Bryn Mawr is a small women’s liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The school has relationships with Haverford, Swarthmore, and The University of Pennsylvania, so Bryn Mawr students can cross-register for courses at those institutions. The acceptance rate is around 33%.
Bryn Mawr has two supplements:
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below. (Minimum 50 words, Maximum 100 words)
The first thing to take note of is the word count. You don’t have a lot of space to work with, so you’ll want to illuminate a specific meaningful experience instead of trying to use your 100 words to provide an impersonal or high-level overview of your activity or work experience.
If you have a job, we would suggest writing about it. So many high school students overlook the importance of having a job. But jobs (yes, actual paying ones) teach us how to be responsible, maintain a schedule, problem solve, and work with customers. These are skills that will work to your benefit in the long run. If you’re going to write about an extracurricular activity, choose the one that you’re most passionate about. It should also be something that you’ve done for an extended amount of time.
Whatever you decide, write about an experience that speaks to what you love about the role. By illustrating how you approach situations, you can use details of the story you tell to highlight the personality traits or soft skills that help you succeed. Don’t move on from the brainstorming stage until you’ve thought of a meaningful experience, and allocate as many words as possible to the details of a singular experience.
As you prepare to join a new college community, reflect on your role as a community member throughout the past four years. What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
It would be great if colleges could work to improve the phrasing of their prompts. We are willing to bet that this phrasing is not going to elicit the kinds of responses that Bryn Mawr is looking for. Teenagers will read this and freeze. We are fans of Bryn Mawr, but think that they should streamline/rephrase this question. Also, there is no word count. You’ll upload a document into your common app account. We have written about our feelings about supplements without word counts here. We’re capping our clients at 500 words for this one.
We spoke about this prompt internally and are approaching it slightly differently with our TKG clients. We’re starting with a few brainstorming questions:
“What is one positive change you’ve contributed to anything?”
“Tell us about something good that you’ve done”
“When was the last time you made an impact, big or small, or someone or something?”
Rather than drive yourself crazy trying to define your “legacy,” focus your energy on figuring out how you’ve made a positive impact on people’s lives. Mentally reframe this and spend some time thinking about the lasting impressions that you’ve made on the way that people feel.
It is worth noting that the “legacy” that you write about should not be tied to academics or an extracurricular activity. This is a personal essay. Bryn Mawr knows that you are dedicated to your studies, and after school activities, and sports, but they do not know what it’s like to hang out with you. They have yet to understand what soft skills you’re bringing to the table, and they would like to know they would feel after spending an extended amount of time with you.
So how do you achieve this? Go back to the questions we posed. Think back to a time when your friends told you you make them feel supported when things go awry, or to that time you spoke to your classmates about negative self-talk. While this is not the appropriate time to expand upon your resume, it’s the perfect opportunity to tell a story about yourself. The narrative should explain the kind of impact that you’ve made, and don’t forget to use copious amounts of detail. Set the scene for the reader, and take them through the experience that you choose to write about. One last tip: if you’re writing about a series of events, you might consider using a vignette structure.
We understand that Bryn Mawr’s supplement can be intimidating. Think about what you’d like to say, write several drafts, and edit your supplements multiple times.
We love helping our clients write essays that they’re proud to submit. Contact us here if you’d like to work with someone one-on-one.