Writing the Intellectual Engagement Essay
Common App Supplemental Essays
By Eric Tipler, July 5, 2024
Form: Medium length (typically 150–350-word) narrative essay
Audience: The admissions committee
Topic: Your involvement in a project or activity that engaged your intellectual curiosity
Purpose: To demonstrate intellectual curiosity and show how you might express it on campus
The Intellectual Engagement essay is a narrative essay in which you demonstrate intellectual curiosity by describing one or more experiences that engaged it. Here’s a sample prompt:
University of California
Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. (350 words)
As you begin to see Intellectual Engagement essays in college app supplements, you’ll notice that some prompts ask about intellectual interests in general, whereas others (like this UC prompt) ask you to discuss your interests in the context of a major or academic area.
Either way, you’ll want to take the same approach to the essay.
Tips for a Great Intellectual Engagement Essay
1. Be specific. A common mistake in these essays is to wax poetic, in general terms, about a subject that interests you. Instead, write about specific projects you’ve done at school (e.g. a research paper, a challenging course) or outside of school (e.g. a passion project, learning a new skill).
2. Show active engagement. Show yourself in action: getting excited about something, coming up with ideas, researching, learning, making mistakes, writing, presenting, etc. In the best essays, often the reader can imagine the writer actually engaged in the pursuit, as if they were watching a movie.
3. Let them see what excites you. Show your maturity by digging deep and helping the reader see what inspires you about this topic. Is it the quest for the knowledge, the chance to make a difference, the beauty of math or science, the chance to learn from history so we have a better future? Those are just examples; if you can dig deep and make it clear and personal, the essay will land.
For more on the Intellectual Engagement essay, including brainstorming questions, advice on the best experiences to discuss, and tips to help you show active engagement, check out Chapter 6 of Write Yourself In (p. 159).
Intellectual Engagement Essay Example
Prompt
Tell us about an intellectual or creative passion you have pursued; what did you learn about yourself through that pursuit? (Amherst College, 350 words)
Essay
For as long as I can remember, American history has fascinated me. When I was in elementary school, I loved visiting Washington, DC, with my family and driving past the massive limestone buildings where democracy actually happened. As I’ve grown older, I’ve been inspired by the multiple generations of women in my family who have served in the Navy.
So last year, when I had the opportunity to do an extended research project for AP US History, the obvious choice was my favorite president: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although I didn’t know much about him at the start, his fireside chats and leadership through World War II had always intrigued me. As I started to learn more about him by reading biographies, analyzing primary sources, and watching interviews with scholars, what began to captivate me were the inherent contradictions in his character. Roosevelt projected strength and boldness, yet he was crippled and often went about in a wheelchair. He was a passionate advocate for the common man, yet he came from a wealthy, aristocratic background. And although he was a staunch defender of democracy, some of his political maneuvering—say, his court-packing plan or his promise in the 1940 election to keep America out of war despite his intention to do the opposite—seemed frankly undemocratic, almost authoritarian.
Though this project taught me a lot about our 32nd president, it taught me something much more important about myself: I’m passionate about psychology. My high school doesn’t offer a psychology class, but after finishing the paper I found myself checking out books on psychology from the library, watching YouTube videos on personality and character traits, and reading articles on new psychological discoveries when they appeared in the New York Times and my local newspaper. Looking forward, I can’t wait to take psychology and sociology classes in college or perhaps even to major in the social sciences. History will always be a source of fascination, but I now know that my true interest is in people: how they see the world, why they do what they do, and what makes them tick.
For more help with the Intellectual Engagement essay and the rest of your college applications, get a copy of Write Yourself In from your favorite library or bookseller!
