Vanderbilt is a medium-sized private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Students who attend the school rave about the academic programs and the booming social scene. Vanderbilt is often referred to as the “Harvard of the South,” and the acceptance rate for the class of 2024 was 9%.
Let’s take a look at the prompt:
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (200-400 words)
Hey @Vanderbilt, we’re still wondering how this is possibly enough information to determine admissions viability for your applicants. But, we’ll move on!
The first thing that you should do is decide which extracurricular activity or job you’re going to write about. This is your only shot at providing written depth to your application, so you should consider writing about something that says a lot about you but hasn’t been developed in another part of your application. Going with something that you have not disclosed anywhere else is your best bet, but we realize that it’s unrealistic to think that everyone will have a **very special** eleventh activity that didn’t make the cut. Your goal is to show Vanderbilt that you have a variety of interests, hobbies, passions, skills, and talents. Bonus points if what you write about is completely unrelated to everything that you’ve shown them thus far.
Also, you do not need to pick the thing that sounds most important or impressive. In fact, you shouldn’t. You should, however, pick the thing that you’re most passionate about. Your answer needs to scream passion and excitement, and that is hard to convey when you’re writing about a club you’re not truly invested in but kept on your résumé because you think it makes you sound worldly. Let’s say that you decide to write about your job as a barista. Here’s what you shouldn’t do:
“I have been working at a coffee shop for two years. Because of this, I’m skilled at dealing with customers and am able to maintain a busy schedule while excelling at school.”
Why is this the wrong approach? Undoubtedly, there will be qualities and interests that you will be aiming to express with your response. But instead of blankly stating this as fact, as shown above, you need to immediately drop the reader into the scene and paint a clear story with a beginning, middle, and end. 400 words are actually quite generous for this question, and we suggest using them all.
Think about memorable experiences that you’ve had, either at work or while pursuing your extracurricular activities. Write down everything that you can remember. If your job is particularly challenging, you might write about an ultimately rewarding time when you solved a complex problem. But your answer does not need conflict in order to “work.” Think about the good memories, the frustrating times, a time when you were nervous but eventually got things right. When we are brainstorming with our TKG clients and details start to become sparse, we might ask:
Who was there?
What did the room like?
What were you doing earlier that day?
How did you feel?
What conversations took place?
These are basic questions, sure, but once you start answering them you’ll realize that there’s much more to say. In terms of actually writing, don’t consider word count as first. This is because you need a much detail as possible, and you can always cut things down later. Ultimately, your job is to highlight your favorite aspect of your job or extracurricular activity by telling a story in as much detail as possible. Make them feel like they witnessed things first hand, and don’t be afraid to let your enthusiasm carry you away.
With just one supplement, the stakes are high. Give yourself enough time to brainstorm—half the battle of this prompt is infusing details into your work.
If you need help, contact us here.