In addition to its strong biology and writing programs, Emory University has plenty of personality: One of its more cherished traditions is Dooley’s Week, in which Dooley—the unofficial skeleton mascot and spirit of Emory—hosts a variety of festive events while also randomly popping in to dismiss class. Like Dooley, Emory’s supplemental essay prompts ooze with personality, and they’re asking you to do the same.
But before you dive right into the prompts, you can get an extensive, by-the-numbers look at Emory’s offerings in its Common Data Set, and for deeper insights into how the university wants to grow and evolve, read its strategic plan.
What are the Emory University supplemental essay prompts?
Emory University Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
What academic areas are you interested in exploring at Emory University and why? (200 words)
Emory University Supplemental Essay Prompt #2
“Getting to know you” Category: Respond to one of the following. (150 words):
- Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community that you have been part of where your personal participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.
- Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
- Emory University’s unique mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission of service to humanity.
- In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?
How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for Emory University
how to write Emory Supplemental Essay Prompt #1
This essay is what we call a “Why Major” essay, though note that the phrasing at the end also allows you to take a bit of a “Why Us” direction with some of your content..
You’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing this essay at this link, but here’s the short version of a “Why Major”:
Step #1: Imagine a mini-movie of the moments that led you to your interest and create a simple, bullet point outline.
Step #2: Put your moments (aka the “scenes” of your mini-movie) in chronological order, as it’ll help you see how your interests developed. It also makes it easier to write transitions.
Step #3: Decide if you want to include a specific thesis that explicitly states your central argument—in this case, what you want to study and why. This thesis can be at the beginning, middle, or end of your essay.
Step #4: Write a draft!
For the potential “Why Us” elements, we recommend checking out our complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay and pay close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn” examples, which are our favorites. The “Why Tufts” essay is a nice example of how you can write a shorter version of the “Why us?”
Here’s the abbreviated version of how to write the “Why us?” essay:
Spend 1 hr+ researching 5-7 reasons why this college might be a great fit for you (ideally 3-5 of the reasons will be unique to the school AND connect back to you).
Make sure you’re focusing on opportunities you can only (or mostly only) find at Emory (and not, say, other schools in Atlanta). That’s so important that school officials frequently phrase prompts to specify.
Make a copy of this chart to map out your college research.
Here’s a nice example essay, to illustrate the approach you can take:
Example essay:
It’s 85° in Atlanta and I walk into the lab for my Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE), slightly embarrassed by the visible perspiration on my forehead. I rush around the lab, excitedly starting the day's work involving cancer immunology, seeking to prevent and treat cancer by harnessing the immune system. When my grandfather experienced cancer, I had the childish dream of wanting to wave a wand to make everything better. Emory University will give me the knowledge and experience needed to transform this wand-waving fantasy into an impactful reality.
As my summer research experience comes to a close, I join the lab of Dr. Martinez, focusing on the intersection of ecology and the transmission of epidemic-prone diseases. I also hone in on my classes, mainly Population Biology and Evolution of Diseases. I make connections in class to my research and am awed by the complex machines that our bodies are—and by Dooley, sitting grimly in the back of the biology classroom. Whether learning about immune responses, infectious diseases, or cancer that will be treated as population dynamics and evolutionary phenomena, I do so with the knowledge that Emory University will help me achieve my wand-waving dreams. (197 words)
– – –
Tips and Analysis
Dive in with detail: Key to a strong “why major” essay is getting really specific with what experiences have shaped your academic interests, and then focusing especially on the “whys” under the “whats”—We see a deeper and more personal “why” in the first paragraph here, and in the second paragraph, we see both nice, clear details that illustrate the student’s developing curiosity, and the “whys” that push them to keep exploring.
Make it personal: To build on that last bullet and “whys”: This writer links their interest in medicine and research to their grandfather’s illness, and they strike a solid balance between sharing that information without making the essay ABOUT that information. We learn how the writer became interested in this major, but the essay isn’t about their grandfather. Instead, they do an excellent job of shifting the focus to themselves, their experiences, and their hopes for their time at Emory. Notice that, even though the focus is the student’s primary academic interest, the essay tells the reader something about who the studen ist, and that’s the whole purpose of college applications.
Make sure shifts in time are clear: It is definitely ok to shift from past to present to future time reference in your essay. Just make sure your reader can follow those shifts. If you play with verb tense in these ways, be sure to clue your reader in with clear transition language.
And here’s an example with more “Why Us” details:
With a strong finance curriculum and a liberal arts foundation, Emory provides a perfect balance of the complexities of the business world and knowledge of the humanities that will give me an edge in my career.
Combining the Investments course with electives such as Venture Capital & Private Equity will allow me to obtain analytical and critical thinking skills required for a successful portfolio manager while also giving me an inside look at potential career options.
Additionally, I’m eager to engage in a secondary study in International Business to help develop the global perspective I need to succeed in an increasingly connected world. Courses such as International Finance and Global Macroeconomic Perspectives will allow me to understand foreign exchange markets, conceptual frameworks and tools for analysis critical to conducting business in the international environment.
I also want to engage in the BBA Leadership Development curriculum, as it will continue to enhance my leadership and collaboration skills necessary for success in business through seminars, case competitions, and internships. I’ve frequently enjoyed the art of collaboration through basketball, volunteering opportunities, and clubs, and I’m excited to continue this journey at Emory. (188 words)
Tips and Analysis
Show them you know them: After writing what seems like a million supplemental essays, we totally understand the urge to just write one general/broad response that you can send to all the schools you’re applying to, but it’s important that you show these schools that you’ve taken the time to learn about them and that you’ve considered why you would be a good fit, and that’s where this essay’s strength lies. This writer knows the specific opportunities that await them at Emory and they’ve already considered the paths they can take at THIS school. The essay is detailed, informed, and very much about why Emory could be a good fit.
Make sure readers learn something about you: In addition to showing application readers that you’ve done your homework about Emory, it’s also important that your personality shines through in your response to this prompt. Remember: It’s not a “Why Them” essay. Emory already knows what amazing classes and programs they offer. What they don’t know yet is enough about you. Be sure to include some “so what” after any Emory detail you include, so we can see why you and the school fit together and will make a great team. This essay also add a bit more personal detail about the writer, which would go a long way in making this essay unique. For example, it would be cool to hear more about how the writer connects the collaboration they experience in sports with the collaboration they hope to experience in their Business classes.
Remember the “Why Major” part of the prompt: One thing the essay above could play with is a bit more detail on where the student’s interests originate—this would allow them the opportunity to both make the essay a bit more personal and show further aspects of their curiosity and values.
And here’s a great example, written for another school’s very similar prompt. Note that this example is nearly 250 words, and yours will need to be no more than 200 words.
Example 1:
My interest in Gender and Sexuality Studies was sparked in my eighth grade Civics class when we studied topics pertaining to sexual equality. I went into the class knowing I believed women had a right to make choices for their own bodies and that view remained the same, but I discovered the complexity of abortion debates. I challenged myself by thinking about the disparity between actual and potential personhood and the moral rights of unconscious lives. If pregnancy had the same consequences for men as it does women, how might the debate be different? Would this debate even exist?
A year later, I shadowed an OB/GYN at a nearby hospital. On my first shift, I watched an incarcerated woman receive a postpartum exam after giving birth in her cell toilet with just Advil, and the issues discussed in Civics suddenly became urgent and real.
My school projects have often focused on reproductive rights. I’ve spent numerous hours delving into summaries of Supreme Court cases on abortion and contraception, and I’m even known as the “Tampon Fairy” at school because I frequently restock the school bathrooms with tampons and condoms.
I’m interested in exploring how Gender and Sexuality Studies connect to Public Health and Reproductive Biology, as well as Public Policy and Law. The interdisciplinary nature of this major will allow me to investigate many other areas of study and create a more nuanced understanding of how this particular field interacts with our world and society. (246 words)
— — —
Tips + Analysis
Brevity is key. We know what you’re thinking: “Not even Quentin Tarantino can write an award-winning 200-word script!” (Are we the only ones mentally smack-talking Pulp Fiction right now?) True, you’re not given much real estate space, but look at how much this student conveyed in fewer than 250 words. Channel your inner director and plan your script by answering three key questions: Where did my interest start? How has it evolved? What do I hope to achieve through further study?
Think breadth over depth. Every iconic movie has iconic scenes. Rafiki holding baby Simba in The Lion King. The Cantina scene in Star Wars. What are your iconic scenes? You likely have several reasons you’re considering a particular major, so let’s hear them. Keep it to one scene per sentence if you have a lot of ground to cover, or you may prefer a short paragraph for each scene to add more detail. Either way, each quick glance should show how your interests developed.
Add the unexpected. Most students with a clear academic interest have taken a course, pursued an extracurricular, or completed a project (maybe all three) related to that interest. But how many incorporate that interest into their everyday life with such zeal—like appointing themselves their school’s “Tampon Fairy”? We guarantee that image is in your head right now and will stay there for a while. Why? Because we didn’t see it coming. Consider how you can add impact by using unexpected (read: uncommon) language and details.
Breathe. It’s OK to not know your major. Yes, we called it a “Why Major” essay, but not everyone applies to college knowing exactly what they want to do or be (here’s us at your age, raising our hands high). And that’s the great thing about college—you’ll have a chance to explore and find your interests. So if you’re undecided, instead of focusing on a major, select a few specific areas of interest and explain how you’ve satisfied your curiosity in each. Or pick a singular theme (problem solving, experimentation, etc.), share the ways that theme has shown up in your life, and explain how a particular field of study can help you further explore it.
how to write Emory Supplemental Essay Prompt #2
- Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community that you have been part of where your personal participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.
- Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
- Emory University's core mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission.
- In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?
Option #1:
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
If you’ve written (or are writing) other essays for other schools that ask about communities you’ve been a part of, how you’ve contributed to them, what you’ve gained from them, then you can probably re-use that essay for this prompt. Here’s a guide on how to re-use all sorts of essays (and maybe save yourself 20+ hrs on this whole process).
For this specific essay, here’s a step-by-step guide that offers a short exercise to help you think through all the communities you’re a part of that might make a good topic for this particular essay.
Here’s the TL;DR version:
Step 1: Create a “communities” chart by listing all the communities you’re a part of. Keep in mind that communities can be defined by so many different variables, including place, culture, interests, political beliefs, hobbies, sexual identity, and even favorite sports team. Get creative.
Step 2: Use the BEABIES exercise to generate your essay content for 2-3 of these communities. Simply ask yourself and jot down notes to these questions:
What kinds of problems did you solve (personally, locally, or globally) in that community?
What specific impact did you have?
What did you learn (skills, qualities, values)?
How did you apply the lessons you learned inside and outside of that community?
Step 3: Pick a structure for writing this essay and focus on the community that you feel is most compelling and reveals the most about you. I recommend either a narrative structure (focusing on a single moment or story) or montage structure (focusing on several moments that are united by a common theme).
Here’s a particularly well-written essay:
Example:
Share about something you want to bring from your community to the Emory University community.
Decorated with bright red paper banners, my grandma’s store stands out from surrounding mud farmhouses and grey cement dwellings. As the only store in rural Qianpu, Jiaying’s sells daily supplies for local farmers and industry workers. Every day, a single mother would come into the store. Abandoned by her husband, she lived on the street with her kids. When she purchased groceries, my grandma would give her extra toiletries and snacks for her children. Sitting at the cashier desk daily after school, I learned that it is important to respect everyone’s background, especially women. I will bring this valuable quality to Emory. Joining She’s the First and Candler Women, I will fundraise and provide advocacy for underprivileged women. With HerCampus, I will promote women's leadership. Attending Emory Women in Business and participating in Personal Branding Workshop, I will use my own business expertise to support women around the world.
— — —
Tips + Analysis
1) Hook the reader with a vivid description. With only 150 words available, a hook isn’t necessary, but the author’s contrast of the standout red banners, mud farmhouses, and grey cement sweeps us away from a computer screen and into another world. What are the colors, sounds, and distinctive places in your story? Using a little descriptive language goes a long way toward preparing readers to understand the abstract “standouts” you love about your community.
2) Connect your extracurricular experience to a value. If the community essay guide isn’t yielding what you want, go through the Best Extracurricular Activity Brainstorm I’ve Ever Seen (AKA BEABIES exercise). These exercises together should help you decide which topic might create the best content for your essay. If you’re unsure, try writing a simple outline for two different topics.
We don’t know if this student included working at her grandmother’s store in her Activities List, but this essay likely adds new depth and reveals something different from the rest of her application. Beyond stating what you’ll bring to Emory point-blank, make it resonate for the reader by connecting it to some aspect of what makes you, well, you. Here the author focuses on how her after school job taught her the importance of respecting women in society.
3) Describe how you’ll engage with the campus community. While they don’t directly ask you to in this prompt, you have the option of showing how your past experiences connect to how you want to continue engaging with community at Emory. Be just as precise with your word choice as you are with researching what resources you’ll want to get involved with at Emory. After the author shows the values of compassion, respect, and equity that she learned working in her grandmother's store, she names how she will fundraise, provide advocacy, and promote the empowerment of women on campus. We know that you may not yet know exactly what your future on-campus involvement will look like, but choosing the right action verbs make your plans sound as concrete and specific as your aspirations are.
Option #2:
The word “intentionally” pops out because it highlights the active nature of how you should respond to this prompt. Cultural awareness encompasses a wide variety of experiences, so we encourage you to lean into the purposefulness of expanding yourself. It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone, but this prompt asks you to consider a time when you either stepped out of your comfort zone or sought out more information to broaden your understanding of the world around you.
Some things to think about as you explore:
Society is in a constant state of cultural evolution, so perhaps identify a topic that emphasizes your cultural awareness of the current times. Culture can be defined as the symbols, language, beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part of any society. In anthropology, it’s often defined as a “system of meaning-making.” Those are quite broad definitions to work with, so think through which aspects resonate with you and your experiences (race & ethnicity, socioeconomic class, learning a new language, etc.).
Maybe you have a personal experience related to your own culture or someone else’s culture and sought out more information to build on your knowledge. How did you approach the situation, and what specifically did you do? What did you learn—about yourself, about others, and about the broader community and your place in it?
This is a great opportunity to demonstrate your fit on a campus that celebrates diversity. Communicate your level of cultural sensitivity or your commitment to equity and inclusion. Perhaps you’ve reached out to community members for support and guidance with a service project. Maybe you’ve advocated for social justice by lobbying your elected officials. The key is to share how you’ve accepted, adapted, or integrated different perspectives into your own experiences.
Example:
Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
In 2018, I was eager to see the Senate vote on DACA, an issue I only knew through debate, so I sat in the Senate gallery for 8 hours, surrounded by DREAMers in neon-orange shirts. When Senator McConnell quoted the White House calling the DREAMers unlawful immigrants, we exchanged grimaces. When Senator Schumer listed all he was willing to give up to save DACA, I smiled at the woman next to me.
As we sat for hours with no food, water, or bathroom breaks, I began to understand the gravity of the issue, realizing the impact 60 people can have on millions, through just one vote. After the government shut down without passing protections for DREAMers, I understood the human impact of our immigration policies. This experience expanded my awareness of the struggle that immigrants go through, and I recognized my responsibility in seeking justice for others.
— — —
Tips + Analysis
Keep it specific. While “intentionally” is a key word here, so is “experience.” (Although truthfully, just as every word counts in your essay, every word in the prompt counts too.) It might seem easier to talk about something profoundly life-changing that you read or watched, but Emory wants to know how you really got to work and got your hands dirty, so to speak, to actually and purposefully live a moment that broadened your awareness of the world around you—like this student did in attending, and soaking in, the Senate vote on DACA.
Remember that big things can come in small packages. Don’t discount something “small” that expanded your awareness just because you don’t think it sounds as impressive as sitting in a Senate gallery for eight hours. The archaeologist who discovered trilobites is no less important than the one who uncovered the first T-Rex. They’re just different. Each experience is important in its own way, and it’s the way it changed you that will be more impactful to the reader.
Connect it with the present. Technically, the prompt is asking about a past experience, but admission officers want to know how this experience both changed you then and still affects you now. As with so many essays, you want to be able to answer, “so what?” or “Why does that matter?” Answer those questions by showing how you plan on continuing to expand that awareness. How will it impact your activities, attitude, and even intentions moving forward? That insight doesn't have to be a whole paragraph (especially with such a small word budget). For this student, it involved just a few words: “I recognized my responsibility in seeking justice for others.”
OPTION #3:
One way to approach this prompt is to talk about whichever community service project/s you’ve been most involved in, and how you hope to continue serving others in college and beyond.
Essentially, you can treat this as a combo community service + “how will you contribute” prompt.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to extracurricular activity essays that can give you guidance and examples for how to brainstorm and write about community service.
For the second part of the prompt, you’ll want to connect what you’ve already done with some “Why Us” details about Emory—show how you want to continue engaging in Emory’s mission, and possibly how your Emory education can prepare you for service post-graduation.
STEP 1: DECIDE WHAT SERVICE ACTIVITY YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT
Generally you’ll focus on issues that are most important to you and that you’ve spent time engaging on over the past few years.
STEP 2: USE THE BEABIES EXERCISE TO GENERATE YOUR ESSAY CONTENT
You’ll find detail on the BEABIES Exercise + a chart you can use at that link.
STEP 3: DO SOME “HOW WILL YOU CONTRIBUTE” RESEARCH
You’ll want to offer a few specific ways that show how the experience/s you’re discussing in your essay will allow you to contribute to the college. The easiest way to do this is to do some “Why Us”-like research and find ways you’ll engage with and contribute to the school’s community.
STEP 4: PICK A STRUCTURE (NARRATIVE OR MONTAGE)
STEP 5: WRITE A FIRST DRAFT!
Here are some example essays written for similar prompts from other schools to show you the direction to head here.
Example:
During my time at UT-Austin and beyond, I want to be an active participant in efforts to implement effective climate change legislation on the state and national levels. At UT, I’d like to be part of student teams across majors, disciplines, and geographical areas working to educate communities on climate and local environmental initiatives. This is why I would love to be part of the Students Fighting Climate Change Club as together we can help spread the message that global warming is a real issue affecting cities all over the country. Right now, I am the social media coordinator for a non-profit, We Dance For Change. From my social media background, I hope to use my expertise and work with the other members of SFCC to inspire more people join the cause. I regularly post on all social media sites like Instagram and Twitter on ways that we can combat climate change and lessen our global footprint, whether by carpooling, for example, or consuming less meat.
Also, I believe in the importance of engagement and dialogue, especially amongst the younger generations. It is critical that people understand the voting process early on so they can become more active participants in our democracy. At my school, as part of the Social Studies Honor Society, I spend time registering high school students to vote. I would love to continue this work with TX Vote Club and ease the process of registering as many people as possible. Additionally, when I joined V3ssel I realized how important it is for people my age to have a say in their government. After drafting legislation for financial literacy to be taught in schools I see how it should be more feasible for students to have a say in laws that impact them.
— — —
Tips + Analysis
Start with a strong opening sentence. First sentences are a reader’s first impression of an essay and/or paragraph, and it can also work as a mini blueprint to tell readers what they can expect to find in the rest of your essay. In their first sentence, this student writes that they want to “implement effective climate change legislation on the state and national levels.” This does a nice job of clearly setting up that we’ll be seeing more about this student’s work and aspirations at UT regarding climate change. This student does so again for their second paragraph, which guides the reader and makes the essay clear, straightforward, and easy to follow. With shorter supplemental essays, you don’t have a ton of space for flowery language, and your reader will thank you for clarity.
Show what’s important to you & how it connects with the university. This prompt specifically references Emory’s value of service to humanity, and this student does a great job by talking about what service to humanity means to them, touching on climate change and voting. By writing about these two issues, we not only see some of their values and beliefs come out, but it also probably made researching this part of “Why Us” a lot easier—they knew what to look for on the university website or what to ask about during a tour.
Build on previous experiences. While this prompt is relatively future-facing (share how you might contribute to service to humanity), you can use your previous experiences to talk about what you’ve learned and how exactly you might contribute to this mission in the future. This gives you an opportunity to talk about an activity in context, exploring the why for your what, which is tough to do in your activities list. This student says that using their social media background, they hope to use this experience to inspire more people to join the cause for fighting against climate change. Using the BEABIES exercise, you can brainstorm what you’ve done and what skills have you gained that can help you succeed in the future.
Option: Forgo a “conclusion.” For shorter essays, you don’t always need to end the essay by tying everything up with a nice bow. Depending on the word count allowed, you might decide that your word count is better used to focus on your actions, values, and impact, for example. While there are many different ways to end an essay, this student simply closes out their thoughts on voting, but most importantly, they answer the question to the fullest extent possible with the allotted word count.
And here’s another example essay, for further illustration.
Bonus Example:
As Co-Head of Roman2Roman, a program intended to help integrate incoming ninth-graders into my school community, I have become a creative, open-minded, and empathetic leader by understanding the dynamics of communication and responsibility. From leading bi-weekly committee meetings to pairing 135 freshmen with older mentors, coordinating with administrators, planning and orchestrating events for 350 people, and finding unique ways to involve the greater community, my role in the R2R program has equipped me with managerial skills that will be helpful in college and beyond.
As a result of my leadership experience, I was selected to be Co-Head of The Student Service Learning Board. In this role, I organized successful food, clothing, and book drives, in addition to planning meal-packing projects for the homeless, card-design activities for veterans, and beach clean-ups to support local parks, all of which involved participants ages K-12.
Within my family’s Farm Foundation, I also assumed leadership responsibilities as I coordinated our annual Thanksgiving meal donation at the local fire station which entailed fundraising, communications, purchasing, packaging, and operations.
As a Longhorn, I hope to expand my leadership opportunities and make a lasting impact on the UT community. Through establishing meaningful connections among R2R members, and understanding the importance of an inclusive community, I am interested in getting involved with The Transfer Student Agency of Student Government as a way to help incoming transfer students integrate into the UT community. I’d love to participate in The McCombs Leadership Program to hone my leadership skills through retreats and workshops focusing on cooperation, communication, and contributions to society. Hunger and Homelessness Outreach would also be an ideal opportunity for me to continue my leadership and service and utilize my experiences on the SSLB and my family’s farm foundation to organize volunteer opportunities to aid members of the Austin community.
— — —
Option #4:
Part—and really, a big part—of the college experience is being exposed to new people, perspectives, and ’periences (and, perhaps, playing with creative alliteration).
This prompt is the perfect springboard for showing your natural curiosity and interest in engaging in lively, productive discussions. Your answer will ideally be a multifaceted one: Who and what perspective were you engaging with, what subject were you exploring, and/or how have you changed because of what you’ve learned from (or discussed with) others?
Technically, writing about the time you challenged your robotics team’s design methods fits within the prompt’s scope, but that will likely be a harder essay to write well, unless your impact and insights are pretty profound. You’ll likely have an easier time writing a stronger essay for this prompt by focusing on experiences that relate to something more connected to important beliefs or values.
That doesn’t mean you have to write about knee-jerk topics, or about completely changing your mind.
But look for instances which will allow you to show that you’re capable of having healthy, productive conversations around tricky, complex topics. That’s a fundamental skill in college.
Show that you understand how to engage with challenging ideas, practices, or spaces in ways that are likely to lead to productive conversation and growth (whether your own, or that of others, or, hopefully, both).
This Princeton essay (written for a very similar prompt) is a great start that could be improved with some key revisions.
Example:
I probably argue with my grandfather more than I do with most other people combined. It’s not because we’re at odds. We just have different perspectives, influenced by our experiences—his as a life-long resident of India, mine as a first-generation American.
One pretty common argument we have is over Eastern vs. Western medicine. My solution to a headache, for example, is to take Advil. His is to rub Tiger Balm on his forehead and coconut oil on the soles of his feet. I try to convince him of the benefits of taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, describing how it can reduce inflammation by blocking the production of certain chemicals. He tries to convince me that the balm creates a cooling effect, distracting the brain from pain and relaxing the muscles. Rather than becoming resentful and giving each other headaches over unending arguments, we’ve grown closer through these debates. With time, we have learned how to disagree in ways that invite deeper conversation and mutual respect. .
Through these interactions and many others, I’ve learned that a discussion shouldn’t be confrontational. The purpose isn’t to win, but to share my knowledge with the other party and learn from them as well. So rather than saying, “Rubbing balm on your forehead is stupid; you should just take Advil,” I say, “While rubbing balm on your forehead seems to work, I’ve noticed that taking an Advil has a stronger and more immediate effect.” Respecting the opposing party makes them more willing to hear you out.
I’ve also learned there’s a fine line between logic and emotion. I try not to take personally the things my grandfather says in an argument. Just because he doesn’t think taking Advil is the better solution doesn’t mean he thinks I’m stupid. If I take it that way, we begin to move away from what the argument really was about—the facts.
I’ll continue to apply these learnings in future discussions—whether with friends, classmates, or professors—realizing that a “successful argument” isn’t about winning, but about making progress together and learning from one another.
— — —
Tips + Analysis
1. Clarify your community—and your role in it.
While this Emory essay prompt emphasizes scholarly disagreement, that doesn’t mean your story has to happen in a classroom. This student uses their family as a microcosm of a scholarly community—one shaped by cultural difference and intellectual curiosity. If you go a more personal route (like in this essay), be sure to clarify how this community challenges you to think critically and communicate thoughtfully as you would in a classroom.
2. Focus on how you disagree, not just what you disagreed about.
Notice how this student doesn’t try to “win” the argument with their grandfather. Instead, they focus on shifting their tone from defensive to respectful, refining their language, and aiming for mutual understanding. That’s exactly what Emory is looking for: evidence that you can promote dialogue and progress through humility, respect, and thoughtful communication.
3. Show how you’ve grown—and how you’ll grow others.
Emory doesn’t just want students who can learn from disagreement; they want students who help others learn too. This student closes by describing how they’ll carry forward these discussion skills, making it clear that they’ll contribute to Emory’s academic culture not just through their intellect, but through their approach to collaboration and dialogue.
And here’s one more example with analysis, just to illustrate ways to approach this prompt:
– – –
Growing up in the historically conservative South shaped many of my early political beliefs. Most came from my dad; I took every word he said as gospel and was proud to repeat whatever he told me to my friends because I wanted to be just like him.
In many ways I still do.
But I am very lucky to have surrounded myself with diverse friends who are happy to talk to me about their personal experiences to help me gain perspective. One friend who is undocumented shared her family’s struggle to find a better life in the US and completely changed my opinions about immigration policies. Another friend helped me realize just how much our police system is stacked against minorities. In addition to personal anecdotes, they encouraged me to do my own research and form opinions without them or my dad telling me what to think.
I no longer repeat my dad’s ideas but now challenge him to have conversations that might broaden his beliefs. At first, we left these conversations frustrated and upset, and sometimes still do. But over time we have been able to find middle ground and I have changed his thinking about some topics. He’s grown in his views about LGBTQ+ rights and women’s health, while staying put on immigration and healthcare. Actively seeking to understand the views of others and standing my ground has given me confidence that I can navigate disagreements with respect and encourage others to be open to different perspectives. (249 words)
Tips + Analysis
Keep it focused on real disagreement. Emory’s prompt is about navigating disagreement—not just any conversation or shared belief. This essay shines because it digs into moments when the student and their dad actually disagreed. The friction matters here; it shows the writer isn’t avoiding tough talks but thoughtfully leaning into them. When you write your Emory supplemental essay, aim to highlight how you engage with conflicting ideas in a way that moves the conversation forward.
Show the how of dialogue, not just the what. The writer doesn’t just list differing opinions—they explain how they listen, respond, and respect the other person’s perspective. Notice how the essay focuses on the process: how the student challenges, how they respect boundaries, and how conversations shift over time. That kind of reflective insight is exactly what Emory wants to see.
Don’t shy away from complexity or imperfection. The writer acknowledges that some conversations with her dad are still frustrating and that his opinions on some topics actually remained unchanged. While it might feel tempting to highlight all the times you have changed minds, the decision in this essay to acknowledge that some conversations don’t always produce a desired outcome feels authentic and mature. It’s okay if your essay shows that navigating disagreement isn’t easy or neat—as long as you’re showing growth and willingness to keep engaging.
– – –
And here’s one more example, without analysis:
Example
As the matriarch provocateur, my grandmother, Nana, takes the title of the best conversationalist and masterful debater in the family. I value our talks, as she makes me consider my role as a global citizen and advocate of different perspectives. Today’s polarized political climate decreased the amount of civil and objective conversations between party lines. However, I have learned through my grandmother the value of civics and debates as she challenges me to look at both sides. She taught me that other people have different backgrounds and “their truths may not be yours, and you have to come to understand that.”
But she doesn’t give in easily; like the time we protested for women’s rights outside a Pennsylvania state representative’s office in Handmaid’s Tale costumes in almost 100-degree weather. The protest was inspired by our discussion on Margaret Attwood’s novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We discussed the novel’s dystopian setting and too-real scenarios. Nana illustrated the loss of June’s personal identity as the government took away her rights, relating to the importance of a woman’s individuality. Through our discussion, she reminded me to stay true to myself while exploring new values and opinions. I learned from Nana the importance of developing my own personality and confidence. Furthermore, we’ve discussed the inequalities in education in our country as we both value the importance of a socialized education system. She even inspired me to volunteer for the underfunded learning organization, Tik Tok (no relation to the social media app), which she helps run. Her beliefs in self-development and equal access to education align with my values and create an environment for in-depth discussions.
Even though she didn’t attend college, she values collegiate-level education with a core curriculum and a holistic focus. She’s primarily drawn to religious studies, including detailed analysis of the Bible and on a comparative standpoint. While I wasn’t raised with a religious background, my conversations with my grandmother have inspired my interest in comparative religions and interdisciplinary studies, particularly theology and anthropology. Fundamentally, Nana is one of my biggest role models as she hasn’t stopped learning and enhancing her global knowledge, and as I move through my studies, I hope to base my future conversations on the ones I had with Nana.
– – –
TRY OUT THE COLLEGE APPLICATION + SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS COURSE
Create amazing supplemental essays for the most selective schools, polish your activities list, and complete everything else with ease and joy. Learn more here.
25+
VIDEO LESSONS
Watch the lessons on your own or via the live option.
