Topics and tips for writing your Admission Essays
To be complete, your application must include at least two essays. Most students should submit personal essays A and B. However, if you’re applying to a major with special requirements, you may need to submit Essay D.
A |
Personal Essay 1Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you. |
|---|---|
B |
Personal Essay 2Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation. |
D |
Submit this essay in place of Essay A when applying for admission to architecture, art history, pre-design, studio art, or visual art studies/art education. Major-specific essayPersonal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area? |
Optional Essay
In addition to the two required essays, some applicants choose to submit a response to Essay C. Essay C is optional and cannot be submitted in place of a required essay. Students submitting Essay C do so in order to submit additional information to the university about special circumstances.
Special Circumstances: Essay C
There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.
Submitting Your Essays
The best admissions essays are written using a process—drafting them in a word processor and editing them until they reflect your best response to the topic. Composing your essays in this manner also means that you will have a copy of your work for future reference.
Once you’ve composed your essays, you may submit them in one of the following ways:
Essay Submission Methods
Preferred Method
The preferred method for submitting your essays is through ApplyTexas. This option is available for all essay topics (Essays A, B, C, and D) to anyone who applies online up until the deadline. (Essay C is optional and cannot be used to fulfill your two-essay requirement.)
If you submitted your online application without your essays, follow these steps to return to ApplyTexas and submit your essays:
- Enter your username and password to log in to ApplyTexas.
- Select the “My Essays” tab on your “My Account” page.
- From the “My Essays” page, select the link in the far right column that corresponds to the application for which you want to submit essays.
- Follow the directions in the “Essay Topics & Requirements” section on the “submit essay – application for admission” page to submit one or more essays.
Essays submitted this way may take a couple of days to appear in Status Check.
Paper Method
Although the processing takes longer, meaning that your essays will not appear in Status Check as quickly, you may mail or fax printed copies of your essays to us. Include the type of essay (Topic A, for example) at the top of the page along with your name and UT EID.
Mail essays to
The University of Texas at Austin
Office of Admissions / Essays
P.O. Box 8058
Austin, TX 78713-8058
Fax essays to 512-475-7478.
Essays that are faxed or mailed are processed individually before being scanned and loaded onto our system; it can take two or more weeks for faxed or mailed essays to appear in Status Check, especially as the deadline approaches.
Essays should not be submitted by e-mail. If you submit your essays by e-mail, they will be discarded.
Tips on Essay Writing
Plan ahead
By reviewing requirements for your major choices, scholarships, and programs, you may be able to keep the number of essays you write to a minimum while satisfying admission and other requirements.
Essay length
If you’re writing your essays to fulfill your admission requirements only, you should try to keep them no longer than one page (single-spaced). If you plan to use your essays to fulfill admission and scholarship or honors requirements, follow the length guidelines specified by the individual program.
Take your time
Spend plenty of time writing and fine-tuning your essays, and ask for feedback from people you trust before submitting your essays.
Quality matters
Remember that your goal is to share important things about yourself while skillfully expressing yourself in writing.
Interested in submitting an expanded resume?
A separate expanded resume can often help an applicant to be thorough when telling us about personal achievements and accomplishments. Although not required for admission (some honors programs require one), we strongly encourage you to submit an expanded resume if you feel that doing so will help us to get a complete picture of your activities, community service, honors and awards, and employment.
Updated 11 October 2007
