How to Write the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!) [UPDATED FOR 2024-2025]
Let’s talk about how to write University of Pennsylvania supplemental essays (with examples)...
How do you write the University Pennsylvania’s supplemental essays, Lisa? The essays prompts are all over the place, and I don’t know where to start!
The supplemental essays for The University of Pennsylvania (usually called, “Penn” or “UPenn”) are out, and I’m already getting calls for how to start writing them!
It’s no surprise. The University of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest and most selective universities in the United States. With a history that dates back to pre-revolutionary days (and Ben Franklin!) and a admissions rate of under 6%(!), Penn puts its applicants under the microscope with its application to put together the best class it can every year. (Some facts about admissions at Penn).
For this year (2024-2025), that means Penn’s application includes three supplemental essay prompts…
What Are the UPenn Supplemental Essay Prompts?
Two of Penn’s supplemental essays are required for all first-year applicants.
One of UPenn's most famous supplemental essays is about thanking someone.
UPenn Supplemental Essay #1: The “Thank You” Essay
Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words)
UPenn Supplemental Essay #2: The Community Essay
How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)
UPenn Supplemental Essay #3: The School-Specific Essay
The third essay in Penn’s application is school-specific. Each of the four undergraduate colleges (the College of Arts & Sciences, Wharton, The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the School of Nursing) at Penn have their own school specific essays which are required.
Each of the University of Pennsylvania's undergraduate schools has its own school-specific supplemental essay prompt.
The UPenn College of Arts & Sciences Supplemental Essay Promp:
The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words)
The UPenn School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Supplemental Essay Prompt:
Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics with depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you plan to pursue your engineering interests at Penn. (150-200 words)
The Wharton School Supplemental Essay Prompt:
Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues. Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it. (150-200 words)
The University of Pennsylvania's famous Wharton School of Business has its own supplemental essay prompt.
The UPenn School of Nursing Essay Prompt:
Penn Nursing intends to meet the health needs of a global, multicultural world by preparing its students to impact healthcare through advancing science. How will you contribute to our mission of promoting equity in healthcare and how will Penn Nursing contribute to your future nursing goals? (150-200 words)
Let’s start unpacking these supplemental essays!
How to Write the UPenn “Thank You” Essay (with an Example!)
The UPenn “Thank You” essays is one of those supplemental essays that I really identify with a specific school. For me, it’s up there with the Stanford Roommate in that respect, and like the Stanford, UPenn is definitely looking for some specific points in your answer to this prompt.
Why is Penn Asking this Question? What Is this Supplemental Essay About?
As all my students know, my first question is, “Why is Penn asking this question? What is Penn looking for in this supplemental essay?”
Let’s take a step back, re-read, and think about this for a moment:
Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!)
Penn is asking you to thank someone you have not acknowledged. What does that mean?
In other words, you have to take a step back and identify someone who has done something for you, something meaningful, and write them a thank you.
The reason Penn is asking this question is that in identifying this person (and by extension, what this meaningful thing they’ve done for you), you are by extension, telling them a lot about what’s important to you and what your values are.
College Essay Coach Tip: Whenever a college asks you a question like “What are you most proud of?”, “What inspires you?”, or this kind of “Thank someone”-type essay, it’s always really an essay about your values.
Let's talk about how to write UPenn's "Thank you" supplemental essay...
How to Write the UPenn “Thank You” Essay
Okay, now that you understand what this supplemental essay is about, let’s talk about the 3 major points you need to hit to answer this supplemental essay prompt well:
UPenn “Thank You Essay” Point #1: The Person and What They Did For You
Clearly, the first point that you need to hit with this essay is identifying someone that you want to thank and what they did for you.
That sounds simple, but I would strongly recommend that you put some real thought into this.
The knee-jerk reaction for many students is to write this essay about a parent but I would ask you to think twice about that.
First of all, this essay is supposed to thank someone that you have not thanked and acknowledged, and in most cases, that’s really not the case with a parent.
More importantly, though, for purposes of this essay, the universe of what you could probably thank your parent for is usually so vast that it’s basically impossible to contain in the space of 150-200 words. This essay works much better if you can identify something very specific to thank someone for.
That’s why if you see successful versions of this essay, they’re often about thanking a teacher, a coach, a teammate, friend, etc. for something very specific: “Thank you for driving me home from practice when I didn’t have a ride” or “Thank you for helping me with my labs during lunchtime when you really didn’t have to.”
UPenn “Thank You Essay” Point #2: Why This Was Important
The real crux of the UPenn “Thank You Essay” is why what this person did so important that you remember it and why you want to thank them.
Again, being specific is going to help you a lot there, so while you probably could thank a lot of folks for their “support” and “guidance” because it was really important to you, it’s going to be much easier if you can be specific. More importantly, your essay is going to be much more vibrant and feel much more heartfelt this way: “Thank you for always answering all my questions after class, even on Thursdays when that meant we were usually 15 minutes into lunchtime. My parents think it’s odd that a girl can be so interested in physics, so the fact that you’ve always answered my questions has meant a lot me…”
As with many essays, it’s often not so much the “what” as it is the “why”, and what does it say about what is important to you Donuts in the morning may not sound important, but if they were a sign that someone cared at a difficult time in your life, they could have meant the world to you.
UPenn “Thank You Essay” Point #3: What Has the Impact Been On You
Something of an extension of Point #2, in thinking about why this has been so important to you, consider what the longer-term impact has been for you.
Did this specific act, no matter how how small (like donuts!) just remind you that someone cared? For example:
“With my parents so worried about my sister while she was in the hospital, they’d often forget about things around the house, like groceries. Having a donut waiting for me at practice every morning reminded me that someone cared when it seemed like so many things in my life were totally out of my control.
During practice, you always used to tell us that “It’s the little things that matter”, and I didn’t really understand what you were getting at. Well, I finally get it. They really do.”
Here's an example of the UPenn "Thank you" supplemental essay example...
An Example of the UPenn “Thank You Essay”
Dear Mrs. ________,
I don’t know if I’ve ever really said this, but thank you for driving me home from orchestra rehearsal over these last two years.
I know you’d always say that you’d have pick up Jen anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal, but it was a big deal to me. With my mom working the evening shift at the hospital most days, there was no way that I would have been able to be a part of orchestra otherwise.
Music has always been a big part of my life, and getting to explore it in orchestra, playing with other people, and being creative with them has been one of my favorite experiences in high school and one I will always treasure.
I will always remember our conversations in the car after rehearsal. I had never really thought about putting my name down for concertmaster before, but your encouragement started me thinking that maybe I really could, and I did!
This past year as concertmaster has taught me a lot about myself and what can be possible. You played a huge role in making it possible for me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
[Name]
Tugs at the heartstrings, no?
Let's talk about how to write the University of Pennsylvania supplemental essay on community.
How to Write the UPenn Community Essay (with an Example!)
As all of my students know, I’m convinced that colleges are obsessed with the concept of “community.” Supplemental essay prompts about “community,” how you think about community, communities you’ve belonged to, how will you contribute to our community… well, they’re one of the most common required essay prompts, and chances are you were asked to submit several of these kinds of supplemental essays during your college application process.
The UPenn Community essay is no exception:
How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words)
Let’s take this apart…
Why is Penn Asking this Question? What Is this Supplemental Essay About?
I may be being slightly facetious when I say that colleges are obsessed with communities, but there really is good reason for it.
If you step back and think about it for a moment, what colleges and universities are are communities. Yes, they’re institutions, but they’re communities of students, faculty, and staff coming together under the big college community umbrella. It’s really no wonder that one of the things that colleges most want to find out about you is how you interact as a member of a community, contribute to your community, and how you think about your role in a community.
Now, let’s talk about how to answer UPenn’s version of the community essay, and the 2 main points you need to hit.
As you write the UPenn supplemental essay on community, think about your own community and perspectives.
UPenn Community Essay Point #1: Your Experiences and Perspective
The first point that you need to hit in the UPenn community essay is all about you: Tell us about your experiences and perspective, and specifically how it centers around the idea of community.
So sit and think about this for a moment. What are the communities that you belong to? Of course, there’s the obvious: your hometown, your school, your church, your neighborhood, etc. But there’s also the less obvious. Are the communities that you belong to around an activity you’ve participated in? What about places you’ve lived in and groups you’ve belonged to in the past?
The point of a community essay isn’t that your name is down on some community roll call somewhere. What colleges want to know about is how do you think about a group that is greater than yourself? How do you interact with that group? And how do you play some role within it?
Be expansive as you need to be! But write some notes down about the communities you belong to, how you think about your role in them, and how you’ve contributed to them.
Now, comes the fun part!
UPenn Community Essay Point #2: You and the Penn Community
This is where the UPenn community essay turns into a “Why Penn?” essay. And I call this fun part because you get to do some research into Penn and imagine yourself there.
And as you are looking up things things that you would want to do at Penn, you get imagine yourself interacting that that Penn community. What would you participate in? What are the groups that you would want to be a part of? And what would it be like for Penn to have you there?
As I said, this will be a bit of legwork, but it should also be fun!
Putting together the UPenn Community Essay
Now, as you have your note for both of these points, take a look at them side by side. How do you they connect? Are any of them related? Where is there an overlap or relationship that can pull an essay together?
This is a case where I think an example of an essay will really help!
Here is an example of the UPenn supplemental essay on community
An Example of the UPenn Community Essay
Moving from Singapore to NYC was a culture shock. Singapore is clean, famously so, with a lack of trash anywhere public, so NYC “trash” day was eye-opening to say the least.
I’ve since embraced all the messily beautiful aspects of my new hometown, but living in Singapore instilled in me an unwavering sense that we have a responsibility to maintaining where we live for each other.
For me, that has meant making a commitment to the environment that we all live in. Since middle school, I have volunteered with the Long Island Conservancy in its clean-up projects and now lead the children’s conservancy hikes. At my high school, I have led our Climate Action initiatives and organized a city conference on environmental issues.
At Penn, I would plan to become an active member of the Penn Environmental group, organizing events and bringing speakers to campus and also apply to become a member of the Student Advisory Group for the Environment (SAGE). I also hope to participate in many late-night dorm discussions about the climate, our future, and other things because I think having conversations with classmates of many perspectives is the lifeblood of university life and community.
Let's talk about how to write each of Penn's have school-specific supplemental essay prompts (including Wharton!).
UPenn Supplemental Essay #3: The School-Specific Essay
Each of the University of Pennsylvania’s undergraduate schools has a school specific essay. Depending on whether you are applying to the College of Arts & Sciences, The College of Engineering & Applied Sciences, The Wharton School of Business, or the School of Nursing, you will be writing one of the supplemental essays.
The UPenn Supplemental Essay: The College of Arts and Sciences
Here’s the supplemental essay prompt for the Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences:
The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words)
This is a pretty straightforward “why us?” kind of an essay. and a rather short one at that. If you’re still relatively early in your college essay-writing process, you’ll probably be writing more than a few of these types of essays and if you’ve already been at, you’re probably an old hand.
Still, let’s take this apart for a minute…
Why Does UPenn Ask This Supplemental Essay Question?
Well, as I’ve said, this is a pretty common and straightforward question. In this question, Penn wants to get a sense of whether you and Penn would be a “good fit” for each other.
Are your interests a good fit for Penn? And does what Penn offers make sense for you and your interests?
Let's talk about how to write the UPenn Supplemental essay for the College of Arts & Sciences.
How to Write UPenn’s Supplemental Essay for the College of Arts & Sciences
As I said, this isn’t mean to be a long essay, but there are two key points that you need to hit in this essay…
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Arts & Sciences Point #1: You and Your Interests
The first question that you need to answer for this essay is all about you: What are you curious about?
In other words, what are your interests? And to answer this question well, think about how how your interests came about? Was there a moment that sparked your curiosity about this area or is it something you’ve always been interested in? And how have you furthered your interest in this over time?
This is still a short essay, but Penn needs to know that your curiosity comes from you as opposed to your parents, teachers, coaches, etc.
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Arts & Sciences Point #2: You and Penn
The second part of this essay is about Penn and how you would be furthering your interests at Penn.
This means it’s time for a little legwork, and it should be fun! Take a look around Penn’s information (i.e. its website) and see what you can find about the subjects you’re interested in and what opportunities may be available around them like research, programs, year abroad, student groups, etc. Note down the things that sound interesting to you.
Also, if you know anybody who is at Penn or recent graduate, they would also be terrific resources for you to interview about this. Reach out and ask them about life at Penn, and if they have similar interests, ask them about what they’ve done. This can give you a real perspective on what these activities are and campus life is like.
The more specific to Penn you can be, the better your essay will be, so take your time and really think about what is unique to Penn that draws you to it.
Once you’ve done your research, sit down and really try to visualize what your life at Penn would look like. What would you want to participate in? How would you be spending your time?
An Example of the UPenn Supplemental Essay (Arts & Sciences):
Again, this will be a short essay, but here’s an example of what one could be like:
My curiosity for physics started with a simple flying static ring demonstration in high school. Since then, my curiosity has taken me to a quantum physics class at Princeton, and then research in optics and quantum entanglement under a mentor from the University of Pennsylvania.
Physics fascinates me and Penn would be the ideal place for me to continue my interests and research in this field. Ideally, I would like to work in the lab of one of Penn’s research groups in physics, in particular the Condensed Matter research group. Condensed matter relates heavily with my own research in quantum physics, and Penn has one of the few labs on the forefront of this cutting-edge area of physics in the U.S.. I would be thrilled to meet and work under scientists who are fascinated by this area of physics.
At Penn, I would also plan on taking the physics honors program and would like to write a senior thesis in the area of quantum physics. I am also keenly interested in sharing my interests with other physics students through groups like the Physics Student club taking part in public lectures, events, and internship opportunities.
Let's talk about how to write the UPenn supplemental essay for Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The UPenn Supplemental Essay: The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Here is the supplemental essay prompt for Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences:
Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics with depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you plan to pursue your engineering interests at Penn. (150-200 words)
Okay, what strikes you about this question right off the bat?
Well, like the supplemental essay for Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences, this is a pretty straightforward “why us?” kind of an essay, so if you’ve already taken a look at my guide to the supplemental essay for the College of Arts & Sciences, you already know what this is about.
If you haven’t…
Still, let’s take this apart for a minute…
Why Does UPenn Engineering Ask This Supplemental Essay Question?
This is a pretty common and straightforward question. In this question, Penn Engineering wants to get a sense of whether you and they would be a “good fit” for each other.
Are your engineering interests a good fit for Penn? And does what the Engineering School offers make sense for you and what you’re interested in?
How to Write UPenn’s Supplemental Essay for the School of Engineering
Like with the essay for the College of Arts & Sciences, this isn’t going to be a long essay, but there are two key points that you need to hit…
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Engineering Point #1: You and Your Engineering Interests
Even though this essay is set-up as a “What are you going to do at Penn?”. embedded in this question is still the basic, “What are you interested in and why?
Now, since you’re applying to the School of Engineering, part of your interests are already obvious. This more of a question of making your interests more specific and personal.
This is still a short essay, but Penn needs to know that your curiosity comes from you as opposed to your parents, teachers, coaches, etc.
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Arts & Sciences Point #2: You and Penn
As with the essay for the School of Arts and Sciences, the second part of this essay is about Penn and how you would be furthering your interests at Penn.
This means it’s time for a little legwork, and it should be fun! Take a look around Penn’s information (i.e. its website) and see what you can find about the subjects you’re interested in and what opportunities may be available around them like research, programs, year abroad, student groups, etc. Note down the things that sound interesting to you.
The more specific to Penn you can be, the better your essay will be, so take your time and really think about what is unique to Penn that draws you to it.
Once you’ve done your research, sit down and really try to visualize what your life at Penn would look like. What would you want to participate in? How would you be spending your time?
Let’s take a look at an example…
Here is an example of the UPenn supplemental essay for engineering.
An Example of the UPenn Supplemental Essay (Engineering & Applied Sciences):
Growing up, I would be transfixed every time as we traversed the bay by car on our way to my grandmother’s home in faraway Marin. How were we suspended in mid-air far above the crashing bay?
In high school, taking chemistry and physics classes at the University of San Francisco, I fell in love with material science and the role of materials in constructing structures. I have spent the last year interning with Professor C______’s group at the University of California at Berkeley studying structural alloys and the electroplasticty of metals.
Penn’s School of Engineering would be the ideal place for me to continue my interests and research in materials science and construction. Penn’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter has been the home of leading research in the area of materials science in structure for decades, and the work of Professor Kevin Turner in fracture toughness in architecture is exactly the kind of research that I would love to participate in.
Outside of the classroom, I have been deeply involved in Habitat for Humanity, and would look forward to becoming in active in Penn’s Engineers without Borders chapter, connecting my civil engineering and materials science studies with my humanitarian interests.
Now, let’s turn to Wharton…
Let's talk about how to write the supplemental essay for UPenn's Wharton School of Business..
The UPenn Supplemental Essay: The Wharton School
Here is the supplemental essay prompt for Penn’s Wharton School of Business:
Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues. Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it. (150-200 words)
Now, this supplemental essay is somewhat different than the one for the College of Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering. This prompt is asking for something somewhat different of you.
Let’s break this down…
Why Does UPenn/Wharton Ask This Supplemental Essay Question?
Unlike the supplemental essay prompts for Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences or Penn’s School of Engineering, this essay prompt is not quite the same straightforward “Why us?” type of question.
Instead, Wharton’s supplemental essay prompt combines a couple of elements. First, in asking about an issue that’s important to you, Wharton is posing a values question. In asking you explain why a specific global issue is important to you, Wharton is trying to find out what your core values are.
The second part of the question is a variation of a “Why us?” question. In asking how you believe a Wharton education will help you explore this issue, Wharton is trying to find out what you think could be unique about a Wharton education.
The guidance that Wharton provides is helpful here. By prefacing the question with:
Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues…
It’s pretty clear that Wharton wants to get a sense of how you may one day use your Wharton education to solve a global issue. Can you write an essay that can paint that picture?
Let’s unpack this for a minute…
One key to answering the UPenn Wharton supplemental essay is getting clear on "Why Wharton?"
How to Write UPenn’s Supplemental Essay for the Wharton School of Business
Wharton’s supplemental essay prompt is short, but let’s talk about how to actually answer these two key points.
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Wharton Point #1: Current Issue Important to You
The first point that you have address in the Wharton supplemental essay is to identify a current that’s important to you.
This sounds simpler than it is because there are a couple of things to note about this point. First, this needs to be a current issue that’s important to you, so think about issues that are personally important to you, not just from a global “More than 600,000 people sleep on the streets each night in the U.S.” kind of way. If you can identify and issue and say something about how it’s personally meaningful to you, this essay will resonate much more.
On that note, this essay will also resonate far more if you can speak to some demonstrated commitment to solving this issue in the past. So whether it’s participating in beach clean-ups since you could walk, serving at a food shelter during your winter breaks, or hosting talks on climate change at your school, think about how you’ve worked to solve this issue in some way in the past.
UPenn Supplemental Essay for Wharton Point #2: Why Wharton?
The second part of this essay is along the lines of a standard “Why us?” type of essay. So again, like with the other Penn “Why us?” essays, it’s time to do a little research and the interesting and unique aspects of a Wharton education can help you explore this issue that is important to you.
Now, with this question, Penn and Wharton do give you a little extra guidance:
To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the foundations of a Wharton education. This information will help you better understand what you could learn by studying at Wharton and what you could do afterward.
which points you to Wharton’s own “Why Wharton?” page, which is probably a good place for you to start your thinking at!
What does this actually look like put together?
Let's take a look at an example of the supplemental essay for UPenn's Wharton School of Business!
An Example of the UPenn Supplemental Essay for Wharton
As the son of a minister, taking care of the unhoused in our community has been a way of life. After my father’s Sunday sermon, my entire family would help run the church’s kitchen for those in need. As I became older, I led our church’s food and clothing drives for the unhoused.
At times, I would get frustrated. Sure we could serve Thanksgiving dinner to forty people, but how could we solve this issue in the long-term? I interned for Congressman __________ because I wanted to make a greater difference. What I learned is that the growing numbers of unhoused is a complex problem that involves many issues and has no easy solutions.
Wharton is the ideal place for me to continue exploring how to solve this problem. Of course, Wharton’s world-class education in economics would be instrumental, but I would also take advantage of the flexible curriculum to take classes in other areas that have contributed to the issue of the unhoused such as Political Science, Urban Studies, and Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). In addition, I plan to apply to study abroad at Fudan University in Shanghai to gain a global perspective on the issues involved.
Need more help with your college essays?
Check out my college essay coaching!
And for additional help with your college applications, check out my college admissions consulting and college interview preparation and coaching.
Are you applying to NYU? Check out my blog on How to Write the NYU Supplemental Essay (with an Example!).
Or How to Write the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) Supplemental Essays (with Examples!)
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How to Write the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
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