University of Georgia 2019-20 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

University of Georgia 2019-20 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 2 essays of 200-300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Oddball

The college admissions process can create anxiety. In an attempt to make it less stressful, please tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself from your high school years that you have not already shared in your application. (200-300 words) *Required

The University of Georgia knows that college applications can be stressful as heck! The admissions department at UGA wants to give you the opportunity to tell a fun story and show them what it would be like to hang with you. This is where you can let your silly, humorous side show, recounting the hilarious tale that still makes your family members howl with laughter (so long as it’s admissions-appropriate, of course!). Or perhaps try approaching this prompt from the “interesting” rather than the “amusing” angle, recounting the time your Sicilian grandmother taught you how to make spaghetti from scratch. The only real requirement here is that you tell a colorful story, so make sure your essay has a clear narrative arc with a beginning, middle, and end. And of course, in addition to telling admissions something new, aim to entertain them with your lively, descriptive prose!

Choose one of the following four (200-300 words):

UGA’s 2017 Commencement speaker Ernie Johnson (Class of ’79) told a story from his youth about what he refers to as blackberry moments. He has described these as “the sweet moments that are right there to be had but we’re just too focused on what we’re doing …, and we see things that are right there within our reach and we neglect them. Blackberry moments can be anything that makes somebody else’s day, that makes your day, that are just sweet moments that you always remember.” Tell us about one of your “blackberry moments” from the past five years.

Aye aye aye, this is a long prompt! UGA wants to see you, a Gen Z teenager, reflect on one of those small, heartfelt moments that made your or someone else’s day–the kind that could have been easily missed if you hadn’t been paying attention. This prompt is an opportunity to showcase your humanity, ability to connect with others, and capacity for discovering meaning within ordinary moments. Maybe you complimented a fellow student on her vintage batman shirt on the way to school, and after chatting about her love for superheroes, realized you were both attending the same cosplay event that weekend! Did you meet up at the event? Did the interaction encourage you to engage with strangers more often? Maybe you saw a woman struggling to train her to Labrador puppy to walk on the leash and offered some of your sage advice from years of living with dogs. How did that moment make you feel? Maybe your grandfather gave you some advice that you never forgot underneath a canopy of glittering stars during your family’s annual camping trip. These, and other moments that linger in your mind (or heart) long after they occur, are ripe for the picking when it comes to this prompt!

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What is the best part? What advice would you give to a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

Okay, the University of Georgia is absolutely loving this year’s Coalition Application prompts. Of the three remaining prompts you have to choose from, two are carbon copies of Coalition App prompts. This prompt is the Coalition Application’s personal statement prompt 4, which we already made a guide for, so check it out! In the meantime, here’s a quick sneak peak into everything that you need to know. For starters, consider the following questions: What does it mean to be an adolescent today, and how is being an adolescent in 2019 different or similar to being an adolescent in previous generations? What about being a teenager do you most enjoy or despise, and why? What challenges have you faced as a teenager as you navigate the complex, digital world of Snapchat and Cardi B, and what have you ultimately learned from those challenges? In weighing on these timely questions, this prompt gives you the opportunity to show admissions that you can be insightful, reflective, and exercise perspective. If you decide to respond to this prompt, feel free to inject some playful humor into your response! And don’t forget to use a specific example or story to back up each of your opinions (so that your claims have substance behind them). Ultimately, as with all college essay prompts, your response here should reveal something new about you. So choose an aspect of modern teenagehood that is personal to you, and run with it!

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

This prompt (a.k.a Coalition App’s prompt #1) should be a good fit for any tale you have to tell that “demonstrates your character,” which should be a base requirement of any essay you submit, regardless of the prompt you’re responding to. So, how do you define yourself? Which characteristics make up the core of your personality? Are you resourceful and tenacious? Are you observant? Imaginative? Witty? Think back on some of the most memorable moments in your life—the moments that make you feel proud, or the moments where you learned something important. Did you take an innovative approach to a school assignment that resulted in high praise from your teacher and classmates? What does this say about your creativity, originality, or willingness to take risks both in and out of the classroom? Maybe you spent your childhood summers volunteering with your mom at an animal sanctuary. What did that experience teach you about empathy and how did that experience ultimately impact you? What do these stories say about you and how you interact with the world? UGA specifically asks you to describe an experience, so if the idea you have in your head is character-related but not tied to a specific event or occurrence, you might want to revisit your brainstorming notes until you find a memorable scene to mine for this prompt!

Describe a problem, possibly related to your area of study, which you would like to solve. Explain its importance to you and what actions you would take to solve this issue.

This prompt is eerily similar to the Common Application’s prompt #4 and our advice is the same: Think about what challenges the future might bring, both personally and on a global scale. How might you be part of meaningful progress and problem-solving moving forward? What kind of mark would you like to leave on the world? How do you think you can positively contribute to a cause that is important to you? Maybe you are worried about how climate change will impact people in developing nations, so you would like to major in environmental science and be part of the initiative to reduce greenhouse gasses. It is important that the problem you choose relates to your experiences, passions, or aspirations in some way, and that you make that connection clear to admissions. And of course, don’t forget to write about how you would approach solving this issue! Admissions wants to see that you can think critically and create concrete plans for achieving your goals, so put on your problem-solving hat, and dive in!