by Steven Tagle
Tips for Answering the 2025-2026 Stanford Supplemental Essay Prompts
With an acceptance rate of under 4%, Stanford University could fill its freshman class with valedictorians and students with perfect 4.00 GPAs and test scores several times over. That’s why, in addition to your Common App personal essay, your responses to Stanford’s short questions and short essays play a significant role in determining whether you get accepted to one of the most prestigious and fiercely selective universities in the United States.
I was admitted to Stanford’s Class of 2007 in the competitive early action round. By looking back at my application with an admissions consultant’s eyes and studying the responses of students who accessed their admission files through FERPA, I’ve developed a strong sense of what Stanford’s admissions readers are looking for as they sift through more than 50,000 applications per year.
The Common App is now open for the 2025-2026 college application cycle, and Stanford’s supplemental questions have not changed from last year. The university requires more essays than most colleges, and some of its prompts can be fun and quirky. In this post, I’ll start with some general advice about tackling Stanford’s supplemental essays and then walk you through each of the 2025-2026 short questions and short essay prompts.
General Stanford Essay Advice
Your personal essay and your short-question and short-essay responses should add depth to your application, with each element highlighting different aspects of your authentic personality and demonstrating character traits such as creativity, empathy, humor, and charm. They can also provide context with respect to your unique circumstances, offer a glimpse into your emotional life, draw parallels with books you’ve read, and mention Stanford professors you’re interested in working with.
According to Stanford’s undergraduate admissions website, “You should allow your genuine voice to come through [in your essay responses]. These questions help us get to know you as a friend, future roommate, and classmate.”
Keep in mind that Stanford’s admissions readers will be judging your application based only on what you’ve included in it. Apart from a potential interview, what you submit is what they will use to evaluate you. So you want to make sure that your response to each question and essay prompt reveals something new about you. Try your best not to discuss an anecdote or experience in more than one response. Done well, your answers to these questions should paint a portrait of you as a complex, talented, and multifaceted human being.
Consider how most people would answer these questions, and aim to engage and surprise the school’s readers. Don’t be afraid to show vulnerability. Revision and reflection are key to making your responses stand out as thoughtful, unique, and memorable.
Stanford Short Questions
Because your responses to these five questions are limited to 50 words each, it’s very important to be clear and concise. Start by brainstorming a few possible answers for each question, and then narrow your options down to the most original and revealing choices. Next, draft your responses without worrying too much about the word count. Once you feel you have answers that genuinely and holistically reflect who you are, cut them down to their essence to fit the word limit.
- What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?
Stanford wants to know that you’re reading the news and are aware of and engaged in what’s going on in the world today. Keep in mind that many applicants will write about climate change or AI, so if you’re determined to write about one of those topics, think about how you might add a personal angle to the issue or concentrate on a particular subset of the problem. Reserve a sentence or two to offer a thoughtful solution to the challenge you’re addressing. Bonus points if you can tie the challenge to your interests or potential major.
- How did you spend your last two summers?
This is a chance to give Stanford admissions officers a holistic view of your life by showing them what you do outside of school. Most applicants write this essay in the form of a list rather than in complete sentences to save words. You can mention driving lessons, travel experiences, spending time with friends and family, reading, volunteering, participating in a class or summer program, pursuing a passion, or learning something new. I recommend sharing a range of experiences to give the admissions readers a fuller sense of yourself. Remember, you don’t want to have a lot of crossover between this response and the rest of your application, so rather than restating a list of programs or extracurricular activities from your application, focus on specific things you learned, accomplished, or took away from these programs. For example, instead of writing, “Took a screenwriting course at Harvard Summer School,” you could say, “Wrote my first one-act play and operated a soundboard at an experimental theater.”
- What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?
This is another question where it is beneficial to give as unique and personal a response as you can think of. Many of the ideas that might immediately come to mind – such hearing Martin Luther King, Jr., speak or witnessing the signing of the Declaration of Independence – will be top of mind for other applicants as well. Instead, think of a historical event that has personal significance for you. Perhaps it is one from your family’s history or a moment in the life of a writer or artist you love. Maybe it’s an event you’ve read about in a textbook and have questions about. How might a historical event be depicted if it were written about or witnessed by a member of a marginalized group?
- Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family.
The Common App’s activity section doesn’t allow for a lot of information, so this is a chance to expand on the extracurricular activity that’s most meaningful to you. What are you genuinely interested in? How have you gone above and beyond to pursue a goal or dream? For my essay, I wrote about my role as editor in chief of my school’s literary magazine, how reading submissions gave me a window into my classmates’ inner lives, and how I took pride in presenting their work in the best possible light. You might also be able to recycle one of your University of California personal insight questions (UC PIQ) responses for this question. If you haven’t discussed your after-school job or a family responsibility in other parts of your application, this could be a good opportunity to show Stanford that side of your life.
- List five things that are important to you.
As with Short Question #2, your response here could be a list of five phrases. Think carefully about what you haven’t yet shared with the adcom elsewhere in your application, and try to round out their view of you by offering unique, authentic responses that demonstrate your passions, relationships, and other things you can’t live without.
Stanford Short Essays
For each of these three longer essays, your submission can range from 100 words (minimum) to 250 (maximum). Again, make sure that your responses to these prompts don’t overlap with topics you’ve already covered in your personal essay or short-question answers. Don’t be afraid to respond in a creative way.
- The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
Many consider this prompt the most important of Stanford’s supplemental essay questions. This is a very traditional Stanford application question (a version of it has been around at least since I applied in 2003) used to gauge your intellectual vitality (or IV in Stanford admissions speak). IV plays a significant role in the school’s admissions readers’ written assessments of candidates’ applications. Stanford describes it as “your commitment, dedication, and genuine interest in expanding your intellectual horizons.” IV is evidence of “a truly thinking mind”: a person’s ability to demonstrate an innate curiosity, a joy in learning for its own sake, and an authentic desire to pursue their intellectual passions, in and out of the classroom.
Adcom readers want to hear about a specific subject or topic you’re passionate about, but that topic doesn’t have to be very complex or highly theoretical. In my essay, I drew a connection between a chemistry concept and the fragile bonds that temporarily bring people together, and I included a stanza from a poem I wrote about the subject. I think that explaining my excitement at this creative connection across disciplines, in addition to showing how I got inspiration for my writing, helped to boost my IV score. Another successful applicant talked about his experience using a foreign language for the first time and his excitement at connecting with people from other cultures across language barriers.
- Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
This is one of Stanford’s more quirky essay questions; a version of it has also been around since the time I applied. This is an opportunity to shift away from the more professional voice you’ve used to write the rest of your application and instead write more casually, as though you’re communicating with a peer and potential friend. This essay allows you to introduce a more personal side of yourself and let some of your humor and quirks come through. Many applicants write this essay as a letter, and if you attend Stanford, this note will actually be given to your future roommate. Try to focus on two or three personal qualities, but avoid bragging or giving too much information. You could think about how you and your roommate might decorate your room, or other activities you look forward to doing with your future roommate that also reveal who you are and where you’re coming from.
- Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University.
This question is a combination of a “Why us?” essay and a diversity essay. It’s a way for admissions officers to get a better sense of your context, your diverse background, any identities you claim, and your self-presentation, including such personal characteristics as originality, leadership, self-awareness, resilience, and compassion. It’s important that you tie the experience or interest you share to a contribution you’d like to make to a specific Stanford club, group, research lab, program, department, or institute. This shows that you’ve done your homework and are excited to take advantage of the unique opportunities that a Stanford education offers. Perhaps you’re a singer and you’d like to participate in Stanford’s hip-hop, Motown, R&B, and soul a cappella group, Everyday People. Or maybe you’re interested in the psychology of willpower and would like to volunteer in Dr. James Gross’s Psychophysiology Laboratory. Show the admissions readers something you’re passionate about, and describe how you can make a specific contribution to the Stanford community because of it.
Stanford application deadlines
| Restrictive Early Action Application with Arts Portfolio | October 15, 2025 |
| Restrictive Early Action Standard Application | November 1, 2025 |
| Regular Decision with Arts Portfolio | December 5, 2025 |
| Regular Decision Standard Application | January 5, 2026 |
| Transfer Application with or without Arts Portfolio | March 15, 2026 |
Source: Stanford website.
***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Stanford University directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***
Stanford class profile
Here is a look at Stanford’s Class of 2028 (data taken from the Stanford website):
Enrolled: 1,693
First-generation: 21%
Women: 51%
Men: 49%
High school
- Public: 56%
- Private: 28%
- Home school: <1%
- International: 16%
Geographic diversity
- United States: 50
- Non-U.S. countries*: 70
Ethnic diversity
- Asian: 33%
- White: 24%
- Hispanic or Latino: 15%
- International: 14%
- Two or more races: 8%
- Black or African American: 4%
- American Indian or Alaska Native: 1%
- Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: <1%
- Unknown: <1%
A Stanford graduate and the recipient of prestigious fellowships from the Fulbright Program and the Institute of Current World Affairs, as well as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, Steven Tagle has taught and mentored students for 20 years. As a published writer, journalist, and former speechwriter for the U.S. ambassador to Greece, he knows how to draw out applicants’ unique stories and craft compelling personal statements that help their applications stand out from the pack. Click here to get in touch.
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