The Apply Texas essay prompts are nothing short of unconventional and challenging. This is especially true for students who struggle with writing creative answers that stand out amongst the rest of the application pool.
If you want to get accepted into most Texas public schools, you’ll need to answer the Apply Texas essay prompts in a manner that helps differentiate you from other students.
You’ll need a unique voice, writing style, and topic.
These elements will help Texas admissions officers have a clearer sense of you as a student and your fit for the school.
Below, we’ve pasted the Apply Texas essay prompts for the 2023-24 application cycle plus the ApplyTexas essay instructions
Apply Texas recommends that you keep your essay to between 500 and 750 words in length. We have provided a word counter below to help you keep track. If more than one institution to which you apply requires the same essay, you will need to submit the essay for each application that requires it in order for it to be sent to multiple institutions.
Apply Texas Essay Prompts 2023-24 Application Cycle
- Essay Topic A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
- Essay Topic B: Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.
- Essay Topic C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?
In this article, we’ll be covering how to answer each of the Apply Texas essay prompts. We’ll also provide examples of Apply Texas essays that worked. You can also access the Apply Texas application here.
Table of Contents
- How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic A
- How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic B
- How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic C
How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic A
Let’s take this prompt apart and analyze the wording here.
“Essay Topic A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?”
First Apply Texas Essay Prompt
There are a few words we want you to pay attention to here.
- Story.
- Opportunities or challenges.
- Experienced.
- High School career.
- Shaped.
By paying attention to the individual words of this prompt, you can have a good idea of the nature of the prompt.
When the Apply Texas prompt asks for your “story”, you know they’re not asking for a very formal or hyper-professional explanation. They’re asking you to share your story; so, you can be more casual and streamlined with your response here. Think of this prompt in some ways as a diary that you’re opening up to with your vulnerabilities.
Next is the “opportunities or challenges.” Note how the prompt puts “or” in there, implying that you can choose between opportunity or challenge as a topic. But, you can also get creative here. You can also answer the Apply Texas essay topic A by implying that your challenge IS the opportunity, or vice versa. This lets you take a unique approach to the prompt that others may not consider, and perhaps even have more content to write about within the word count.
The word “experienced” is quite straightforward. Like the word “story”, admissions officers aren’t exactly asking for just surface-level facts. They want to know about your experience. So, what were the emotions you felt during your experience? Elaborate on what you’ve seen and what it reminds you of. Use imagery, and don’t be afraid to go against the grain when elaborating on certain experiences. Most students have nuanced emotions and subtle feelings associated with their experience that they aren’t even aware of; so, take your time reflecting before you write!
The next keyword is a bit obvious. “High school career” implies any experiences endured throughout high school. So, don’t choose anything while you were in Middle School or Elementary.
Finally, we have the word “shaped.” Shaped implies that the admissions officers want to know about experiences that have changed you from one person to another. This means you need to have endured some level of development whether physical, mental, or both. It’s good to keep this in mind, especially since admissions officers will use this info to determine your adaptability to grow in their institution.
Apply Texas Essay Topic A Example
“It’s always dark out.
That’s one of the few things I always notice during my high school expereince. It always seemed like the morning sprawl getting to school, attending school, leaving school only to get to basketball practice and end practice and make extra pocket money tutoring and coming home from it leaves me, inexorably, to a dark window that leads to…
nowhere.
That’s what it always looked like.
Just to the right of my desk, if I turn my head away from my work to let my mind wander, it’d make contact with the window opeing beyond. It’s often pitch black. And, in that pitch black-ness, i’d wonder where the time went.
What happened to this morning? Where did practice go? Where did all the “stuff” I wanted to do go? What about all the cool things the child version of me wanted to do like publishing comics and making edits on YouTube for fun?
What happened to fun?
If there’s a story I can talk about and share today, an opportunity or challenge that has shaped me the most, it’s this: that there is not opportunity.
Well, no. That’s not true.
There were opportunities. I just threw it out the metaphorical window into a dark and stormy night, never to be seen again. I had the opportunity to have fun and actualize the hobbies I genuinely enjoy.
In fact, I was a big comic fan.
Novels. Romance fiction. Superhero comics. Manga.
Everything was fair game in my childhood; and, even now I have a strong interest in these mediums of fiction. I can’t remember how many times I looked out that black, dark window to be greeted by subtle drizzle in the middle of finals week wondering whether I could be doing something more fun with my time.
Academics is challenging; and, hey: there’s some excitement to learning in academics that is quite fulfilling. But, it feels incomplete. It’s like I’ve only exercised one part of my brainw ithout truly stretching out the parts of my mind capable of incredible creativity.
But, I didn’t. I could have instantiated a new life outside of academics that led to a level of fulfillment that I was happy with.
I didn’t.
Yet, this lacking of courage to pursue opporunties, this insistence that I stay in my academic work bubble, is not just a challenge. It in and of itself is an opportunity. I took that chance. And, I think that’s what truly shapes me today.
I’m someone who took a long, long time to truly grasp at the opporuntity to pursue their passions outside of high school and academic work. For that, I received a great reward: the worst serialization of a comic in the history of the world.
Kind of.
It’s actually getting slightly better. I’m in no ways the best comic writer. But, I’m getting there; and, shoudl I be accepted into “x”, I hope to bring this hobby along with me. It’s a hobby that I hope to create into a full on passion project in the future. And, maybe, when I look outside my window from my work desk after graduation, the pitch-blackness might not look quite as dreary. “
Apply Texas Essay Topic A Example
How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic B
Again, just like in the first essay topic, we’ll be dissecting and analyzing the wording here in the Apply Texas essay topic B.
“Essay Topic B: Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.”
Second Apply Texas Essay Prompt
There are just 3 words that you need to pay particular attention to. We’ll be going over each one.
- Identity
- Interest
- Talent
Your identity could be your race, ethnicity, and nationality; but, you should note that you’re not limited to these identities only. Your identity can also be your belonging in a part of a community. For instance, you may belong in the Super Smash Bros community; or, you could be part of the Lost Media horror community. These identities can be associated with obscure interests, and they don’t need to be very well known. Just remember to associate your experience with why you’re an applicable candidate for the school that you’re applying for.
Your interest is going to be very similar to identity. Chances are, your interest is very closely connected to your identity whether you know it or not. We would recommend approaching the “interest” part of the Apply Texas essay topic B by considering it as both an identity and an interest. If you have the linguistic finesse to masterfully craft an essay that would consider your topic both an identity and an interest without breaking the rules, you’ll have a strong advantage against other students who simply stay within the boundaries of the prompt without finding creative answers.
Now for talent. If you answer the Apply Texas essay topic B by writing about your talent, you’ll notice that you’re at a bit of a disadvantage. Talents are, by nature, born and not made. Skill is made; and, thus, writing about talent inexorably leaves you in a position where you’re not writing about the actual labor needed to achieve your talent. This puts you in a strange position because you’ll be writing without talking about the obstacles you’ve overcome and risk the chance of appearing “inappropriately braggy” right out the gate. Nonetheless, with the right skill and writing ability, you can write this topic about talent and still have a decent essay.
Apply Texas Essay Topic B Example
“”I can play Viper I guess.”
There’s a game my friends and I love to play called Valorant. It’s a competitive shooter game developed by Riot Games: one of my favorite game development companies. And, while the Esports scene is quite big and shooter games are rather popular in my friend group, I’ve never quite been a fan of them.
I appreciate them; but, more than anything I love spending time with friends and enjoying their company while we play together over call. It’s either that, or drawing their favorite game characters in my own art style. It serves as both a gift-giving ritual and practice for one day making it in the game industry as an illustrator and hopefully a senior designer for both art design and code.
My family has always been quite supportive of this. There’s a clear career path, they appreciate my passion for game project management, and they find my art endearing.
But, funnily enough, I don’t quite think they’re the focus of my identity that I want to zero in on.
Rather, it’s Valorant’s character: Viper.
Viper is a character I only really first played in the game when my friends all chose a character they wanted to play as “theirs.” As such, I was stuck with the remaining limited pool of available characters; and, as such, I stuck with Viper out of random happenstance.
Normally, from here, there’s supposed to be some kind of dramatic, “and then they changed the way I see things forever!” sort of discussion.
But, I didn’t quite have that.
Instead, Viper was just that: Viper.
She was just a playable character I’d choose after a long day writing proposals for my Engineering class. She was just a long string of sarcarstic quips directed at enemies and cool voicelines during a relaxing evening when I get to stay home and play with friends for the night.
Then, over time, she became the center of my inside jokes with friends. Then, because I was conveniently an Asian girl with short black hair and an interest in Biology and Chemistry, I cosplayed as her during a recent con.
Then, the posters and keychains brought as gifts started to pour in because, “Oh, I thought you like Viper; so, I got you this for your birthday!” which continued the next birthday, and next get togethers, etc.
Funnily enough, this character who I chose out of sheer happenstance many years ago became a central part of my identity and something that just “stuck.” It’s strange. Many times in the past when I was in Elementary and Middle school, I always hoped to be “something.” I wanted to be “Asian enough” because I was half white. And, I wanted to be “White enough” because I was half Asian. I wanted to be smart enough to be at the top of the class and I wanted to dress well enough to fit in with everyone else.
But, that that forcefulness just didn’t stick.
Yet, when I relaxed and just let things be as they are, Viper stuck. Who’d’ve thought an evil scientist lady who uses poisonous clouds would have been more conducive to an identity than the act of trying to fit in itself?
So, maybe I was wrong. Maybe there is some kind of valuable lesson to be learned from this: that I shouldn’t force my identity into being one of many in a box. Or, maybe I was right because it really isn’t all that deep like I thought it was; and, I should just enjoy the processes of going along with the winds of life and seeing where it leads.
Regardless, I feel Viper has instantiated a kind of mindset in me that I never thought I’d have: the recognition and acceptance that my identity can change without my even realizing it. Maybe upon moving to Texas, I’ll dive deeper into Chemistry to be a force for good. Or, I may discover a new major that would reshape how I see my career.
I don’t know; how could I? After all, I’m just some scientist girl who throws clouds of poison!”
Apply Texas Essay Topic B Example
How to Answer Apply Texas Essay Topic C
“Essay Topic C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?”
Third Apply Texas Essay Prompt
The Apply Texas essay topic C is certainly more unconventional compared to essay topics A and B. The wording in this one is rather straightforward. So, instead of dissecting each word, we will be discussing just one element: desire.
The Apply Texas essay topic C is really just asking you about your inner desires. By giving you an omnipotent ticket, admissions officers can see where your priorities and inner desires are. And, in learning about your desires, they can know what you value and therefore your personal characteristics. These character traits are going to be the crux of their admissions decision.
Thus, you should be approaching this essay by thinking about not what answer is the most cool, unique, or special (although, that certainly helps.) What you should be focusing on is just what kind of impression and characteristic you’re demonstrating to the admissions officer when you explain your reasoning for your ticket choice.
Apply Texas Essay Topic C Example
“9th of August, 1945.
If there’s a ticket to anywhere, it would be to the location of the central command responsible for dropping the second atom bomb on Nagasaki. I think I would do what I could to stop the United States from committing crimes against humanity itself and forever staining our country’s name in the history books.
Of course, I could use the ticket to transport to the 6th of August to save both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, by that logic, I could have traveled elsewhere to save Flint, Michigan from its water crisis as a “loyal Japanese American citizen” doing their duty to their country. Or, I could do my country to humanity by turning in my ticket to return to the first broken genetic string that formed the first Malaria virus, saving many, many lives.
With that logic, there’s always going to be some better world problem to solve or some greater act of social justice to tackle. And, by aiming higher, and higher, and higher, I may just spend all of infinity never truly cashing in my ticket and only pondering.
So, maybe I’ll actually save Nagasaki through some miraculous act of linguistic skill. With my silver tongue, I could convince the country with my silver tongue to abstain from senseless violence.
And then, everything in the modern day will be all better.
Or, will it?
No, I don’t think it will. It’s quite a pessimistic approach to things; but, I do think it’s true. What do I know? I’m just some 18-year-old know-it-all with a strong sense of justice. And, all I have is a ticket that can take me anywhere. Just because I have an omnipotent ticket doesn’t mean people could listen to me.
In addition, tragedy is a natural part of life. Just because we change the past to avoid certain catastrophes does not mean that the future will change. With one plague taken down, more come. With one catastrophe avoided, more will inexorably come to threaten the peace. In fact, one may even argue that no matter how much is done to change the past the future will be set in stone by the hands of fate.
But, that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. If we look instead in the past, instead of having omnipotent powers like a magical ticket that can transport us anywhere, into the future, we can truly start to make a difference. We can accept the past for what it is and recognize that although we can’t undo mistakes, we can become better versions of ourselves capable of fighting against future tragedy.
That’s what would happen: I would do what I can with my ticket; and, I might help society. But, even in changing the past, I won’t be able to change the future. Mistakes will always happen. Yet, we can be stronger in facing them.”
Apply Texas Essay Topic C Example
If you’re still unsure of how to approach the Apply Texas essay prompts, need help writing your Apply Texas essays, or simply wish to receive help with your college applications, don’t worry! Schedule a free consultation with us, and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours. Our college admissions consultants have years of expert experience, and have helped countless students get into some of the best universities in the nation including U of T, Rice, UCB, NYU, Cornell, Harvey Mudd, UPenn, Brown, U Mich, and more!
