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How to Answer the 2025-26 UT Austin Supplemental Essay Prompts
By
Savannah Dawson
Prior to coming to Scholarships360 for her first internship in 2022, Savannah utilized her campus publications by joining various fashion publications that are offered at Ohio University. One of those publications is Thread Magazine, where Savannah has had the opportunity to work on articles related to world-wide related fashion news and events, as well as articles closer to home, such as a fashion piece on Athens hometown-hero Joe Burrow. This year, Savannah also had the opportunity to be a content writing intern for Aiken House, as well as a section editor for Southeast Ohio Magazine. In 2023, Savannah served as the Chapter President of her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta. These collective experiences, as well as her experience currently working for Ohio University’s Undergraduate Admissions, has led her to Scholarships360 and aided in her passion for helping students better understand the college admissions process and financial aid. In her free time, Savannah enjoys horseback riding, watching Formula One races, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family. Savannah will graduate from Ohio University in May 2024 with a degree in Journalism News and Information and a certificate in Italian Studies.
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Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.
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Maria Geiger is Director of Scholarship Services at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.
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The University of Texas at Austin requires all applicants to submit a set of UT Austin supplemental essays. These essays are a great way to utilize creative writing to make yourself memorable and unique. Take this chance to tell your story and run with it. In this article, we will be breaking down each prompt to make each one easier to understand. Let’s go!
See also: How to write a great supplemental essay
Before you begin
- Multiple writing samples are required, including a supplemental essay and then four short answers (two of the four are optional)
- UT Austin offers students the opportunity to submit additional materials to strengthen their applications, such as letters of recommendation or an expanded resume
The UT Austin main essay prompts
“Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.” (500-650 words)
This prompt gives students the opportunity to showcase their best writing. To start out, think about an essay that you felt particularly proud of (and perhaps a teacher agreed and graded accordingly!). Your selected essays should reveal something about you that other parts of your application do not show. Your transcript will tell your academic story, but you are more than a list of classes and grades! While for some it may take a bit of time to go through their writings, chances are most students have the ideal essay just waiting for submission to UT Austin!
Students can also share an essay that they wrote for the Common App as well.
Supplemental short answer questions
For this section, you’ll need to write two short answer questions. These can be quick and easy, but extremely influential to the college admissions process. Each response should be between 250 and 300 words.
Short answer #1
“Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?”
This is a simple question, and easy to answer in less than 300 words. Maybe you have always known what you wanted to study in college, or maybe you are still figuring it out– whatever the case may be, just be open, honest, and concise when you speak about this topic.
Short answer #2
“Think of all the activities — both in and outside of school — that you have been involved with during high school. Which one are you most proud of and why?”
(Guidance for students: This can include an extracurricular activity, a club/organization, volunteer activity, work or a family responsibility.)
In this short answer, they are offered the opportunity to talk about the things you are involved in. Take this and run with it! This is one of the things that makes students stand out among the crowd– what they are passionate about and why. The trick here is connecting it back to how you spend your time currently benefits you as a student, and how it will continue to benefit you as a student.
An example of this could be your involvement in a particular student organization that taught you about accountability. From being in a leadership position in this organization, you learned accountability, which helped you to be a better student because you were more apt to be on time with assignments, get ahead on your schoolwork, and to hold yourself accountable. Learning these things early on helped you to build healthy learning habits that you will carry with you into college.
Closing thoughts for students
It is completely understandable if you are feeling overwhelmed after reading through all of these prompts. The only thing that you can do is try your best and be honest about who you are–in other words, stay true to yourself. The college admissions professionals at the University of Texas – Austin simply want to get to know you as a person, and that is why they are asking you so many questions! Remember, the prompts are not meant to make you feel overwhelmed or scared by any means.
Additional resources
At Scholarships360, we understand that the college admissions process is a long and strenuous process. We want to make things easier for you, so we’ve curated a pretty extensive list of tips and tricks to help you out. Learn how to write an essay about yourself and perfect writing both 250 or 500 word essays. We can help you figure out how many colleges to apply to, and after, how to make your college application shine. We wish you luck, and remind you to apply for all the scholarships you are eligible for!