The University of Miami is a private research university in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami, Florida. The school has 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 majors. This includes some pretty unique majors such as Real Estate, Printmaking, Music Therapy, and more. They have about a 19% acceptance rate. Their supplement only has one question, so let’s break it down.
The University of Miami's official mascot is the ibis. Folklore maintains that the native marsh bird is the last to take shelter before a hurricane hits and the first to emerge once the storm passes, making it an apt symbol of courage and resilience.
Considering your ability to control your own motivation and behavior, how have past experiences helped build your courage and resilience to persist in the face of academic and life challenges so that, once these storms pass, you can emerge in continued pursuit of your goals?* 250
Ok, this prompt has a lot of words. But it doesn’t need to. It is really just asking you for a simple story about resilience. Your answer should be a personal story that shows you overcoming an obstacle or challenge.
This essay can only be 250 words so it helps to choose a challenge that is easy to explain. Your challenge should be fairly every day, but impactful. If you have a big story, that is ok, but it can be hard to get it all out. This might seem like they are asking for a trauma dump, but they really aren’t. They are just looking for a story about a simple challenge.
Focus on a specific obstacle and how you preserved through it. For example, you could tell a story about being rejected from a literary journal and how you kept writing and submitting even after. You could talk about a research setback and how you kept working on a solution. You could talk about a setback in a friendship and how you reconnected. Whatever your story is, you should explain the challenge or difficult situation and then how you pushed through it.
Remember stories should have beginnings, middles, and ends. Most of the essays (or at least the simplest version) for this question will follow a pretty standard structure. The beginning should set up a situation that aligns with a goal or an ideal of yours. The middle is a setback. And in the end, you should show yourself getting back on the horse and keeping going. And oh yeah, you really don’t need to mention the Ibis.
U Miami has a pretty short and simple supplement. The only trick here is staying under the word count while telling a complete story. We suggest giving yourself time to cut down your supplement as most people will go over the word count for their first draft.
Need help with supplements? Contact us here.