How to Write the Vassar College Essays 2024-2025

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Vassar is a prestigious liberal arts college located in Poughkeepsie (pronounced puh-kip-see), New York, just two hours north of Manhattan. Since the school is selective, your essays will be important to making your application stand out.

Vassar has one required essay and two optional essays/submissions. Keep reading to learn how to tackle Vassar’s supplemental essays to improve your chances of acceptance!

Vassar College Supplemental Essay Prompts

Prompt 1: We would like to get to know you better, especially on a more individual level. In replying to either prompt below, you are welcome to touch on any unique ability or aspect of your background – be it your race/ethnicity, socio-economic background, religious tradition, gender, geographic area that you have been raised in, personal interests, etc. – that demonstrates how you may contribute to Vassar.

Please select one of the following prompts and respond in 300 words or less.
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Option A: At Vassar, we aim to foster an inclusive community through our philosophy of engaged pluralism. Engaged pluralism is rooted in “the conviction that collaborating across differences is necessary for social transformation and critical for the well-being of any community and its members.” In short, we believe it’s our differences that make us stronger. Tell us a little bit about an important part of your identity and how it has shaped your life and/or interactions with others. (300 words)
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Option B: Vassar is a diverse community that inspires positive change through open inquiry, deep dives into society’s most difficult challenges, and collaborative problem solving. We care deeply about one another, the communities that have forged us, and the community we build together on campus. Tell us about the community (or communities) you come from and how it has shaped your lived experiences and identity. (300 words)

Prompt 2 (optional): Your Space is your opportunity to allow the Committee on Admission to learn something about you that you have not addressed in another section of the application. For example, in the past, applicants have shared poetry, short stories, cartoons, digital images of art projects, photography, and collages, and/or links to videos, and short films. It is your space, so if you choose to complete it, send something that is a reflection of you! ‌

Prompt 3 (optional): If you wish to provide details of circumstances not reflected in the application, please upload a file here. Similarly, if you wish to upload your resume, include it here.

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Prompt 1, Option A
At Vassar, we aim to foster an inclusive community through our philosophy of engaged pluralism. Engaged pluralism is rooted in “the conviction that collaborating across differences is necessary for social transformation and critical for the well-being of any community and its members.” In short, we believe it’s our differences that make us stronger. Tell us a little bit about an important part of your identity and how it has shaped your life and/or interactions with others. (300 words)
This prompt is a form of the Diversity essay, where colleges prompt you to talk about an aspect of your identity or experience that makes you unique. An Extracurricular essay could also work here, but make sure you’re focusing on an extracurricular that provides some good background into who you are and what values you hold.

While the word diversity might bring to mind some specific identity features, like race, gender, or ***uality, it’s important to remember that diversity can mean a lot of different things, from family composition, to culture and hometown, to hobbies, experiences, or perspectives. With a prompt like this, it’s best to think outside the box and present yourself as creatively and uniquely as possible.

This prompt also features Vassar’s commitment to “engaged pluralism;” the valuing of collaboration across differences as a means to create a strong, inclusive community. With these two key ideas in mind, let’s brainstorm some questions to guide your writing.

What part of your identity feels most central to who you are? Is it your ethnicity, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion, or something else?
Can you recall specific moments when this aspect of your identity played a significant role in your interactions with others?
How has this part of your identity shaped your worldview, values, or the way you relate to others?
How does this identity influence your goals, aspirations, or the way you approach challenges?
In what ways do you think your unique perspective will contribute to a community like Vassar? In what ways has it already contributed to the communities you are a part of now?

As you consider these questions and begin to form your essay, there are a few important things to keep in mind. First, though these questions are written broadly, your essay needs to be specific. Admissions officers at Vassar will be reading hundreds of essays responding to this prompt, and you’re going to want yours to stick out. Making your essay personal to you will help with this. Avoiding cliche topics like sports injuries, immigration stories, or “voluntourism” is another bonus.

Along with your individuality, you want your essay to showcase your deep understanding of engaged pluralism. Not only will this make it clear that you’re paying attention, it will demonstrate your commitment to Vassar’s values. Make sure to clearly connect your story to the idea of engaged pluralism—how your identity has influenced your ability to collaborate with or understand others from different backgrounds.

Finally, to really make your essay stand out, you should highlight how your experiences and perspectives will allow you to contribute to Vassar’s diverse and inclusive community. Taking the extra step of envisioning your future on Vassar’s campus will help the admissions team visualize you there, too.

If you’re still struggling to picture just how these essays might look, consider a few examples of potential students with strong topics:

A biracial student who struggled to fit in at both a predominantly White private middle school and a predominantly Black public high school, describing how their experiences led them to start a podcast where students from different racial backgrounds shared stories about their identities.
A student raised in a politically divided household, where Thanksgiving dinners often turned into heated debates, who plans to discuss how they started a “Listening Circle” at their school, where students with opposing political views discussed current events in a structured, respectful setting.
A Jewish student who faced anti-Semitic remarks at their predominantly Christian high school in rural Georgia and responded by creating a support network for Jewish teens in the rural South, to connect with others who share their faith and experiences.
A student deeply involved in urban gardening and sustainable agriculture in a food desert community, whose interest sparked when they revitalized a vacant lot near their home.

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Prompt 1, Option B
Vassar is a diverse community that inspires positive change through open inquiry, deep dives into society’s most difficult challenges, and collaborative problem solving. We care deeply about one another, the communities that have forged us, and the community we build together on campus. Tell us about the community (or communities) you come from and how it has shaped your lived experiences and identity. (300 words)
This prompt is very similar to the previous one, but it’s more focused on collaboration and community, and it doesn’t require you to explicitly explain how you’ll impact Vassar’s community. Instead, you’ll need to reflect on how this community has shaped you, and it can be helpful to show how that impacts your future goals.

Again, you can reuse an existing Diversity Essay or Extracurricular Essay you wrote for another school. This time, you won’t need to modify it unless that existing essay has school-specific elements.

If your meaningful activity or quality doesn’t lend itself well to brainstorming how you’ll impact the Vassar community, you may prefer this prompt. Just keep in mind that this prompt requires you to focus on an experience in an organized group of some sort (it can be formal or informal).

Keep in mind that community can also mean many things, including:

Clubs, teams, classes
Community groups
Interests or activities
Geography, culture, or hometown

Similar to the previous prompt, a narrative structure would work well for this essay. Rather than trying to describe the community in general, it may be helpful to focus on a specific experience that was formative to you.

Most of the essay should describe the event, including what happened, your state of mind as it was happening, your emotional state, and how your perception of the event has changed over time.

The remaining one-fourth to one-third of the essay should be a reflection on how this event and community has shaped who you are.

Here is an example:

A student comes from a low-income community, which forced her to be extremely resourceful growing up. She wore her older sister’s hand-me-downs, which were often sizes too large. She rarely ate out, and when she did, you saved the containers to use as Tupperware. She had to cut open her toothpaste tubes to scrape out every last bit. While she used to be embarrassed about her financial situation, she also recognizes how it pushed her to be more sustainable, and is happy these types of habits are now being popularized. She plans to take her resourcefulness to the next level by becoming an environmental engineer.

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Prompt 3
Your Space is your opportunity to allow the Committee on Admission to learn something about you that you have not addressed in another section of the application. For example, in the past, applicants have shared poetry, short stories, cartoons, digital images of art projects, photography, and collages, and/or links to videos, and short films. It is your space, so if you choose to complete it, send something that is a reflection of you! (optional)
This submission is optional, but we highly recommend that you complete it, especially if you have a creative hobby. This is a place to share any meaningful aspects of your identity that you weren’t able to share in the rest of your application. It is also a chance for you to showcase anything you did mention first-hand.

For example, maybe you discussed in an essay how writing poems helped you get through your mom’s passing, and you could share some of those poems here. Or, maybe you listed winning a short film award on your application, and you can share the film here. Perhaps you have a comic book collection that you didn’t get a chance to mention, so a photo and description of it might be fitting for this section.

Whatever you choose, be sure that it’s meaningful to you and reveals more about you as a person. If you submit something more creative, such as a short story or photography samples, be sure that it’s high-quality. Sending in something that’s mediocre, or not very good, may hurt your application.

This is similar advice we give to students considering submitting an arts supplement; there will be many students who share extraordinarily-developed skills, so samples at a lower level of expertise will only pale in comparison. We recommend getting a second opinion from a trusted mentor, just to be sure!

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Prompt 3
If you wish to provide details of circumstances not reflected in the application, please upload a file here. Similarly, if you wish to upload your resume, include it here. (optional)
Unlike the essay above, we do not recommend writing anything for this supplement if you don’t have anything to say. This prompt is usually for students who faced unusual circumstances that negatively impacted their academic or extracurricular profile, such as a family death, an illness, or family responsibilities.

This is also a fitting place to mention anything central to your identity that wasn’t reflected in other parts of your application. For instance, maybe you’re really passionate about learning Esperanto, the “international language,” and you’re part of a strong online community of Esperanto speakers. This could be something you include in this section.

You have the Additional Information space in the Common App for these situations, but Vassar provides more space to elaborate upon these aspects of your high school career. Just be sure not to repeat anything already in your application. If it’s already in your Additional Information section, no need to say it again.

If you wish to upload your resume, you can, but only do so if you want to provide more info. No need to rehash your Activities section. Uploading a resume could be a good idea for students with ample work experience, however.

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Essay Example 1 – Why Vassar, Reading

Prompt: Why are you applying to Vassar? (300 words).

I grew up in the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library, learning to find aisles with my eyes closed and befriending librarians. Growing up with the scent of old books and comforting silence made it easy to forget about the world outside, but even as a child, my thirst for answers pushed me into the unknown. At the age of four, I often asked my mother to reread a book about punctuation that I couldn’t understand in an attempt to puzzle out its meaning. As I moved on from Magic Tree House to Harry Potter, my inquisitive nature and determination to understand the literature around me only continued to grow. Obstacles sparked my ambition as I tackled the intimidating Les Misérables sophomore year, Crime and Punishment junior year, and Jane Eyre senior year. I could spend days in the Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library poring over Macbeth or diving deeper into the wounds of American misconceptions of Asian culture through literature such as The Good Earth with Professor Hua Hsu, but I’ve learned that life beyond the library also teems with complex characters and lessons of its own–especially at Vassar. After hearing Tyrone Simpson speak at Vassar’s Summer Institute for the Liberal Arts, I realized the rooted dedication Vassar has to grapple with difficult questions. I would be able to challenge my boundaries as a reader, writer, and human being by initiating eye-opening conversations on a diverse campus through the Asian Students Alliance, follow the footsteps of Elizabeth Bishop and Edna St. Vincent Millay by curating pieces for Vassar Review or Toni Morrison in courses like New York Stories, and host an Open Mic Night with the help of friends. I might miss the library that raised who I am today, but I know I have daunting, thrilling questions awaiting me at Vassar.

What the Essay Did Well

This “Why School?” essay does a really nice job of showing the student’s interest in reading and literature. The language they used to describe their library as “comforting”, and being “raised” by the library creates a clear picture for the reader that this student loves to read. Not only do we learn about this student’s passion, but we learn through them showing us. The essay shows us how the student felt in the library and takes us on a journey as they tackle more and more advanced books, as opposed to telling us they are passionate about reading.

The use of book titles was another positive aspect of this essay. Citing actual books and explaining how they affected the student helps display to the admissions officers reading the essay that literature has impacted this student in a multitude of ways. We see the student grow from being young and curious to tackling challenging concepts, embracing new cultures, and engaging in self-reflection all through reading.

Another positive of this essay is how it takes time to establish who this student is before directly answering why they want to study at Vassar. We learn about this student’s lifelong passion for the library and reading before we hear how they plan to continue pursuing their passion at Vassar. Even before they mention specific resources they want to take advantage of on campus, the admissions officers reading the essay get a good idea about where this student will fit into the campus community and what unique perspectives they will bring. Never forget that essays are where the admissions officers learn about who you are as a person, so even when answering prompts related to the school, you should always include personal reflection as this student did.

What Could Be Improved

The main part of this essay that could use improving was in the last few sentences that discussed how Vassar will allow this student to continue exploring their passion. Although the student did provide some explanation as to how these resources at Vassar will help them grow their interest in reading and writing, the elaboration was pretty weak. Considering the prompt asks why this student wants to attend Vassar, this section of the essay should be improved.

The student mentions they want to grow as “reader, writer, and human being” by engaging in diverse conversations, writing for a literary magazine, and hosting open mic nights. These are all great, but nothing mentioned here is specific to Vassar. This student could participate in any of these activities at any college they go to, so they either need to pick something more unique or provide detailed elaboration on how participating in these activities, specifically at Vassar, will help them in the long run.

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Essay Example 2 – Why Vassar, Law

Prompt: Why are you applying to Vassar? (300 words).

Never. Become. A. Lawyer.

My brother, a corporate lawyer and workaholic, drilled these words into my mind. So naturally, I gravitated towards the field even more. However, what I also came to realize was that he meant that I should never become a lawyer like him–one who solely hoped to accumulate a vast fortune, betraying his morality to litigate for massive corporate entities. By contrast, I plan to pursue a career as an environmental lawyer, prioritizing progress and positive change.

In this respect, Vassar resonates with my motivations and presents ideal opportunities to develop my interests. Courses like “Infamy on Trial: Famous Trials in Early Modern Europe” and “Europe 1945-Rethinking History” would provide a means to develop my innate interest in European history and an understanding of law. My passion for advanced discourse and political activism which I developed in high school through Speech and Debate and several social justice organizations would flourish outside of the classroom through the Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics and the Vassar Debate Society. Meanwhile, Students for Equitable Environmental Decisions would allow me to further my commitment to environmentalism.

Ultimately though, the beauty of Vassar lies in how it enables one to pursue diverse interests and activities while being surrounded by independently motivated students with similar ideals. Thus, the Outing Club and Vassar ski team both encompass pastimes I have enjoyed throughout my life and plan to pursue into the future. Moreover, through the Vassar Wesleyan Program in Madrid, I could immerse myself further in a culture I have grown to feel a strong connection to through my study of Spanish.

Vassar would enable me to develop my interest in a vast number of topics, activities, and ideas, therefore representing a critical first step toward seeking a fulfilling life.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay, which takes quite a different approach to the same “Why School?” prompt, does a good job of establishing the student’s interest in a topic and sharing how Vassar will help them pursue that topic in the short and long run. We learn that this student’s passion for political activism and environmental justice began in high school in the Speech and Debate club and that they were influenced by their brother’s experience in law. The first two paragraphs provide detailed context to understand why this student has chosen to pursue this field in college and beyond, as well as what motivates them.

After establishing the student’s interest, the essay does a good job of explaining why this student wants to pursue these goals at Vassar because they cite specific resources and explain how they will directly benefit from them. Mentioning both specific classes and clubs that are unique to Vassar is already a positive, but the student doesn’t just name-drop them for the sake of it. They provide the elaboration necessary for a successful “Why This College” essay by explaining how each resource mentioned aligns with the student’s interests and goals.

Another positive aspect of this essay is that it mentioned both academic and extracurricular opportunities at Vassar that excite this student. Admissions officers aren’t just looking to admit perfect students—they want well-rounded individuals who will contribute to their broader campus community. By mentioning social activities this student wants to take part in like the Outing Club and ski team, the essay shows that this student has a variety of interests and will be an active member of the community.

What Could Be Improved

One area of the essay that could have used more elaboration was when the student discussed the study abroad program in Madrid. Although including this detail shows the student has done research on Vassar and is interested in studying other languages and cultures, it felt out of place in the paragraph discussing their extracurricular interests. This detail could have been removed to free up words for the student to go into further elaboration on their other academic interests. If the student felt strongly about keeping the study abroad program, they should have moved it to the paragraph focused on their academic pursuits and found a way to connect their academic goals to studying in Madrid. As is, this detail feels out of place and underdeveloped.