We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.
It is important to St. Thomas that everyone understands the role they play in creating an inclusive environment on campus and in the broader community. Please share your thoughts and personal experience with diversity, equity and inclusion. Address topics like socioeconomic status, race, ability, sexual orientation or other examples. Most importantly, speak from the heart.
Below are the current essay prompts. You can choose to write about them or to submit a different personal essay of your choosing.
Discuss a meaningful contribution you have made through involvement in school, church or community activities.
Describe an event, a person or an educational experience that has had a major impact on your life and why.
Share additional information about your personal story that would be beneficial to the application review process. What do you want the readers to know about you apart from courses and academic credentials?
The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don‘t feel obligated to do so.
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
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.
