rigby to preserve the world as they knew it; the tie had to be broken.

Wait a second—How does declaring the victor of a stupid hand game dictate world order? J.G, how did you forget to add “Ir-” in front of your show’s title?

This was just the pilot episode and I had witnessed a revolution in children’s television programming: an animated one that struck an undeniably perfect balance between science fiction and satire. Regular Show fascinates me in that its supernatural occurrences aren’t unreasonably dramatic and its humor is intentionally well-played and witty. I would argue that episodes of Regular Show embrace the beauty of tragicomedies in roughly the same way that Plautus, the Roman creator of tragicomedies, intended to in his famed work, Amphitryon. Quintel, however, captivates me with a compelling twist. He ditches traditional Greco-Roman tragicomic themes of seduction and envy and models his artform around a more bizarre construct: randomness.

The only constant in Regular Show is the mere existence of the main characters; every other component of the show is wildly variable. The structure of the show is liquid as it is free flowing and takes the shape of its container, or the viewer’s interpretation. Although I’ve come to understand most of the conundrums my prepubescent self was unable to comprehend, it still baffles me as to how Regular Show can weave together the most unrelated and paradoxical concepts into an animated, twelve-minute masterpiece.

As exemplified see in our UVA essay examples, a distinct writer’s voice can immediately elevate a supplemental essay. The lines following the first paragraph, where the author asks a rhetorical question, inject some humor. After that, the use of strong language like “revolution,” “undeniably perfect,” and “fascinates” convey the writer’s admiration for Regular Show. Don’t be afraid to embrace expressive words like the ones you’ve read in our UVA supplemental essays examples. Still, remember not to go overboard with a thesaurus to the point where you’re using complex words insincerely.

For this author, the impact of their selected work is creative, like the first of our UVA essay examples. They explore what it is about Regular Show that captivates them, even drawing parallels to Greco-Roman tragicomedy. That’s not to say you have to cite Plautus—most UVA essays that worked probably didn’t mention Amphitryon. But by linking those together, we understand that this author enjoys classical plays as well as finding connections across media.

Rather than telling the reader about their love of classics or literature, this author lets their analysis speak for itself. This University of Virginia essay shows us the author is thoughtful toward the media they interact with, from cartoons to classics. Strong UVA essay examples will show — not tell — the reader what’s important to you.

UVA Essay Examples – Flash Seminar Prompt

Although the three UVA essay examples above responded to an old prompt, we hope they were helpful. Reading various UVA essays that worked can help you write your own, regardless of the prompt. Remember, all good UVA essay examples have something to teach you. The next of our UVA supplemental essays examples is also for an old prompt. 

Student self-governance, which encourages student investment and initiative, is a hallmark of the UVA culture. In her fourth year at UVA, Laura Nelson was inspired to create Flash Seminars, one-time classes which facilitate high-energy discussion about thought-provoking topics outside of traditional coursework. If you created a Flash Seminar, what idea would you explore and why?

In truth, this prompt is somewhat similar to the prompt for College of Arts & Sciences applicants. If you could create a college course that all UVA students would take, what would it be about and why? Even though the focus may be somewhat different, effective UVA supplemental essays examples for both prompts should have the same takeaway: what topic do you consider important, and why?

Strong UVA essay examples for this prompt are specific about the topic. Moreover, we still need to consider the tips from our previous UVA essays that worked. The author is personal, referencing and reflecting on their interests, experiences, or goals. With that in mind, let’s look at the next of our UVA supplemental essays examples.

UVA Essays That Worked – Flash Seminar

Before I could even read, The Lorax was my favorite book. When my dad read the book to me, I instantly fell in love with the cotton-like trees and the small orange creature with a mustache. While I still love the cartoonish illustrations, The Lorax remains my favorite book, to this day, because of another reason: it exemplifies how consumerism driven by Capitalism can harm the environment.

So, should the U.S. abandon Capitalism and force everyone to become hunters and gatherers? That would be quite effective, but we don’t have to. My seminar would address how we could use consumerism to protect the environment. For people who think that an individual’s actions to protect the environment are insignificant, this seminar will prove them wrong. People will learn how the money they spend in companies can shape how companies act. While environmental protection is not a priority for most companies, the power of consumerism that individuals have can force companies to care about our environment. Most importantly, the seminar will be a call to action, encouraging people to take initiative for the sake of humanity’s future. The audience would leave the seminar knowledgeable about the ways in which they can use consumerism to create the change that the world needs.

While the damage done to our environment is immense, it’s not too late to change. One small action at a time, I know that humanity can create substantial environmental reform: one that will even make the Lorax proud.

Some UVA essay examples reference the author’s childhood, like this one, to demonstrate a longstanding interest. In their opening paragraph, the author shows how their understanding of The Lorax has grown with them. Where they once saw cute illustrations, they now see an insightful commentary on consumerism and the environment. Already, we see the personal growth that characterizes many of our UVA essays that worked. 

Successful UVA supplemental essays examples that address academic topics include the author’s personal thoughts on the topic. After all, the prompt asks why it’s important to you —so what do you think about it? This author briefly outlines their position: consumers can pressure companies to protect the environment. Additionally, they state their goals for the seminar as a call to action for participants as consumers. Effective UVA essay examples for this prompt should also consider the course’s impact on others.

Obviously, there are as many topics as there are UVA essay examples. You don’t have to choose a sweeping topic like environmentally conscious consumerism—maybe you choose accessible design or internet safety. Whatever the topic, UVA essays that worked for this prompt concisely explained why that topic is significant to the author. More importantly, the best UVA essay examples also make a compelling case for why other people should learn about the topic.

UVA Essay Examples – “Quirks” Prompt

For the last of our UVA essay examples, we’re looking at a prompt from the 2022–2023 list. 

We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are.

Whereas UVA essay examples in previous years had a 300-word limit, responses to this prompt are limited to 50 words. Keep the limited space in mind when reading the last of our UVA essay examples. Every word counts in college essays, but especially so for short essays. If you’re worried about sticking to the word limit, don’t worry. We’ll talk more about crafting your University of Virginia supplemental essays in the next section.

So, how do you approach UVA essay prompts like this? Well, whatever quirk you choose should be one that is “part of who you are.” What’s a behavior, trait, or habit that anyone who knows you could name? Maybe you sing your way through every day, or perhaps you write exclusively in cursive. Why is it integral to You ? Let’s see what the last of our UVA essay examples has to say.

UVA Essays That Worked – Quirks

While the rest of my body lies in the third dimension, my feet seem to remain entrenched in the second. 

Envision prancing through a never-ending bed of thorns; that’s almost how walking with flat feet feels. Essentially robbed of the rewards of exercise, I never became as tall as I once aspired to be. At age seventeen, I stand at a “solid” five foot four: the average height of a middle schooler. With the help of my toes, however, I’ve always been able to propel myself by an extra two inches while creating a temporary arch to relieve my feet of their chronic soreness. In other words, they’re natural stilts. It was the perfect remedy; ever since my years as a toddler, I’ve never fell off from the tips of my toes.

Of course, I have to deal with my fair share of criticism from my others or as I refer to them, my arch-enemies: usually taller people, whose feet were blessed with arches. I hear everything from “You’re not Peter Pan; why are you walking like a fairy?” to “Maybe you should invest in heels instead of tiptoeing.” To their dismay, I pay them no mind; their “advice” only detracts from my walk. Just like the Hulk’s aggressive lunges add to his grotesque demeanor, my light tiptoed gallops never fail to remind my peers of my classiness and jubilance. Not to mention, tiptoeing also upholds my composure even in the most unflattering situations. Although someone might expect stomps and a vulgar confrontation from me, my tiptoes signal a more diplomatic approach to conflicts, maybe even over a cup of chai.

Chances are that my feet will not enter the next dimension any time soon. I’ll still much rather — proudly — teeter 150 pounds over ten feeble appendages.

Again, many impactful UVA essay examples have a distinctive voice—some wry, others poetic. This author’s quirk is flat feet, a condition they describe tongue-in-cheek as very painful. If your quirk is something that bothers you, consider addressing it with humor if that is how you confront it in your life. Well-executed humor can leave a lasting impression on any reader, especially when applied ironically to an otherwise negative subject.

This writer’s cheeky praise of their toe-walking highlights their ability to make the best of their situation. It demonstrates their confidence and comfort with how they are—or perhaps, how they have to be. From this essay, a reader sees someone who faces adversity with humor while not negating their experience. This author frames flat feet as an irritant while using them to illustrate how they deal with negativity.

Effective UVA essay examples for this prompt contain layers: the quirk also says something about the author. As you think of your quirk, consider which ones can be used to illuminate a deeper truth about you. This could be something about how you learn or how you interact with the world around you. 

How to write the UVA Supplemental Essays

Now that you’ve read several UVA essay examples, we hope you feel ready to write your own University of Virginia supplemental essays. The first step in writing your University of Virginia essays is choosing from the UVA essay prompts. Luckily, the first prompt is chosen for you based on your school of choice. The second and third ones will come from the list of 11 prompts.

When evaluating the short-answer prompts, you may feel you could write something for all of them—or none of them. Try some different reflection exercises to organize your ideas and get those writing juices flowing. Since our UVA essay examples for these prompts are pretty short, you could try your hand and a handful of the prompts. Then, you can further rewrite and refine the ones that speak to you.

Each of the longer prompts is rather common among supplemental essays , so there’s no shortage of college essay guides out there. In writing your longer essay, you can brainstorm various topics to figure out your focus. Pick what you’re passionate about. Unlike our UVA essay examples, essays that aren’t genuine are really obvious. Go for honesty, and highlight your unique qualities and experiences through your topic.

Don’t forget the editing stage if you really want your essays to shine ! Revising your essays—both on your own and with another person—can weed out errors you may have missed on a first pass.

Additional UVA Essays & the UVA Admissions Process

If you’re looking at the best colleges in the U.S. during your college search , you might consider applying to UVA. UVA ranks highly for both undergraduate and graduate programs every year. The UVA acceptance rate is rather low, at just 21% . Given the high UVA ranking and low UVA acceptance rate, we can tell it’s a selective university. As a result, the University of Virginia supplemental essays are critical for a strong UVA application.

With UVA ranking consistently high and the UVA acceptance rate staying low, acceptance to UVA isn’t guaranteed. To be considered, you need to be sure to meet all of the UVA application requirements.

University of Virginia Application Requirements

• University of Virginia supplemental essays
• One academic teacher recommendation
• Guidance counselor recommendation (optional)
• Standardized test score (optional for 2022–2023 cycle)
• Common Application requirements: activity list , personal statement , etc.

At the time of publication, the Early Decision and Early Action deadlines have already passed for Fall 2023 applicants. The Regular Decision deadline for Fall 2023 applicants is January 1, 2023.

These days, having a high GPA alone isn’t enough. With University of Virginia admissions being test-optional this year, the rest of the application is weighted more heavily, especially for those who don’t submit test scores. Your essays and letters of recommendation provide an important window into who you are and what kind of UVA student you’ll be.

What about additional essays? UVA offers two merit-based scholarships for high-achieving students. One of these, the Jefferson Scholarship, requires two additional essays. While UVA isn’t among the most expensive universities , it still costs five figures per semester. In addition to financial aid, scholarships can help with the cost of college once you enroll .

More University of Virginia Resources to Support You

After reading the UVA essay examples above, maybe you feel ready to jump into the UVA application. Or, you might be looking for more UVA supplemental essays examples and UVA essays that worked. Or maybe you’re still unsure about UVA and just want to learn more. CollegeAdvisor.com has countless resources for you to explore, however you’re feeling.

If you want to hear more about UVA from alumni and current students, check out our webinar panel . The participants talk about their experiences at UVA in and out of the classroom. They also discuss the University of Virginia admissions process and their UVA application experience.

University of Virginia Panel

For more about crafting a successful application overall, we have a how-to get-into UVA guide . The UVA ranking isn’t dropping any time soon, but the acceptance rate will almost certainly stay selective. If you want to maximize your odds of admission, check out our guide.

How to Get Into University of Virginia (UVA) Guide

Lastly, we have an essay guide for the University of Virginia supplemental essays. Instead of providing UVA essay examples, it digs deep into last year’s prompts. You might even recognize some of the prompts from the UVA supplemental essays examples we just read. Although the UVA essay prompts have changed this year, our guide still provides valuable tips that can help you write any college essay.

University of Virginia (UVA) Supplemental Essays Guide: 2021-2022

UVA Essay Examples – Final Thoughts

The UVA acceptance rate makes it a selective school, so every part of your application counts. Writing strong University of Virginia supplemental essays is essential to crafting a stand-out application.

We hope reading our UVA essay examples and discussing areas of these UVA essays that worked has given you an idea of how to get started. Remember, although the essay prompts have changed, these UVA essay examples are still useful.  Take some time to review our UVA essay examples, make a list of things you want to incorporate into your UVA essays, and get writing!

This article was written by Chelsea Holley . Looking for more admissions support? Click  here  to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how  CollegeAdvisor.com  can support you in the college application process.

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See the Essay That Helped This Student Get Into UVA

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As part of College Confidential's essay series, we're sharing personal essays from students who were admitted to college during a prior admissions cycle. The student who wrote this as her essay was accepted to the University of Virginia, and we are sharing it with her permission.

I once made the mistake of sitting down during ballet class. My thighs were quivering from the petit allegro combination, my forehead stung from the unyielding pull of my excessively hair-sprayed ballet bun, and the raw skin on my toes was peeking out all bloody and tender from being shoved in wood pointe shoes for the past two hours. My ten-year-old body throbbed off-beat to the pianist's Prokofiev. I slid my sweaty back down the wall of my ballet classroom, and sat. Big mistake. Although my attempt for physical reprieve was evanescent, my Hungarian teacher experienced an ardent, even possessing, rage because of it. This fairy-like woman transformed into a red-faced banshee who lectured me vehemently about the disrespectfulness of my action. Sentenced to the corner, I was instructed to reflect on "what I had just done."

Sitting down during ballet class may seem trivial to most people, pretty much all people actually, but ballet enjoys a historic strictness that includes classroom etiquette. The austerity of the art is not limited to a ten-year-old-sitting policy: Ballet is rules -- complex, detailed, and painstaking rules. Laymen may not believe there is a right way for me to position my pinkie during a pirouette, but I assure them there is. Weirdly, the stringent intricacy of ballet is what made me fall in love with dance. The structured consistency provided me with comfort during times when everything was changing. When I moved from London to Ohio, I was faced with myriad cultural differences that were unsurprisingly unsettling. Ballet, however, was not one of them. A plié was still a plié. The consistency of dance was a soothing reminder of home in a foreign place.

Ballet continued to play an anchoring role in my life, but by seventeen it was less solace inducing and had taken on the more literal properties of an anchor. Training pre-professionally was all-encompassing. The time commitment alone was immense, topping twenty hours weekly, but beyond that I dedicated my physical, emotional, and mental self to ballet because the art demanded I do so. Ballet was in charge; I performed as it instructed: think color-by-number painting. This rigidity that once brought me peace grew dull and monotonous, even suffocating. Eventually, dance lost its color. As time went on, ballet increasingly conflicted with the independent and open-minded woman I was becoming. It exacerbated a paradox in my life: what was pushing me the hardest was also holding me back. High school to me meant student government, team sports, and art club. Ballet disagreed; it became jealous and possessive. I resented its control, and I fell out of love with the art. It was time for us to break up.

Ballet's departure from my daily life left a void, but simultaneously freedom. I finally had time to try the extracurricular activities that characterize the high school experience. Participating in cheer and French club, as well as my other endeavors, allowed me to diversify my high school experience in a way pre-professional ballet never would have allowed.

However, the funny thing about my relationship with dance is that it is entirely cyclical. I left my ballet program to immerse myself in my high school community, but in the process of doing so I came right back to it. I started AHS Moves, a drop-in beginner-oriented dance club for any and everyone at my school. What I could not have predicted was the way in which taking ownership of this group would heal my relationship with dance. Directing and choreographing for kids who do not have formal training, and quite frankly do not care, has enabled me to enjoy dance without the pressure of a pre-professional ballet environment. I have realized that my issue with dance was not actually that I did not love it, but that I wanted to do it on my own terms. And now I can.

If you'd like to share your college essay on College Confidential, please email us at [email protected].

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The Ultimate Guide to Applying to the University of Virginia

What’s covered:, average stats of accepted university of virginia students, university of virginia application process, university of virginia financial aid, what are your chances of acceptance.

The University of Virginia, originally founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, is a large public research university with deep historical roots. Nicknamed “Mr. Jefferson’s University,” UVA offers a highly competitive and well-regarded undergraduate education that’s in tune with the modern era, and if you’re a resident of Virginia, UVA even sweetens the deal with greatly reduced in-state tuition.

Academically, UVA ranks as the third-best public university in the country and is frequently referred to as one of the “Public Ivies.” In total, 23,721 students called that campus home during the 2015-2016 school year, 16,793 of whom were undergraduates. Sixty-eight percent of UVA students come from Virginia, and 32% come from elsewhere in the country or in the world.

Uniquely, Thomas Jefferson’s original vision for the school included making it a campus of intellectual equality. This means professors at UVA are generally referred to with the less formal titles of “Mr.” or “Ms.” instead of “Dr.”, and the school is singularly committed to a community model that is less stratified than at many colleges and encourages students and faculty to mix and interact outside the classroom. All of this compounds to make studying at the University of Virginia a high honor for many students, making their admissions process very competitive.

UVA received a total of 50,926 applications for the class of 2026, of which 9,503 applicants were accepted, making the overall acceptance rate 18.7%. However, since UVA is a state school, in-state applicants have a higher acceptance rate of 20.6%, while out-of-state applicants have a lower acceptance rate of around 15%, meaning it can be more difficult for an out-of-state student to gain admission to UVA. 

Regardless of your location, UVA students generally have excellent academic profiles. For first-year students in Fall 2022, 86% of students ranked in the top tenth of their class and the middle range of standardized test scores was 1400-1540 and 32-35 for the SAT and ACT, respectively.

That being said, UVA has adopted a test-optional policy that continues through at least the 2023 admissions cycle, meaning that those who do not choose to report their standardized test scores will not be at a disadvantage in the application process. However, if your scores do fall within the middle 50% range of those of enrolled students, particularly on the high end of the range, it is generally recommended to submit. If you submit scores that may be considered below their average, you may be at risk of not having your application fully considered. This is because many prestigious schools like UVA use a tool known as the Academic Index to help facilitate their application process by automatically reviewing if a student may qualify for admission.

That being said, UVA wants to see that you have a strong academic background regardless of your test scores, which means a multitude of other factors such as recommendations, course selection, and extracurriculars will paint a better picture of your student profile. Additionally, UVA is looking for applicants who will not only take the best advantage of the resources available to them at UVA but who will also add something special to the campus experience themselves.

If you choose to apply to the University of Virginia, here is everything you need to know about the UVA’s application process.

Application Overview

All applicants to UVA apply using the Common Application and are required to fill out UVA’s supplemental questions, which we’ll go over in detail below. Additionally, there is a $75 application fee, with fee waivers available based on financial need. Applicants have a choice between three admissions timelines: the Early Decision (ED) timeline, the Early Action (EA) timeline, and the Regular Decision (RD) timeline.

The ED and EA application timelines allow you to submit your application to UVA and receive your admissions decision according to an earlier set of dates. The ED program is binding, meaning that if you’re accepted ED, you’re contractually obligated to attend. On the other hand, the EA program allows you to hear your admissions decision earlier without having to formally commit to attending.

That being said, there is a definitive advantage to applying ED, especially if you are fully determined to go to UVA, as last year’s ED applicant pool had an acceptance rate of 24.5%, nearly six percentage points higher than the school’s average acceptance rate.

Additionally, keep in mind that regular decision applicants often make up the lowest percentage of the school’s incoming class, with only 29% of accepted students in UVA’s Class of 2026 having been admitted through regular decision.

If you’re applying as a fall transfer, your application will be due by March 1st. Spring transfer applications are due by October 1st, but potential transfer applicants should be aware that not all of the undergraduate programs accept spring transfers. For more information about transfer applications to UVA, check out the school’s transfer admissions website .

Application Components

• Common Application
• High School Transcript
• School Report
• Teacher Evaluation (1 required, 1 optional)
• Mid Year Report
• Final Report
• SAT/ACT Scores (optional)
• Portfolio (optional)
• Supplemental Essays

Supplemental Essays: Writing supplements are an opportunity to differentiate yourself on a college application, and the University of Virginia offers a wide variety of short responses for you to choose from. In total, you will be asked to respond to two prompts of your choice in 50 words or less.

Option A: What’s your favorite word and why?

Option B: We are a community with quirks, both in language and in traditions. What is one of your quirks?

Option C: About what topic could you speak for an hour?

Option D: Take us to your happy place.

Option E: You can wake up tomorrow and a skill you already have will become expert-level. What skill is that?

Option F: What is the last gift you gave someone that wasn’t bought with money?

Option G: What website is the internet missing?

Option H: After a challenging experience, how do you recharge?

Option I: Tell us about a place you’d like to share with everyone, but also keep to yourself.

Option J: UVA students paint messages on Beta Bridge when they want to share information with our community. What would you paint on Beta Bridge and why is this your message?

Option K: Tell us about a time when, faced with an opinion or perspective that differed from your own, you responded as an empathetic speaker or generous listener.

Besides your Common App essay, these supplements will be your best chance to showcase your personality, interests, and voice beyond the rest of your student profile. For a more detailed breakdown of each prompt, check out CollegeVine’s article How to Write the University of Virginia Essays 2022-2023 . And if you’ve already crafted your essays, you can also get free feedback from peers or paid expert evaluation using CollegeVine Essay Review . 

While all UVA applicants use the same application, when you fill out your application, you’ll be asked to specify the school to which you’re applying, as well as for your first and second choices for intended majors. Remember, UVA takes your response to this section seriously; while you’re allowed to change your major later on, transferring to a different college within UVA is a lengthy process, and acceptance is not guaranteed.

Most application requirements are the same for the different undergraduate schools at UVA, but as we’ll describe below, you’ll encounter some different questions on the application depending on which school you select.

If you intend to pursue a major within the McIntire School of Commerce, the Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy, or the School of Education (excluding Kinesiology), you’ll initially apply to the College of Arts and Sciences, and will apply to your chosen school after you enroll at UVA.

Portfolio: An optional part of the application, submitting a portfolio of student work through Slidework is encouraged for any student looking to majorly contribute to the arts community at UVA and wants their work to be considered as part of their application. This can be an opportunity to showcase any additional extracurricular or artistic interest outside of what is included in the application.

When Will You Hear Back?

Admissions decisions will be relayed corresponding to the pathway of admission you choose. ED or EA applicants who are deferred will also be considered for acceptance in the RD applicant pool and will be notified alongside other RD applicants.

As a public school, the University of Virginia is committed to meeting the full amount of demonstrated need for each of its students, with 35% of UVA students receiving some form of need-based financial aid, which includes loans. Additionally, UVA was ranked as #4 in terms of the Best Public College Value in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance .

Costs vary for the different undergraduate programs at UVA; specific figures for each program are available on the UVA website. Below is a calculated table for the sticker price of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Financial Aid Generosity

The University of Virginia is committed to meeting the full amount of a student’s demonstrated need and remaining need-blind, meaning they do not factor in a student’s financial situation in the admissions process. 

Need-based financial aid packages consist of grant aid, work-study employment, and/or student loans, though according to their website, “UVA is committed to limiting need-based loans for students with financial need” so that these students accumulate less debt.

In addition to UVA’s need-based financial aid, a limited amount of merit-based aid is available in the form of scholarships. There is no separate application process for these scholarships; instead, they’re awarded based on the information that’s already present in your admission application, and all applicants to UVA are automatically considered. 

CollegeVine’s article, What Does It Cost to Attend the University of Virginia? , is a great resource for students interested in learning more about the cost of attending UVA.

How to Apply for Financial Aid

In order to apply for need-based financial aid from UVA as a student from the United States, you’ll need to submit the CSS Profile and the FAFSA by the following deadline, depending on your admissions path. Your family’s supporting documents, such as tax returns, should also be submitted by the deadline to guarantee that you’ll receive your preliminary award letter before you have to commit to UVA.

While applying to a highly selective school like the University of Virginia may seem daunting, remember that no two applicants are alike and your greatest strength will be how your application manages to stand out. You can utilize our free chancing engine in order to estimate your odds of acceptance at UVA based on factors like academics, extracurriculars, and demographics, as well as use it for hundreds of other schools nationwide.

Additionally, CollegeVine’s University of Virginia profile page has all the information you’ll need and more on UVA’s campus, finances, academics, and how to complete an application to become a Cavalier.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Which program are you applying to?

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

June 17, 2024

UVA Darden MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2024-2025], Class Profile

The University of Virginia’s Darden MBA program boasts the case-based method of learning, which puts students in the role of business leaders faced with challenging situations. Through this discussion-based approach, students are active participants as they learn to make decisions in real-world scenarios. Darden is one of the largest case publishers in North America, and because of the school’s commitment to the case study method, a Darden student will examine literally hundreds of business cases over the course of their two years of MBA studies.

Darden’s essay questions this year are the same as last year’s, focusing primarily on getting to know you and how you will affect the school’s overall community.

Ready to get to work on your Darden application? Read on.

Darden application essay tips

Darden application deadlines, darden class profile.

For the 2024-25 application cycle, we will again feature short essay questions, which provides a broader platform for applicants to highlight their experiences through multi-dimensional narratives. These questions are a great opportunity for you to help the Darden Admissions Committee understand who you are and who you will be at Darden.

Darden Essay #1

Community of Belonging: What would you want your classmates to know about you that is not on your resume? (100 words)

Darden is one of the smaller MBA programs, with just 352 students in its Class of 2025. As a result, every single student needs to be congenial and contribute a unique perspective. 

With the brevity of this essay, the hardest part might well be identifying the best topic(s) to cover. I suggest just one or two topics; the key will be to dig in and provide an anecdote and enough detail to really make your submission come alive for the reader. A potential topic might be a relevant formative experience or relationship, or a nonwork activity or passion. Ground your essay in example and detail. To select the best subject matter, look at the application overall, including the other essays, and think about what would really add to and further animate this holistic picture.

Darden Essay #2

Inclusive Impact: Please describe a tangible example that illuminates your experience promoting an inclusive environment and what you would bring to creating a welcoming, global community at Darden. (300 words)

First, note that the requested example can come from work or outside work. While it’s great to show that you promote an inclusive work environment, if you have a dynamic, impactful example from outside of your job, feel free to use that. Keep in mind that “inclusive” can extend beyond the obvious (e.g., ethnicity, geographic background, sexual orientation) to encompass less-obvious elements, such as political perspective and socioeconomic background. Devote most of your essay to narrating your story, showing how it promotes inclusivity. At the end, add a reflection with some specific detail about how this will enable you to help create an inclusive global community at Darden.

Darden Essay #3

Careers With Purpose: At this time how would you describe your short-term, post-MBA goal in terms of industry, function, geography, company size and/or mission and how does it align with the long-term vision you have for your career? (200 words)

Darden’s prompt basically guides you through the requisite details the adcom wants you to provide. Even with the tight word limit, I suggest contextualizing the requested information in a couple of ways. First, start with just a phrase or sentence indicating how the goal arose. In other words, what is the “origin story”? Second, express what you hope to accomplish – what impact you’d like to have – by pursuing and achieving your stated goals. These two elements together constitute your motivation, and that is what will help the adcom feel engaged by (and ideally invested in) your goals.

Source: UVA Darden website

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with UVA Darden directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

Here’s a look at the UVA Darden MBA Class of 2025 (data taken from the UVA Darden website ):

Class size: 352

Countries represented: 33

International students: 41%

U.S. minority: 14%

Consortium members: 27

Military service members: 14%

First-generation college students: 21%

Average GMAT score:716

Median GMAT: 710

GMAT middle 80% range: 680-750

Average GPA: 3.51 

GPA middle 80% range: 3.08-3.88

Average GRE (combined): 321

Median GRE: 322

GRE middle 80% range: 309-333

Average years of work experience: 5.9

Median years of work experience: 5.3

Years of work experience, middle 80% range: 3.4-9.2

Industries represented: 33

Pre-MBA industries:

• Financial services: 22%
• Consulting: 13%
• Government: 13%
• Technology: 12%
• Nonprofit: 7%
• Biotech/healthcare/pharma: 6%
• Consumer packaged goods: 6%
• Communication/media/entertainment: 4%
• Real estate: 3%
• Manufacturing: 2%

For expert guidance with your UVA Darden MBA application, check out Accepted’s MBA Application Packages , which include comprehensive assistance from an experienced admissions consultant. We’ve helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to top MBA programs and look forward to helping you, too!

As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management.  Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Admissions Straight Talk Podcast for MBA Applicants
• Accepted’s Business School Selectivity Inde x
• How to Get into UVA Darden, podcast Episode 439

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University of Virginia (UVA) 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Early Action/Decision: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 5

University of Virginia (UVA) 2024-25 First-Year Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250 words, 1 essay of 250 words for applicants to the School of Nursing only

Supplemental Essay Type(s) : Why , Community

In around 250 words, please answer the following question:

What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at uva  feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you..

Odds are that this isn’t the first “diversity” essay prompt you’ve come across this year—even if the prompt doesn’t explicitly use that word. However, if it is, please read on! UVA wants to accept students from a range of backgrounds who will contribute to an inclusive community. This prompt uses the phrase “source of strength” twice, which tells us that they want to hear about not only what makes you you , but also how these characteristics will sustain you and support those around you. What you focus on here can be reflective of larger cultural constructs or specific to you and only you. Is there anything you can teach your classmates about your hometown, traditions, culture, orientation, identity, race, or ethnicity that they might not already know? Maybe you began practicing meditation and discovered Buddhism during your sophomore year and you hope to spread some wisdom and mindfulness on campus next fall. Perhaps you were raised on a farm and have a very special relationship to all living things (plants, animals, people, etc.) around you. How will you incorporate this element of your identity into your college experience? Show admissions that you’re eager to make your mark in their community.

Students applying to the School of Nursing are required to answer this question in around 250 words. 

In the field of nursing, you will encounter and impact real human lives. please explain why you feel this is important as you choose this field as your future..

As a nurse, you’ll need both deep medical knowledge and the ability to interact with all kinds of people. This prompt wants you to highlight the interpersonal aspect of nursing. It’s tempting to talk in grand general terms about how medicine can impact people’s lives for the better, but take note: this prompt focuses on your future. Think about what effect you want to have on your future patients. Perhaps a nurse empathetically educated you about your condition when you were hospitalized as a child, and you want to be that person for someone else. Maybe you feel strongly that non-native English speakers aren’t being served in your small hometown and strive to be the first fully bilingual nurse in your community. Whatever drives you, be sure to center your potential impact on real people as a future nurse. 

If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the University, please share your thoughts here.  Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs. 

Now that UVA is no longer explicitly considering legacy in their admissions process, admissions has added this question to identify not only those whose parents went to UVA, but also those whose ancestors labored at UVA. This reflects the university’s ongoing reckoning with its own founding, which included the use of enslaved labor. Here, anyone with personal or historic ties to the university, including students who attended summer programs there, can describe their unique connection. If you don’t have a connection, that’s okay! Most people won’t. If you do, however, read on.

This question doesn’t just ask you to state your tie, it asks you to explore how that connection has primed you to contribute to the community. Maybe your mom was an RA and has shared all the steam tunnel routes with you, so you can initiate your roommates into this UVA tradition. Perhaps one of your ancestors built the iconic Rotunda, and you look forward to educating your classmates about their legacy. Maybe you attended a summer program and fell in love with the Jeffersonian architecture, inspiring your passion for historic preservation. Remember, your job here is to explore how your personal connection to UVA will make you a contributor to campus life. 

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Deferred from UVA with a 1540 SAT

I had my essays checked by several ppl and they all said they were great. Where could I have went wrong? Could it be because I’m an international student?

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At 23, She Had a Termination. 55 Years Later, She’s Ready to Write About It.

In 1969, Honor Moore was granted an abortion by a Connecticut psychiatrist, and went on with her life. In 2024, she reckons with the fallout.

By Joanna Biggs

Joanna Biggs is the author of “A Room of One’s Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again” and an editor at Harper’s Magazine.

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A TERMINATION, by Honor Moore

When Honor Moore was a 23-year-old graduate student, she had an abortion.

It was April 1969, and the state of Connecticut allowed a woman to end her pregnancy if a doctor determined that giving birth would threaten the life of the mother. During an interview with a psychiatrist in a toy-strewn office in New Haven, Moore said she would go crazy if she had a baby, and the psychiatrist gave her a letter permitting an obstetrician to carry out the procedure.

Waking up in the hospital recovery room, she found a bouquet of flowers sent by friends and a furious doctor — he’d instructed her not to tell anyone.

Her friends later visited anyway, bringing her a sandwich. And Moore continued her studies, spending the summer in the Berkshires as press agent for a glitzy play.

There are details Moore doesn’t remember — did the abortion cost $2,000? Did her gynecologist’s name begin with a “B”? She can’t be sure — because she didn’t begin writing “A Termination,” her slim, searching memoir of her abortion and its effects, until she was in her 70s.

In May 2022, when it became clear that American women would no longer be trusted with decisions about their pregnancies, Moore finished the book in a fever. What had her abortion meant to her? At 23, Moore did not know that she would go on to write six highly praised books of poetry, memoir and biography.

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