Check your supplemental essays
Open the picker, choose Supplemental essays and search for your college: its 2026-27 questions appear, each with its own box and limit. Fill the ones you have.
Check your college supplemental essays
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Open the picker and search for a college to see its 2026–27 supplemental questions.
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How the grader reads your supplements
- 1You choose a college. Its current questions load, copied word for word from its admissions site, including which ones are a choice, which are optional and which depend on your school.
- 2Each answer is read against a checklist for its kind of question plus one check written for that college's own wording, the way an admissions reader at that college reads it.
- 3Code, not the model, turns the checklists, the word or character limits and the AI-detection check into a readiness verdict for each answer and for the whole set.
- 4You get one report: the answer that is costing you most, every sentence annotated, coaching questions, how your answers work together and a revision plan.
The checklists
Every kind of supplemental question has its own checklist, written from what admissions offices say they want (Rice, Rochester, Michigan, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Caltech and others). The most common ones:
Why this college
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Specific to this college | It names at least two concrete things that exist at this college (a program, course, research group, tradition, place, way of teaching) and could not survive a swap of the college's name. |
| Connected to you | Each thing named is tied to something the applicant has done, asked or wants, so the reader sees why it matters to THIS student, not why the college is good. |
| What you would do there | It shows how the applicant would use those things and what they would add (join, start, research, contribute), not only what they would receive. |
Why this major or school
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Where the interest comes from | A specific, preferably recent experience (a class, project, job, reading, problem) shows the interest is real, not a stated passion. |
| How you think about it | The reader sees the applicant's own thinking: a question they pursue, a connection they made, a view of the field. |
| Your path at this college | It names how this school's curriculum, structure or opportunities fit the plan, specifically enough that it would not fit another school unchanged. |
Community
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| The community, concretely | The community is defined by a detail only a member would know (a place, a ritual, a person), not a label. |
| Your part in it | What the applicant personally did or does in it is on the page, with "I" statements. |
| What it gave you and what you will bring | It says how the community shaped the applicant and connects that to how they will take part in the college's community. |
Background and identity
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| One lived experience | It focuses on one specific aspect of the applicant's life or background, shown through a moment or detail, not a list of labels. |
| How it shaped you | It shows how that experience changed what the applicant thinks, does or notices, with evidence rather than a claim. |
| What classmates will gain | It makes clear what the applicant would bring to conversations, classes or campus life because of it. |
Disagreement and dialogue
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| A real difference | The issue and the other person or group are specific, and the difference between their views is stated fairly. |
| How you engaged | It shows the process (listening, questions asked, what the applicant said and did), not a debate won; the applicant need not be the hero. |
| What you learned | It says honestly what changed in the applicant's thinking or way of engaging, even if neither view changed, and how they engage with others now. |
Short answer
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Specific | It uses a concrete name, detail or image instead of a general statement. |
| Something new | It shows a side of the applicant that the rest of the application probably does not. |
Each answer also gets one check written for its college and question, for example whether a "Why Duke" answer covers goals, values and interests, or whether a Columbia list follows Columbia's format rules.
Readiness, not a score
| Verdict | When |
|---|---|
| Needs work | Over the college's word or character limit, under its minimum, the answer does not answer the question yet, two areas are missing, or most areas fall short of Met. For the set: much of it reads as machine-written. |
| Nearly there | One area missing, two only partly met, or a long answer using under half its limit. |
| Ready | Everything else: the question is answered with evidence and fits the limit. |