Pitzer is a small liberal arts school full of people who are passionate about improving the world. The community is packed with students who want to make an impact, and Pitzer has cultivated a program that empowers them towards a meaningful future. Students benefit from small class sizes and a close-knit student body, while also having access to thousands of additional course options through The Claremont Colleges. The acceptance rate is about 27%.
When applying to Pitzer, you can choose to submit Early Decision I, Early Decision II, or Regular Decision. Whichever route you pick, you do not need to submit test scores. Pitzer has a “test-free” policy, meaning that they do not use the SAT or ACT at all in admissions. Please note that this is not test optional. Pitzer used to be test optional, but decided to get rid of standardized tests altogether in 2021 for a test-free pilot that will run through the 2025 application cycle.
Before starting in on your application to Pitzer, remember that they are very well-known for offering students to design their own major. Now, the vast majority of students end up picking one of the standard majors offered by the college, but with a Pitzer twist. However, a small number take control of their college experience by designing a unique interdisciplinary major. While only accounting for a small number of students, this culture of creativity and exploration can be experienced throughout the whole college community.
Whether you want to build a major or pursue one Pitzer has already designed for you, a key piece of getting onto campus is storytelling. Pitzer cares a lot about bringing people to campus who are community minded, intellectually curious, and deeply passionate. The best place to underline these characteristics is in your supplement. Below, we break down each of the pieces of the Pitzer supplement to help you do your best work.
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The Pitzer supplement involves two pieces of writing with a few options. One is long — up to 650 words — while the other is closer to the standard supplement length at up to 250 words. Both require time for brainstorming, drafting, and editing, so the best day to start is today regardless of whether you are applying ED or RD.
LONG SUPPLEMENT
Choose from one of three prompts and write a maximum of 650 words:
At Pitzer, five core values distinguish our approach to education: social responsibility, intercultural understanding, interdisciplinary learning, student engagement, and environmental sustainability. As agents of change, our students utilize these values to create solutions to our world’s challenges. Please answer only one of the following prompts:
Option 1: Reflecting on your involvement throughout high school or within the community, how have you engaged with one of Pitzer’s core values?
We love this prompt, but all of the long supplement prompts for Pitzer are solid to be honest. You can’t really pick wrong, but we’ll break the ‘how’ down for approaching each one to help you figure out which is the best pick for you. If you are thinking about writing in response to this prompt, start by picking a value from the list they gave above:
social responsibility
intercultural understanding
interdisciplinary learning
student engagement
environmental sustainability
Pick the value that aligns most closely with what you care about, and how you have spent your time in high school outside of the classroom. They want to hear about how this value shows up in your life already. The best way to do this is by writing a story about an experience that aligns with the value and that also serves to highlight a big priority in your life extracurricularly. This cannot, however, be something that has already shown up in your application outside of your activity section. Repeating things in any college application is a big no-no, so this must be a new story.
To play out an example, if you were to pick student engagement you could write a story about navigating a challenge as the head of the student government at your school. In telling the story, implement storytelling techniques like dialog and vivid imagery.
Option 2: Describe what you are looking for from your college experience and why Pitzer would be a good fit for you.
We said that all of the options are good, but this one is definitely the most ‘blah.’ There are some students we would recommend it for, though. If you are ‘overly qualified’ for Pitzer, but Pitzer is your dream school, picking this option can be the best choice. If your GPA is sky high, you’ve won prestigious awards, and could probably get into a much more selective school, Pitzer might be asking “Are we just a back-up?” By picking this option, you gain the opportunity to make it clear that they are truly your first choice.
If pull this off, you need to be insanely specific. And, with 650 words, there is no excuse for not covering both the academic and the community aspects of Pitzer that draw you to the school. If you pick this option, you should also be applying Early Decision.
Option 3: Pitzer is known for our students’ intellectual and creative activism. If you could work on a cause that is meaningful to you through a project, artistic, academic, or otherwise artistic or academic, what would you do?
This option is perfect for the type of student who is excited about what Pitzer offers — so, you. While the prompt is framed to allow for the idea that you aren’t already working on whatever cause you choose to write about, that is misleading. You actually need to focus on something that you are already engaged with in your home community. Emphasis on “home community” here. Having a club that raises money for a cause thousands of miles away doesn’t work for this supplement. They want to hear about you being hands-on close to home.
So, start any response to this prompt with a story about how you are currently engaging with the cause. Then, it’s time to dream. What do you hope to do to support the cause, and how could the Pitzer community help make it happen? By bringing the Pitzer community into your response to this prompt to help them see you there.
SHORT SUPPLEMENT
Pitzer also offers an optional essay (up to 250 words) that you can answer via the Common Application:
As a mission-driven institution, we value and celebrate the synergy created by our differences and similarities. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, identity, or personal interests that you would bring to Pitzer, and how you plan to engage in our community.
This shorter supplement doesn’t come with options. Everyone gets the same prompt, and it’s a good one. First, though, we have to reiterate something that we said early: do not repeat things.
You absolutely cannot repeat something in this prompt that you’ve said somewhere else already — and especially not if you mentioned it in the first Pitzer supplement. So, if you’ve already mentioned working with a certain community that you are also a part of that is related to background or identity, you should absolutely not mention it here.
And our favorite way to approach this prompt is really through the “personal interests” angle. This can end up drawing in background or identity, but it doesn’t center it. This puts you more firmly in the driver seat. You can’t control your background, after all, but you do have control over your personal interests.
Remember, too, to map whatever you write about onto Pitzer. How would you engage with this there? What clubs would you join, what student group would you be a part of, or what community initiatives would you tap into? Be as specific as you can be.
A strong Pitzer supplement is full of detail and passion, and imbued with a sense of curiosity. They want students who are ready to jump into their community and become engaged contributors. Through careful crafting, you can create exactly that.
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