Colorado College 2025-26 Supplemental Essay Guide

Colorado College 2025-26 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 short essay of 300 words max

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why, Community

One of the benefits of Colorado College’s Block Plan is the opportunity to immerse yourself fully in a single subject for 3.5 weeks. We see this as the luxury of focus — the joy and value of directing your full attention to one thing. Tell us about a time when you experienced this kind of deep focus in an academic or extracurricular setting. What were you doing and how did it turn out? (300 words max)

Colorado College prides itself on its Block Plan, which “allows you to focus your energies solely on what you want to do,” so they’re asking you to demonstrate how this plan matches your learning style. Your goal here is to show how your past experiences have prepared you well for the Block Plan. Think about other times you have been so immersed in an idea or activity that you didn’t even notice time passing. How did that experience affect you? Maybe, after watching the Olympics, you did a deep-dive into breakdancing, learning everything you could about the history and legitimacy of the art form as a judged sport. Perhaps your in-class writing assignment about The Great Gatsby energized you so much that you were surprised when the bell rang. How did you feel once you emerged from your intense focus? What happened to the project you were working on? The more personal you can be, the more your essay will stand out from the rest.