Prompt #1:
In around 250 words, please answer the following question.
What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you.*
Explanation:
A useful framework for answering a prompt that asks you, broadly, about your identity is to ask yourself: “What do I want this university to know about me that I did not get to write about in my Common App?” This can be any aspect of who you are or what is important to you. You could write about your identity as an older or younger sibling or as an only child; as a member of a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group or community (or any other community); as a musician, artist, athlete; as someone with a learning difference; as someone who has endured through difficult personal or family circumstances. If there is a particular topic you love studying or learning about in your free time or some field in which you are an expert, you could also share about that. You can be as creative as you want to be, and you should do your best to be as specific as possible. The important thing is that you choose to write about something that has shaped what you value as a person.
Additionally, note that the prompt guides you to write about a specific type of personal value: one that allows you to “serve as a source of strength for you or those around you.” In other words, this prompt is challenging you to articulate how you will give back to the university community. In this sample, the writer felt strongly not only about sharing their Korean and multiracial background with the admissions committee, but also about describing how a particular element of that background has shaped the way they engage with other people and the way they hope to conduct themselves in the roles they will inhabit at UVA as a “classmate, roommate, and friend.”
Responding to this prompt will require you to reflect on the way your experience has informed your values, and ultimately connect that to (1) the values of the university and (2) specific academic and extracurricular opportunities it offers and the communities you’ll join.
Sample:
According to Korean culture, all social interactions are governed by a concept called noonchi, one’s “eye power.” Noonchi constitutes a special sight: the ability to discern another’s emotions, particularly whether they seem uncomfortable, left out, or disempowered. Once detected, it behooves the viewer to alleviate that sense of alienation. Practicing noonchi therefore entails constantly evaluating the part you play in the comfort and belonging of others.
My own noonchi is inextricable from the fact that I am half-Korean—I struggle to feel completely at home within either of the cultures that raised me. That sense of wandering between two worlds has made me realize the many ways in which we all occasionally find ourselves on the margins, whether in conversations, relationships, or different cultural contexts. Most importantly, it has sensitized me to the fact that many Americans are forced to live that experience of marginalization far more frequently and intensely than I am. For me, noonchi means trying to see the vulnerability and tenderness in other people out of gratitude for others seeing it in me.
I hope to contribute noonchi to the UVA community, further honing it at an institution so palpably devoted to celebrating difference and inclusivity. UVA’s Public Service Pathways program will enable me to explore the intersections of race, identity, and justice through independent research in the American Studies department. By embracing kindness and generosity as a classmate, roommate, and friend, I’ll be someone who sees goodness in others and reminds them that they belong.
Optional Prompt:
If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the University, please share your thoughts here. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs. (100 words)
Explanation:
Though Command Education typically encourages students to take advantage of every optional essay opportunity, the parameters of this prompt are clear, asking specifically for students to share about direct connections to the university (a relative who was employed by or attended UVA, a historic tie to the university, participation in a university program, etc.). If you have a connection to the university of this kind, you should absolutely use this prompt to share about it. Though the word count is limited, be sure to not only identify your tie to the university, but also share how it has influenced your desire to attend UVA and shaped the kind of community member you will be if accepted.
Prompt #1:
In around 250 words, please answer the following question.
What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you.*
Explanation:
A useful framework for answering a prompt that asks you, broadly, about your identity is to ask yourself: “What do I want this university to know about me that I did not get to write about in my Common App?” This can be any aspect of who you are or what is important to you. You could write about your identity as an older or younger sibling or as an only child; as a member of a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group or community (or any other community); as a musician, artist, athlete; as someone with a learning difference; as someone who has endured through difficult personal or family circumstances. If there is a particular topic you love studying or learning about in your free time or some field in which you are an expert, you could also share about that. You can be as creative as you want to be, and you should do your best to be as specific as possible. The important thing is that you choose to write about something that has shaped what you value as a person.
Additionally, note that the prompt guides you to write about a specific type of personal value: one that allows you to “serve as a source of strength for you or those around you.” In other words, this prompt is challenging you to articulate how you will give back to the university community. In this sample, the writer felt strongly not only about sharing their Korean and multiracial background with the admissions committee, but also about describing how a particular element of that background has shaped the way they engage with other people and the way they hope to conduct themselves in the roles they will inhabit at UVA as a “classmate, roommate, and friend.”
Responding to this prompt will require you to reflect on the way your experience has informed your values, and ultimately connect that to (1) the values of the university and (2) specific academic and extracurricular opportunities it offers and the communities you’ll join.
Sample:
According to Korean culture, all social interactions are governed by a concept called noonchi, one’s “eye power.” Noonchi constitutes a special sight: the ability to discern another’s emotions, particularly whether they seem uncomfortable, left out, or disempowered. Once detected, it behooves the viewer to alleviate that sense of alienation. Practicing noonchi therefore entails constantly evaluating the part you play in the comfort and belonging of others.
My own noonchi is inextricable from the fact that I am half-Korean—I struggle to feel completely at home within either of the cultures that raised me. That sense of wandering between two worlds has made me realize the many ways in which we all occasionally find ourselves on the margins, whether in conversations, relationships, or different cultural contexts. Most importantly, it has sensitized me to the fact that many Americans are forced to live that experience of marginalization far more frequently and intensely than I am. For me, noonchi means trying to see the vulnerability and tenderness in other people out of gratitude for others seeing it in me.
I hope to contribute noonchi to the UVA community, further honing it at an institution so palpably devoted to celebrating difference and inclusivity. UVA’s Public Service Pathways program will enable me to explore the intersections of race, identity, and justice through independent research in the American Studies department. By embracing kindness and generosity as a classmate, roommate, and friend, I’ll be someone who sees goodness in others and reminds them that they belong.
Optional Prompt:
If you have a personal or historic connection with UVA, and if you’d like to share how your experience of this connection has prepared you to contribute to the University, please share your thoughts here. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs. (100 words)
Explanation:
Though Command Education typically encourages students to take advantage of every optional essay opportunity, the parameters of this prompt are clear, asking specifically for students to share about direct connections to the university (a relative who was employed by or attended UVA, a historic tie to the university, participation in a university program, etc.). If you have a connection to the university of this kind, you should absolutely use this prompt to share about it. Though the word count is limited, be sure to not only identify your tie to the university, but also share how it has influenced your desire to attend UVA and shaped the kind of community member you will be if accepted.
