The WashU supplemental essay is not something to be trifled with. Washington University in St. Louis, or WUSTL for short, had a slim acceptance rate of 13% for its class of 2025. That’s a significant decrease from last year and the years prior. With the chances of getting accepted into WashU getting atomized with every passing year, the university must now take more holistic measures to determine which students truly belong in their school.

This means taking more consideration for the WashU supplemental essay now than ever before. Grades alone won’t get any student accepted.

Here’s what they have to say about their holistic admissions process and the weight of the WashU supplemental essay section.

“With our mission in mind, we review your application in a holistic and individualized manner, where our goal is to get to know you—and your story—through the application process. Here are some of the things we are looking for…

…While there is no one type of WashU student, our students have many things in common… collaborative, intellectually curious, creative, and demonstrate leadership in a variety of ways. They share concern for others, seek solutions, and support one another… being a community of people with a broad array of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives, and interests…

…What will you contribute to the WashU community? How have you demonstrated your character? What is important to you and what sort of person do you hope to become?”

WashU Official Website

Now, here’s what you should get out of this.

The WashU community requires a diverse array of students who accommodate the school’s particular needs and requirements. They mention that WashU does not have one particular type of student who always gets accepted. However, they admit to having a constellation of characteristics that typically constitute the type of student who gets accepted.

Weave these attributes into the admissions essays. It would demonstrate your fit for the school and show that you are someone who isn’t just applying for a top school just for the name alone. It is crucial that your fit aligns with what the school typically finds good in a student. This way, you will be more likely to check off the checklist of attributes they’re looking for in their incoming class.

With that said, let’s started by going over how to write the WashU supplemental essay.

Table of Contents

1. WashU Supplemental Essay Prompt
2. How to Write the WashU Supplemental Essay
   • Answering the WashU “Why Us” Format
   • Writing College Essays Below 200 Words
   • Why a Technical WashU “Why Us” Essay is Impossible.
   • An Unusual Method That Works: Be Unconventional
3. Wash U Supplemental Essay Example

WashU Supplemental Essay Prompt

Please tell us what you are interested in studying at WashU and why.

200 Words Max

Common App Official Website

How to Write the WashU Supplemental Essay

Answering the WashU “Why Us” Format

In most essays that have a “Why Us” essay format, we would normally recommend you to follow this format.

1. Write what you want to major in or what your future career is.
2. Write how the school will help with that major.
3. What resources at the school make it crucial for your future career’s success?
4. Why MUST you attend this school to manifest your future and no other?

However, for the WashU supplemental essay, we would recommend something different. This format from 1-4 will NOT work for the WashU supplemental essay. Now, why is that? The answer is actually quite simple. The reason you can’t answer the “Why Us” format like you would with any other school is because of the word limit.

We’ll cover more on how to write college essays below the 200-word-limit in the next section. For now, we’ll discuss its impracticality and place in the WashU supplemental essay.

Any college or university that requires a “Why Us” essay will probably weigh that prompt the most. This is because the nature of the prompt is something that highlights one of the most crucial aspects of college decisions to begin with: why students even bother to apply to the school.

These questions can’t be answered without having a very articulate, and often lengthy, answer that is very in-depth and sophisticated. So, someone answering a “Why Us” essay prompt probably shouldn’t talk about just one club that happened to align with their interests. They probably shouldn’t have only their major aligning with the school’s reputation as their sole reason. They need to have a lot of meaningful reasons to choose that one school.

Now, when you reduce such content to such a small word limit, you’ll have no choice but to reduce meaningful words to the micro-level. In effect, you’ve essentially cheapened the value of your reasons to apply.

So, in order to know how to answer the WashU supplemental essay prompt, you need to know how to write college essays below 200 words. This brings us to the next important section.

Writing College Essays Below 200 Words

In order to write the WashU supplemental essay well and have it fit within 200 words, you need to choose an approach that is not cheapened with shorter words. Here’s a good analogy.

Imagine two documents. One is a Japanese haiku about the way rain falls at night. Another is a document detailing a business plan to help a SaaS company scale their amount of sales for the next quarter. Which one demands more words and which one fewer? The haiku needs fewer words. The business plan needs more.

For a college essay that needs 200 words or fewer, the WashU supplemental essay should be structured in a way where the topic does not demand a high amount of explanation and words.

So, elaborating on why your major, future aspirations, and career plans would fit perfectly with WashU may not be possible. It’s crucial that you include it; however, it should be short and only a few sentences. It’s a critical detail so adding it is still necessary. But, you should save the word count for other things.

Another tip on reducing your word count is simply writing out your essay as long as you like. Then, you can cut through all the content that does not directly correlate with answering the prompt or add any depth to your essay.

Once you’ve done that, reduce the wordiness by shortening sentences without taking away context. More often than not, you can make a long sentence 3x shorter and still keep most of the context there. Trust us, people are much wordier and verbose than they think. We’ve seen it in many of the essays our clients bring to us.

Lastly, remember that the admissions officers understand the struggle of putting a meaningful story into 200 words. They are aware of the limitations that a 200-word limit brings; thus, they’ll be a bit forgiving if your writing appears trite and overly concise. 200 words is not a lot, so it’s okay to forgive yourself if it doesn’t look perfectly streamlined and not choppy.

However, if you’re still thinking of making it look perfect and proper to help you stand out in such a competitive school, you may want to think about scheduling a consultation with us for free essay advising and consulting.

Why a Technical WashU “Why Us” Essay is Impossible.

Due to the short word limit, it is technically impossible to write a strong WashU Why Us essay about only your major and academic plans at the school.

Now, why is this?

This is not to say that it is literally impossible. There are possibly some good essays that are technically about why the school will be a great fit for the major or field, plus how it could manifest in their future plans. However, at a 200-word limit, it is most probably impossible to give that kind of topic the weight it deserves.

Think of it like this.

Someone has 200 words to describe why their future career or job plans are a good idea. At 200 words, you can’t write that without sounding naive. Practically any industry or academic major you’re getting into demands respect and dedication. So, a 200-word description on why you want to go into WashU in particular, why you chose that major, and how that major would best fit at WashU only is asking for too much.

You’ll essentially be putting yourself in a trap, where no matter what you say it sounds too trite and disingenuous. That’s the problem. The word limit makes anything you say about needing to attend WashU for career purposes sound fake and lazy.

Instead, you’ll need to go a different route. This is what we recommend.

An Unusual Method That Works: Be Unconventional

This is where our advice for WashU starts to get a bit strange, and admittedly sort of different from what other college advisors are recommending. To write a good WashU essay that both stands out from the rest of the highly-competitive crowd and fits in the word count, you MUST take an unconventional route.

We understand that the “Why Us” essay format is a rather technical and literal question. After all, most students are applying for school for the sole purpose of harnessing their skills and creating a good financial future as a result. However, writing about this just doesn’t work. If this is a strategy that everyone does, is impossible to fit in such a short word count, and appears cheapened due to the word count, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.

Thus, writing the WashU supplemental essay on how the school is a good fit for your academic and career future will NOT work —even if it makes the most sense. In addition, a school as competitive as WashU still demands unique character in its essays. It’s how the holistic admissions process can work in your favor.

So, you MUST write the WashU supplemental essay by going against the grain.

To do so, you typically need to take on a creative stance when writing the essay. This means weaving in emotion and articulating creative reasons why the school appeals to you. You can write this in a story format, through analogy, or any other way you prefer. Get creative!

You may have a personal or emotional attachment to this school that transcends the feeling you get from every other school. Or, there was a personal experience you had that made WashU the best school to manifest your future.

Whatever your reasons are, they should be reasonable, personable, and unique to impress admissions officers. It should read as a personal moment for you to open up about the emotional reasons you have attached to the school.

As with any application essay, it’s easy to forget to tie your creative story with your reasons for applying. So, don’t forget to write your creative essay and answer the prompt at the same time.

Wash U Supplemental Essay Example

“The Amtrak train. Sacramento.

Someone approached the door. A girl. A gothic lolita dressed in the colors of mourning.

I never considered myself a girl who dressed up. But, there was an intrinsic, human instinct to say something.

“Hi…”

“Hi…”

Against my introversion, we shared pleasentries until she said, “This is my stop.”

“Well, see you next time.”

There wouldn’t be a next time. We both knew it. But, something about seeing those doors close and wanting to say something before the train moved once more struck my soul like lightning.

Never again.

Never again will I let opportunities slip from my grasp. I “kind of” made a friend when I should have taken the full measure.

I plan to attend WashU because it’s programs in “x” and “y” are certianly the greatest fit for my future in “major”. I know “1” and “2” can help me bootstrap my startup. But, I also plan to attend because I know now not to let go of a unique opportunity when I see it. When WashU stands before those doors, I know to say,

“Never again.”

WashU Supplemental Essay Example

If you’re still confused about how to write the WashU supplemental essay, don’t worry. There are many other students who feel the same. Schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation with us, and our expert college admissions advisors and editors can discuss how we can help with your application essays. Whether you’re still brainstorming ideas or at the final stages of editing before pressing the big scary submit button, it’s wisest to consult real experts.