The College of William and Mary is a medium-sized, public research university in historic Williamsburg, Virginia. It was founded in 1693… by the King and Queen of England. Yes, it’s older than America and is the second-oldest college in the US. W&M has around a 33% acceptance rate. That is a little bit of an oversimplification. If you are in-state, it has a 42% acceptance rate; if you are an out-of-state student, it is more like 28%.
We have written about their supplement in the past; however, they have changed it dramatically since then. This supplement is technically optional, but we highly suggest writing it. W&M allows you to let them know more about you, and you should take that opportunity. That being said, we wanted to share our approach to these new questions.
W&M lets you choose two prompts from a list of six. If you read all the prompts over and are immediately drawn to two, that’s fine. Take those on. But some are easier to tackle than others.
William & Mary is a community that fosters deep human connection. We reflect on the lessons of history to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. We engage diverse perspectives and seek wisdom in bridging differences. Together, we are unceasing in our efforts to make a meaningful difference in our communities, the state, the nation, and the world.
To help us learn more about you, we invite you to share additional information by answering up to two of these optional short-answer prompts. Think of this optional opportunity as show and tell by proxy. (300 word limit.)
1. Beyond your impressive academic credentials and extracurricular accomplishments, what else makes you unique and colorful?
This is a fun question, and you should treat it as such. They are asking about your quirks. You should tell a good story about an interesting quirk of yours. This essay should be entirely new information. What do we mean by that? Don’t write about anything that appears anywhere else in your application.
Tell a story about the summer you listened to a new album every day or how you have perfected making the perfect peanut noodles. You could write about how you take the same Polaroid picture on every hike you do or how you love to build miniatures. Be fun, be creative, and tell us about one of the little things that makes you, you.
2. Are there any particular communities that are important to you, and how do you see yourself being a part of our community?
Honestly, if W&M isn’t your first supplement, you have probably already written this essay. For the record, we aren’t against submitting the same essay to multiple supplements (often usually with some light editing.)
If you haven’t written this essay before, it’s a fine one to respond to because anyone can write it. Everyone is a part of multiple communities. Clubs, friends groups, sports teams, your school, religious groups, etc. are all communities. Choose one that is meaningful to you and write a story about a time they helped you with something or you helped them. This is a good question, but it’s not the most dynamic on this list. Don’t overthink it.
3. How has your family, culture and/or background shaped your lived experience?
This question is similar to the one above. We wouldn’t suggest writing both of them. If you decide to write both, make sure they are very different. TLDR: Don’t write about being in a tight-knit Caribbean community, and then write about how your Caribbean family shaped you. These should feel distinct and offer new information.
Much like community is a catch-all term, so is background. You can write about almost anything here. However, you still need to tell a good story and make sure you cover how it shaped you.
4. Share more about a personal academic interest or career goal.
We like the first part of this question more than the second part. The second part is purely aspirational, and you should use specifics from your life to back up your passions.
This question is a great opportunity to nerd out about the field you want to study in college or even a secondary interest you have explored deeply. For example, if you want to study chemistry, you can write about how you have pursued chemistry outside of the classroom by doing research or taking a class over the summer, etc. Or you could write about that even though you plan to major in chemistry, you love history. Bring us into the world of your interest and focus on how you have explored or pursued it, ideally outside of your high school classes.
5. Tell us about a challenge or adversity you’ve experienced and how that has impacted you as an individual.
This question has some pitfalls. Some people treat questions like this like the trauma Olympics. They feel like they need to tell the saddest story. Don’t get us wrong, the challenge shouldn’t be insignificant here, but just telling a sad story won’t get you into college. We know that people might have told you otherwise, but trust us.
If you choose to do this question, you should write about a challenge you have overcome. You want to end on a positive note. This means in the end, we want to see you thrive and grow from the experience. The story should be less about the challenge itself than how you interacted and overcame it.
6. If we visited your town, what would you want to show us?
This is another excellent, creative question. We love this question because it literally allows you to bring the reader into your world. Think about your places. Where do you spend your time? What are spaces that mean something to you? Where do you feel the most yourself?
Tell us where you would take us and, most importantly, why? Pretend you are a tour guide and take us on that tour.
You should choose two of these six prompts. We promise even though they are optional, they are an opportunity to show more of your interests and personality. Take your time and tell some good stories.
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