Want to geek out on stats and data and make more informed choices about college? Read Boston University’s Common Data Set, for an extensive, by-the-numbers look at its offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information.
To find out why and get some key phrases that you can use to make your essays amazing, read its strategic plan. Reading through this will give you the inside scoop on what Boston University values and what changes will shape the university in the future.
BUT, please don’t just copy and paste chunks of the plan into your essay because a) that’s plagiarism and it's basically an academic crime, and b) anyone could do that.
Think about this: What aspects of BU’s plan speak to you? Does it matter to you that the student-to-faculty ratio has dropped? Think about what this signals and whether that resonates with you (does more face-to-face time with professors appeal to you?). What about a new career planning center? This might be exciting if you’re planning on getting internships and taking advantage of help finding a job after college. Are you interested in global studies? Would you be excited to take classes at “one of the country’s largest schools of global and regional studies”? Keep reading to connect the dots.
What is the Boston University supplemental essay prompt?
Boston University Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
Boston University is dedicated to our founding principles: “that higher education should be accessible to all and that research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice should be conducted in the service of the wider community—local and international. These principles endure in the University’s insistence on the value of diversity in its tradition and standards of excellence and its dynamic engagement with the City of Boston and the world.” With this mission in mind, please respond to one of the following two questions in 300 words or less:
- Reflect on a social or community issue that deeply resonates with you. Why is it important to you, and how have you been involved in addressing or raising awareness about it? (300 words)
- What about being a student at BU most excites you? How do you hope to contribute to our campus community? (300 words)
Boston University Kilachand Honors College Essay
The mission of Kilachand Honors College is to offer a challenging liberal arts education grounded in critical and creative thinking, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and the real-world application of knowledge. Please see https://www.bu.edu/khc/about/ for more details about our program, and then respond to one of the following questions in an essay of 600 words or less:
- What about the Kilachand Honors College resonates with you, and how would Kilachand's curriculum fulfill your academic, creative, intellectual, and/or professional goals? (600 words)
- If you could create a new Kilachand course, what would it be? How would your imagined course align with the core values of Kilachand? (600 words)
Boston University Trustee Scholarship Essay
Please write an essay of 600 words or less in response to one of the following two topics:
- Nobel laureate and BU professor Elie Wiesel once said: “There is divine beauty in learning... To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests." Is there a book, film, podcast or life-experience that has made you feel more connected to your personal history/identity, and what is the most important thing you learned from it? (600 words)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Describe a time in your life when you stepped out of your comfort zone and forged your own path. What motivated you to take that action, and how did it change your perspective? Share the lessons you learned from that experience, and how it might shape your views as a Trustee Scholar.
How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for Boston University
Boston University is dedicated to our founding principles: “that higher education should be accessible to all and that research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice should be conducted in the service of the wider community—local and international. These principles endure in the University’s insistence on the value of diversity in its tradition and standards of excellence and its dynamic engagement with the City of Boston and the world.” With this mission in mind, please respond to one of the following two questions in 300 words or less:
- Reflect on a social or community issue that deeply resonates with you. Why is it important to you, and how have you been involved in addressing or raising awareness about it? (300 words)
- What about being a student at BU most excites you? How do you hope to contribute to our campus community? (300 words)
No matter which option you choose for this essay, notice that BU went to the trouble of inserting some of the college’s founding principles directly into the prompt! So there are big clues here about the subjects you’re being asked to write about: educational access for all, service to the community (local and international), diversity, and/or dynamic engagement in Boston and the world. As you plan your essay, consider how your experiences connect with one or more of these themes.
Essay option 1
Reflect on a social or community issue that deeply resonates with you. Why is it important to you, and how have you been involved in addressing or raising awareness about it? (300 words)
When choosing a topic for this prompt, explore these questions:
What issue(s) matter most to you?
What gets you fired up?
What local or global situation do you find yourself thinking and talking about?
And most importantly, how have you dedicated your time and energy to doing something about some of your answers to the questions above?
Your activities list is a great place to look for a topic. Your social media feeds might also offer some useful clues—what social or community issues repeat in the accounts you follow? And keep in mind that you might already be writing an essay about one of your activities for another school that could double for this prompt. If so, it may be a candidate for a Super Essay.
Next, brainstorm your content by answering these questions:
What’s the issue that resonates with you?
Why? Where do you see this issue playing out? Who or what is affected?
What have you done about it? Be specific about your role and actions taken.
What impact did you have, and what did you learn?
Once you’ve answered those questions, you can dive into drafting. And the 1-4 order above can work for structuring your essay (Issue, Stakes, Actions, Impact + Insight).
Because this is a new prompt for BU this year, we don’t have an example that was written specifically for it, but the examples below, written for other schools’ similar prompts (with a different word count), would work well.
Example:
In 2020, various racially motivated hate crimes such as the slew of disturbing police killings and spread of Asian hate caused me to reflect on racial injustice in America. While such injustices can take many different forms and be overt or subtle, all are equally capable of creating racial inequality.
A societal issue significantly impacting minorities is educational injustice between private and public schools since students of color account for more than 75% of public-school enrollment. The pandemic exacerbated this problem as some private institutions (like my school), not impeded by a lack of financial resources or bureaucracy, could return to in-person instruction, while many public institutions stayed closed for the majority of the 2020-21 school year, their students’ educational experience less optimal as a result.
The values of service instilled through my Sacred Heart education prompted me to act in response to this injustice and do my part to propagate educational equality across races in the Bay Area. My interest in tutoring began in middle school when I volunteered in my school’s peer tutoring program. In high school, I created a tutoring club, giving my peers the opportunity to help younger elementary students on financial aid with their homework. With the club being sidetracked by COVID-19, I joined 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students in the Bay Area. This experience prompted me to transition my old club to a remote format, adapting to restrictions posed by the pandemic. I worked with my friend to rebrand the club, naming it TutorDigital, registering it as a non-profit, and designing a website, efforts which expanded our reach to include local public schools. Through our efforts, we’ve helped provide tutoring services to 32 underprivileged Bay Area students, while also identifying other opportunities to support public schools, such as donating upwards of 60 iPads and creating a book donation program.
While educational injustice is an issue that unfortunately will not be solved overnight, it’s an issue that must be aggressively addressed, now more than ever given the massive impacts from the pandemic. I look forward to continuing this work at Boston College. But for now, I gain comfort from each thank you note from a parent or good grade achieved by a student, knowing my efforts have potentially improved the academic trajectory of these children and helped to address racial injustice in America. (393 words)
— — —
Tips & Advice:
Use the problem/solution structure from your brainstorming. This student starts the essay by naming how racially motivated hate crimes raised their awareness of racial inequity and then identifying the specific context that concerns them, educational injustice. Once they flesh out the problem in the second paragraph, they launch into a description of the steps they took to address it. The structural approach used here can also work well in other essays you may be writing about volunteer or community service.
Be specific about your role and activities. The bulk of this essay—the third paragraph—clearly lays out this student’s actions on the issue: started a tutoring club, joined a nonprofit, rebranded the club, registered it as a non-profit, etc. Using clear, active verbs with this kind of detail helps you highlight your skills and achievements for your admissions reader.
Show your impact. Thank you notes and good grades let this student know how they might have improved their students’ academic trajectory and achieved their goal of addressing racial injustice. And offer tangible evidence when possible: 32 students, 60 iPads, book donations. What has happened because of your efforts? What outcomes can you report? Whom have you affected and how?
Looking ahead… at BU. This author points out that there’s still much to do and that they plan to continue their work at BU. You could go further by suggesting one or two specific things you plan to do on campus on your issue, building on what you’ve already done. For ideas, do a little “Why Us” research and link back to those founding BU principles: educational access, diversity, community service, and local and global engagement.
Read on for another example essay that would work well for this prompt:
Example:
In the 1930s, 36 members of my family were lost to the Holocaust, and that fact has since led me to carry on the memory of my ancestors through tradition—preparing for my Bar Mitzvah, observing Jewish holidays, and going to synagogue for Rosh Hashana. Additionally, it has driven me to teach others about the Holocaust. At my first-year Entry, I would share my involvement within the Jewish community, and how it has led me to become a more engaged member of society.
During this past school year, I became an educator on the Student Leadership Board of the Seattle-based Holocaust Center for Humanity. Meeting biweekly, we discussed historical anti-Semitism as well as modern-day discrimination toward oppressed groups of people.
Before joining the board, I had felt disconnected from Jewish activism and lacked a community of fellow Jewish activists. My year on the board solved that. Each week, I added my ideas and learned from fellow students during group discussion. Additionally, I built an interactive website to share the story of a Holocaust survivor.
Even though we weren’t all Jewish, this group’s drive for educating others and spreading peace brought us closer. It was a community where we could talk about serious current events, but also where we could share a laugh.
At Williams, I hope to discover that same kind of community. I’ll join the Williams College Jewish Association, where I can carry on what I loved about the Holocaust Center’s board, participating in discussions, leading service projects, and making impactful art to share stories.
Even outside that group, I’ll bring to Williams my Jewish values and enthusiasm for meeting people from different backgrounds, spreading a greater message of peace and kindness. (282 words)
— — —
Esaay option 2
What about being a student at BU most excites you? How do you hope to contribute to our campus community? (300 words)
This prompt is a version of the “Why us?” essay, with an invitation to say specifically how you plan to contribute to the BU community. As such, we recommend checking out this complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay and paying close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn” examples, which are our favorites.
Here’s the short version of how to write the “Why us?” essay:
Spend 1 hr+ researching 10+ reasons why Boston University might be a great fit for you (ideally 3-5 of the reasons will be unique to Boston U and connect back to you).
Make a copy of this chart to map out your college research.
Come up with at least three ways you plan to contribute to life on campus, whether in an academic context, extracurricular activities, student leadership, or in other ways.
Create an outline for your essays based on either Approach 1, 2 (recommended), or 3 in the full guide above. Either conclude with your planned contributions, or weave them into the rest of the essay.
Write a first draft!
As you write, try to avoid these common mistakes:
Six Common Mistakes Students Make on “Why Us?” Essays
Mistake #1: Writing about the school's size, location, reputation, weather, or ranking.
Mistake #2: Simply using emotional language to demonstrate fit.
Mistake #3: Screwing up the mascot, stadium, team colors, or names of any important people or places on campus.
Mistake #4: Parroting the brochures or website language.
Mistake #5: Describing traditions the school is well-known for.
Mistake #6: Thinking of this as only a "Why them" essay.
Here’s a great sample essay for the BU supplemental essay.
Example:
If plotted on a three-dimensional graph, BU stands as the intersection between science (X=1), humanities (Y=1), and a global education (Z=1). At point (1, 0, 0) you will find “CAS BI 206: Genetics,” while “CAS XL 342: Travel Writing and the Muslim World” will likely be found closer to (0, 0.75, 0.50). Classes involving travel or fieldwork all lie along the plane Z=1.
In our three-dimensional world, BU prepares the next generation of students to see beyond X and Y. As a budding geneticist and physician, I am often told that I will have to sacrifice fundamental pieces of who I am in order to pursue a career in science. But as a (1, 0.5, 0.25), as an avid researcher but also an activist, volunteer, and community advocate, I know that I have to find a college that allows me to grow in all directions. I know that BU is exactly that.
And because an entire college experience can never be broken down into numbers alone, I hope to work in the lab with Dr. Ho, as her research builds off of the work I am currently involved in at Columbia University to study genomes for disease-causing mutations. Additionally, the International Affairs Association combines both my passions for Model UN and service through BarMUN and Global Civics. Fun and exploration, awareness and advocacy find a home at Boston University, and I hope that I will as well.
— — —
Tips + Analysis
Find your hook. With the three-dimensional graph framing of this essay, this student reveals their math mind and scientific expertise without even saying it. What’s your 3d graph? As in, what do you know a lot about, or what’s something that you uniquely identify with? One of these elements can help you lead in an engaging and revelatory way.
Consider referencing specific classes and professors: Knowing that Boston University has classes such as “CAS BI 206: Genetics” and “CAS XL 342: Travel Writing and the Muslim World” shows the reader that this student dove deep into the academic offerings available. Bonus: These classes are pretty uncommon, especially the second one. Try to avoid referencing generic classes that every college will have such as Intro to Physics. Connect the classes to your specific interests (the more narrow, the better) and demonstrate what kind of student you’ll be.
Speak to BU’s founding principles: This student’s use of the phrase “as an avid researcher but also an activist, volunteer, and community advocate,” nods to BU’s position that “research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice should be conducted in the service of the wider community.” (Pro tip: Try not to do this more than once in the essay; it’ll feel like you’re just telling BU what it wants to hear.) You can also take a look at your Values List and see how yours align with what excites you about BU.
Brag, humbly: Instead of just stating that she hopes to “work in the lab with Dr. Ho” (a BU professor), this student connects her future plans at BU to college-level research she’s currently doing “at Columbia University to study genomes for disease-causing mutations.” This is what we call a subtle brag: Show off that you’re conducting college-level research as a high school student without sounding like a jerk or randomly dropping it in. Because it directly connects to this student’s values and future goals, it works. But if you haven’t done Ivy League-level research as a high school student, that’s okay. Almost no one has, and they still get accepted to great schools. Just think about what you have accomplished so far and see if you can connect some of those experiences to your future plans. Tutored your cousin in math? Awesome. You can use that.
Articulate your planned contributions. This student wrote her essay before BU added the piece about contributing to community, but she headed that way by saying how she plans to participate in the International Affairs Association as an extension of her previous ModelUN and service activities. Go further in that direction with additional specific ways you’ll get involved on campus.
Example:
From first looking at countries’ GDPs without knowing what they meant, to exploring Keynes and Marx and neo-classical theory, I love that Economics challenges me to think about conflicts in aspects like religion, culture, and ethics that have significant impact on our lives. At Boston University, I want to explore how these important issues can be analyzed through Economics.
I am interested in both Behavioural Economics and Developmental Economics. Even though I have not studied them in school, books like The Undercover Economist and TED talks have made me curious about different branches in Economics. Boston University Professor Raymond Fisman’s research paper, “Experience of Communal Conflicts and Intergroup lending” explores the connection between religion-based communal violence and lending, a connection I find interesting as religion is one of the factors that has enabled the economic development of my father’s hometown in India. To explore more about how religion connects with economics, I researched and wrote a 4,000 word essay on the contribution of religious pilgrimage and tourism of Ujjain for my IB extended essay.
Apart from Economics courses, Boston University’s community interests me because of things like India Club and Debate Club. India Club will help me to feel at home. And I really like debating, which has made me open to and aware of different beliefs and values and has connected me to people with different opinions. I’m also interested in the Boston University magazine, which helps generate conversation and connection among people.
— — —
Tips + Analysis:
Consider describing research you’ve already done (if you’ve done some). This student starts off with his interest in Economics. Then, he describes how he’s already furthered this interest. By reading “books like The Undercover Economist” and listening to TED talks, this student shows the reader what he’s done so far (although he could get a bit more specific here and list which TED talks were most memorable). These details give him the opportunity to connect professors, classes, and opportunities at BU to his interests in a specific way. He also mentions his IB Extended Essay, “a 4,000 word essay on the contribution of religious pilgrimage and tourism of Ujjain,” which shows he is capable of specific, high-level academic research and writing in his chosen field. If you’re an IB student, mentioning your essay topic in your supplemental prompts is a great way to demonstrate your academic readiness for college. If you’re not an IB student, think about other advanced work you’ve done and maybe find a way to work it in.
Show how you’ll engage with BU inside and outside the classroom: This prompt asks what excites you about BU and how you’ll contribute to the community, which implies that it’s expecting you to go beyond just academics. The more detailed, the better. Really imagine yourself on campus. Where will you live? What will you do on the weekend, in the evenings? Who will your friends be? How will you meet them? What clubs or activities will you join or start? What communities might you become a part of, and what will you uniquely bring to them? This student mentions his excitement to join the India Club and the Debate Club, painting a picture of how he’ll fit into the wider student community at BU and getting a chance to further highlight his culture.
Make personal connections: This student connects a BU professor’s research paper, “Experience of Communal Conflicts and Intergroup lending,” to the economic development of his father’s hometown in India, demonstrating that a) he’s read a college-level research paper and done a deep dive into BU’s Econ department, and b) this research has personal significance to him. Once you’ve found some good research about the college, remember to connect it back to your why (why are you interested in this subject, professor, paper, topic, etc.?). The more specific you are, the better your odds are of standing out.
How to Write the Kilachand Honors College Essay
Kilachand Honors College Essay The mission of Kilachand Honors College is to offer a challenging liberal arts education grounded in critical and creative thinking, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and the real-world application of knowledge. Please see https://www.bu.edu/khc/about/ for more details about our program, and then respond to one of the following questions in an essay of 600 words or less:
- What about the Kilachand Honors College resonates with you, and how would Kilachand's curriculum fulfill your academic, creative, intellectual, and/or professional goals? (600 words)
- If you could create a new Kilachand course, what would it be? How would your imagined course align with the core values of Kilachand? (600 words)
Essay Option 1
What about the Kilachand Honors College resonates with you, and how would Kilachand's curriculum fulfill your academic, creative, intellectual, and/or professional goals? (600 words)
Kilachand’s first option is a “Why Us?” essay, so you can follow the same advice and method for Option 2 above, focusing on the unique elements of the Kilachand program. Since you’re vying for a more limited number of spots, it’s even more critical to make a solid match between you and the honors college’s offerings. Here, you’re asked to say specifically how you’ll use the Kilachand curriculum to further your goals (academic, creative, intellectual and/or professional). Given Kilachand’s mission, yours will likely involve how you intend to benefit your community with the expertise you gain in the program.
Please note that we don’t have sample essays written specifically for the Kilachand Honors program, but the example below can illustrate the direction you’ll want to head in.
Example:
Art and medicine may seem like opposites, but for me, they’re symbiotic. At WashU, I’d be equipped with the resources to one day use both to nurture healthier lives.
I'm especially hungry to understand the intricacies of mental health by learning how physicians coordinate care for depression patients at the Charles F. Knight Hospital with Med Prep 2. Or learning about treating certain disorders by regularly attending therapy sessions with an autistic child in the Practicum in Applied Behavior course, then applying it to contribute to frequent lesson adaptations for autistic children’s therapies with the non-profit Giant Steps of St. Louis. After reading Because Tomorrow Needs Her’s heartbreaking stories on high maternal mortality rates around the world, I’m inspired to research how to train Ghana physicians to more effectively treat surgical infections resulting from C-sections with Dr. Denise Willers, and connect survivors of sexual assault with free counseling with the CHIPS Health & Wellness Center.
I also want to use my minor in Creative Practice for Social Change to make an impact on women’s health with art. Could I choreograph a Bharatnatyam dance that showcases how pregnant women worldwide lack transportation to life-saving medical care? Only at WashU. (197 words)
— — —
Tips + Analysis:
Name your niche. The courses and opportunities this student chose to highlight precisely articulate her interest in treatments related to depression, autism, c-sections, and sexual assault. In just 200 words, the author gives us a crystal clear snapshot of what matters to her and where she plans to direct her attention. And you have 600 words to play with. As you dig deep into the Kilachand program, hone in on those offerings that reveal your unique areas of interest, which will allow you to stand out from other applicants. To get there…
Do your research. This student obviously went deep to identify things that spoke directly to her desires. Find out about the special courses and professors that make up this program. Read up on Kilachand’s website, news articles and social media about Kilachand initiatives, research, community programs and more. Find a former alumni and ask to talk with them about their experiences. As you learn about the specifics of the curriculum, prepare to share how your experiences and intentions align directly with them.
See yourself there. Unique features of the Kilachand program are the Keystone Project you’ll complete in your senior year and the emphasis on experiential learning. Although you may not yet know what you’ll want to research, you can propose one or two possibilities that build on research or other work you’ve already done. Or throw out an idea or two for how you’ll learn by doing with Kilachand’s support (a particular internship, study abroad project, etc.)
Surprise! At the end of the essay, the author depicts an unforgettable image: choreographing an Indian traditional dance about global inequities in access to pregnancy care! That idea could spring only from the head (and heart) of this one individual. What’s one of your wild goals that no one else has thought of? Leave the reader with a look into your future.
Essay Option 2
If you could create a new Kilachand course, what would it be? How would your imagined course align with the core values of Kilachand? (600 words)
This is your chance to be creative and really speak to the values that draw you to Kilachand. You’ve probably spent a lot of your high school career taking standard required courses. Now you get to dive into a truly engaging college curriculum tailored to your interests. And with this prompt, you get to design the one class you’d most like to take! Some pointers to get you started:
Tip #1: Think about what really gets you excited intellectually. Is there a course or academic extracurricular activity that you’d like to explore further? Something you’re constantly wondering, reading and watching youtube videos about? A subject you wish was offered at your high school? Scroll your news feed… what grabs your attention? Choose a narrow piece of one of those and develop your course around it.
Tip #2: If you’re looking for ideas, think about what you love and what you know and where there’s a nexus between them. Maybe you adore food and you’re curious about migration… What about “Refuge and Recipes: How Food Transports Culture”? Also consider any aspects of yourself that haven’t come through elsewhere in your application. If you’ve already communicated your academic prowess and contributions to your local community, wouldn’t it also be valuable to reveal your madness for bungee jumping or native geckos?
Tip #3: In order to answer the second part of the prompt, you’ll need to connect your invention with the school’s intentions. If you don’t already know what Kilachand’s core values are, you can start with its Mission & Objectives. Kilachand is looking for creative thinkers who will develop new solutions to global problems, so take this chance to show how you direct your innovative mind to real-world issues.
Please note that we don’t have sample essays written specifically for the Kilachand Honors program, but the example below, written for an older Pomona prompt, can illustrate the direction you’ll want to head in.
Example essay:
The Exalted Power of Music: How Our Ears Inspire Our Eyes
Course Description: Music dominates our society–pop songs and singers such as Drake are hugely popular and influential in today’s time. But where else in our lives does the enchanting power of music hold influence? As we investigate and unravel the techniques of modern artists through a diverse slate of plays, cartoons, and films, we will discover the vital role of music in enhancing benchmark works of visual fiction. Simultaneously, through philosophical readings of Walton and Nietzsche, we will analyze the emotional and physiological effects of music, examining the dynamic interplay of visual and auditory elements. Finally, students will synthesize their research to create a short film or multimedia piece that displays their knowledge of visual aspects, music's attributes, and their combined impact on a universal audience.
Sample lectures:
How To Enjoy Murder: Alternating Major and Minor Chords in Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15
Required Reading/Viewing/Listening:
The Evolution of Music in Film and its Psychological Impact on Audiences - Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D.
Crimes and Misdemeanors - Woody Allen
Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15
Why We Love Saturday Morning Cartoons: Two Mechanisms of Fictional Immersion
Required Reading/Viewing/Listening:
Fearing Fictions - Kendall L. Walton
The Birth of Tragedy, Section 7, 24, 25 - F. Nietzsche
Tom and Jerry, Episode 33 - William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
How Movies Possess Our Bodies: A Physiological Analysis
Required Reading/Viewing/Listening:
Quantitative and Visual Analysis of the Impact of Music on Perceived Emotion of Film - Rob Parke, Elaine Chew, Chris Kyriakakis
The Invisible Art of Film Music, Section 7 - Lawrence E. MacDonald
Jaws - Steven Spielberg
Why Fiction Feels So Real: Analyzing Silence
Required Reading/Viewing/Listening:
Silence and Slow Time: Studies in Musical Narrative - Martin Boykan
Life Is a Dream - Pedro Calderón de la Barca
“4’33”” - John Cage
In a society propelled by media and entertainment, the study of music’s influence on our lives not only can allow us to better produce captivating works, but understand our emotional responses and discover the profundity of human expression. (347 words)
— — —
Tips + Advice:
Hook your reader with your course title. A clever title will not only engage your reader’s curiosity, but further flex your ingenuity.
Geek out. This is the perfect place to show off specialized knowledge of your pet subject with insider jargon or super specific examples. Here, the writer proves their range with titles spanning music, research publications, literature and more.
Style matters. This essay reads like an actual college course description. While you’re perusing the course catalog for your “Why Us?” essay(s), take a look at one as a model to cultivate this style of writing.
Do it your way. This student would require a short film or multimedia project as the final exam. If you’ve figured out inventive learning methods that work for you, bring them in here. Especially with Kilachand’s lean toward beyond-the-classroom study, dream into what would be the most fun and engaging for you… Museum visits? Author interviews? Podcast creation? Any such thing would be a welcome demonstration of how you think outside the box.
How to write the Boston University Trustee Scholarship Essay
Please write an essay of 600 words or less in response to one of the following two topics:
- Nobel laureate and BU professor Elie Wiesel once said: “There is divine beauty in learning... To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests." Is there a book, film, podcast or life- experience that has made you feel more connected to your personal history/identity, and what is the most important thing you learned from it? (600 words)
- Describe a time when you felt out of your comfort zone or marginalized in a situation. How did you respond to that moment and how has it informed your actions moving forward? (600 words)
Essay Option 1
Nobel laureate and BU professor Elie Wiesel once said: “There is divine beauty in learning... To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests." Is there a book, film, podcast or life- experience that has made you feel more connected to your personal history/identity, and what is the most important thing you learned from it? (600 words)
How to approach this prompt:
With Wiesel’s quote in the prompt, BU is signaling its belief that learning involves drawing on the expertise gained by our personal and collective forebears, that history matters, and that a scholar should acknowledge the shoulders of the giants they stand on. As you reflect on a topic for this essay, consider what aspects of your personal history or identity have had the greatest impact on you. Is there a particular event in your family line, a geography, a people, a cultural element or association that has strongly defined who you are? Then consider what book, film, podcast or life experience has let you feel closest to that.
Since BU awards only about 20 of these scholarships, your aim is to write a standout response. One way to do that is to choose a book, film, podcast or life experience so singular and captivating that your reader will ruminate on it after they set down their applications for the day. Another is to reach for unexpected and uncommon insights to answer the second part of the prompt—what you learned. Take the item or anecdote you’re sharing and consider the cliché takeaways that someone else might write about it, e.g, “I learned that family is the most important thing.” Then circular file those (as in, throw them away) and strive for illuminating insights that reveal perspective only you could hold.
Essay Option 2
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Describe a time in your life when you stepped out of your comfort zone and forged your own path. What motivated you to take that action, and how did it change your perspective? Share the lessons you learned from that experience, and how it might shape your views as a Trustee Scholar.
How to approach this prompt:
For college, I left the burgeoning tech suburbs where I grew up and dropped into a large, diverse state institution teeming with thrilling new people and experiences. One of my fave memories from freshman year was wandering into my normally staid poli sci lecture hall packed out the door for a Black fraternity step show. While I fretted about being the only white person there—my mind wracked with self-doubt about acting right and not offending anyone—no one seemed to notice or care. Once those shows and the people I met there became a regular part of my life, I realized that what I gained from that experience—the exposure to different histories, language, perspective and expression I wouldn't have known existed if I’d stayed in my circle—far outweighed my small personal discomfort that first time.
Since then, I’ve continually leaned into opportunities to learn more about this world by connecting with people different from me, respectfully and without fear. Most recently, I lived in various countries around the Mediterranean, staying with local Muslim families in order to learn about Islam and facilitate close and peaceful relations between Muslims and Jews.
That’s one story. Yours is another. Whether you choose to write about a time you felt out of your comfort zone or a situation in which you felt marginalized, you’re invited here to tell the truth about your experience. Describe both the context and how you felt. Use descriptive detail so that the reader can imagine themselves in your shoes. Let your essay speak to the underlying personal, political, or social issues that were at play in the situation.
Bear in mind that the most important part of the prompt is the second piece: how you responded in the moment and how the experience affected your actions going forward. In other words, what can you demonstrate about the person you are when faced with such a situation, and how did you grow as a result of it? What you write about that will enlighten the scholarship grantors about your personal qualities, values and worldview.
Check the Values List and discern which ones were strengthened. Share anecdotes or examples after the event that highlight your altered way of thinking and engaging in the world.
Special thanks to Shira for writing this blog post.
Shira Harris is an alternative educator, amateur ambassador, former civil rights attorney and queer activist, who received her BA from UC Berkeley and law degree from New York University. Currently, she studies Arabic, Hebrew, migration and mediation in the Mediterranean; upon completion of the masters program, she intends to work for peace in Israel Palestine. Shira loves hiking, camping, traveling, learning, cooking with friends, the CEG community and fourth-grader jokes.
Top Values: Integrity/ Curiosity / Love
