Stanford is a renowned research university in California that is considered to be on par with the east coast’s Ivy League. There are a little under 8,000 undergraduate students from more than 75 countries, representing some of the best and the brightest the world has to offer across every subject and arena. Engineers and math and science-brains love Stanford, but they excel at so much more than just those STEM subjects. The acceptance rate is 3-4% for standard first-year applicants, and about to triple that, up to the low-teens, for legacy applicants who have at least one parent who attended.
When reviewing applications, they look for “The cornerstones of resilience — learning, seeking advice, getting perspective and finding community” in applicants. It isn’t just about scores and grades, but “about the human being behind all of it.” Submitting an ACT or SAT score is not required for students applying for admission in the fall of 2025. However, submitting scores will be required for students beginning with the class of 2030, so Stanford as made known that they believe that the SAT and ACT are useful tools. This should be taken as strong encouragement to submit scores as part of your application. If you need further encouragement, nearly 70% of accepted and enrolled first-years in 2023 submitted SAT or ACT scores.
In this post, we’re going to break down the various supplements in your application to Stanford so that you can have as strong of a chance as possible of admission.
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The average Stanford application review is only about 15 minutes, and that isn’t enough time to thoughtfully read each piece of your application multiple times, so you have to make every word count. Plus, there is the hurdle that only one read is guaranteed. So, if that first reader doesn’t connect with what you have to say, there isn’t another reader to counteract their opinion. You’re done as a Stanford applicant. (Unless you are a legacy, in which case they have guaranteed two reads.)
Once you have a yes from the first (and often only) reader, you aren’t in the clear, though. That reader is going to present your application to a committee that then discusses and votes. As a result, when working on supplements you need to keep in mind that you want to give the reader reasons to advocate for you to the committee. These reasons should connect to what Stanford wants most in new students: a passion for learning, an enthusiasm for seeking help, a caring and welcoming perspective, and a community-minded ethos.
With that all out in front of us as a set of guidelines, let’s dig into the supplement.
Short Answers
What is the most significant challenge that society faces today? (50 words)
Whatever you put here, it needs to connect to who you are and how you spend your time today. If you are engaged in environmental issues, lean on that. If you’re interested in tech, maybe navigating the AI-era is concerning to you? Don’t just skim the headlines to find a “big issue” to highlight. Instead, look at your activities list and potential major for inspiration.
How did you spend your last two summers? (50 words)
This isn’t a trick question. They really just want to know how you spent your summers, but what you need to give them is a highlight reel tuned to Stanford’s particular interests. A vacation should not make it in this supplement, but reading every book by a particular author should — for example. Focus less on what you ‘did’ and more on what you experienced and learned, and how you grew from any set-backs or challenges.
What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed? (50 words)
This one can be sticky, because picking something controversial or contentious is tempting but also unlikely to go over well. We advise students to start at their point of academic interest, and then zoom out from there to land on a relevant historic event that ties into what you want to study. Try putting yourself in the place and time when you’re drafting this prompt, rather than simply describing it for the reader.
Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family. (50 words)
Number one pick for this prompt, hands down, is to focus on a job. Next, an internship. Next, a long-term service position. Next, a family responsibility. Next, a club or student group. Last, a sport. Unless you are being recruited, the sport will fall flat, and the club risks being bland. A family responsibility, volunteer role, internship, or job is more likely to be novel and will feel more tailored to you.
List five things that are important to you. (50 words)
This is a list, but it should feel like more than that. Ideally, you’ll pick a theme and use that as the frame your list will fit in. Importantly, they don’t say these need to be the five things that are most important to you, so don’t feel like you need to write “family,” or other very real priorities that may also be so universal as to be generic. Instead, have some fun. Maybe your frame is flora and fauna. Or maybe its mathematical equations mapped to relationships in your life. Or maybe it's types fishing flies your grandfather taught you to tie.
Short Essays
Next up are the short essays. These are just long enough to really get your point across, but not so long that you may ramble or lose the reader in your writing. The key is to have each supplement focus on a single story or example that you can use to illustrate larger points.
The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (250 words)
This supplement is a ton of fun if you let it be. The reader should leave this supplement as excited about what you care about as you are, so use that as your starting point. Draw them into what you love by focusing on a really specific idea, or a moment of a larger experience, and drop them into that experience with you. Jazzed about how mitochondria work? Go all Osmosis Jones on them. Did a moment in Model UN where you had to collaborate and compromise concretize your passion for policy and international relations? Put the reader at the table alongside you. They should feel like they are in the action for this supplement to be truly successful.
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate – and us – get to know you better. (250 words)
This supplement is ridiculously wholesome, and you should lean into that. Write it as a letter (this should be obvious), and remember that you’re talking to a fellow teen — not the adult reading your application. That said, don’t incorporate too much slang because it may go over some readers heads. Back to what to write, be honest about what you’re excited about when it comes to dorm living. If there is a food you’ve mastered in the microwave, write about it. If you eat a pint of ice cream every Tuesday, write about it. If you like to have a dance party before diving into an hours-long study session, write about it. Avoid anything that could be perceived as a negative, like using the floor as your organizing system, or studying late into the night by sucking on lemons and shining a bright light in your face. Those might be good for a roommate to know, but they aren’t going to endear you to Stanford.
Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University. (250 words)
This prompt is super open-ended. You can write about nearly anything, which can also make it feel overwhelming, or leave you feeling frozen. To get through it, go look through your main Common App essay and the supplements you’ve written already and identify one or two things about yourself — character traits, experiences, or passions — that you feel having been giving the necessary amount of attention. Those things, or that one thing (which is our preference), should become the core of this essay. Then, tell a story. Finally, connect it to Stanford. They ask how you would contribute, so how? Give specific examples of how you’d apply this trait, experience, or passion to contribute to Stanford, which may be through a club, student group, community tradition, or other avenue.
Remember that the application deadlines for students submitting arts portfolios are earlier. This is also a great piece from Stanford Magazine about how they review applications for potential first-year students, demystifying a lot of preconceptions about what works. Our advice is always guided by our personal experience helping students get into Stanford and other exceptional colleges, and contextualized by ‘inside information’ like the article provides.
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