How to Impress with Your Swarthmore Supplemental Essays 2020-2021
With an acceptance rate of only 8.8%, Swarthmore College is currently one of the most selective liberal arts colleges in the country. If you’re a creative and hardworking individual with enthusiasm for learning and you thrive when working towards proactive problem solving – you may fit the bill of what this Pennsylvania institution wants in its ideal candidates. Anyone can claim to have these qualities, but you need to do more than that. Convince admissions officers that you and Swarthmore are right for each other by writing a stellar Swarthmore supplemental essay 2020-2021.
You only have to pick between three questions and answer one prompt for the Swarthmore supplemental essay 2020-2021. The school wants to know about a community that’s shaped you, a challenge that has made an impact on you, or why you’ve picked Swarthmore. You need to demonstrate that you’re an intellectually curious and engaged individual and make sure that admissions officers know you’re a strong candidate for one of their coveted 400 spots. To guide you, I’ve outlined the prompt, the dos and don’ts of your response, and more tips to help as you take on the essay-writing process.
Prompts for the The Swarthmore Supplemental Essay 2020-2021
Please choose ONE of the topics below and write a response (maximum 250 words)
Prompt 1
Swarthmore students’ worldviews are often forged by their prior experiences and exposure to ideas and values. Our students are often mentored, supported, and developed by their immediate context—in their neighborhoods, communities of faith, families, and classrooms. Reflect on what elements of your home, school, or community have shaped you or positively impacted you. How have you grown or changed because of the influence of your community?
On its website, the school states that it “appreciate[s] students who have had a sustained commitment to service, who express a genuine interest in moving our world forward, and who demonstrate an interest in improving their school or local or cultural community in a collaborative way.” A well written Swarthmore supplemental essay 2020-2021 under this question should focus on giving admissions officers a strong, memorable sense of how you’ve engaged with your local community and where you would contribute to their school.
Think about a group or place that has impacted you – it could be your ethnic or religious community, or it could be a club at school, or an organization outside of school that matters to you. Think about the role you’ve played in the community, how it has shaped your perspective, and how you’d be different without it. The heart of this prompt lies in clarifying the role you have played in this community as well as outlining what you’ve learned that you would later bring to Swarthmore. Were there situations where you had to lead the community? How have the ideas that have come from within the community shaped you? Have there been any changes that you’ve successfully implemented? Since the prompt doesn’t specify whether your engagement with the community should be positive or negative, you can take a nuanced route and talk about both – factors that you love about the community, and issues that you didn’t like and worked to change.
