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How to Write the ApplyTexas Essays 2023-2024 + Examples

Born from the collaboration between the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and various public and private universities around the state, ApplyTexas is a wide-spanning application that allows its users to apply to hundreds of Texan colleges. Like the Common App, it offers a platform for students—natively Texan or not—to send off the same information to many schools, although each school may require differing additional information. 

Unlike the Common App, ApplyTexas may be used to apply to the community colleges, public four-years, participating private schools, graduate programs, and even scholarships within Texan borders. For this article’s purposes, we will be focusing primarily on ApplyTexas’s 150+ four-year colleges and universities. Check out our full list of Texan colleges .

Read this ApplyTexas essay example to inspire your own writing.

Which Colleges Require Which Essays?

As for the ApplyTexas essays, there are three main prompts — prompts A, B, and C — but some colleges will only require some, keep others optional, or not accept certain prompts at all. They may also have additional short answer questions and supplements of their own. Even the recommended word count varies between schools.

Here’s a quick snapshot into the unique essay requirements of a few top ApplyTexas colleges:

University of Texas at Austin:

• Topic A is required.
• 4 short answer responses, 1 of which is optional (250-300 words).
• Additional major-specific materials/requirements for art/art history, architecture, nursing, and social work programs .
• Also accepts the Common App.

Southern Methodist University:

• Topic A essay required, B is optional. 
• Also accepts the Common App, Coalition Application, and its own application.

Texas A&M University, College Station:

• Topic A is required. 
• 4 additional short answers for all applicants, 1 of which is optional.
• 1 short answer for applicants to the College of Engineering.

Baylor University, Waco:

• Choose between Topic A, B or C (optional). 
• Also accepts the Common App and its own application.

Texas Christian University:

• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional)
• 3 additional short answer questions, 1 of which is optional.
• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional).

Never ignore optional prompts! Taking the time to complete them shows that you truly care about the school. Ignoring them will make admissions officers wonder if you even like it enough to actually attend it if accepted.

If you are applying to any of these universities and feel you would rather use the Coalition Application or the Common Application, see our Coalition Application Essay Guide and our Common Application Essay Guide . Keep in mind that essay requirements will vary depending on which platform you use. For instance, some schools (SMU, TCU, Baylor) may have additional short essays if you use the Common App.

If you still feel ApplyTexas is the platform for you, read on!

Before You Begin

It’s important to verify that your desired schools are featured on the ApplyTexas platform. Certain private schools—Rice University, for example—use the Common Application instead of ApplyTexas.

And while all the public universities in Texas accept ApplyTexas, some of them also accept the Common Application and Coalition Application, as we’ve seen. The Common Application , Coalition Application , and ApplyTexas offer tools to determine whether a university is included in their platform. Be sure to verify which application is better suited to your college list. Many students can tackle all their schools with just the Common App, but others may have to use a couple different platforms.

Approaching the ApplyTexas Essays

So you’ve worked through the application form, requested copies of your transcript and recommendation letters, effectively described your extracurriculars, and sent in your scores, if any. All that remains now are the essays: your best shot at showing admissions officers how you think, who you are, what matters to you, and why!

As you may remember, ApplyTexas contains three essay prompts: Topics A, B, and C. Each school may have different essay requirements, so it is best to familiarize yourself with all of them. For instance, even if you’re bursting with knowledge about your future major, these essays are an opportunity to speak holistically with regards to your life and experience.

Essay-Writing Strategies

With few parameters aside from the word limit of approximately 800 words (and with each school often setting different word counts), the ApplyTexas essay may seem intimidating. Luckily, the prompts can act as a creative and procedural tether. Whereas students applying via Common Application may begin by shaping a central idea before matching it up to one of the various prompts, ApplyTexas essays grow from the prompt up . Because of this, the best brainstorming and organizational practices for each prompt are unique. The one factor that remains ubiquitously relevant is writing — good writing. Before we get into the details of ideation and organization for each prompt, we’ll review some ways to ensure your writing is clear, communicative, and evocative.

Tips for writing well:

• Show, don’t tell (you’ve heard it before, but it’s worth hearing again!)
• Use active, rather than passive, sentence construction.
• Write with precision.
• Avoid clichés

The somewhat hackneyed advice of “Show, don’t tell” is nevertheless crucial to writing a compelling application essay. The meaning of showing a reader rather than telling them is best interpreted literally. Imagine you’re outside your house and you see a dog skateboarding on it’s two front paws. You run inside, eager to { tell, show } whoever is home. You fling open the door and narrowly avoid a collision with your brother, still unlacing his shoes from basketball practice.

You tell him: “Aamir, I just saw a dog skateboarding on its two front paws!”

You show him: You grab Aamir by the corner of his Jersey. “Come quick” you squeal, and he stumbles out after you, tripping on his laces. Thankfully, the dog is still there. “Just look,” you breathe out, already mesmerized by the wind rushing through the schnauzer’s mustache. Wobbling ever so slightly, the pup remains confident as he shreds the inclined blacktop of the cul-de-sac. Then, a moment later, it’s over. Unaware of the scale of his accomplishment, the dog scratches behind his right ear. You look over at Aamir. “Whoa.”

Out of these two scenarios, we can be sure that Aamir will only remember the second. It’s much the same for admissions committees; they’re more likely to remember you if you show them what you want to communicate. Now, showing doesn’t need to be much longer than telling. In fact, succinct writing is just as important as descriptive writing. Abandoning the literal narrative of “showing,” we’re left with something like this: A schnauzer puppy from the cul-de-sac was balanced on his front paws—miraculously, on a skateboard. Man, that dog could shred.

Using active voice is another crucial component of clean, clear writing. It’s also pretty simple. Make sure your sentence’s subject performs the action indicated by the verb. For example, instead of writing “the skateboard was maneuvered by a schnauzer,” you would opt for, “the schnauzer maneuvered the skateboard.” The only exception to this rule is when you want to bring explicit attention to the person or thing affected by an action. Our story is actually a decent example. What’s more noteworthy? The skateboarding? Or the fact that a dog is doing it? An acceptable passive construction might look like this: “the skateboard—would you believe it—was being maneuvered by none other than the schnauzer from across the cul-de-sac.” In this instance, we’re able to use passive voice to create humor and suspense. That being said, the vast majority of your sentences should employ the active voice.

The active voice is also a big part of writing with precision , and word choice may also make writing precise or imprecise. For example, while “evasive” is a synonym of “oblique” in one sense, it would nevertheless be embarrassing to write that, “John sat in the armchair evasive to the television.” Rather than picturing a chair positioned diagonally (obliquely) from the television, readers are left wondering what in the world an evasive chair might be. So use your thesaurus — carefully. 

It is common for burgeoning writers to get a little too adjective-happy. Adjectives’ power correlates inversely with their use. If each of your sentences is flush with adjectives, you’re diluting their impact.

Finally, avoid any clichés, aphorisms, etc. that fail to add value to your essay. Admissions officers will read countless essays boasting “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  If you’re tempted to use a hackneyed phrase, find its seed instead. Clichés are cliché because they stem from important thoughts, universal truths, and romantic principles. In the case of “Be the change you want to see in the world,” the seed might be an individual’s ability to impact a community, or to transform outdated and unjust systems. The seed of a clichéd phrase may still be worth writing about, but it’s important that you write authentically and originally.

Dissecting the Prompts

ApplyTexas features two sets of prompts, one for incoming freshmen (both domestic and international) and one for transfer, transient, or readmit applications. In this article, we will cover the first set to help freshman applicants. Want to know your chances at an ApplyTexas school? Calculate your chances for free right now.

While different schools require different combinations of essays, most students should be prepared to deal with topics A, B, and C. Students intent on pursuing a degree related to art and design should also be ready to answer topic D. Check out this ApplyTexas database to scout out which schools will require which essays . 

Here are this year’s prompts:

• Topic A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Topic B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.
• Topic C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?
• Topic D (specific to majors in architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education): Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Notice how you are encouraged to speak about an opportunity or a challenge. Many students believe that they must talk about a tragedy in order to grab the attention of admissions officers, but this isn’t true. An essay can easily be thoughtful, insightful, and an engaging read without utilizing this specific emotional appeal.

Still, stories about difficult circumstances are often memorable. They are most effective when focused primarily on the student’s journey of working through the challenge instead of the challenge itself. Check out Collegevine’s article if you would like more tips on writing about challenges .

You’re trying to stand out, so beware of overused tropes like the following:

• Mental illness: It takes enormous strength to heal from and learn to manage a mental illness. Still, they may be tricky to write about. Read our article for more information on covering mental illness and disabilities within your application .
• Getting a bad grade in a class but then working hard to raise it.
• Sports stories such as winning/losing the “big game” or getting injured.
• Death of a pet or family member.
• Mission trip which made you realize how lucky and privileged you are.

Side note : Sometimes students face challenges that are outside of their control and which have negatively impacted their academic and/or extracurricular performance. If this has been your experience, and you don’t plan to explain them within this essay response, you may ask one of your recommenders to do so through their letter of recommendation.

Now, there’s no such thing as a “bad” or “good” essay topic; students have gotten into top schools with essays about Costco, pizza deliveries, and sparkling water. It often matters less so what you write about than how you write about it! 

These common essay topics are only doable when well-written, specific, and featuring a fresh take. The story of how fixing your Calculus grade taught you the value of hard work is not nearly as interesting as that of a student who is diagnosed with dyscalculia—a disability which creates a difficulty in understanding and working with math and numbers—and then opens up a dyscalculia awareness club with plans to become a special education teacher. The latter story would demonstrate the student’s ability to turn preconceived weaknesses into strengths, and admissions officers will quickly see that though he may initially struggle with long division, this student is nonetheless a creative problem-solver.

Please be aware that although it is possible to make a “common” topic interesting, it is easier to write about a situation that is unique to begin with. Also, don’t feel pressured to write about a challenge, especially if the situation has happened so recently that you haven’t fully finished processing or growing from it.

With all of this in mind, let’s get into brainstorming! Many people begin their ideation process through writing long lists or even talking into their phones in an untethered stream-of-consciousness. Do whatever it takes to get your creative juices flowing! 

As you reflect, you may consider these questions:

• Which values and skills do you hold closest to your heart? Honesty? Hard work? Clear communication? Diversity? Environmental stewardship? Activism? Where did these priorities come from?
• What are you most grateful for? What are you most proud of? What risks have you taken which have paid off?
• What do you like to do? When and how did you get into it?
• How would your family and friends say you have changed for the better over the years, and why?
• Look back at your list of extracurricular activities. Which ones were challenging and/or special opportunities? When have you tried something new?

Practice self-compassion while considering topics, and know that none are too big or too small. You can write about anything from taking a summer math class (even though you’re more of an English person) to being a camp counselor to giving your first speech in front of a crowd.

Overall, the admissions officers are looking for growth. They want to see the circumstances you turned into opportunities for improvement. You may even reflect upon a situation that initially seemed like an unpleasant challenge but later revealed itself as a hidden opportunity. For example, you may have reluctantly let your friend drag you to a business club meeting before discovering a passion for economics and rising as a club leader.

Ideally, your story will be unique and offer a fresh perspective. Be specific about the challenge or opportunity you were presented with, and think about how it changed you for the better. 

Remember, they are literally asking for you to “tell [them] your story,” so consider using a narrative format, especially if storytelling is a talent of yours. 

Here’s a general outline: 

• If you choose to go with a traditional storytelling format, we recommend beginning with a vivid anecdote featuring rich imagery to draw the reader in or an unexpected premise which makes one have to read on in order to fully understand. 
• From there, you may dive into who you were at the time, how you felt and how you acted, before moving towards your turning point—the challenge or opportunity—from which you decided to grow. 
• Explain how, exactly, the turning point influenced you. Ask yourself: How did it make you feel? Excited and ready for more, or initially anxious? How did it impact you? Perhaps you learned something new about yourself, or maybe now you’re kinder, more confident, or a harder worker. 
• To mix it up a bit, you could even play with sequencing, perhaps starting with a moment of success before reflecting on all of the growth you had to complete to get to that point.

Finally, you are human, so you don’t have to portray yourself as perfect in the end. You are using this essay to talk about what may be one of your greatest strengths or sources of pride, but make sure to stay balanced with a humble tone.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic A:

The morning of the Model United Nation conference, I walked into Committee feeling confident  about my research. We were simulating the Nuremberg Trials – a series of post-World War II  proceedings for war crimes – and my portfolio was of the Soviet Judge Major General Iona  Nikitchenko. Until that day, the infamous Nazi regime had only been a chapter in my history  textbook; however, the conference’s unveiling of each defendant’s crimes brought those horrors  to life. The previous night, I had organized my research, proofread my position paper and gone  over Judge Nikitchenko’s pertinent statements. I aimed to find the perfect balance between his  stance and my own.

As I walked into committee anticipating a battle of wits, my director abruptly called out to me.  “I’m afraid we’ve received a late confirmation from another delegate who will be representing  Judge Nikitchenko. You, on the other hand, are now the defense attorney, Otto Stahmer.”  Everyone around me buzzed around the room in excitement, coordinating with their allies and  developing strategies against their enemies, oblivious to the bomb that had just dropped on me.  I felt frozen in my tracks, and it seemed that only rage against the careless delegate who had  confirmed her presence so late could pull me out of my trance. After having spent a month  painstakingly crafting my verdicts and gathering evidence against the Nazis, I now needed to  reverse my stance only three hours before the first session.

Gradually, anger gave way to utter panic. My research was fundamental to my performance, and without it, I knew I could add little to the Trials. But confident in my ability, my director  optimistically recommended constructing an impromptu defense. Nervously, I began my  research anew. Despite feeling hopeless, as I read through the prosecution’s arguments, I  uncovered substantial loopholes. I noticed a lack of conclusive evidence against the defendants  and certain inconsistencies in testimonies.

My discovery energized me, inspiring me to revisit  the historical overview in my conference “Background Guide” and to search the web for other  relevant articles. Some Nazi prisoners had been treated as “guilty” before their court dates.  While I had brushed this information under the carpet while developing my position as a judge,  it now became the focus of my defense. I began scratching out a new argument, centered on the premise that the allied countries had violated the fundamental rule that, a defendant was “not guilty” until proven otherwise.

At the end of the three hours, I felt better prepared. The first session began, and with bravado, I  raised my placard to speak. Microphone in hand, I turned to face my audience. “Greetings  delegates. I, Otto Stahmer would like to…….” I suddenly blanked. Utter dread permeated my  body as I tried to recall my thoughts in vain. “Defence Attorney, Stahmer we’ll come back to  you,” my Committee Director broke the silence as I tottered back to my seat, flushed with  embarrassment. Despite my shame, I was undeterred. I needed to vindicate my director’s faith  in me. I pulled out my notes, refocused, and began outlining my arguments in a more clear and  direct manner. Thereafter, I spoke articulately, confidently putting forth my points. I was  overjoyed when Secretariat members congratulated me on my fine performance.

Going into the conference, I believed that preparation was the key to success. I wouldn’t say I  disagree with that statement now, but I believe adaptability is equally important. My ability to  problem-solve in the face of an unforeseen challenge proved advantageous in the art of  diplomacy. Not only did this experience transform me into a confident and eloquent delegate at  that conference, but it also helped me become a more flexible and creative thinker in a variety of other capacities. Now that I know I can adapt under pressure, I look forward to engaging in  activities that will push me to be even quicker on my feet.

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

This prompt is a more varied than the first one, and gives you more leeway in choosing what you’ll actually be talking about. Someone’s identity, talents, and interests, might be linked together but they just as easily might not. Either way, don’t worry. With regards to this prompt, there is no ideal angle. Let’s break down what it could mean to address each of these categories.

Identity can refer to any number of traits that you feel define you. This includes race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and other more community-based identities such as gamer, athlete, artist, weaver, dancer, Democrat, etc. Your identity is simply what makes you, you. Essays about identity are a great opportunity to demonstrate your critical and political acuity, personal convictions, and social history. However, they also pose certain risks. The premise of writing about identity is that you’ll demonstrate what makes you unique as a person. Even though many of us share certain identity traits, we’ve all experienced them differently. It’s especially important to focus on those details. Essays about identity that lack individual texture risk making you appear almost clone-like. That being said, there is no topic that is inherently cliché for this prompt.

Talent is a topic that will surely feel familiar to you as a prospective college applicant. Frankly, that’s what can make it tricky to write an essay about your talents—it risks echoing the several other parts of an application that are designed to draw out and display your talents for an admissions committee. Even so, if you believe that you have gained an especially insightful lesson or reflection from one of your listed activities, it may still be worth writing about. Just make sure you’re elaborating on your talents rather than reiterating them. Beyond the talents already featured in your application, many applicants have a talent that stands out from their formal talents and activities. One might be a master bird-caller, for example, but not have it listed as an extracurricular. Often times, writing about a wild-card talent is a way to introduce a facet of your personality that would otherwise remain invisible. The topic of talent also gives you the opportunity to write about certain interpersonal skills that might be especially important to you but impossible to express on a resume. For example, if you cultivate your skills as a listener and have a well-formulated political or philosophical imperative for doing so, that could make a great topic.

Interests are unique from talents in that you need not necessarily be good at them. They might not even be skills-related to begin with. For example, you might be supremely interested in pigeons but unable to include that interest in any other part of the application. Interests can make for especially unique, quirky, and fascinating essays. That being said, such essays also risk missing the whole point of the prompt. You need to tell the committee about yourself. If you choose to write about an obscure interest, it’ll be crucial to relate it back to your personality, outlook, or identity.

Now that we’ve addressed the differences between the subsections of this prompt, let’s review some ways in which you can brainstorm. While writing about identity, talents, or interests will result in slightly different essays, the goal is the same: to show the admissions committee—through your own eyes—who exactly you are.

The first step in brainstorming for this prompt is making a list of your defining characteristics. As you do this, you’ll want to prioritize characteristics that paint you in a generally positive light. While you don’t want to brag, you definitely want to be optimistic about who you are.

Second , you should make a sort of genealogy for each characteristic. How did they come to be so important to you? What experiences built up to the point where you’d consider a trait to be essential to your personality?

Finally , you’re going to need to rank your traits and their accompanying genealogies. For some students, who have a very central and defining trait, this won’t be tricky at all. But for students who are less certain what to write about, it will be important to prioritize the traits with the most interesting genealogies. Seeing as you want to show the committee rather than tell them, it’s crucial that you pick a trait that has a compelling history—that fits into a narrative or intellectual picture of yourself. This is especially essential for students intent on taking a more creative tone with this prompt. While an obscure interest can be interesting and endearing, it needs to have a compelling genesis and impact within your personal history.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic B:

In one of the side streets of Rabat, one of the many winding corridors in the Medina, a long-abandoned house is standing, dilapidated from its years of neglect. The windows have been smashed; valuable materials have been ripped out of the floor and graffiti smears peeling walls. Yet remnants of its old life still remain intact; photo albums clutch family moments as cobwebs dangle from their spines. A mini plastic basketball hoop clings to a wall and a handmade poster above it reads “Senior League: Armond – Junior: Sasha and Lucy” but the faded yellow of the net suggests that no games have been played here for a long time. Not since we left. Mom left him just as I was turning four. The relationship had been emotionally stressful for the past few years and the threat of physical danger forced her to make a secret escape with us. We left everything behind.

Thousands of miles away and thirteen years later, I have never been back. I have never met him. As young as I was, I have not been oblivious to his absence. Even now, there are moments when I experience this emptiness inside of me. A sensation so overwhelming, I can’t believe I have managed to ignore it for so long. I lie down, close my eyes and grieve. Not just for him but for the life I never had, or at least, the one I left behind and can no longer remember. As the tears stop, I slowly drift to sleep. Sometimes I dream that he has unexpectedly turned up on the doorstep of our Chicago house especially for me. I open the door and immediately recognize him. I jump into his arms, simultaneously crying and laughing. I wake up, the empty feeling has passed and I know that he will never come. But I can’t help romanticizing the first time we meet.

However, going on eighteen, reality is soon catching up with me. Four years ago at the age of eighteen my brother, Armond, travelled to Morocco to meet him. Last year my sister, Sasha, did the same. So now, it is my turn; my own rite of passage awaits me. I have been waiting for this opportunity my whole life, even imagined it ten times over. But the more I thought about it, the more I doubted it. As the youngest in the family, I have striven to emulate my siblings in many ways. I could feel the assumption that I would go to meet him just as they did. However, I know that I am not yet ready. Unlike Sasha and Armond, my memories of Rabat are just a haze. I do not know whether they are real, or dreams or stories I have been told. I don’t understand any Arabic, and his English is very broken. And most of all, I cannot remember his face. The emptiness still comes back every now and then. But I know that the hole is not father-shaped, and if I meet him now, he might think it is. What I need to do first is to find out who I am before I can know what shape that hole really is. And when I know, I will understand what it would mean to meet him. For now at least, that tired old home stays suspended; a three-dimensional snapshot of my forgotten childhood. I like to think it’s waiting for me; waiting for when I’m ready to go back.

You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Topic C stands opposed to Topics A and B in that it is almost entirely oriented towards the future. While each of your essays should demonstrate a degree of imagination, this prompt also carries the most overt call for creativity. There are two main genres of responses to prompts like this. The first genre adds to the forecasting effort found throughout your whole application. The second represents a creative departure from the path of your ambitions.

Choosing a Genre:

Forecasting is what you do when you make promises or predictions about what you’ll do with an educational opportunity. You’re forecasting when you tell UT Austin that you want to attend their engineering program in order to realize your dream of developing clean, public transportation. You’re forecasting when you draw conclusions from your past accomplishments to predict your future success. The act of applying to a school is inherently future-oriented. That being said, good applications demand cohesion and balance. An application that is too future-oriented will leave the admissions officers wondering who exactly you are . An application that is too auto-ethnographic will leave them wondering about your ambitions .

A forecast oriented answer to topic C will likely link-up with other parts of your application. For example, the engineering student from the example above might write that they’re holding a ticket for the very first 100% green, interstate transportation system—a system that they’ve spent the past 15 years building from the ground up. In this case, the essay looks back from a future point in which the student has fulfilled the ambitions they forecasted. It’s also possible to write this essay looking forward. Students that hope to attend medical school or law school might write about holding a “ticket” to their tertiary degree. These essays would go on to imagine the important, transformative work that those students would accomplish when they get to medical/law school.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic C:

I’m holding a flyer that declares the date and time—this coming Tuesday at 7:30 PM—for a meeting of the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. Twelve years ago, when I started my undergraduate degree in public policy, the union was only a flicker of a thought, housed somewhere in the back of my mind. Still, those years were crucial. With every class I took, whether in policy studies, environmental science, or history, that flicker grew stronger. Following my interest in labor, I developed a rapport with the university employees that kept things rolling on campus—the people that took care of us, really. For my senior thesis, I made it my mission to collect and present an oral history of labor on campus. Many university workers expressed a sense of relief at being employed by the university. It allowed for decent wages and preserved the dignity of it’s workforce through open dialogue and worker representation. Through this sense of relief—or rather, through its negative—my thesis became invested in the alternatives for these laborers, in what lay on the other side of their relief. Though they were specifically skilled in care work, janitorial work, landscaping, and more, most of them told me that outside the university there was little opportunity for the advancement of worker’s interests. Finding work on a free-lance basis or through predatory placement companies, these care-laborers were largely on their own.

After graduating, I stayed in touch with my contacts at the university. Throughout law school, I made time to continue coordinating with them. We were hatching a revolutionary idea. Our goal was to create a union that could unite the various forms of under-the-radar care-work that was so often left out of organized bargaining units. The plan that we finally realized was even bigger than that. Not only would it unite domestic workers, janitors, and landscapers, its umbrella would extend to cover teachers, day-care supervisors, nurses, artists, and agricultural workers. This was the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. While it contained specifically oriented compartments, each aimed at advancing the rights of a particular sub-group of laborers, its superstructure was perhaps the more significant. In the same way that my senior thesis became invested in its negative all those years ago, this union stood as a foil to the socially and environmentally destructive tendencies of so many economic giants. We mobilized and housed research regarding Green-GDP, environmentally adjusted Gini coefficients, and other methods aimed at illuminating the real cost of having an economy predicated on environmental exploitation. As a political and intellectual force, the union gained ground in reevaluating the ways in which we value certain kinds of labor over others.

I’m smiling as I tack the flyer to the community board at my old university. I step back to look at it. “I can’t believe this is where it all started,” I think to myself. “Well, see you all this Tuesday.”

The genre of creative departure allows you to focus more on your personality, imagination, and capacity for critical thought. If you feel that your application already does enough to forecast your ambitions, you may opt to write about something completely unrelated. Especially for students applying to creative programs such as theatre or studio art, this can be a good moment to demonstrate your fit. Students who pick this genre can write about almost literally anything. The ticket in your hand could be for a time-machine to the Renaissance, a one-way expedition to Mars, or a mysterious back-alley puppet show. The important thing is that you use the premise of your essay to reflect on the world in a mature and thoughtful manner.

Here’s another Example Essay for Topic C:

“Take a number” buzzes an automated voice from somewhere inside the ticket booth. I reach out and tear off a slip of blue paper. 96. “Great,” I snort, “might as well settle in for the long haul.”

Someone behind me notices my annoyance and pipes up.

“I know right? I’ve never seen the time machines so crowded in my life.”

“Me neither,” I respond, “application season I guess.”

“Must be. Damn ticket prompts.”

I turn around to address my queue-compatriot. He’s a tall guy, pretty built for our age—probably a football player or something. He looks anxiously down the line, craning his neck to see something or someone just out of view.

“What’s got your nerves up?” I ask, “where are you headed?”

“You know,” he shrugged, “the usual. Off to 1904 to encourage Hitler to pursue his passion for painting. I’m just worried she’s gonna get there first.” I stepped out of line to see where he was looking. Fourth in line was a girl decked out in all black, determination etched into her features.

“Is she carrying a rail-gun?” I ask, stepping back into line. Football nods. “Yeesh…that’s a bit extreme but to each their own I guess. Wonder how the AdComms are gonna feel about that.”

Football fidgets for a few minutes before asking, “And you? What’s your plan?”

“Way back. Off to the early fifth-century to help Pelagius argue against St. Augustine.”

“Pelagius. He was an early theologian that rallied against Augustine’s notion of original sin.”

Football nods. “So all that with Eve and the apple, yeah?”

“Exactly. The doctrine of original sin says that because Adam and Eve had the apple, every human from then on was infected with their sin. That’s one of the reasons babies are baptized, to cleanse them. It’s behind a whole host of other things too. All the indulgences that people paid into the church, our long-standing association of sexuality with guilt and impurity, not to mention most of the pessimistic philosophies surrounding human depravity.”

Football chuckles. “So let’s say you win” he proposes, “then what? Babies don’t get baptized? There are still nineteen people ahead of us. You might want to change plans.”

My brow furrows a bit as I consider his suggestion. “I don’t know,” I say, “Pelagius argued for a whole lot of things. He was a big proponent of free will and accountability. He thought we should do good for the sake of good, not for salvation. He even countered a lot of hang-ups that endure to this day—bedroom stuff, bathroom stuff, all of it. Where Augustine saw sin and depravity, Pelagius saw beauty and Grace.” I continue. “I mean, I’m not even religious. I just think we could use a sort of ‘reset’ for our collective psyche. People are too caught up in hating themselves. We’re subconsciously misanthropic and it hurts. It hurts when a corporation takes advantage of a mining community because profit is the only legitimate motive in a world that seems like a lost cause. It hurts all the young people who hate their bodies and strive for an unrealistic ‘cleanliness’ from deformity and irregularity. It hurts women who get told they’ll be ‘second-hand stock’ if they have sex before marriage. It hurts when the police open fire in a neighborhood because they’re scared a kid might do it first.”

“Yeah” he nods, “hey, do you mind if I tag along? Mine might be a lost cause anyways—that girl was scary.”

Just then my number comes up on the time machine’s display. I look up at Football. “Sure. Why not. Oh, and I don’t think I caught your name.”

“It’s Bryan.”

“Well Bryan, we’re off.”

(Please Note: The essay in this section is specific to certain college majors and is not required by all colleges/universities that accept the Apply Texas Application. If you are not applying for a major in Architecture, Art, Art History, Design, Studio Art, Visual Art Studies/Art Education, you are not required to write this essay.)

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space affected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?”

Topic D is a situational prompt for students looking to engage with art, design, and image. Unlike topics A and B, topic D is specifically asking you to tell a story. Regardless of the mode of narrative you employ, your essay should start with a moment of confrontation, observation, and reaction. Whether you engage with a piece of art or a lecture from design class, this step is crucial. It is here that you will demonstrate your ability to sift through your feelings about art, pulling out the concrete variables and specific vocabularies to describe why the art made you feel that way in the first place. It’s unsurprising that the prompt is so intent on drawing this out from you—understanding how art has impacted you is the first step towards creating art to impact others.

The second part of this process should move you beyond the moment of interaction detailed in step one, either to the present or the future. In this section, you’ll want to set your compass, so to speak. Using the lessons from part one, you should forecast the ways in which your future ambitions will be uniquely impactful. This can include anything from aperture to allegory. Whether technical or philosophical, your art is largely a product of your inspiration—being able to trace and predict this link demonstrates your maturity as a budding artist or designer.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic D:

Standing in the Musée de l’Orangerie, surrounded on all sides by Monet’s Water Lilies, I felt myself melt away. The noise of the room seemed to dim, even as my perception heightened. I was somewhere else. The water lilies had swallowed me whole. They were beautiful, certainly, but also tense. One of the lesser-known iterations, flush with the purples, golds, and oranges of autumn, reminded me of the fluttering dance of falling leaves. And yet, its leaves were static—not because they weren’t real; they were real to me in that moment—but because of the water’s tension. Tethered to the surface of the pond, equally unable to float up or down, the leaves were trapped in a planar prison. The painting was practically bursting with the energy of an infinite autumn, but the water held it all together with its sticky buoyancy. Surface tension is far crueler than gravity, I thought to myself. My throat tightened and I felt paralyzed, peacefully imprisoned along with the lilies and leaves.

“Huh.” My brother stepped up beside me. “Look, you can see the canvas poking through,” he whispered, nudging me. He was right. As my eyes latched onto those bare fibers I felt a gust of release; I was back in the room.

To this day, that remains one of my most intense experiences with art. While it wasn’t exactly euphoric, it was transformative. Spanning the whole wall, the water lilies are all you can see; they colonize your reality. It was that quality—the quality of transportation out of time and space—that has stayed with me most. Monet’s techniques, brushstrokes that infuse the canvas with texture and momentum, allowed for a sort of virtual reality. VR before VR. It was the power of that experience that prompted me to combine my art with contemporary VR techniques. My first VR project pays homage to the water lilies. Putting on the headset, you find yourself in a blue green film, replete with flowers of every kind. It’s peaceful but when you try to move you find that the further you stray, the slower you get. A few feet out and you’re snapped back to the start. The piece explores movement and energy through anxiety and ensnarement.

As I continue my education in fine art, I’m primed to explore the range of possibilities allowed by VR technology. I’m eager to create landscape experiences that more directly implicate art and embodiment. My current project also takes inspiration from Monet’s impressionism. Entering the reality, one finds oneself on the top of flower-freckled hillside, umbrella in hand despite the blue skies. It is windy and the grasses sway around you. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, you begin to blow away, to disperse, until there’s nothing left. The viewer is utterly gone, yet utterly present.

Want to learn more about how to write the ApplyTexas essays? Check out one of our popular recorded live streams on this topic.

Where to Get Your ApplyTexas Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your ApplyTexas essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools.  Find the right advisor for you  to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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College Essays

The ApplyTexas college application contains many essay prompts, and each of the most popular colleges in Texas has different requirements for which essays they expect applicants to answer.

So how do you get advice on writing your best ApplyTexas essays, no matter which school you're applying to? Look no further than this article, which completely unpacks all possible ApplyTexas essay prompts. We'll explain what each prompt is looking for and what admissions officers are hoping to learn about you. In addition, we'll give you our top strategies for ensuring that your essay meets all these expectations and help you come up with your best essay topics.

To help you navigate this long guide, here is an overview of what we'll be talking about:

What Are the ApplyTexas Essays?

Comparing applytexas essay prompts a, b, and c, dissecting applytexas essay topic a, dissecting applytexas essay topic b, dissecting applytexas essay topic c, dissecting applytexas essay topic d.

• Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short Answer Prompts
• Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students Only)

The ApplyTexas application is basically the Texas version of the Common Application , which many US colleges use. It's a unified college application process that's accepted by all Texas public universities and many private ones. (Note that some schools that accept ApplyTexas also accept the Common App.)

The ApplyTexas website is a good source for figuring out whether your target college accepts the ApplyTexas application. That said, the best way to confirm exactly what your school expects is to go to its admissions website.

Why Do Colleges Want You to Write Essays?

Admissions officers are trying to put together classes full of interesting, vibrant students who have different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and dreams. One tool colleges use to identify a diverse set of perspectives is the college essay .

These essays are a chance for you to show admissions officers those sides of yourself that aren’t reflected in the rest of your application. This is where you describe where you've come from, what you believe in, what you value, and what has shaped you.

This is also where you make yourself sound mature and insightful—two key qualities that colleges are looking for in applicants . These are important because colleges want to enroll students who will ultimately thrive when faced with the independence of college life .

Admissions staff want to enroll a diverse incoming class of motivated and thoughtful students.

ApplyTexas Essay Requirements

There are four essay prompts on the ApplyTexas application for first-year admission (Topics A, B, C, and D). For Topics A, B, and C, there are slight variations on the prompt for transfer students or those looking to be readmitted. We’ll cover each variation just below the main topic breakdown. There are also several short-answer prompts for UT Austin and Texas A&M , as well as Topic D for art and architecture majors and  Topic E for transfer students only . Although there are no strict word limits, colleges usually suggest keeping the essays somewhere between one and one and a half pages long.

All Texas colleges and universities have different application requirements, including which essay or essays they want. Some schools require essays, some list them as optional, and others use a combination of required and optional essays. Several schools use the essays to determine scholarship awards, honors program eligibility, or admission to specific majors.

Here are some essay submission requirement examples from a range of Texas schools:

• You are required to write an essay on Topic A .
• You also have to answer three short-answer prompts (250–300 words each) .
• If you're applying for a studio art, art education, art history, architecture, or visual art studies major, you'll have to write a short answer specific to your major .
• UT Austin also accepts the Common App.

Texas A&M

• If you're an engineering major, you'll have to respond to  a short-answer prompt .
• Texas A&M also accepts the Common App .

Southern Methodist University

• You must write an essay on Topic A .
• You may (but do not have to) write an essay on Topic B .
• You also have to answer two short-answer prompts .
• SMU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App and has its own online application, so you have the option to pick and choose the application you want to fill out .

Texas Christian University

• You must write an essay on any of the topics (A, B, or C) .
• TCU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App has its own online application, so it's another school for which you can choose the application you want to use.

The essays required as part of each admissions application differ from college to college. Check each institution's website for the most up-to-date instructions.

Three of the ApplyTexas essay topics try to get to the heart of what makes you the person you are. But since Topics A, B, and C all focus on things that are essential to you as a person, coming up with a totally unique idea for each can be difficult—especially since on a first read-through, these prompts can sound really similar .

Before I dissect all of the ApplyTexas essay prompts, let's see how A, B, and C differ from one another. You can then keep these differences in mind as you try to think of topics to write about.

ApplyTexas Prompts

Here are the most recent prompts for Topics A, B, and C on the ApplyTexas application.

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

You've got a ticket in your hand. Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

How to Tell Topics A, B, and C Apart

One helpful way to keep these topics separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one: Topic A is outside, Topic B is inside, and Topic C is the future .

In other words, Topic A is asking about the impact of challenges or opportunities on you and how you handled that impact. Topic B is asking about your inner passions and how these define you. Finally, Topic C wants to know where you're going from here. These very broad categories will help as you brainstorm ideas and life experiences you can use for your essay .

Although many of the stories you think of can be shaped to fit each of these prompts, think about what the experience most reveals about you. If it’s about how your external community shaped you, that'd probably be a good fit for Topic A. If it’s a story about the causes or interests that you're most passionate about, save it for Topic B. If it’s primarily about an event that you think predicts your future, it'll likely work well for Topic C.

(Note: if you are a transfer student writing the essay variation for Topics A, B, or C, keep in mind that these variations still ask you about the outside, inside, or future respectively.)

Your years-long passion for performing in theater productions is an appropriate subject for ApplyTexas Topic B essays.

Now, we'll thoroughly deconstruct everything you need to know about Topic A, the first ApplyTexas essay prompt.

What’s the Prompt Asking, and How Should You Answer It?

This prompt wants to see how a particular external experience as a high school student has shaped you . The prompt uses the phrase "your story," signaling that admissions staff want to know what you believe has had the biggest impact on you.

Step 1: Describe Your Experience

The first part of the prompt is about identifying and describing specific experiences you've had as a high school student. You don't want your essay coming across too vague, so make sure you're focusing on one or two specific experiences, whether they've been positive or negative. The prompt suggests zeroing in on something "unique," or something that has affected you in a way it hasn't impacted anyone else.

You'll want to choose an opportunity or challenge that you can describe vividly and that's really important to you. In other words, it   needs to have had a significant impact on your personal development.

It should also be an experience that has been part of your life for a while . You're describing something that's affected you "throughout your high school career," after all.

Step 2: Explain How This Experience Shaped You

You shouldn't just describe your experience—you also need to discuss how that experience affected you as a person . How did this particular opportunity or difficulty turn you into the person you are today?

It's best if you can think of one or two concrete anecdotes or stories about how your chosen experience(s) helped shape you. For example, don't just say that a public piano recital made you a hard-working person— describe in detail how practicing diligently each day, even when you weren't feeling motivated, got frustrated by particular parts of the piece you were performing, and experienced stage fright showed you that working toward your goals is worthwhile, even when it's hard.

Elaborating on how a specific challenge or obstacle that you faced during your high school career helped shape your current perspective and personality is one option for Topic A essays.

What Are Readers Hoping to Learn About You?

Admission staff are looking for two main things. First, they want to see that you can be mature and thoughtful about your surroundings and events in your life . Are you curious about the world around you? If you've really reflected on your experience, you'll be able to describe the people, places, and events that have impacted you as a high school student in a nuanced, insightful way.

Second, they want to see how you stand out from other applicants . This can be accomplished in one of two ways: (1) you can emphasize how you are somehow different because of your experience and how it impacted you, or (2) you can emphasize how you learned positive qualities from the event that differentiate you from other students. Basically, how did your experience turn you into a special, interesting person?

How Can Your Essay Give Them What They Want?

How can you make sure your essay is really answering the prompt? Here are some key strategies.

#1: Pick a Specific Experience

You'll need to select a particular opportunity or obstacle to zero in on. Opportunities include travel, internships, volunteer or paid jobs, academic events, and awards. Challenges might include competitions, performances, illnesses, injuries, or learning something new. Remember, you'll want to focus on one or two particular events or experiences that have truly contributed to your personal growth .

As you're choosing the experiences you want to write about, think about significant things that happened to you in connection with those events. Remember, you'll need to get beyond just describing how the opportunity or challenge is important to you to show how its impact on you is so significant .

#2: How Did This Experience Shape You?

You then need to consider what about your experience turned you into a person who stands out . Again, this can be about how you overcame the difficulty or how the opportunity fostered positive qualities or traits in you that would make you an appealing member of the college's student body. You want to make sure you have a clear message that links your experience to one, two, or three special traits you have.

Try to think of specific stories and anecdotes related to the event. Then, thoughtfully analyze these to reveal what they show about you. Important adults in your life can help you brainstorm potential ideas.

#3: Think of the Essay Like a Movie

Like a good movie script, a college essay needs characters, some action, and a poignant but ultimately happy ending . When you’re planning out your personal statement, try to think of the story you’re telling in movie terms. Ensure that your essay has the following features:

• Setting: As you're describing your experience, taking time to give a vivid sense of place is key. You can accomplish this by describing the actual physical surroundings, the main "characters" in your community, or a combination of both.
• Stakes: Movies propel the action forward by giving characters high stakes: win or lose, life or death. Even if you are describing your experience in positive terms, there needs to be a sense of conflict or dynamic change. In the anecdote(s) you've selected to write about, what did you stand to gain or lose?
• External conflict resolution: If there's an external conflict of some kind (e.g., with a neighbor, a family member, a friend, or a city council), you need to show some level of resolution.
• Internal conflict resolution: Inner conflict is essentially about how you changed in response to the event or experience. You'll need to clearly lay out what happened within you and how those changes have carried you forward as a person.

Describing your feelings before, during, and after the opportunity or challenge is a crucial element of a Topic A college essay.

#4: Add Details, Description, and Examples

Your essay will really stand out if you add effective examples and descriptions.

For example, imagine Karima decides to describe how learning to navigate public transit as a high school first-year student made her resourceful and helped her explore the city she grew up in. She also discusses how exploring the city ultimately changed her perspective. How should she frame her experience? Here are some options:

I was nervous about taking the El by myself for the first time. At the station, there were lots of commuters and adults who seemed impatient but confident. At first, I was very afraid of getting lost, but over time, I became as confident as those commuters.

I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement walking up the Howard red line turnstile for the first time. What if I got lost on my way to the museum? I was worried that I would just seem like a nuisance to all of the frowning commuters who crowded the platform. If I needed help, would they help me? Was I even brave enough to ask? When the metal doors opened, I pressed my nails into my palms and rushed in after a woman with a red briefcase. Success! At least for the first step. I found a sideways-facing seat and clutched my macrame bag with my notebook and sketching supplies. A map hung above my seat. Pressing my finger to the colorful grid, I found my stop and counted how many I still had to go. I spent the entire train ride staring at that map, straining my ears for everything the conductor said. Now, when I think about the first time I rode the El by myself, I smile. What seemed so scary at the time is just an everyday way to get around now. But I always look around on the platform to see if any nervous kids linger at the edges of the commuter crowds and offer them a smile.

Both versions set up the same story plotwise, but the second makes the train ride (and therefore the author) come alive through the addition of specific, individualizing details , such as the following:

• Visual cues: The reader "sees" what the author sees through descriptions such as "frowning commuters who crowded the platform," "woman with a red briefcase," and "colorful grid."
• Emotional responses: We experience the author’s feelings: she "felt a mixture of nerves and excitement." She wonders if she's brave enough to ask for help. The train ride was "so scary at the time" but feels "everyday" now.
• Differentiation: Even though the commuters are mostly a monolithic group, we get to see some individuals, such as the woman with a red briefcase.

ApplyTexas Topic A Essay Ideas

There's no one best topic for this essay prompt (or any other), but I've included some potential ideas below to help you get started with your own brainstorming:

• Describe a time you organized the people around you to advocate a common local cause.
• Hone in on a particular trip with one or more family members.
• Identify a time when you were no longer in your comfort zone. Describe how you adapted and learned from that experience.
• Discuss being a minority in your school or neighborhood.
• Describe going through a cultural or religious rite of passage as a high school student.
• Elaborate on how you moved from one place to somewhere totally different and handled your culture shock.

ApplyTexas Topic A for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

If you are applying to transfer or to be readmitted, you likely already have some college experience. So in this case, ApplyTexas offers a personal statement option that allows you to write about your life beyond your high school years. This option still asks you to demonstrate what in your experience has turned you into a unique individual. But if, for instance, you left college and now are reapplying, you’ll want to address how some aspect of that experience made an impact on who you are now. Otherwise, follow the advice above for the standard Topic A prompt.

Here’s the current Essay Topic A prompt for transfer applicants:

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other application information cannot convey.

Next up, let's go through the same process for ApplyTexas Topic B, taking it apart brick by brick and putting it back together again.

What’s the Prompt Asking?

At first glance, this prompt seems pretty vague. "Tell us about yourself" is not exactly the most detailed set of instructions. But if we dig a little deeper, we can see that there are actually two pretty specific things this question is asking.

#1: What Defines You?

This prompts posits that "most students"—which likely includes you!—have some kind of defining trait . This could be "an identity, an interest, or a talent," so you need to express what that defining trait is for you specifically.

For instance, are you an amazing knitter? Do you spend your free time researching cephalopods? Are you a connoisseur of indie movies or mystery novels? Or maybe you have a religious, cultural, ethnic, or LGBTQIA+ identity that's very important to you. Any of these things could plausibly be the main, framing theme of your essay.

#2: How Does That Defining Trait Fit Into "You" Overall?

Even though you have some kind of defining trait, that's not the entirety of you. Essentially, you need to contextualize your defining trait within your broader personality and identity. This is where the "tell us about yourself" part comes in. What does your defining trait say about you as a person? And how does it fit into your overall personality, values, and dreams?

In a Topic B college essay, you could potentially describe your knowledge of chess and how it exemplifies your talent for thinking several steps ahead.

Admissions staff are hoping to learn two main things:

#1: What You're Passionate About

It's essential that this essay communicates genuine passion for whatever you write about. College is a lot of work, and passion is an important driving force when things get busy. Therefore, readers are looking for students who are really engaged in the world around them and excited about specific causes and activities!

#2: How You View Yourself (and How Successfully You Can Communicate That)

A strong, well-developed sense of self goes a long way toward helping you weather all the changes you're going to experience when you attend college. Even though you'll change and grow a lot as a person during your college years, having a sense of your own core traits and values will help those changes be exciting as opposed to scary .

Colleges are looking for a developed sense of self. Additionally, they are looking for students who can communicate messages about themselves in a clear, confident, and cohesive way .

The challenge with this prompt is giving a complete picture of you as a person while still staying on message about your defining trait. You need to be focused yet comprehensive. Let's explore the best ways to show off your passion and frame your identity.

#1: Define the Core Message

First, you need to select that defining trait . This could be pretty much anything, just as long as you're genuinely invested in this trait and feel that it represents some core aspect of you.

It should also be something you can describe through stories and anecdotes . Just saying, "I'm a redhead, and that defines me" makes for a pretty boring essay! However, a story about how you started a photography project that consists of portraits of redheads like you and what you learned about yourself from this experience is much more interesting.

Be careful to select something that presents you in a broadly positive light . If you choose a trait that doesn't seem very serious, such as your enduring and eternal love of onion rings, you risk seeming at best immature and at worst outright disrespectful.

You also want to pick something realistic —don't claim you're the greatest mathematician who ever lived unless you are, in fact, the greatest mathematician who ever lived (and you probably aren't). Otherwise, you'll seem out of touch.

#2: Fit Your Message into the Larger Picture

Next, consider how you can use this trait to paint a more complete picture of you as a person . It's great that you're passionate about skiing and are a member of a ski team, but what else does this say about you? Are you an adventurous daredevil who loves to take (reasonable) risks? Are you a nature lover with a taste for exploration? Do you love being part of a team?

Select at least two or three positive messages you want to communicate about yourself in your essay about your key trait.

In a Topic B essay, a student could connect their long-time passion for cooking to their penchant for adding their unique touch to every project they take on.

#3: Show, Don't Tell

It's much more interesting to read about things you do that demonstrate your key traits than it is to hear you list them. Don't just say, "Everyone asks me for advice because I'm level-headed and reasonable." Instead, actually describe situations that show people asking you for advice and you offering that level-headed, reasonable advice.

#4: Watch Your Tone

It's important to watch your tone as you write an essay that's (pretty overtly) about how great you are. You want to demonstrate your own special qualities without seeming glib, staid, self-aggrandizing, or narcissistic .

Let’s say Andrew wants to write about figuring out how to grow a garden, despite his yard being in full shade, and how this desire turned into a passion for horticulture. He could launch into a rant about the garden store employees not knowing which plants are right for which light, the previous house owner’s terrible habit of using the yard as a pet bathroom, or the achy knee that prevented him from proper weeding posture.

Alternatively, he could describe doing research on the complex gardens of royal palaces, planning his garden based on plant color and height, using the process of trial and error to see which plants would flourish, and getting so involved with this work that he often lost track of time.

One of these approaches makes him sound whiny and self-centered, whereas  the other makes him sound like someone who can take charge of a difficult situation .

ApplyTexas Topic B Essay Ideas

Again, there's no single best approach here, but I've outlined some potential topics below:

• Are you known for being really good at something or an expert on a particular topic? How does this impact your identity?
• Discuss how you got involved in a certain extracurricular activity and what it means to you. What have you learned from participating in it?
• Describe something you've done lots of research on in your free time. How did you discover that interest? What have you learned as a result?
• What's your most evident personality trait? How has that trait impacted your life? (You can ask friends and relatives for help with this one.)
• Relate the importance of your LGBTQIA+ identity.
• Discuss your religious or cultural background and how this defines you.
• Describe your experience as a member of a specific community.

ApplyTexas Topic B for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

The ApplyTexas variation on Topic B is specifically designed for two different possible application situations. The first is for people who are applying as nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate students (aka “transient students”). In this case, they ask you to discuss the courses you want to take and what you hope to accomplish if you are admitted. That means they still want you to focus this essay on what you are passionate about, as mentioned above, but they expect that passion to be based on courses the university offers more directly.  

The second is for students who are reapplying after being suspended for academic reasons. In this situation, they ask you to describe any actions you have taken to improve your academic performance and to give them a reason why you should be readmitted. You’ll still need to focus on your positive traits in this variation, so this can be a tricky task. As in the example above, you’ll need to watch your tone and not come across as whiny. Instead, confront the cause of your academic suspension and what you learned from that experience; then, turn it into a newfound strength. Maybe you learned new study habits you can describe for them. Maybe working full-time while you were suspended improved your work ethic. Whatever you choose, show how a negative situation changed into a positive learning experience for you, and focus on the better person you are now because of it. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic B for transfer applicants:

If you are applying as a former student and were suspended for academic reasons, describe briefly any actions you have taken to improve your academic abilities and give reason why you should be readmitted. If you are applying as a nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate application, briefly describe the specific objectives you wish to accomplish if admitted, including the courses in which you would like to enroll.

Now, we can take apart Topic C to get a good handle on how to tackle this future-facing essay.

You've got a ticket in your hand—where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

If ApplyTexas Topic A and Topic B were all about your past experiences, Topic C wants you to give readers a glimpse of your imagined possibilities .

There are basically two potential approaches to this question. We'll break them down here.

Option 1: Describe Your Long-Term Goals

One approach to this prompt is to use your essay as a chance to describe your long-term goals for your career and life .

For some students, this will be a straightforward endeavor. For example, say you’ve always wanted to be a doctor. You spend your time volunteering at hospitals, helping out at your mom’s practice, and studying biology. You could easily frame your "ticket" as a ticket to medical school. Just pick a few of the most gripping moments from these past experiences and discuss the overall trajectory of your interests, and your essay would likely be a winner!

But what if you’re not sure about your long-term goals yet? Or what if you feel like you really don't know where you're going next week, let alone next year or 10 years from now? Read on for Option 2.

Option 2: Demonstrate Thoughtful Imagination

Although you can certainly interpret this as a straightforward question about your future, you can also use it as a chance to be more imaginative.

Note that this entire question rests on the metaphor of the ticket. The ticket can take you anywhere; you decide. It could be to a real place, such as your grandmother's house or the Scottish Highlands or the Metropolitan Museum. Or it could be somewhere fantastical, such as a time machine to the Paleolithic.

The important point is that you use the destination you select—and what you plan to do there—to prove you're a thoughtful person who is excited about and actively engaged with the world around you .

The destination you choose to write about, whether realistic or fantastical, should be clearly linked to a specific goal or set of goals that you wish to pursue or are currently pursuing.

If you're on a direct path to a specific field of study or career, admissions officers definitely want to know this. Having driven, goal-oriented, and passionate students is a huge plus for any college. If this sounds like you, be sure your essay conveys not just your interest but also your deep love of the subject, as well as any related clubs, activities, or hobbies you’ve done during high school.

If you take the more creative approach to this prompt, however, realize that in this essay (as in all the other ApplyTexas essays),  the how matters much more than the what . Don't worry that you don't have a specific goal in mind yet. No matter where your eventual academic, career, or other pursuits might lie, every activity you've done up to now has taught you something, whether that be developing your work ethic, mastering a skill, learning from a mentor, interacting with peers, dealing with setbacks, understanding your own learning style, or persevering through hardship. Your essay is a chance to show off that knowledge and maturity.

So no matter what destination you choose for your ticket (the what ), you want to communicate that you can think about future (and imagined!) possibilities in a compelling way based on your past experiences (the how ).

Whether you take the ideas of "where you are going" and "what you are doing" in a more literal or more abstract direction, the admissions committee wants to make sure that no matter what you study, you'll be able to get something meaningful out of it . They want to see that you’re not simply floating through life on the surface but are actively absorbing the qualities, skills, and know-how you'll need to succeed in the world.

Here are some ideas for how to show that you have thoughtful and compelling visions of possible futures.

#1: Pick Where You're Going

Is this going to be a more direct interpretation of your goals (my ticket is to the judge's bench) or a more creative one (my ticket is to Narnia)? Whichever one you choose, make sure that you choose a destination that is genuinely compelling to you . The last thing you want is to come off sounding bored or disingenuous.

#2: Don’t Overreach or Underreach

Another key point is to avoid overreaching or underreaching. For instance, it’s fine to say that you’d like to get involved in politics, but it’s a little too self-aggrandizing to say that you’re definitely going to be president of the United States. Be sure that whatever destination you select for your ticket, it doesn’t come off as unnecessary bragging rather than simple aspiration .

At the same time, make sure the destination you've chosen is one that makes sense in the context of a college essay. Maybe what you really want is a ticket to the potato chip factory; however, this essay might not be the best place to elaborate on this imagined possibility.

While you can of course choose a whimsical location, you need to be able to ground it in a real vision of the kind of person you want to become . Don't forget who your audience is! College admissions officers want to find students who are eager to learn . They also want to be exposed to new thoughts and ideas.

#3: Flesh It Out

Once you've picked a destination, it's time to consider the other components of the question: What are you going to do once you reach your destination? What will happen there? Try to think of some key messages that relate back to you, your talents, and your goals .

#4: Ground Your "Journey" in Specific Anecdotes and Examples

The way this question is framed is very abstract, so ground your thoughts about your destination (whether it's more straightforward or more creative) in concrete anecdotes and examples that show you're thoughtful, engaged, passionate, and driven.

This is even more important if you go the creative route and are writing about an unusual location. If you don't keep things somewhat grounded in reality, your essay could come across as frivolous. Make sure you make the most of this chance to share real-life examples of your desirable qualities.

Imagine Eleanor’s essay is about how she wants a ticket to Starfleet Academy (for the uninitiated, this is the fictional school in the Star Trek universe where people train to be Starfleet officers). Which essay below conveys more about her potential as a student?

My ticket is to Starfleet Academy. There, I would train to become part of the Command division so I could command a starship. Once I was captain of my own starship, I would explore the deepest reaches of space to interact with alien life and learn more about the universe.

I've loved Star Trek since my dad started playing copies of old episodes for me in our ancient DVD player. So if I could have a ticket to anywhere, it would be to Starfleet Academy to train in the command division. I know I would make a superb command officer. My ten years of experience in hapkido have taught me discipline and how to think on my feet. Working as a hapkido instructor in my dojo the past two years has honed my leadership and teaching qualities, which are essential for any starship commander. Additionally, I have the curiosity and sense of adventure necessary for a long career in the unknown reaches of space. Right now, I exercise my thirst for exploration through my photography blog. Using my DSLR camera, I track down and photograph obscure and hidden places I find in my town, on family trips, and even on day trips to nearby cities. I carefully catalogue the locations so other people can follow in my footsteps. Documentation, after all, is another important part of exploring space in a starship.

Both versions communicate the same things about the imagined destination, but the second essay does a much better job showing who Eleanor is as a person. All we really learn from the first excerpt is that Eleanor must like Star Trek .

We can also infer from version 1 that she probably likes leadership, exploration, and adventure because she wants to captain a starship, but we don't really know that for sure. Admissions officers shouldn't have to guess who you are from your essay; your essay should lay it out for them explicitly and articulately.

In the second essay, by contrast, Eleanor clearly lays out the qualities that would make her a great command officer and provides examples of how she exemplifies these qualities . She ties the abstract destination to concrete activities from her life, such as hapkido and photography. This provides a much more well-rounded picture of what Eleanor could bring to the student body and the school at large.

Eleanor's essay about her desire to explore the final frontier creatively illustrates her curiosity and leadership potential .

ApplyTexas Topic C Essay Ideas

I've come up with some sample essay ideas for the two different approaches to this prompt.

Possibility 1: Your Concrete Goals

• Describe your goal to pursue a particular academic field or career and discuss how specific classes or extracurricular activities ignited that passion
• Discuss how your plans to pursue politics, project management, or another leadership role were fostered by a first experience of leadership (this could be a straightforward leadership position in a club or job or a more indirect or unplanned leadership experience, such as suddenly having to take charge of a group).
• Discuss how your desire to teach or train in the future was sparked by an experience of teaching someone to do something (e.g., by being a tutor or by helping a sibling deal with a particularly challenging class or learning issue).
• Describe your goal to perform on stage, and discuss how your past experiences of public creativity (e.g., being in a play, staging an art show, performing an orchestra, or being involved in dance,.) led you to this goal

Possibility 2: Creative/Abstract Destination

• What would you do if you could visit the world of a favorite childhood book, movie, or TV series? What qualities does that show about you?
• Is there a relative or friend you would like to visit with your ticket?
• Is there a particular historical period you would like to time travel to?
• Is there a destination you've always wanted to go to that you've read about, heard about, or only conjured up in dreams or in a moment of creativity?

Remember to tie your imaginative destination to concrete details about your special qualities!

Topic C for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

ApplyTexas offers a Topic C alternative in case there is personal information you want them to consider along with your application, such as why you are transferring to a new school. They still want you to focus on the future, but they encourage discussing any hardships, challenges, extenuating circumstances, or opportunities that have affected your abilities and academic credentials (in a positive way). They also want you to discuss how these circumstances can help you contribute to a diverse college community. In this case, this variation is not fundamentally different from the ticket question; it just asks for a more specific focus. So if this variation applies to you, use the advice above for question C option one. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic C for transfer applicants:

There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.

Would you use your ticket to visit Renaissance Italy, a journey you metaphorically hope to take as a history major?

If you're applying to one of several fine arts fields, you might have to write this essay.

Personal interaction with objects, images, and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image, or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

If you’re applying to study architecture, art, or art history, one of the essays you will likely have to write is this one. This essay topic is trying to ask as broadly as possible about an experience with art that has moved you in some way. This means that your options for answering the question are quite varied. So what are the two different parts of this prompt? Let's take a look.

Part 1: Observation and Reaction

Think of a time you experienced that blown-away feeling when looking at something human made. This is the reaction and situation the first part of the essay wants you to recreate. The prompt is primarily interested in your ability to describe and pinpoint exactly what quality made you stop in your tracks. The huge set of inspiring object options the prompt offers tells us that your taste level won't be judged here.

You can focus on a learning experience, which includes both classes and extracurricular activities, or you can focus on a direct experience in which you encountered an object or space without the mediation of a class or teacher. The only limit to your focus object is that it is something made by someone other than you. Your reaction should be in conversation with the original artist, not a form of navel-gazing.

The key for this part of the essay is that your description needs to segue into a story of change and transformation . What the essay topic is asking you to show isn’t just that you were struck by something you saw or learned about, but that you also absorbed something from this experience that impacted your own art going forward.

Did seeing the Angkor Wat Temple during a trip abroad with your family foster your intellectual passion for Southeast Asian art or religious monuments?

Part 2: Absorption

This brings us to the second part of the essay prompt: this is where you need to move from the past into the present — and then at least gesture meaningfully toward the future.

It’s one thing to look at a piece of art, such as a sculpture or architectural form, and feel moved by its grace, boldness, or vision. But it’s a sign of a mature, creative mind to be able to take to heart what is meaningful to you about this work and then transmute this experience into your own art or your interpretation of others' creative works.

This essay wants to see that developing maturity in you ; therefore, you should explain exactly how your own vision has changed after this meaningful encounter you've described. What qualities, philosophy, or themes do you now try to infuse into what you create or how you analyze art?

More importantly, this essay prompt asserts that being affected by something once isn’t enough. That’s why in this second part of the essay,  you also need to explain what you’ve been doing to keep having similarly moving encounters with other creative works .

You have some choice, too, when it comes to answering, "What have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?" For example, you could describe how you’ve sought out other works by the same artist who moved you the first time. Or you could describe investigating new media or techniques to emulate something you saw. Or you could discuss learning about the period, genre, school, or philosophical theory that the original piece of art comes from to give yourself a more contextualized understanding.

If you’re planning an academic career in the visual arts or architecture, then you’re entering a long conversation started by our cave-painting ancestors and continuing through every human culture and society since.

This essay wants to make sure that you aren’t creating or interpreting art in a vacuum and that you have had enough education and awareness to be inspired by others. By demonstrating how you react to works that move you—not with jealousy or dismissal but with appreciation and recognition of another’s talent and ability—you're proving that you're ready to participate in this ongoing conversation.

At the same time, this essay is asking you to show your own creative readiness.  For example, describe not only the work you have produced but also your ability to introduce new elements into that work—in this case, inspired by the piece you described. This way, you can demonstrate that you aren’t a one-note artist but are mature enough to alter and develop what you make. Or if you want to major in art history or art education, relate how your perspective on a particular piece of art or architecture is shaped by your unique perspective, based on your experiences, education, and cultural identity.

A student might write their Topic D essay on how Michelangelo's Madonna della Pietà   has influenced their own artistic renderings of youth and beauty in grief.

What are some best practices for teasing out the complexities of art in written form? Here are some helpful tips as you brainstorm and write your essay.

#1: Pick One Piece of Art or Learning Experience

Once you’ve chosen between these two contexts, narrow down your selection even further . If you're writing about an educational encounter, don’t forget that it can come from an informal situation as well. For example, you could write about something you learned on your own from a documentary, a museum visit, or an art book.

If you're writing about a direct experience with art, don't necessarily fixate on a classic piece . Alternatively, you could discuss a little-known public sculpture, a particularly striking building or bridge you saw while traveling, or a gallery exhibition.

Whatever you end up writing about, make sure you know some of the identifying details . You don’t need to know the answers to all the following questions, but do your best to research so you can answer at least two or three of them:

• Who is the artist?
• Where is the piece on display?
• What kind of work is it?
• With what materials was it made?
• When was it made?

#2: Figure Out Why You Were Struck by This Particular Work

The make-it-or-break-it moment in this essay will be your ability to explain what affected you in the object you're writing about . Why is it different from other works you’ve seen? Were you in the right place and time to be moved by it, or would it have affected you the same way no matter where or when you saw it? Did it speak to you because it shares some of your ideals, philosophies, or tastes—or because it was so different from them?

Be careful with your explanation because it can easily get so vague as to be meaningless or so obscure and "deep" that you lose your reader. Before you start trying to put it down on paper, try to talk out what you plan to say either with a friend, parent, or teacher. Do they understand what you’re saying, and do they believe you?

#3: Make a Timeline of Your Own Creative Works

When you think about what you've been making or thinking about making during your high school career, what is the trajectory of your ideas? How has your understanding of the materials you want to work with or study changed? What message do you want your works to convey, or what message in others' works most resonate with you? How do you want your works to be seen or engaged with by others? What is the reason you feel compelled to be creative or involved in the arts?

Now that you’ve come up with this timeline, see whether your changes in thought overlap with the art experience you're planning on describing . Is there a way you can combine what was so exciting to you about this work with the way you’ve seen your own ideas about art evolve?

#4: Use a Mix of Concreteness and Comparisons in Your Description

Just as nothing ruins a joke like explaining it, nothing ruins the wordless experience of looking at art as talking it to death does. Still, you need to find a way to use words to give the reader a sense of what the piece that moved you actually looks like —particularly if the reader isn't familiar with the work or the artist that created it.

Here is my suggested trick for writing well about art. First, be specific about the object. Discuss its colors, size, what it appears to be made of, what your eye goes to first (e.g., bright colors versus darker, more muted ones), what it represents (if it’s figurative), where it is in relation to the viewer, whether or not you can see marks of the tools used (e.g., brush strokes or scrapes from sculpting tools).

Second, step away from the concrete, and get creative with language by using techniques such as comparative description. Use your imagination to create emotionally resonant similes. Is there a form of movement (e.g., flying, crawling, or tumbling) that this piece feels like? Does it remind you of something from the natural world (e.g., a falling leaf, a forest canopy being moved by wind, waves, or sand dunes shifting)?

If the work is figurative, imagine what has been happening just before the moment in time it captures. What happened just after this point? Using these kinds of nonliteral descriptors will let your reader understand both the actual physical object and its aesthetic appeal.

Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short-Answer Prompts

Both UT Austin and Texas A&M require short answers as part of their first-year applications. For both schools, some prompts are required by all applicants, whereas others are required by those applying to certain majors or departments.

We'll go over the UT Austin prompts, followed by the Texas A&M prompt.

UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts

UT Austin requires three short answers from all first-year applicants and also offers an optional prompt. Each short answer should be approximately 250–300 words , or one paragraph.

Short Answer 1: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

Short Answer 2: Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.

Short Answer 3: The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Optional Short Answer: Please share background on events or special circumstances that may have impacted your high school academic performance.

What Are These UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts Asking?

Obviously, these short-answer prompts are asking four different things, but they do have some similarities in terms of their overall goals.

These prompts basically want to know what you can offer UT Austin and why you'd be a great fit as a student there . They also want to know why you chose UT Austin and your specific major.

In other words, all these prompts essentially work together as a "Why This College?" essay .

How Can You Give UT Austin What They Want?

Admissions officers will be looking for evidence that you're genuinely interested in the school, the major you've chosen, and the career you want to pursue . Make sure to identify features of the program that appeal to you. In other words, why UT Austin? What makes you a good fit here?

Be as specific as possible in your responses. Since you won't have much room to write a lot, try to focus on a particular anecdote, skill, or goal you have.

Admissions officers also want to see that you have an aptitude for your chosen career path , so if you have any relevant work, research, or volunteer experience, they definitely want to know this! It's OK to take a broad view of what's relevant here.

Finally, they're looking for individuals who have clear goals as well as a general idea of what they want to do with their degree . Are you interested in working with a specific population or specialty? Why? What led you to this conclusion?

Texas A&M Engineering Prompt

All engineering applicants to Texas A&M must submit an esssay responding to the following prompt:

Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals?

What Is This Texas A&M Engineering Prompt Asking?

The engineering prompt wants to know two essential things:

• What are your future goals for your specific field of interest (i.e., the kind of engineering field you want to go into or are considering going into)?
• What environmental or external factors (e.g., a person, a mentor, a volunteer experience, or a paper or book you read) contributed to your development of these goals?

How Can You Give Texas A&M What They Want?

Be as specific as possible in your response. For the engineering prompt, what admissions officers want to know is simply what your biggest engineering ambition is and how you came to have this goal.

You'll want to be as specific as possible. Admissions officers want to see that you have a clear future in mind for what you want to do with your engineering degree. For example, do you plan to go on to a PhD program? Why? Do you have a particular career in mind?

In addition, make sure to specify the main inspiration for or motivation behind this goal. For instance, did you have a high school teacher who encouraged you to study engineering? Or perhaps you decided on a whim to take a computer science class, which you ended up loving.

Remember that the inspiration for your engineering goals doesn't have to be limited to something school-related. If you get stuck, think broadly about what initially got you interested in the field.

Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

US transfer students and international transfer students must typically submit an additional essay responding to the following prompt (or must submit an essay on one of the topic variations listed above ).

Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope⁠—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

What's the Prompt Asking?

This prompt, which is intended for transfer students, essentially wants to know what hardship, challenge, or social issue has affected you on a personal level (or a larger group you're part of) and why you think this particular issue is so important to you .

For example, maybe you identify as LGBTQIA+ and have personally experienced discrimination in your local community because of your sexual orientation or gender identity. Or perhaps you grew up in a wealthy family but have begun to see recently how widespread the issue of homelessness really is and now are making a more conscious effort to find ways to remedy this problem in your own community.

The issue you choose doesn't have to relate to a wider social issue; it could be a learning disability you have, for instance, or the fact that you no longer share the same religious beliefs as your  family.

The most important part of this question is the connection between the issue and yourself . In other words, why is this issue so important to you ? How has it affected your life, your goals, your experiences, etc.?

This essay is a way for admissions officers to get to know you and what matters to you personally on a much deeper level than what some of the other essay topics allow, so don't be afraid to dive into topics that are very emotional, personal, or special to you .

Furthermore, be sure to clearly explain why this particular issue—especially if it's a broader social issue that affects many people—is meaningful to you . Admissions officers want to know about any challenges you've faced and how these have positively contributed to your own growth as a person.

The Bottom Line: Tips for Writing ApplyTexas Essays

The ApplyTexas application contains four essay prompts (Topics A, B, C, and D), with different schools requiring different combinations of mandatory and optional essays . There are also short-answer prompts for UT Austin, as well as a Topic E only for transfer students.

One way to keep these three similar-sounding essay topics (A, B, and C) separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one:

• Topic A is about your outside .
• Topic B is your inside .
• Topic C is about your future .

Now, let's briefly summarize each essay topic:

Essay Topic A

• Overview:  Describe any unique experiences you've had as a high school student and how these have shaped who you are as a person.
• Pick a specific aspect of your experience.
• Describe how it made you special.
• Describe the setting, stakes, and conflict resolution.
• Add details, description, and examples.

Essay Topic B

• Overview:  Describe a defining trait and how it fits into the larger vision of you.
• Define the core message.
• Fit that core message of yourself into the larger picture.
• Show things about yourself; don’t tell.
• Watch your tone to make sure that you show your great qualities without seeming narcissistic, boring, glib, or self-aggrandizing.

Essay Topic C

• Overview:  Describe "where you are going" in either a literal, goal-oriented sense or a more imaginative sense.
• Pick where you’re going, but don’t over- or underreach.
• Flesh out your destination. How does it relate back to you?
• Ground your “journey” in specific anecdotes and examples.

Essay Topic D

• Overview:  Describe being affected by a work of art or an artistic experience to make sure that you are ready to enter a fine arts field.
• Pick one piece of art or one specific experience of learning about art.
• Figure out exactly why this work or event struck you.
• Examine your own work to see how this artwork has affected your creativity or engagement with art or art history.
• Use a mix of concrete descriptions and comparisons when writing about the piece of art.

Short-Answer Prompts

• Overview: Specific to UT Austin applicants
• Describe your relevant experiences and interests up to this point.
• Describe what about the program appeals to you and how you will use your degree (i.e., your future goals).
• Treat the prompts as parts of a "Why This College?" essay.

Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

• Overview: Specific to US and international transfer applicants
• Pick an issue that means a lot to you and has had a clear effect on how you see yourself.
• Emphasize how this issue or how you've treated this issue has ultimately had a positive impact on your personal growth.

What's Next?

Curious about the other college essay choices out there? If your target college also accepts the Common Application, check out our guide to the Common App essay prompts to see whether they would be a better fit for you.

Interested to see how other people tackled this part of the application? We have a roundup of 100+ accepted essays from tons of colleges .

Stuck on what to write about? Read our suggestions for how to come up with great essay ideas .

Working on the rest of your college applications? We have great advice on how to find the right college for you , how to write about your extracurricular activities , and how to ask teachers for letters of recommendation .

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Essays & Short Answers

Summer/Fall 2025 Essay

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.

Please keep your essay between 500–650 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Spring 2025 Essays

All freshman Spring 2025 applicants must submit a required essay:

• UT Austin Required Essay in the Common App, or
• Topic A in ApplyTexas

Please keep your essay between 500–700 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Spring 2025 Essay Topic

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Submitting Your Essay

You can submit your essays:

• In conjunction with your application.
• Using the Document Upload System in MyStatus.

*Students do not need to submit other Common App essays. We’ll only review what is required.

Short Answers

• Submit the required short answers to prompts in your admission application.
• Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250–300 words per prompt, typically the length of one paragraph.

Summer/Fall 2025 Prompts

• Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?
• Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why? ( Guidance for student s: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.)

Optional Short Answer

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance.

Spring 2025 Prompts

• Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.
• The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Submitting Your Short Answers

You can submit your short answers with either your Common App or Apply Texas application. Short answer responses must be completed in order to submit your application.

• Transfer applicants must submit one essay responding to Topic A.
• Applicants to the School of Architecture are required to upload Topic D in addition to Topic A. 

Essay Topics

Topic a (required).

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school/college or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey.

Topic D (School of Architecture majors only)

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study, describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Submitting Your Essay(s)

The Admissions Strategist

How to write the university of texas essays 2020-2021: the applytexas guide.

The University of Texas is a public research university located in Austin, Texas, with an acceptance rate of 40%.

One of the largest schools in the nation , UT is divided into 18 schools and colleges. It offers over 900 clubs and organizations, hundreds of study abroad programs, nationally ranked sports teams, and more.

If that sounds like your kind of school, you’ll first have to make it past the admissions process. While your GPA, SAT scores, and other accomplishments are important, your essays also offer a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

In this article, we’ll help you capitalize on that opportunity by providing tips, ideas, and inspiration for writing the University of Texas essays.

Let’s get started!

What Are the University of Texas Supplemental Essays?

The University of Texas uses the ApplyTexas application, a common application accepted by Texas public universities and some private Texas universities.

Along with this application, you must submit at least one essay and three short answer questions.

UT’s required supplemental essay is fairly long, at 500-700 words or 2-3 paragraphs. All applicants must write their essay addressing this prompt:

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Some majors and schools within the University of Texas require additional supplemental essays. These prompts are listed below, along with the school or major they relate to:  

UT School of Art and Art History:

In 500 words or less, please tell us about a meaningful way in which an artwork, or artist, has changed your life. How has this prompted your ambitions for a life in the arts?

UT Nursing Majors:

Discuss the factors that have influenced your desire to pursue a career in Nursing. How have your academic and extracurricular activities prepared you to pursue a degree in Nursing?

UT School of Architecture:

What are the ways you explore and express your creativity? Please limit your response to 250-300 words. Take and upload up to three photographs from a camera, smart phone or mobile device that capture how you see the world. Describe what you are trying to evoke with these images. Please limit your response to 50–75 words.

Steve Hicks School of Social Work:

Discuss the reasons you chose Social Work as your first-choice major and how a Social Work degree from UT will prepare you for the future.

Once you’ve responded to your main essay as well as any applicable major or school-specific prompts, you will need to respond to three short-answer questions, and you’ll have the option to answer one more.

U Texas Required Short-Answer Questions:

These are listed as short-answer questions, but they are more similar to the regular essays required by most college applications. They should be no longer than 40 lines, which is equivalent to 1 paragraph or 250-300 words.

Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major? Leadership can be demonstrated in many ways. Please share how you have demonstrated leadership in either your school, job, community, and/or within your family responsibilities. Please share how you believe your experiences, perspectives, and/or talents have shaped your ability to contribute to and enrich the learning environment at UT Austin, both in and out of the classroom.

U Texas Optional Supplemental Essay Question:

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance, including the possible effects of COVID-19. Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

General Tips for the University of Texas Supplemental Essays

When you look over most of your ApplyTexas application, you’ll see a lot of numbers. These numbers include SAT scores, GPA, your class rank, the years you’ve been involved in various activities, and so on.

Perhaps these numbers capture your achievements over the four years of high school, but do they form an accurate picture of you ?

Probably not; and that’s where the essays come in.

These essays will help admissions officers at UT get to know who you are beyond the numbers and statistics. They’ll get to know your personality, values, and goals. They’ll learn about where you come from and what has shaped or influenced you.

Keeping this purpose in mind, make sure that you’re honest in your essays and write in your own voice. The essays should “sound” like you and should address ideas and experiences that you find meaningful. Use specific details to make your essays interesting and memorable.

Try to be reflective and insightful, indicating that you’re a mature student who will thrive in a college environment.

Also, be sure to carefully edit and revise your essays, preferably getting feedback from a few trusted teachers, family members, or peers. You want to make a good impression; Spelling and grammar errors aren’t the way to accomplish that!

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s take an in-depth look at each of UT’s essays and short answer questions.

Get personalized advice!

Required university of texas supplemental essay.

When you first look into this prompt, you may feel surprised or overwhelmed by the required word count. UT states that this essay should be between 500 and 700 words, which is much longer than the typical college application essay.

However, instead of feeling uncertain, try to get excited. It may be a longer essay, but that means you’ve got more space to show the University of Texas admissions team who you are and why you belong in their upcoming freshman class.

It’s also an interesting prompt because it starts broad and later gets more specific. “Tell us your story” is about as broad as essays can get. Then, however, you find out what UT really wants to hear about is the challenges you’ve faced so far in life.

Take these two questions and bring them together into one; What are some challenges you’ve faced that have turned you into the person you are today?

UT doesn’t necessarily want to hear the happy, upbeat parts of your story, they want to hear the hard stuff. They want to see what you’ve overcome.

Start by brainstorming the aspects of your story you’d like to address.

• Have you gone through something challenging that significantly impacted your life?
• If not, think of some small things: Make a list of tough classes, write about when you moved to a new town and had to start over by making new friends in a new school, or even describe some of the difficult aspects of your life at home.

It doesn’t matter if these challenges are big or small; UT simply wants to see that you’ve overcome them and they’ve shaped you into the person you are today.

Once you have your challenges, take some time to examine yourself.

How did these difficulties affect your life? How did they change the person you’ve become?

• Did they make you more resilient?
• Did they teach you to never give up?
• Did they give you the motivation you need to work hard and make a difference in the world around you through your future career?

Look into who you are deeply, and don’t be afraid to be a little creative.

If you’re still stumped on how these events have changed you, ask a family member or close friend. If they watched you push through, they likely saw the change before you even began to notice it.

You may also be able to find inspiration by reading through old diaries, digging around in your attic or basement, or taking a drive through your neighborhood or town.

Use vivid, specific details to describe your experience. Allow the admissions team to feel as if they’re going through the challenge right alongside you.

Then, dig even deeper:

• How did you mature or grow as a result?
• What life lessons did you learn?
• What elements of your personality were shaped by this experience?

No matter what challenges you write about, be sure to write your essay from a meaningful and authentic point of view. Take time to show the University of texas admissions team who you are and what makes you special.

If you write from your heart and show UT who you are, your essay is sure to impress.

UT School of Art and Art History Supplemental Essay

For the first part of this prompt, you should showcase your passion for  art history, visual art, or another intended area of study.

• Have you had a powerful experience while viewing a specific art piece or artist’s work?
• How did this experience shape you as an individual and/or an artist?
• How did it change your life as a whole?

We’re talking about art here, so be descriptive!

Start by choosing your art piece or artist, and explain what you felt when you first saw or experienced it.

Then, explain the impact it has had on your life.

Maybe it’s affected who you are as an artist by compelling you to turn your hobby into a career:

• Have you taken studio classes, completed an internship, or independently worked on relevant projects?
• What do you plan to do at UT to continue exploring this interest?

Maybe it’s simply taught you about who you are.

No matter how the art piece or artist has changed your life, be sure to paint an image of your experience through your words. Be sincere, and show UT that you have a true passion for the arts.

They want to see that art has truly made you who you are today, and that you’re serious about your future in the creative world.

UT Nursing Majors

Prompt #1: Discuss the factors that have influenced your desire to pursue a career in Nursing.

For your first nursing-specific essay, think about experiences or other factors you’ve already had that have prepared you to be a good nurse.

• Have you always been interested in the Human Body and how it works?
• Did you have an amazing nurse at one point in your life, and you’ve wanted to follow in their footsteps ever since?
• Have you had a family member experience a medical challenge, and what to give back through a career in nursing?

You may want to tie UT’s Nursing program specifically into your answer:

• Research opportunities, professors, or classes you’d like to be part of, and mention how these specific programs or experiences can help you reach your goals.
• Be sure that your tone is enthusiastic and excited.

You should also take the time to clearly express your goals in nursing.

• Is there a specific population you’d like to work with or something in particular that you’d like to achieve? Why?

By showing UT that you’ve got good reason to desire a future as a nurse (and that you’re sure to make a good one) you’ve got a much better chance at being accepted into the program.

Prompt #2: How have your academic and extracurricular activities prepared you to pursue a degree in Nursing?

While brainstorming your response to this prompt, consider your past nursing-related academic or extracurricular experiences:

• Do you have clinical experience?
• Research experience?
• Volunteer work you’ve done?
• If not, any experience working with people and/or demonstrating compassion could suffice.

You’ll want to show UT that you’re dedicated to this career path, and show that you’ve already taken concrete steps to introduce yourself to the field.

U Texas School of Architecture

Prompt #1: What are the ways you explore and express your creativity? Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

This sounds like a simple question, but its broad origin makes it more challenging that other essay prompts.

Since this question is so broad, you’ll want to break it down to find your inspiration.

First, how do you explore your creativity?

• What gives you your inspiration?
• How do you come up with new ideas?
• Where does your passion for architecture lie?

Think hard about where your creativity comes from, and let UT know. Don’t worry if it’s not the most amazing place; they want you to be honest and authentic.

Next, talk about how you express your creativity.

Once you get a new idea, how do you get it out?

Does it steam for a while, or do you stay up all night until you have the entire plan on a page in front of your own eyes?

• Do you free-write to get all of your ideas down on paper?
• Do you grab a sketchbook and start to draw?
• Maybe you’re a 3D builder, and love creating models of future works you’d like to accomplish

Remember once again to be honest and authentic.

At the same time, be sure to fill your response with detail. Write in a way that gets the U admissions team excited about the creativity you’ve got inside of you. Show them how passionate you are and how you’re simply made for a future in architecture.

Prompt #2: Take and upload up to three photographs from a camera, smart phone or mobile device that capture how you see the world. Describe what you are trying to evoke with these images. Please limit your response to 50–75 words.

This is an interesting prompt because it requires photos, so it’s almost more similar to a portfolio submission.

However, it includes a write-up, so we want to support you through your response.

When you set out to take your pictures, be intentional. Keep in mind that you’ll have to write something that is both short and impressive when your done (and it needs to relate specifically to the pictures you take).

When you start writing, try a free-write to get the process going.

Write down everything you have to say about your images, and underlying the best things that come to you.

Take those best pieces of information, and make them as direct and compact as possible.

With only 50-75 words, everything you put on that final page needs to count.

Steve Hicks School of Social Work

This question is simple: Why social work, and why UT?

• Have you had experiences working with others to help them overcome challenges, such as being a tutor or volunteering at a soup kitchen?
• Can you demonstrate that you’re an empathetic, compassionate, and resilient individual?
• Try using an anecdote to describe why you’re so interested in social work—and why you would make a great social worker.

For the second half of the question, you may need to do some research on UT’s social work program.

• Look into classes, professors, opportunities, and other resources.
• What most excites you about this program?
• What opportunities will you take advantage of?
• How will these experiences prepare you for a career as a social worker?

An essay that shows passion for social work and commitment through understanding UT’s social work program is sure to stand out.

UT Supplemental Required Short Answers

Remember, every UT applicant will answer at least three short-answer questions. Responses are limited to 250-300 words.

Short Answer #1: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

Don’t panic if you’re not completely sure what you want to do after college yet.

• Is there a field you’re interested in exploring?
• A career path you think you want to pursue?
• Just choose something that interests you, and explain why you can see yourself working in this field.

Even if you have several possible careers in mind, remember that you only have 300 words. It’s best if you choose just one to focus on for the purpose of this essay. Get right to the point.

Even though you’ve only got 300 words, you still want to make sure UT has the chance to get to know you better through this essay. Be sure to include some information that sheds light on who you are and why you’re passionate about your potential future major:

• Can you think of one particular moment or event that helped you decide on a career or academic path?
• If so, this is a perfect place to narrate that anecdote for admissions officers.
• Alternatively, perhaps there are several reasons you’ve become fascinated with a certain career. You can mention them here, but be sure to include specific details!

If you’ve spent time outside of school volunteering, researching, or exploring your selected career, mention it. Your essay should convey passion, excitement, and genuine interest in the career you’ve chosen to discuss.

Short Answer #2: Leadership can be demonstrated in many ways. Please share how you have demonstrated leadership in either your school, job, community, and/or within your family responsibilities.

Colleges these days aren’t looking for just any student, and UT is no exception. This essay prompt shows that the University of Texas is seeking leaders to join their upcoming freshman class.

What have you done to lead in the past?

• Have you held a chair position in Student Council?
• Were you the captain of the basketball team?
• Maybe you started and lead your own language learning club

Remember that these leadership roles do not have to relate directly to school or academics:

• Are you an older sibling who has helped raise your brothers and sisters?
• Have you filled in for your manager at your weekend job?

It doesn’t matter where the role was, UT just wants to see that you’ve got it in you to be a leader.

They want to know that you’re capable of taking things into your own hands and making a difference in the world around you.

Remember to be authentic, fill your essay with specific details, and show UT a little bit more about who you are. They want to see a leader, but they also want to see you.

Short Answer #3: Please share how you believe your experiences, perspectives, and/or talents have shaped your ability to contribute to and enrich the learning environment at UT Austin, both in and out of the classroom.

This is a typical “Diversity” essay; it shows that UT wants to know about the unique pieces of you that will both benefit their campus and add to the diversity of their next freshman class.

Take it as an opportunity to show UT why and how you stand out.

When you begin brainstorming how you’ll respond to this prompt, be sure to consider all of the areas listed:

• What unique experiences have shaped your learning venture so far? Have you attended specialty camps or had what you consider to be the best science teacher in existence?
• What about perspectives? What are some interesting ways you have of viewing certain subjects? Have you had first-hand experiences to shape these views?
• Don’t forget about talents; what are you good at? Don’t be afraid to brag! UT sincerely wants to know.

Once you’ve got your experiences, perspectives, and/or talents listed, consider how they’ll add to UT’s classrooms.

What do you have to offer to your future classmates and teachers?

What will make you stand out in class?

Take this essay as a chance to show UT what you’ve really got to offer in the classroom, even if it doesn’t show up in your GPA or test scores.

UT Supplemental: Optional Short Answer

As we’re living in unprecedented times, you’ve got what appears to be an unprecedented opportunity; an optional short answer essay that relates to COVID-19.

Your response to this prompt is, of course, optional, but we suggest every applicant takes the time to respond. Why? Because they more you write in your application, the more UT will get to know who you really are.

When writing this essay, consider anything and everything that has impacted your academic performance throughout high school. COVID-19 almost certainly has made a mark on your high school experience, but include other factors when necessary:

• Maybe you were ill throughout most of your Freshman year, causing you to miss a significant amount of school
• You may have moved schools with every starting year, causing you to have trouble settling into each new schedule and routine.
• You could have had a family emergency or tragedy that affected your academic performance at a specific time.

This is a unique opportunity, because it gives you the chance to explain something that may make your application look less than ideal.

Give your reason, and then go beyond the prompt.

Show UT how you grew through that challenge and what it taught you.

Show the admissions team how strong you are, and how you’re capable and ready to leave your mark at the University of Texas.

Conclusion: How to Write the University of Texas Supplemental Essays

As you write your UT essays, remember that the goal is to give admissions officers a glimpse into your background, personality, and goals.

Be enthusiastic, open, and honest. Instead of trying to impress, simply try to convey who you are. Genuine answers will be more interesting and memorable than forced answers.

Start working well in advance, giving yourself plenty of time to proofread and edit , and be sure to use the tips and inspiration we’ve provided here.

Strong essays will definitely increase your chances of joining the Longhorns in the fall. Good luck!

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Test Prep | Tutoring | College Admissions

• Ryan Murphy
• Sep 10, 2020

Best Practices for Writing ApplyTexas Essays and UT Short Answers

The college admissions season is upon us, and as more colleges turn to test-optional admissions (i.e., making scores from SAT/ACT exams optional), other parts of the college application become more important. And one major component that will surely play an increased role in determining acceptances is the college admissions essay .

So, let’s discuss how best to plan and write the essays for ApplyTexas (used for multiple colleges in Texas, including UT Austin) and the UT Austin Short Answers. First we’ll consider the general best practices and then we’ll review a sample strategy for a prospective pre-med / biology student, using the specific prompts for this admissions cycle.

General Best Practices for Writing ApplyTexas Essays and UT Short Answers

For ApplyTexas Essay Prompts A, B, and C, write a response that’s 650-750 words.

For the UT Short Answers, write 250-300 words (as suggested).

Don’t let the length suggestions fool you. There is a huge difference between a wordy, repetitive, and overall vague 650 words that you blast off in 30 minutes and a well-crafted, revised, and informative essay drafted over several hours and even days.

Write about as many unique topics as possible across the essays and short answers.

Trust me, you will definitely have an opportunity to write about your desired major and related background. The strategy here is that you want to present yourself as having multiple dimensions and interdisciplinary experiences that will contribute to your desired major’s studies.

Construct your essay as a hybrid essay-story, focus the narrative on yourself, and include personal reflections.

The college admissions essay is unlike any other type of essay you have written in high school (most likely). It requires a blend of essay writing, as the name suggests, which usually means you need an introduction (with a thesis) and a conclusion.

It also requires a narrative that basically serves as the essay’s “support.” And unlike the formal tone of academic essays, the college admissions essay is best written in a personal voice.

Plan on writing at least three drafts for every essay / short answer submitted to a college.

The minimum three drafts include the following:

(1) Rough draft -- Write “without stopping” based on your brainstorming. This should take 30 minutes - 1 hour.

(2) Second draft -- Delete wordy language and unnecessary content; add more relevant details and personal reflection. This should take 1 - 2 hours.

(3) Final draft -- Rephrase statements to reduce length, check grammar and punctuation, read for flow, and make sure the introduction and conclusion are strong. This should take 1 - 2 hours.

At the very least, you should expect a good college admissions essay to take 3 hours to write, and that is if you are really confident in your writing. Likely, it will take double that amount of time, but that’s if you want to write an impressive one (which hopefully you do).

The short answers may take a little less time, but the point is that even those short prompts should be considered crucial parts of your application.

Basically, any time you are writing directly to the admissions officers, you should take the process seriously -- this is where the human behind the application gets a voice, and a unique, personable voice really can make all the difference.

Sample for Writing ApplyTexas Essays and UT Short Answers (Pre-Med / Biology Major)

Now, let’s get into the fun part -- an example of how you can plan out your essay topics and present yourself in the most diverse way. I’ll be using pre-med / biology as the sample’s prospective major since it is quite popular.

Before you get too deep into planning out these essays, you need to “inventory” your high school career from freshman year to the summer after junior year (rising into senior). Ideally, you have a solid resume of extracurriculars, volunteering, and work/internships. But, of course, there are probably some gaps, which is something you shouldn’t overly stress about.

First, you are looking for crucial experiences related to school and your potential major -- let’s say, “academic and professional experiences.” Classes, clubs, research camps, internships...that kind of stuff.

You are also looking for fundamental moments during high school when you experienced personal growth. Usually these experiences fall outside of the standard academic settings -- let’s call them “personal experiences.” Volunteering, travel abroad, family issues, personal struggles...you get the idea.

You want to take the best and most meaningful and most essay-prompt-relevant of these experiences -- from both “categories” -- and include them in your essays and short answers. Basically, you should write beyond purely academic experiences and reveal as much as you can about your personality and background.

Here is what the “experience inventory” looks like for our prospective pre-med / biology major:

Academic experiences--

Clubs: HOSA

Volunteering: St. David’s Medical Center, church food drives

Research: UT Austin College of Natural Science with Professor Jane Doe

Personal experiences--

Personal: jazz band ensemble

Family: family trips abroad to see relatives

Hobbies: assembling World War II-era model planes

Now we will match prompts and experiences so that we get the most unique coverage in topics for the essays and short answers.

For this last part, I will suggest which experiences would make good topics for the different prompts and write additional suggestions on how to approach the topics.

Apply Texas Prompts (Summer 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022 Admissions)

Essay A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Recommended topic:

Researching at UT Austin (challenge during research)

Essay B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

Assembling WWII-era model planes

Essay C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Recommended topics:

Since the prompt is hypothetical, it is best that you be more creative, so here are some possibilities to see just how far you can take the question:

A literal and meaningful place -- e.g., your grandparents’ house (I’d go with a more “interesting” approach, but you may have a meaningful place in mind like this that doesn’t require the razzle-dazzle of some of these other ideas)

A literal yet exotic place -- e.g., Antarctica

A figurative place -- e.g., the “heart”

An imaginary place -- e.g., Hogwarts

Most Texas colleges will not require this prompt, so it is more like a bonus entry, which is why I recommend you have fun with it (but still make it worth the admissions officer’s time to read it).

UT Austin Short Answers (Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 Admissions)

Required Short Answer 1: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

Recommended topics (either or combined -- really, it’s best that you summarize the general interest and overall how you learned about the subject but then spend the short answer focusing on the “pivotal moment” that convinced you to pursue the major):

Volunteering at St. David’s Medical Center

Required Short Answer 2: Leadership can be demonstrated in many ways. Please share how you have demonstrated leadership in either your school, job, community, and/or within your family responsibilities.

Recommended topic (either or combined -- you identify your leadership style and demonstrate how it plays out in one or two situations):

Church food drives

Jazz band ensemble

Required Short Answer 3: Please share how you believe your experiences, perspectives, and/or talents have shaped your ability to contribute to and enrich the learning environment at UT Austin, both in and out of the classroom.

Traveling abroad to see relatives (opportunity to visit important cultural sites or whatever else)

Optional Short Answer: Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance, including the possible effects of COVID-19. Please limit your response to 250-300 words.

Usually people ask about whether to submit “optional” essays. The answer is usually yes, if you want to ensure you’ve done the most to improve your admission chances. In this particular case, the essay topic is truly optional because it is meant for students who had major complications that negatively affected their grades, GPA, and/or class rank.

So, unless you have a sincere explanation for a drop in grades or a poor academic performance, you probably shouldn’t submit this optional essay. This is not a “tell me how COVID-19 affected you” essay.

This concludes the sample topics and strategy for the ApplyTexas and UT Austin Short Answers.

Now you should have a good idea of how to generally write your college admissions essays, inventory your academic and personal experiences, and then match these experiences to appropriate topics.

Time to get writing. Good luck!

Need help planning or revising your ApplyTexas and/or UT Austin Short Answers? Check out our College Admissions Services (CAS) for essay editing . Meeting times are flexible and editing can be synchronous (tutor and student together in a live meeting) or asynchronous (tutor reads and edits the essay). Whatever works best for you!

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How to Write the 2021 University of Texas Application Essays Part 1

My hook for this post is the University of Texas application for 2020-2021, but I am also going to take a look at reusing essays selectively in your other applications, which can save a lot of time and work. There are a couple of venues for applying to the University of Texas, and in discussing these I will introduce (briefly) and compare several important application portals used in Texas, but also nationally. Lesson one: to write a great University of Texas essay, you actually start by taking a look at the alternative of using either the Texas application site or the Coalition Application site.

Like the University of California, Texas runs its own college application portal . But in addition to the Coalition and UT/Apply Texas portals, the good news is that you can write a great University of Texas essay and turn around to reuse it for some of the 800-plus colleges using the Common Application portal, with little or no reediting–if you watch your word counts and choose your prompts wisely.

Different Application Portals: Apply Texas

Goal #1 for applying to college in 2020-2021 is to look for ways to reuse essays. Which brings us to those application portals.

Apply Texas is the foundation of all Texas applications, but universities determine which prompts to use. Assuming you are applying to the University of Texas, you could go directly to the UT website, which shows a single prompt fo the longer personal essay. This prompt is also up as the “A” prompt on the Apply Texas portal, and it is the Apply Texas system that handles all the data and that stands behind the various Texas public university applications–it’s a bit like the way the University of California is set up as a single portal, but there is more variation in the application requirements for Texas. Technical and state colleges are included in Apply Texas, whereas in California, the Cal State university system has a portal that is entirely separate from the University of California system.

For an example of how the Apply Texas requirements can vary from school to school, UT Austin requires a full set of the Texas application essays, including using option A for that longer essay and several shorter essays of about 250 words. In contrast, Texas Tech “strongly suggests” that you write at least one of the required essays but does not require it.

Of course, if you are a serious applicant to Texas Tech: write all of the essays. When offered the chance to do more, you want to do more. It demonstrates commitment.

And this year, in particular: if you did not take the SAT or ACT before the Covid rules came into play, or want to retake because your scores are below the mnidle 50%, but don’t end up getting one of the limited seats available before apps are submitted (or you just don’t want to risk your own or your family’s health for another test) you will want as much positive material for that holistic application evaluation as possible, to make up for missing data from standardized tests.

The Next Portal: The Coalition Application

Next portal: That longer essay prompt for UT Austin, which is Prompt A for Apply Texas is actually shared with the Coalition Application . “ Coalition ” is the short name for The Coalition for College Access .This might seem odd until you look at the UT Austin site, where it tells you that you can use the Coalition portal to apply, and skip the UT/Apply Texas portal.

To clarify: you only use one portal to apply–you will apply either through the UT portal, which is supported by Apply Texas or you will apply to UT through the Coalition App portal, which also allows you to apply to other schools listed on the Coalition portal, both inside and outside of Texas. So the Coalition is accepted by UT but is not limited to Texas schools. The question then, is whether it covers all or most of the colleges you want to apply to.

How to choose? See if all the colleges you want are among those listed on the Coalition App–if they are, you will save a lot of time by filling out all that basic data from name and personal information through activities only once, instead of using diferent sites and pasting in and tinkering with the same basic information, data and short responses over, and over. Using a more national portal like the Coalition Application offers efficiency. But the Coalition Application itself is not the biggest of the portals available.

A Comparison to the Common Application

A big drawback of the Coalition App is its relatively short list of participating colleges. The Coalition has 151 schools participating for 2020-2021. Compare this to the Common Application, which will be used by 884 universites . Sadly, the Common Application is not accepted by UT, among many others, but the Common App’s reach does make it a portal you are likely to use at some point this year.

To be very clear: though the Common Application is indeed the most commonly used app portal of all, its not an option for Texas public colleges (e.g. Texas Tech, UT Austin, et al). Outside of the University of California system, however, most of the big-name colleges that might come to mind do use the Common Application.

This is why you want to look at it now, and another reason: the Common Aplication essay prompts are up, so you can compare them, to the UT main essay. And there are other good schools in Texas among the Common App’s 800-plus clients, including Baylor, Rice, and TCU, not to mention those dozens of schools you have heard of and likely want to apply to outside of Texas.

So our focus on the Common App in this post is aimed at the possibility of reusing an essay on two or more portals.

Why You Should Look at Reusing Essays

The typical person applying to 10 colleges will generally use at least one main, longer essay of 550-650 words, and a series of supplementals. This means that you could easily write 20 essays for 10 apps–or 30. Most of these supplemental essays will be shorter than the 550-650 word main essays, but still–the more chance you have to reuse material, the more efficiently you can move through the work. And the workload, once school starts, can be quite extreme. With all the variables up in the air for this year, saving some labor on essays is a good idea.

I want to add before you go on to the rest of this post, and taking a look at the essay prompts, that there is one caveat–the various essay checking software programs, like Turnitin, will flag repeat uses of essays, and the use of such software is becoming more widespread–either through the adoption of Turnitin or other options, like in-house algorithms at some schools. Noting that it’s not really possible to plagiarize yourself, the focus here is on being sincere in your appeal to your target schools, and crafting the majority of supplemental essays carefully to suit your targets. But you need to balance this with the knowledge that, in the contemporary application scene, most students applying to selective and super selective colleges apply to ten or more universities, and they almost all reuse some degree of material. I will discuss fine tuning strategy on this in a later post.

Pay Attention to Word Count Limits in Essays

In addition to looking at the essay prompts, you should note that there are some differences in the word counts allowed–if you use the Coalition site, they suggest no more than 550 words; the Common Application allows no more than 650 words , and that is a firm limit; and for U Texas, I suggest 550 to no more than 650 words. (I’ve seen essays of up to 700 plus words accepted through the UT section of the Apply Texas application portal in the past, but suggest shooting for 550 as your max in your Texas main, which of course is the max word count suggested on the Coalition App.)

Many Application Essay Prompts Will Be The Same As Last Year

Whether they have reached perfection or just can’t get a revision done in this Covid-disrupted year, all three of the portals we have discussed will be using the essay prompts they had up last year. Please don’t take this as a green light to imitate your older sibling’s essays from last year, however–that essay scanning software I discussed is one reason. Being yourself and doing your own thing is another.

Let’s take a look at Texas first, then I will compare Texas prompt A to the current Common Application prompts to show you how to save a lot of work by reusing an essay or two–

2020 through Spring 2021: University of Texas Essay Prompt A

ApplyTexas Essay Prompt A

Guidelines for Essay Topic A—350-ca. 750 words, recommend aiming for 550 words.

Texas Essay Topic A (For U.S., applicants, as well as Transient, Readmit, and Transfer International applicants) : Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

This is the definition of a “personal” essay question , and it overlaps with a range of essay prompts required by other universities. It also overlaps with most of the Common Application prompts, depending on the angle you take–and when you can use one essay for two applications, that is a must-do opportunity. Just take a look at the Common Application prompts, which in the main define a more specific angle on the same broad prompt for how your experience has shaped who you are .

You just want to be sure your focus is on the last few years/high school, but keeping the focus on ongoing and recent experience is a rule of thumb in college essays anyhow–as opposed to writing about that deeply felt experience in elementary school. Generally skip those, unless they initiated or motivated activities that are still ongoing in high school, particularly if they continue today.

A Few Words About Social Justice Topics

One specific comment on topics at this point: Most college counselors advise against putting controversial, editorial-page topics at the center of college essays, but in my opinion, this year is different. Social justice, a perennial but undervalued subplot in American life, has come to the fore as the main focuses in recent months for most of you, for reasons I do not need to review here.

If you are genuinely engaged in the movement for equality and social change, this could be a good topic. Just be sure this is a real commitment for you personally, with some roots, as no doubt quite a few people will choose to write about this as the challenge or experience they faced, or the belief (system) they challenged in college essays in 2020-21. This is a challenging topic, and you need to avoid preaching to the converted (as well as the unconverted) and you really want to be wary of name calling and oversimplification, particularly of solutions. And of course, eschew cynicism. Click my tag for Social Justice at either the top of bottom of this post to see some other discussions of social justice topics over the years.

Now let’s take a look at how closely the Common Application overlaps with the focus of the Texas main essay.

Comparing the University of Texas and Common Application Essay Prompts

In addition to the quick comparison of prompts below, I have recently posted on how to brainstorm/start the Common Application Prompts for 2020-2021 . I have also looked compared the Common Application Prompts to the Coalition Application, here: Coalition App Versus Common App Essays.

Common Application Prompts for 2020/2021–compare these with the U Texas Essay A–

1. 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. Note that you would put the majority of the focus on your high school experience, with some background or lead-in, and this prompt is a match for the UT application essay A.

2. 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? If your high school experience included a challenge or setback you had to overcome, bingo. Also a match for the Texas application essay, option A.

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? If this challenge occurred during your high school years, even it it did not happen on campus, just connect it the the person you are or have become and link it to some reference to your high school experience, and you are set.

4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. Notice that this offers you an opportunity to look at the past or the future. For UT you’d need to background the essay in the past, but then you could always turn from that past experiene to the future, to how your education will be shaped by this and what you plan to do with that education–which is a nice way to wrap up an essay–you never want to repeat or restate your introduction in the conclusoin of a college essay–that is formulaic writing, and frowned on. Not to mention that it does not fit in a pesonal essay format.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. This overlaps not only with some of the other Common Application prompts, it also matches UT’s prompt A, again if you focus on this occuring during your high school years.

6. 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? Again, if you discovered a passion in high school, or discuss one that grew during high school (usually academic, and tied to whatever you want to major in or focus on in college, for the best effect) , this also ties in well with the University of Texas essay.

7. 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. Since anything goes here, any Texas essay should also fit.

Contact Me for Editing and Essay Development

Texas has three additional, short essay responses required, and there is some variation in these (e.g. a prompt for Art and Architecture majors) and I will come back to these in the next week or two. Let me know if it was useful for you to look at comparing and reusing essays–I may look at the UT system short essays in comparison to those used by other systems if y’all hare enthusiastic about this approach. You can leave a comment, or if you are looking for essay development and essay editing, and you want the best, hands-on assistance, Contact Me . This link takes you to my business portal.

I do all the editing and coaching myself, so if you do want to create your best possible essays, contact me soon, while I still have some space available.

The Eyes of Texas

Oh, and of course, here is your bonus for this post, the University of Texas, fight song :

“The Eyes of Texas”

I once did know a president

A-way down South, in Texas.

And, always, everywhere he went,

He saw the Eyes of Texas.

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,

All the livelong day.

You cannot get away.

Do not think you can escape them

At night or early in the morn —

The Eyes of Texas are upon you

’Til Gabriel blows his horn.

Sing me a song of Prexy, *

Of days long since gone by.

Again I seek to greet him,

And hear his kind reply.

Smiles of gracious welcome

Before my memory rise,

Again I hear him say to me,

“Remember Texas’ Eyes.”

* “Prexy” refers to a President, particularly a college president, and dates back to the early 19th Century, so yes, it does predate UT Austin and in fact predates the state of Texas.

(To be sung at UT football games and after a few too many fermented beverages on sundry occasions. Of course, that won’t likely happen this year, but we can hope for the 2021 season, when you will likely be arriving on campus.)

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How to Respond to the ApplyTexas Essay Prompts

Cece Gilmore is a Content Writer at Scholarships360. Cece earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University. While at ASU, she was the education editor as well as a published staff reporter at Downtown Devil. Cece was also the co-host of her own radio show on Blaze Radio ASU.

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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

If you are looking to use ApplyTexas to apply to multiple Texas universities, you have come to the right place. The ApplyTexas essay prompts are a crucial part of the application, and we will walk you through them step-by-step in this guide.

ApplyTexas is a common application form used by most Texas public universities and a few private Texas universities. The ApplyTexas website is a good source for determining if the ApplyTexas application is accepted by your dream Texas school. When filling out the application, there are a few ApplyTexas essay prompts applicants need to fill out. 

Here’s our guide for how to ace each ApplyTexas essay prompts on the application.

Related: Scholarships360’s free scholarship search tool

“Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?” (500-750 words)

This prompt essentially wants to know what events or experiences in high school shaped you into the person you are today. Focus on what you believe to be the biggest impact on your life. Make sure to focus on you . 

Try and choose one to two main life-shaping events that occurred in high school. Be sure that they are specific! Try to zero in on something unique that you were able to participate in or that you overcame. For example, perhaps you sadly lost someone you love due to a disease that inspired you to enter into the medical field. Or perhaps working at an ice cream shop made you realize how much you love customer service. While these are two different life experiences, both show self-awareness and growth. The main goal of writing these supplemental essays is to allow the reader to get to know you and what makes you unique. 

After describing these events, now turn the focus to you! How did you use these opportunities to thrive into the stand-out person you are today? Make sure to clearly link your environment in high school to some prominent traits you now possess.

Questions to consider: 

• How did your particular environment and experiences make you special? 
• What challenges or opportunities have you encountered? 
• How did you overcome these challenges or take these opportunities head on? 

Don’t miss: How many schools should I apply to?

“Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.” (500-750 words)

Define what that unique trait you have is! It can be a piece of your identity, an interest or even a talent. Brainstorm ideas of things that make you so different from everyone else.

Describe this trait or thing that makes you so unique in a story-telling manner. Be creative! Do not just state what makes you unique, but describe it instead. This is the time to make yourself stand apart as a unique individual. Maybe you are an experienced photographer and taking pictures is your passion. Was there a special person who taught you how to take pictures? Do you turn towards a famous photographer for inspiration? Who gave you your first camera? The keys to getting to know the real you are found within your responses. The “why” is what drives the reader to understand the real personable you. 

Be sure to choose a positive trait that makes you look good! Remember this is going to colleges that you want to attend. You want to draw them in, but you also want to make a good impression. So, keep it appropriate and mature, but also creative! 

Once you have determined and written about your special trait, write about how this “piece of you” defines you! You need to contextualize this trait to the rest of your personality and life. How does this one aspect of you make you who you are? 

• What makes you unique from others?
• If you were thrown onto a stage for a talent show what would you perform? 
• How does this unique trait align with your aspirations and identity? 

Apply to these scholarships due soon

Toward Excellence, Access, & Success (TEXAS) Grant Program

Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program (TEOG)

$10,000 “No Essay” Scholarship

$2,000 Sallie Mae Scholarship

Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest

$40,000 Build a College List Scholarship

Cydni Lawson Morris Memorial Scholarship

Niche $25,000 “No Essay” Scholarship

Minority Women in STEM Financial Need Scholarship

“You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?” (500-750 words)

This is a fun prompt that gives you plenty of creative freedom in your response. However, remember that this is going to be sent to a college that you want to attend! Therefore, use this essay to show off your career and long-term goals. 

To be extremely creative, realize that this prompt just states a “ticket,” but does not specify what kind of ticket. Most applicants may immediately think of a plane ticket, but this is your response! Therefore, the “ticket” can be a ticket to medical school, a ticket to a fantasy world where everyone wears fedoras or a ticket to your grandfather’s house. The creativity is endless! 

The most important part of this answer is your ability to justify where you are going with this ticket. You want to be able to show that you have goals for your life. Prove that having this metaphorical opportunity to have a magical ticket will allow you to succeed and reach some of your goals. 

No matter how creative a college essay question is, you always want to make sure you are revealing pieces of your personality. Throughout your response, make sure to be describing yourself and your personal goals. 

Questions to consider:  

• Is there a destination you have always wanted to go to? 
• If money was not an issue, where would you go? 
• What are your aspirations for the future and where would you go to make these aspirations a reality? 

Also see: How to choose financial safety, reach, and match schools

“Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?” (500-750 words)

This essay option is specific for certain majors. Therefore, if you are not applying as a major in architecture, art, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies, or art education, then you are not required to answer this question. 

To begin responding to this essay prompt, begin with a moment of observation you have experienced that changed your thinking. This could be an instance during an art class when a piece was first taught to you or a time when you stumbled upon a piece of art in a gallery. Whatever the experience you had, make sure that you select a point in time where the observation of an object, image or space really made you contemplate. 

After you have described this moment, it is important to list specific details of the piece as well as accurately describe your own emotions while viewing the piece. 

Some questions to consider

• What type of emotion did the art make you feel? 
• Why did the art make you feel some type of emotion?
• What changed in your thinking? 

After describing how your view changed, it is then important to connect back to the future. How will you use what you learned from this experience in your life going forward? It is important to reveal that the lessons learned from this moving experience will stick with you throughout your life.

Also see: How to get in-state tuition as an out-of-state student

Which colleges require which ApplyTexas essays? 

Every Texas university has slightly different essay requirements from the ApplyTexas essay prompt list. For full information, you must create an ApplyTexas account and review the specific requirements. Here are a few Texas colleges and their particular requirements on the ApplyTexas application: 

Baylor University

• Essay A, B and C are optional

Southern Methodist University

• Essay B – optional

Texas A&M University, College Station

Texas christian university, university of texas at austin.

• Essay A 

Next steps after responding to the ApplyTexas essay prompts

Now that the hard part is over, and your ApplyTexas essay prompts are flawless – take a deep breath! 

The different Texas universities found under the ApplyTexas application will have slightly different requirements when it comes to which essay prompt responses they select. Each Texas school will require a different combination of the above three essay-prompts or even all three. In fact, some schools will even have additional prompts of their own. 

Texas universities use these prompts for not only admission, but for selecting students to award scholarships to as well. Therefore, it is crucial to put effort into your essay prompt responses! 

If your dream college also accepts the Common Application, check out our guide on how to answer the 2021-2022 Common App essay prompts to see whether they would be a better fit for you.

Don’t miss: Top Texas scholarships

Additional resources

In addition to prompt-specific advice, it’s a good idea to examine your general writing technique when it comes time to draft your college essays. Check out our guides on how to write an essay about yourself , how to write 250 and 500-word essays, and our general guide for rocking college applications . We can also help you decide how many schools to apply to and how to find safety, reach, and match schools .If you’re wondering whether to send test scores to test-optional schools , we’ve got a guide for that as well. And once you start hearing back, we can help you create a college comparison spreadsheet to make your college choice. Finally, check out our free scholarship search tool to help fund your education and keep all of your college options open. Good luck!

Frequently asked questions about ApplyTexas 

How do i get a waiver for applytexas, does ut austin prefer the applytexas or coalition application, what colleges can you apply to with applytexas, scholarships360 recommended.

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ApplyTexas Essays: How Long Should They Be?

Written by Tova Javetz on August 17th, 2016

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Find out what you can expect from our partnership and view our variety of flexible services .

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Freshman Admission Essays

An essay is not required for admission, but it is highly recommended. Essay topics A, B, and C below are the same topics found on the   ApplyTexas application. If you choose to submit an admission essay, select one of these topics . Essays may be submitted through your ApplyTexas or CommonApp account or by using our document uploader.

Essay Topics - ApplyTexas

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

You've got a ticket in your hand. Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Writing Essentials

To assist you with your essay, the Texas State English Department has provided the following guide to good essay writing.

Sentence and Paragraph Level

Does the essay reflect a relative mastery of usage, conventions, and vocabulary?

Do the sentences and ideas follow one another in a logical and coherent fashion?

Does the essay reflect a relative knowledge of the proper conventions of grammar? Do not simply use spell check or proofread your essay; read your essay out loud.

Do your sentences and words follow the proper conventions of punctuation and spelling?

Unified Theme or Subject

Narrow your topic to a single topic. Don't try to write a broad, general essay on how your life has changed. You can't do this in one page. 

Are your ideas specific and coherent? Choose language that reflects and relates specific ideas.

Creativity engages the reader. Don’t be afraid to take risks with your writing. Use creative examples.

Use specific examples to help make your points clear. It will make your essay solid and convincing. 

Submit Your Essay

Your essay may be submitted with your application or separately.

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• Apply Texas College Essay Prompts for Class of 2023

January 17, 2022 By Jolyn Brand

The Apply Texas application is a common application form for most Texas public universities. It allows students to input their information for several different colleges at once. ApplyTexas college essay prompts for class of 2022 are:

• Essay A:   Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Essay B:  Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.
• Essay C:  You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Each school requires a different combination of these three college essays-some require all three, some just one or two, or others make certain ones recommended or optional. Some schools even use these essays for both admissions decisions AND scholarships so it’s important to put time and effort into each one!

UT Short Answer Question Requirements

As part of ApplyTexas, all freshman applicants will also respond to  short-answer questions .

Fall 2022 Prompts-Required Short Answers (250-300 words each):

1.     Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

2.     Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.

3.     The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT-Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

4.     Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance, including the possible effects of COVID-19.

Texas A&M University-  3 Short Answer Questions for all applicants

• Texas A&M University believes that diversity is an important part of academic excellence and that it is essential to living our core values (loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, respect, and selfless service). Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for you personally and for the Texas A&M campus community. (250-300 words)
• Tell us about the person who has most impacted your life and why.
• Describe a life event which you feel has prepared you to be successful in college.

Texas A&M University- Short answer question for Engineering majors (Priority deadline- October 15)

Engineering Essay : Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals?

The Apply Texas application has moved to https://goapplytexas.org/

Applying to colleges with the common app, be sure to check out the common app essay prompts here., share this:.

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Texas A&M University Supplemental Essay Guide: 2021-2022

Not sure how to approach the Texas A&M essay prompts? CollegeAdvisor.com’s guide to the Texas A&M application essays will breakdown the Texas A&M essay requirements and show you exactly how to write engaging Texas A&M essays to maximize your chances of admission. If you need help answering the Texas A&M essay prompts, create your free or schedule a free advising consultation by calling (844) 343-6272.

Texas A&M Essay Guide Quick Facts

• Acceptance rate of 63.0%— U.S. News ranks Texas A&M as a more selective school. 
• Every student must submit a Texas A&M essay through ApplyTexas or The Coalition Application . If you are applying as an engineer, you must write an additional Texas A&M essay.

Does Texas A&M have any supplemental essays?

Yes, there are two Texas A&M application essays. The Essay tab of Admission’s Freshman Application Page , lists the Texas A&M essay requirements. You’ll find both Texas A&M essay prompts there. In the first essay, you’ll share a bit about your high school career. The second, is an engineering-specific short answer question.

Does Texas A&M require a supplemental essay?

Yes, the Texas A&M requirements require all applicants to write Texas A&M application essays. While there are two Texas A&M essay prompts, there is only one required Texas A&M essay. Only students applying to the College of Engineering need to answer both Texas A&M essay prompts. 

To summarize, students applying as engineers will write two Texas A&M admissions essays. All other non-engineering students will write one Texas A&M essay. Now that we have established the Texas A&M essay requirements, let’s write those Texas A&M admissions essays!

How do I write my Texas A&M supplemental essay?

After you’ve reviewed the Texas A&M essay requirements, you can begin brainstorming topics for your Texas A&M essays.  Remember, there isn’t a perfect topic or a formulaic approach to writing your essay. Your Texas A&M admissions essays are an opportunity to infuse your application with your life, personality, and voice. Rather than trying to impress Admissions with your Texas A&M essays, go for honesty! That means being true to yourself and your experiences. 

No matter what topic you end up choosing to write about in your Texas A&M essays, it is important you remember your audience. Your Texas A&M application essays are part of an application, so you need to appeal to the needs of your reader: the Admissions team. They are looking to get a sense of who you are and how you’ll add to the vibrancy of their student body.

Here are three questions you should keep in mind when writing each of your Texas A&M admissions essays:

• Have I answered the prompt in my Texas A&M essay?
• Does my Texas A&M essay reflect who I am?
• Do I show how I will be an asset to the school’s community in my Texas A&M essay?

Now that we have our essay goals in mind, let’s move on to the first step: brainstorming. We have provided the 2021-2022 Texas A&M essay prompts below. You’ll find a breakdown of how to approach each question, as well as tips for writing Texas A&M application essays that will help you stand out in admissions. 

Texas A&M essay – Question 1 (Required)

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today? (no word limit).

The Texas A&M essay prompts do not have specified word limits. Because there is only one required Texas A&M essay and this prompt is open-ended, we suggest sticking between approximately 500-700 words. Remember, if your essay is too short, you may not be telling a complete or detailed story. Too long, and you may not keep your reader’s attention.

Generate ideas

This Texas A&M essay is going to be about cause and effect. As you brainstorm , split your page into two columns: “Opportunities/Challenges” and “How I Was Affected.” The first column addresses the “what” part of your Texas A&M essay. The prompt asks about plural opportunities or challenges. Therefore, it is important you write down as many memories you can think of, as you’ll likely be picking more than one to include in your Texas A&M essay. Also, this prompt specifically asks about your high school career . Restrict your brainstorming to high school memories. 

The second column will be the “why” of your Texas A&M essay. Why is it important for the admissions team to hear this story? For each opportunity or challenge, write a corresponding bullet point that summarizes what you learned, how you grew, why you were proud of yourself, or why it was important to you.

Look for patterns

Once you’ve completed your brainstorm, start looking for patterns or ways to group your experiences. Was there a particular class you grew in? Perhaps there was a challenge that later reappeared as an opportunity. Or maybe there’s an aspect of your personality that shined through in multiple situations.

Whatever you settle on, be sure to refer to the three objectives before you start drafting your Texas A&M essay. This breakdown has already helped you be sure you are responding to the prompt, so you need to be sure the story you’ve outlined will reflect something about who you are and how you might positively impact Texas A&M’s community.

Tell your story

All that’s left to do is tell your story. As you begin drafting your Texas A&M application essays, be sure you aren’t simply listing facts or details. Instead, string them together with your thoughts, feelings, and interpretations. Even if the events on paper are simple, your voice is what makes will make you stand out .

Essay Draft Key Questions:

• Does your Texas A&M essay tell a story about opportunities or challenges you faced in high school? 
• Did you show how your experiences helped shape who you are?
• Does your Texas A&M essay have a point of view?

Texas A&M essay – Question 2 (Required for Engineering Applicants)

Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals? (no word limit).

According to the Texas A&M essay requirements, all applicants to the School of Engineering must respond to a second prompt and write a total of two Texas A&M admissions essays. Neither of the Texas A&M essay prompts has word counts, so there is no specific word limit for your Texas A&M essays. Because this question is more straightforward, we suggest keeping your second Texas A&M essay between 300-500 words.

Although the topics are different, both Texas A&M essay prompts are cause & effect questions. For this brainstorm, split your page into two columns: “Academic and Career Goals” and “Who/What Inspires Me.” List out what you hope to learn and the kind of work and research you might want to do at college as well as the kind of positions or work you’d like to hold or be involved in post-graduation (including grad school if you’re already thinking of attending). Remember, whatever you include on your inspiration list needs to have “contributed to these goals,” so as you list people, topics, or events, also write down how they helped lead you to your goals. 

Focus on what’s important

Once you have all the information and details you’d like to include, all you need to do is write about them in a way that shows who you are and what is important to you. For example, if you already know the kind of job you’d like to have one day, you could start with your academic goals, reflect upon your inspirations, and end with your career aspirations. Or if there was one pivotal moment that has defined your path, maybe start with that moment and tell the story of how that has led you to have the goals you have today.

Everyone’s goals and inspirations will be specific to them. However, a strong Texas A&M essay should focus on your passion for engineering. Let that passion shine through in your writing, and you’ll be sure to have Texas A&M application essays that will blow the admissions team away. 

• Did you describe your academic and career goals in your Texas A&M essay? 
• Have you shown what has inspired you to reach for these goals?
• Does your Texas A&M essay reflect your passion?

What does Texas A&M look for in essays?

To begin, you should think of the Texas A&M essays as a chance to introduce yourself. They’re also an opportunity to set yourself apart from other applicants. Therefore, you’ll want to write your Texas A&M application essays in your own voice and show how your unique experiences have impacted how you view the world. The admissions team cares about more than just your grades and test scores; they care about the person behind the numbers.

Although it is not specifically mentioned in the Texas A&M essay requirements, it is expected your essays have the correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. In addition to telling your story, the admissions department is looking for Texas A&M admissions essays that are clear and polished. Excellent editing and proofreading are a must. The less distracted your reader is by little mistakes, the easier it will be to focus on the story your Texas A&M essays are telling.  

Tips for writing Texas A&M essays

In addition to providing the Texas A&M essay requirements, the university has a College Readiness page with resources and tips to help you through the application process. Be sure to review these tips on the website or below.  Approaching the Texas A&M application essays can be daunting. CollegeAdvisor offers 39 Essay Tips from Admissions Experts that will you navigate the writing process.

Answer the question

Our guide has already broken down the Texas A&M essay prompts to be sure you’ve answered the question completely. As you settle on a topic, be sure to use your Texas A&M admissions essays as an opportunity to touch on something not mentioned anywhere else in your application. Although the Texas A&M essay requirements don’t specifically tell you to, providing new information will help give the admissions team a full picture of who you are and the experiences that have prepared you for college.

Be authentic

We’ve said to “use your voice,” which is just another way to say be authentic. While it is important you keep your audience in mind (and specifically use language appropriate to the formality of a college application), it is also important you stay true to who you are. There’s no need to try to sound smarter or funnier or more serious in your Texas A&M essays than you do in real life – Admissions wants you to be yourself. 

Focus on details

The details you include will make your Texas A&M application essays stand out from the rest. Even if your circumstances or experiences seem like everybody else’s, your experience of them is what makes them special and unique to you. Being specific will also help bring your story to life and help drop your reader into your shoes so they can better understand who you are and what you bring to the table. 

Proofread your essay

Proofread, proofread, proofread! Grammar or spelling mistakes aren’t the end of the world. However, they do distract your reader from what is important: your story. Whether or not you are a strong proofreader, have a second pair of eyes on your Texas A&M essays. A teacher, counselor, or guardian is a great place to start. Even a fellow peer can be a good resource. Most importantly, your reader should give feedback on both grammar and story. This will ensure your final draft is as polished as it can be. 

As you begin compiling all the information you’ll need for your application, check out the Admissions blog for prospective students. Additionally, if you’d like more tips from Texas A&M’s undergraduate admissions team on approaching your essays, check out this video on telling your story!

Texas A&M Supplemental Essays: Final Thoughts

If the essay requirements seem daunting to you, remember that the admissions team wants to be impressed by you. There are so many types of students and people in the world. It is impossible to know who a person is by their grades and test scores alone. Consequently, the admissions teams reads the Texas A&M admissions essays to get a better understanding of each candidate as a person. Unlike the other aspects of your application, you have complete control over your Texas A&M application essays. Take that freedom and use your Texas A&M essays to show them your best, most curious self. Start early. Then, you’ll have time to brainstorm, draft, edit, rewrite, and proofread. With a little preparation, your Texas A&M application essays can wow the admissions team.

This 2021-2022 essay guide on Texas A&M was written by Stefanie Tedards. For more CollegeAdvisor.com resources on Texas A&M, click here . Want help crafting your Texas A&M admissions essays? Create your free account or schedule a free advising consultation by calling (844) 343-6272.

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Application essay length.

<p>What is the application essay length?</p>

<p>According to my UT application at ApplyTexas.com it reads “If you are submitting your essay online, it must be no longer than 120 eighty-character lines of text (including spaces and blank lines).”</p>

<p>Does this mean 120 lines of text of about 80 characters each? Also, does font, font size, and spacing (double spaced or single spaced) matter? Im typing mine single spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font. If I do it double spaced, would each space between lines count towards the line limit as a “blank line”?</p>

<p>But if you are submitting it by mail it reads “If you are mailing in a paper copy of your essay(s), please put your full name, date of birth and the ApplyTexas application ID at the top of each page. Unless otherwise specified, your essay should be typed and no longer than one page (8 1/2” x 11")."</p>

<p>What bothers me about the mailed version is that a “full page” is much less than 120 lines. Its about 40 wen i checked! Does spacing matter here too?</p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

<p>80 characters is 80 characters no matter what size font you use. (You might find it easiest to picture 80-character lines of text by using Courier font. With Courier, each character uses the same amount of space, so all of the 80-character lines look like they are the same length.)</p>

<p>Whether you have set your original page up for double or single spacing doesn’t matter but if you are running out of space, don’t put extra blank lines between paragraphs. Each extra carriage returns count as an extra character.</p>

<p>Your printed-out version looks smaller because it is in a proportionally-spaced font, Times New Roman. (If you want to see the difference, try printing it out in Courier 12-point with wide enough margins that only 80 characters fit on each line.)</p>

<p>^thanks for your response, ill reformat my essays to courier new.</p>

<p>I am going to submit them online through applytexas.com . I know 120 lines is the max, but is their a set minimum? Because I believe min are well written and to the point with much less than 120 lines.</p>

<p>mine was about 500 words each</p>

<p>^ blem im actually leaning to wat u said. See in my other applications, their essays had to be generally around 400-500 words (i am a FL resident). But these Texas apps are confusing me</p>

<p>just multiply the two numbers and that is the total of characters you can have in your essay.</p>

<p>I know that would give me the actual limit in terms of characters, but I feel like I am writing way to little. Right now, the length of Essays A, B, and C for me are 467, 456, and 441 words respectively. They are currently being revised by my english teacher.</p>

<p>My Essay S is 521 words and Essay C is 540 words</p>

<p>My C is 1000~ words and my A is 400~ words. Obviously, I think my C essay is on the long side but in general, I really don’t think UT Austin admissions is based on the essays as so much as GPA and scores (most important) and extracurriculars/awards (important)</p>

<p>Essays are important for honors programs and highly ranked colleges (Business and Engineering) within UT Austin.</p>

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