Amherst is the platonic ideal of a New England liberal arts school. With a small student body and a 1,000-acre campus with views of mountains and forest in Amherst, Massachusetts, the school has a picturesque serenity and college-town charm. It welcomes the free spirit (its “open curriculum” means you have no core requirements), and there’s no shortage of academic options despite its size and rural location. As part of the Five College Consortium (including Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst), Amherst offers its students access to over 7,000 courses and over 10 million items within its inter-library system. That being said, Amherst’s incoming Class of 2027 only had a 9% acceptance rate, so getting in is a doozy.
Another wonderful thing about Amherst is its historical support of low-income, high-talent students. It was one of the first schools to eliminate loans from its financial aid packages so that attendees could graduate without debt. They meet 100% of demonstrated need, and a majority of its current students receive aid from the college.
Amherst is test-optional but does have a mandatory writing supplement, and with such competitive admissions, it’s important that you nail this portion of your application. In this blog, we’ll do a deep dive into the supplement so you can get your app in early and maybe find yourself next fall walking around, drinking apple cider, and bumping into the ghost of Emily Dickinson on campus. And if that doesn’t sound cool to you? Grow up! Hope is a thing with feathers, ok? And this is us flapping our wings, or something, as we lay this metaphor and our dignity to rest.
Narrowing Down the Writing Prompts
No offense to Amherst (some offense to Amherst), but they’ve made the writing supplement more complicated than it needs to be. You only need to write one supplemental essay, but they offer three different options on topics (and one option even has several prompts to choose from). We got prongs on prongs, baby. But stress not — from where we’re sitting, there’s really only one choice for serious applicants, and that’s Option A. Bear with us, and we’ll explain why that is as we go through them one by one.
Option A: Choose one of the following quotations, and respond to the question posed, in an essay of not more than 350 words. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.
See that last sentence? That’s the headline here. Memorize it! This general principle should guide your college application practice at large, and you should know it as well as your crush’s birth chart or the latest TikTok dance trend to nearly cost us our life. Be personal. This is not the space to pseudo-intellectualize and try to look smart. Showing off is inauthentic and just creates more distance between you and a board of strangers. These officers know you’re bright! They’ve got your transcript and your Common App essay. This is your chance to show them something else.
What you need to do here is tell a story that helps readers get to know you better and illustrates how you’ll contribute to their student body. Now we can jump into the prompts, because they won’t all be equally good fits for the story you have to tell.
Prompt 1: "Amherst College is committed to learning through close colloquy and to expanding the realm of knowledge through scholarly research and artistic creation at the highest level. Its graduates link learning with leadership—in service to the College, to their communities, and to the world beyond." – from the Mission of Amherst College
What do you see as the benefits of linking learning with leadership and/or service? In your response, please share with us a time where you have seen that benefit through your own experience.
As you can see, the quote is just a springboard for the question, and the question is upfront: why is it important to pair education with leadership or service, and when have you experienced that impact yourself? This essay is a good fit for most students. You can tell a story about a time you held a leadership position or otherwise volunteered your time and changed or grew as a result of your involvement.
This prompt allows you to talk about causes or activities that mean a lot to you and have helped develop you into the person you are today, and it also allows you to show enthusiastic alignment with the college’s mission — to expand knowledge through collaboration and to make the world better as a result.
Prompt 2: “We seek an Amherst made stronger because it includes those whose experiences can enhance our understanding of our nation and our world. We do so in the faith that our humanity is an identity forged from diversity, and that our different perspectives enrich our inquiry, deepen our knowledge, strengthen our community, and prepare students to engage with an ever-changing world.” - from the Trustee Statement on Diversity and Community
In what ways could your unique experiences enhance our understanding of our nation and our world?
This quote highlights a fundamental value of the school, and it voices the beautiful sentiment that diversity does not divide us but unifies us into a stronger whole. Firstly, that’s true. Secondly, we’ll call it as we see it and say that this is Amherst clearly checking their DEI box. So, don’t meet performativity with performativity (game does not recognize game here). It’s great if you’re a #ally, but if you haven’t meaningfully engaged in activist work — or, frankly, if your identity has not significantly impacted the way you move through the world up to this point — this is not the prompt for you. Keep in mind that your goal here is not to show agreement but to share more about yourself and how you’d fit into this particular college environment.
However, many students have perspectives that are truly unique! If you feel that your childhood or high school trajectory was off the beaten track, or if you have had notable experience thinking about and supporting diversity, absolutely share your story here.
Prompt 3: “Strong commitment to the freedom of inquiry lies at the heart of Amherst College’s mission to create a home in which the liberal arts may flourish. As a small residential liberal arts college that prides itself on the ability, curiosity, and diversity of its students, Amherst seeks to create a respectful environment in which members of its community feel emboldened to pursue their intellectual and creative passions.” – from the Amherst College Statement of Academic and Expressive Freedom
Tell us about an intellectual or creative passion you have pursued; what did you learn about yourself through that pursuit?
This question is just — chef’s kiss! Comparable to Prompt 1, this question gives you a wonderful opportunity to reveal your personality and self-growth through narrative. The only difference is the framework. Rather than linking what you learned about yourself to the relationship between education and service, you’re rooting your development in your primary interest, the one anchoring your pursuit of higher education.
If you feel like this is the story you told in your Common App essay, don’t repeat yourself. This is valuable space! Make sure you use these 350 words to illuminate a new side of yourself. If Prompt 1 allows you to be more specific by talking about an extracurricular you haven’t discussed yet, you can focus on that one. However, you can use Prompt 3 to talk about any additional interest you may have.
Amherst is big on intellectual freedom, hybrid projects, and collaborative work. Over 45% of its students graduate with double majors, so don’t be afraid to introduce a new passion here!
Option B: Please submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay. If you have submitted an analytical essay in response to the "essay topic of your choice" prompt in the Common Application writing section, you should NOT select Option B.
Children, children, please gather round. We will be on our deathbed repeating, “not every option is an option, and optional never means optional.” If you use this option, you will be taking years off our life. Okay, that was dramatic, and we’re mostly kidding, but seriously — we don’t think this is a good option for anyone.
First of all, even Amherst is giving disclaimers not to use this option if it’s close to your Common App. More importantly, Option A — and its many thoughtful prompts — prove how much value Amherst puts in the personal. This is not only impersonal, because it’s an analytical essay, but the readers open it knowing you didn’t write this paper with them in mind. You already had it finished, on deck. No matter how great your persuasive paper is, it won’t erase the knowledge that you, as an applicant, didn’t care enough to do the additional work of a more personalized supplement.
Finally, we’d argue that this option is fundamentally unnecessary. Your grades and transcript already speak to the fact that you’ve learned to write compelling analytical papers, and you’ve indicated your academic interests elsewhere on your application. The only new information they’ll have about you if you choose Option B is that you went for the cop-out. Sorry for the tough love, but also you’re welcome.
Option C: If you are/were an applicant to Amherst's Access to Amherst (A2A) program, you may use your A2A application essay in satisfaction of our Writing Supplement requirement. If you would like to do so, please select Option C. However, if you would prefer not to use your A2A essay for this purpose and you want to submit a different writing supplement, select either Option A or Option B. Option A, Prompt 2 is the same prompt as the A2A application essay; if you would like to submit an updated version of your A2A application essay, please choose Option A.
Wait, you mean to tell me that this application presents Option C as a secret, third thing when it’s actually just… Option A, Prompt 2 in a trench coat? That’s right! So don’t sweat this one. If you are an applicant to the A2A program, you don’t have a choice at all — you’ve already written the essay. If you were an applicant but you’d like to alter your essay, you can make any necessary changes and submit the edited version to Option A, Prompt 2. And if this doesn’t apply to you? Great! Time to move along.
Thankfully, we’ve come to the end of the Amherst supplement. It might look like a maze on first glance, but remember that you’re really making a simple choice. What stories from your life best illustrate who you are and why you should be at Amherst? What quote is most connected to those stories? Be thoughtful, be you, and you’ll be great.
Not sure what your story is? We can help with that. Contact us here!