Brown University presents applicants with prompts to three supplemental essay questions. Here are some tips at how you can answer each one:

Brown’s Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)

The goal of this question is for an admissions officer to better understand your academic interests and gauge your fit within Brown’s various departments. What specific academic offerings interest you at Brown? Maybe it is a specific program, subject area or class. Describe why or how you became interested in this subject matter, and how do you hope to further explore it at Brown? Brown, in particular, has a very unique academic curriculum and works well for a specific type of student. You’ll want to make sure that it will be a good fit for you academically and, if so, tell them why with your response.

Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)

Brown University seeks students who are academically curious and open-minded. The admissions committee would like to know more about you and your views on any issue that is meaningful to you, whether it is academic, political or social. In addition, you’ll need to share an opposing view – one that challenged you. The key is to share what you learned from others’ perspectives. How did you respond – as the question asks – but also, how did you change or grow as a result of having your views challenged?

Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

Although this is a short essay response, you can provide a lot of interesting information about you to the admissions officers! Don’t overthink your response – you want to be genuine, because the university truly wants to know more about you as an applicant, and more so, what sorts of contributions you might make to the university community. Note that your response doesn’t have to be an activity per se. Of course you can talk about joy from yoga or baseball or theater, but you can also talk about being a big sister or brother, or walking your dog daily. The important thing to remember is that you’ll need to describe why this “something” brings you joy, and what you get out of it, and perhaps what you’ve learned from this experience or activity. You can even extrapolate by describing how you’ll continue this activity at Brown, if applicable.

Brown’s culture fosters a community in which students challenge the ideas of others and have their ideas challenged in return, promoting a deeper and clearer understanding of the complex issues confronting society. This active engagement in dialogue is as present outside the classroom as it is in academic spaces. Tell us about a time you were challenged by a perspective that differed from your own. How did you respond? (200-250 words)

Brown University seeks students who are academically curious and open-minded. The admissions committee would like to know more about you and your views on any issue that is meaningful to you, whether it is academic, political or social. In addition, you’ll need to share an opposing view – one that challenged you. The key is to share what you learned from others’ perspectives. How did you respond – as the question asks – but also, how did you change or grow as a result of having your views challenged?

First-year applicants are also asked to reflect briefly on each of the very short answer questions below. We expect that answers will range from a few words to a few sentences at most.

What three words best describe you? (3 words)

Admissions officers at Brown want to get to know who you are, and the way you describe yourself in just three words can give them this insight. There’s no right or wrong answer, but choose wisely – since you only get three words! For example, avoid synonyms. If you choose both “caring” and “empathetic,” you’re wasting one of your words – as these two words are obviously quite similar to one another. Thus, you’ll want to choose words that are disparate and that tell, perhaps, your personality, or what your value system is like, or how you want others to see or perceive you.Be careful not to use words that are SAT/ACT vocabulary words just for the sake of sounding smart. Brown admissions officers will already know you’re smart from your transcript, standardized test scores and letters of recommendation.

But you will want to consider words that highlight a part of your personality that they can’t necessarily glean from the rest of your application. Maybe you feel you have a great sense of humor; if that is the case, don’t hesitate to write “funny” or “humorous” or “wry.” (There’s probably not much of an opportunity in the rest of your app for Brown to know about your humor.) While these three words will not make or break your application, every piece of the app helps you tell your story.

What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words)

This is an essay question that was around 30+ years ago by most universities, but it has unfortunately been removed over the past decade. It’s great to see that Brown is bringing this essay prompt back. In the Common Application, you only get 150 characters (that’s about 20 words) to describe each of your extracurricular activities and experiences. This essay prompt gives you the chance to elaborate on your most meaningful commitment, where you can provide more insight into why you spent a lot of time and energy devoted to this one activity.

If the activity is a common one, then you don’t need to waste any words explaining what it is. However, if it is a unique commitment, you’ll want to give the reader a brief description for context. 

Regardless, explain why it is so meaningful to you. What did you get out of it? What did you learn about yourself, or about others, as a result of this activity? How did you change, learn or grow? Is this something that you hope to continue in at Brown (if applicable)?

If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words)

Like the other short answer questions, this is an opportunity for you to highlight your interests – “academic or otherwise” – to the admissions committee. Most students will want to share their favorite subjects or hobbies, and teaching a class at the university will certainly be a way to show others your interests. Maybe it’s economics or astronomy, but perhaps it’s instead fly fishing or baking French pastries. 

These latter two examples are more unique and memorable, as long as you explain why you’re teaching the class on these topics. Don’t be afraid to let your creative side shine as you answer this question. You might also want to indicate the name and number of the class, to show where in the Brown course catalog your course can be found.

In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)

For years, this was a 100-word question on the Brown application – which was already short! But now it’s only half that length. Thus, you’ll need to be very efficient with your words and word choice. There are thousands of universities in the world, yet you chose to apply to Brown. Why?! Why did you decide to apply, what do you want to get out of a Brown education, what will you contribute to the university community? 

Don’t be afraid to be specific. Are there elements and aspects of the university that excite and inspire you, like courses, majors, research or professors? Are there unique academic programs offered by Brown that you can’t find anywhere else? Is the curriculum a great match for your learning style? Are the opportunities at Brown the right fit for you?