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Yeshiva University

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  • Overview
  • Cost & scholarships
  • Majors
  • Admission requirements
  • Essay prompts

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Yeshiva University's 2021-22 Essay Prompts

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Human Achievement Short Response

Required
150 Words

What is one human achievement or innovation you would like to see in your lifetime?

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Fun Fact Short Response

Required
150 Words

When meeting someone for the first time, what do you want them to know about you but generally do not tell them?

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Passion Short Response

Required
150 Words

Please describe something about which you are passionate. If you would like, please free to share a link to a video which best illustrates this passion. The link can be a found video, such as from YouTube, or can be an original video filmed on your own.

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Taking Risks Essay

Required
1000 Words

Describe a time in your life when you had to decide between taking a risk and playing it safe. What choice did you make? What was the outcome of your choice? Would you have made the same decision looking back on the experience, or would you make a different decision?

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Select-A-Prompt Essay

Required
750 Words

Please respond to the following prompt in 500-750 words:


Option 1

What lessons have you learned from high school that you have applied in your life? How have these lessons further defined your values and character?


Option 2

Character, values, leadership, and potential: these are characteristics that we are looking for at YU. Please provide examples from your life, your experiences, or your aspirations and how they will be further defined, enhanced, or developed at YU.


Option 3

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to reflect on the past while focusing on hope, happiness and ways to express Hakarat Hatov (gratitude). Please highlight an example where you, your family members or friends have exemplified Hakarat Hatov and the impact it has had on you on a personal level and/or within your community, whether COVID related or not.

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Common App Personal Essay

Required
650 words

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.


Option 1

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.


Option 2

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?


Option 3

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?


Option 4

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?


Option 5

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.


Option 6

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?


Option 7

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.

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