Brown University 2026-27 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Brown University 2026-27 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 2 essays of 150-250 words; 2 essays of 100-150 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why, Community, Activity, Diversity

How to Write Compelling Brown University Supplemental Essays

Brown demands a whopping four additional essays, but fear not! CEA is here to guide you through them. All of these prompts are helping admissions learn about “your unique talents, accomplishments, energy, curiosity, perspective and identity” and how those might fit with Brown’s campus culture. With so many ways to reveal more about yourself, think about the stories and qualities you have to offer and make sure you distribute them across the supplements. Try not to be repetitive and, as much as you can, have fun with these. If you embrace the challenge laid out in front of you, your answers will be instilled with that positive spirit as well. Read on to discover our Brown application essay tips! 

Brown University Prompt Breakdowns

“There is something distinctive about Brown students. It is a blend of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and humility. A commitment to collaboration. An openness to new ideas and perspectives. A desire to make the world better. And it is resilience: the ability to recover and thrive after experiencing difficulties.” President Christina Paxson 2025 Convocation Address  How will you use these characteristics or others to shape your approach to the Open Curriculum? (Suggested 150-250 words)

First things first: the Open Curriculum, a.k.a. the requirement-less Holy Grail, coveted by many applicants. It’s not enough to say, “I want to go to Brown because of its uniquely flexible curriculum.” You need to explore exactly how this curriculum—among Brown’s many other assets—will benefit you specifically, based on the qualities mentioned in the quote above. Before you put (metaphorical) pen to paper, spend some time reflecting on these qualities. Which ones apply most to you? Are there others you feel strongly about? How have you embodied these characteristics in your life, and how do they affect your approach to your education? Maybe your love of teamwork led you to stage management, where you bring together different teams working toward the same goal, and you’ll apply this same commitment to collaboration as you seek out research opportunities across the Chemistry and Biology departments. Perhaps you were diagnosed with a learning difference in your freshman year and realized that the greater flexibility offered by the Open Curriculum will help you manage that difference. While you might be tempted to get technical or poetic, this essay will be more personal and memorable if you can share a story. Then marry the concrete details of your story with Brown’s academic offerings, and you’ll knock your response out of the park!

Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (Suggested 150-250 words)

Brown wants to accept students from a range of backgrounds who will contribute to their University community, so tell admissions about what makes you you and how you will be a meaningful addition to the student body. Think about times when you were challenged by or found strength in your identity, background, or skills. Maybe you were the only South Asian family in a predominantly white area and found inspiration by practicing classical Kuchipudi dance, which you intend to continue at Brown. Perhaps your aging grandparent moved in with you, and the changes to your household prompted you to take on more responsibilities, sparking a passion for leadership. What do you hope to share with others about your lived experience? 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. Bonus points if you can reference a specific component of the Brown experience (think clubs, the curriculum, volunteer opportunities, etc.) to demonstrate your interest and fit.

Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (100-150 words)

Try not to overthink your response to this question. Admissions even goes so far as to say that the focal point of your response can be big or small. So, go with your gut. Maybe you love watching the sunset on your grandmother’s porch over a pitcher of lemonade and a game of checkers. Or perhaps you want to tell admissions about the look on your sister’s face every time you agree to a custom makeover (neon eyeshadow only). If you want to write about something bigger, maybe it’s the app you’re building to help people find volunteer opportunities in their community or the scientific discovery you made last spring. Whatever it may be, be true to yourself, and you’ll ace this response.

If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100-150 words)

This is another opportunity to share something about yourself that hasn’t yet appeared in the rest of your application. Reach beyond the traditional academic areas and toward skills you may have cultivated on your own time (e.g., motocross, horseback riding, knitting, etc.). What are you good at? What topic could you wax poetic about for hours on end? Your topic here could be academic but doesn’t have to be. Would you teach a class on the various myths and depictions of Anansi? Perhaps you’d discuss the formation and evolution of glacial lakes. There is no right or wrong answer here, so write about the subject that truly interests you the most!

Essay Questions for 2026-27 PLME (Program in Liberal Medical Education) Applicants 

Why medicine? (250 word limit)

When it comes to medical program applicants, everyone wants to help people; everyone wants to make the world a better place; everyone wants to make a meaningful contribution. Few fields lend themselves to service-oriented clichés and platitudes as readily as medicine does, so to safely navigate the minefield of hackneyed generalizations, start with something personal! What’s one eye-opening experience that made you believe healthcare could be your calling? Perhaps it was a single moment, like watching an ambulance come to your neighbor’s house. Or maybe it was something more long-term, such as navigating your school in a wheelchair after knee surgery and realizing you want to improve patient outcomes by researching physical therapies. Whatever the case, use your personal story as the backdrop for your argument. What did you learn? What problems do you hope to tackle? What’s the first step in your journey to effecting change? As we said, it’s not enough to just want these things; your job is to show admissions why medicine interests you personally. 

Why PLME? (250 word limit)

For this second prompt, address the role PLME will play in your plan for the future. In other words, why do you want to study medicine at Brown in particular? What appeals to you about the interdisciplinary education you’ll receive? What makes you sure you’re ready to commit to an eight-year program? To ace this response, you’ll need to…drumroll please…do some research! With 250 words at your disposal, you have plenty of space to highlight specific aspects of PLME’s program, coursework, faculty, and community that will guide you toward your goals so you can truly show that PLME is the right place for you. 

Tell us something about yourself, beyond your interest in medicine, that you think will make you a great doctor. (250 word limit)

With this prompt, admissions is trying to get a peek inside your brain to see what makes you tick beyond your passion for medicine. This is your chance to share something about yourself that hasn’t appeared elsewhere in your application. What about your character, experiences, interests, or values do you think will make you a good doctor? Are you very observant, quickly noticing small changes in your friends’ behaviors? Are you highly empathetic? Do you have a fondness for gadgets that would allow you to master (and invent) cutting-edge medical equipment? Would your prodigious memory help you easily recall patient history and details? Would your precise origami folding translate easily into surgical procedures? Anything is fair game for this question, as long as you relate it to your fitness for your chosen profession.