colleges that do not require essays

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College Info , College Essays

If the thought of writing a college essay fills you with terror, you might be wondering: are there any colleges that don't require essays?

The answer is yes, there are! This guide will give you an overview of colleges that don't require admissions essays, how to find these schools, and whether you should apply to one or not. We'll wrap up with a list of 64 colleges with no essay requirement that you can apply to.

Why Do Some Colleges Not Require an Essay?

In general, college essays help schools get a sense of you as a person—beyond your academic record, GPA, and test scores. They give you a chance to clearly articulate your goals and also give admissions officers a better idea of how you'll fit within the school's community. Finally, essays are helpful because they provide schools with concrete evidence of your writing ability.

However, there are many colleges that don't require essays for admissions. What are some reasons why? Let's take a look at the three biggest ones:

#1: Limited Resources

It takes a lot of admissions officers' time and energy to read and evaluate college essays.

At smaller schools with fewer resources, and even at larger schools that enroll tens of thousands of students, the resource costs associated with reading each essay for every single student might outweigh the benefits of getting additional information on applicants beyond GPAs, test scores, and transcripts.

Schools sometimes balance these concerns by requiring essays only for the most competitive programs (usually things such as engineering and nursing) or for scholarships, for which the additional information might be more instrumental in making decisions.

They need to use those limited resources for coffee.

#2: Specific Admissions Cutoffs/Criteria

Many colleges, particularly public schools, admit students based on a type of selection index, which tabulates some combination of GPA, test scores, and/or class rank.

If students meet the minimum index score cutoff, they will be admitted. In this case, the school might simply feel that additional information from an essay isn't necessary for making a decision regarding whether a student will be successful or not.

Selection indices are also often different for in-state and out-of-state students, with the latter being subject to more stringent academic criteria.

In addition, the selection index is sometimes used for scholarships, with students with higher index scores being awarded more money.

Schools with selection indices do often require or recommend college essays for borderline candidates so that students can provide additional information on why they'd be a good fit at the school in spite of not meeting the stated academic criteria.

#3: Make Admissions Process Easy and Appealing

Some colleges hope that by making the admissions process easy and requiring only a transcript, test scores, and basic demographic information, they'll attract a wider variety of applicants.

By presenting their application process as a simple alternative to more intensive processes that require letters of recommendation, essays, and so on, they can attract students who are on the fence about applying to college at all .

They could even potentially motivate highly qualified applicants to use them as one of their safety or match schools because the students won't need to write additional essays or do extra work to apply.

Some applications seem like you just have to click to apply!

How to Find Colleges That Don't Require Essays

There are over 4,000 postsecondary educational institutions in the US, and over 80 of these schools don't require essays for admission.

If you want to know whether a particular school requires an essay for admission, Google "[School Name] freshman admission requirements" or "[School Name] admissions essay." This should pull up pages from the school's official website, with links to guidelines on admission essays.

If, however, you're looking more generally for schools that don't require essays, you can check out our  list of 64 schools below or try one of the following starting places:

Public Universities in Your State

A significant number of public universities don't require essays for admissions.

Even if the major public schools in your state (such as the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign or UCLA) require essays for admission, you might find that the smaller campuses and smaller or more specialized state schools  might not require essays. So be sure to check those out!

You can actually get a pretty robust list of schools in your state by simply Googling "[State Name] colleges." Do this and a list of colleges will appear across the top of your screen. Thanks, Google!

Schools With Automatic Admissions Criteria

A school that has criteria for automatic admission (e.g., if you live in-state and have a particular class rank, GPA, and/or test score profile) might not require applicants who meet the automatic criteria to submit essays with their applications.

However, don't assume that just because you meet automatic admissions criteria that you won't need to write an essay.

At UT Austin, for example, all students must submit an essay , regardless of whether they meet the automatic admissions criteria. Although you could probably write just a straightforward paragraph in the essay section and still get admitted (since you meet the criteria), you'd likely be hurting your scholarship potential, not to mention jeopardizing your chances of being let into your desired major.

Small Private Liberal Arts Institutions

Another group of schools that might not require essays are smaller, private liberal arts institutions. These types of schools often serve a fairly niche market and might simply not get a high enough application volume to need essays to differentiate applicants.

Community Colleges

Local community colleges do not require essays for enrollment, since most allow anyone to enroll. Some even have automatic transfer agreements with local four-year universities. However, if you want to transfer to a particular four-year university after you finish at a community college, you might very well have to write an essay—so you could just be putting off the inevitable!

You can find a lot of no-essay colleges for your basket!

Complete List: 64 Colleges That Don't Require Essays

The following chart contains 64 colleges with no essay requirement, organized by state.  

Note that these are far from the only no-essay college applications —just some of the most notable. Follow our guidelines above for finding additional essay-free colleges.

Should You Apply to a College That Doesn't Require an Essay?

If you're reading this article, you're clearly worried about writing application essays for one reason or another. Maybe you're concerned about having enough time to finish everything. Or maybe you think your writing is terrible.

Here are some reasons to write college essays in spite of your misgivings:

#1: You Want to Apply to the Most Selective Schools

If you're hoping to apply to the most selective schools , you'll almost certainly have to write at least one essay. The most highly ranked no-essay school that I could find was the University of Pittsburgh—a great school. But if you're going for UChicago , MIT , Stanford , or an Ivy League-level school , you'll have to write an essay.

#2: You Want a Scholarship

Even if you do apply to a school that doesn't require an essay, you might still have to write an essay if you want to apply for the most competitive scholarships .

#3: You Have Special Circumstances to Explain

If you have any kind of special circumstance to explain—say, a dip in your grades one year due to a family illness—you definitely want to write about it in an essay. This will help you compensate for any perceived deficits in your academic record and also prevent you from being penalized in the admissions process for the vagaries of life.

There's value in telling your story to the admissions committee.

#4: You're a Good Writer

I'm thinking that most strong writers are going to actively want to write college essays, but just in case: if writing is one of your strengths, definitely write an essay. You want to show off your best qualities to admissions officers, after all! If your primary concern is time, use something like the Common Application so you don't have to write a new essay for every school.

#5: The Essay Prompt Is Short

Some college essays are barely essays at all. Some required essays have just a 250-word limit, and 500 words is pretty standard. For reference, the first section of this article—"Why Do Some Colleges Not Require Essays?"—is about 450 words, including sub-headings. That's not so bad!

#6: You Can Get Help

Although it's important that your college essays are your own work, you're allowed to get help with them! Colleges expect you to put your best foot forward, so if that means discussing ideas with parents and teachers, and having someone else look over your rough drafts and offer suggestions, that's completely fine. You don't have to go at it completely alone.

#7: You Can Reuse an Essay for All Your Schools

For schools that use the Common App , Coalition App , or Universal College App , you can generally use one essay for all your colleges. Some schools might require additional supplemental essays, though, so be sure to look that up in advance to avoid being blindsided later.

So Should I Write an Essay?

If it happens that all the schools you want to apply to don't require essays, then great! But overall, I'd say don't let the fact that a school has one (or even two) essays stop you from applying if you're genuinely interested in going there.

If you find writing essays stressful or if you're time-limited, there's nothing wrong with using some strategies to limit the number of polished essays you need to produce (such as using the Common App) and applying to a mix of essay and no-essay schools.

Key Takeaways: Colleges That Don't Require Essays

There are actually tons of colleges that don't require essays. Here are some common reasons why a college might not require an essay:

• Limited resources—it takes a lot of time and effort to read an essay by each applicant
• They might have certain GPA and/or test score admissions criteria and feel as though the information provided by an essay isn't necessary
• To make it more appealing to students by having an easier application process

So how can you find college applications without essays? Here are some places to start:

• Public schools in your state, especially smaller ones in case the bigger ones do require essays
• Schools with automatic admissions criteria—if you qualify for admission, you might not need to write an essay
• Smaller liberal arts institutions
• Community colleges

When it comes down to it, though, should you apply to colleges with no essay requirement? Here are some reasons you might want to write a college essay, even if you're apprehensive:

• The most selective colleges usually do require essays
• Scholarship applications for particular schools often require essays
• If you have special circumstances to explain, plan on writing an essay
• Strong writers should write essays to put their best foot forward
• Word limits are often very short—think 250-500 words (that's just a few paragraphs!)
• You're allowed (and encouraged) to get help with brainstorming ideas and revising drafts
• If you use an application system that can send applications to multiple schools, such as the Common App, Coalition App, or Universal College App, you might be able to write just one essay for all the schools you're applying to

Don't forget to also check out our list of 64 colleges that don't require essays!

No essay, no tears!

What's Next?

Need more help looking for colleges? See our step-by-step guide to college research . Also, check out how to decide where to go to college and the difference between a college and a university !

Decided to write an essay after all and need some help? Check out our comprehensive guide to writing a college essay and our guide to writing the "why this college" essay . Be sure to avoid these 10 college essay mistakes , too.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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33 Colleges Without Supplemental Essays

At many top schools, essays form a critical part of the college admissions process. Overwhelmingly, students find writing essays to be the most stressful part of the application process. So, when applying to multiple schools, many applicants look for colleges without supplemental essays. Colleges that don’t require essays allow students to focus on other aspects of their application like extracurriculars, test scores, or recommendation letters. 

However, finding colleges that don’t require supplemental essays can be tedious. That’s why we’ve created a list of 33 colleges without supplemental essays to make the search easier.

Contrary to what you may have heard, you can find college application requirements without supplemental essays. Moreover, a lack of supplemental essay requirements doesn’t mean a university isn’t good.  

This guide will help you find colleges without supplemental essays that meet your needs. In addition to discussing colleges that don’t require essays, we’ll also talk about other college application requirements. By the end of this article, you’ll be better prepared for the college application process. 

What is a supplemental essay?

Before you start searching for colleges that don’t require supplemental essays, it’s important to understand what they actually are. Supplemental essays are extra essays that each school requires; some schools require only one, while others require several. They cover a range of prompts from the “why school” essay to the cultural diversity essay and more. Usually, supplemental essays are rather short, hovering in the 50-250-word limit range. They serve as an opportunity to showcase an applicant’s strengths, moments of personal growth, and personality. 

It’s important to note that supplemental essays are different from the personal statement on the Common Application . The Common App essay prompts allow you to submit one personal statement to every college where you apply. In other words, you’ll almost certainly write this personal statement plus supplemental essays for each college on your list . You can also look up each school’s supplemental writing requirements on the Common App site. 

There aren’t many colleges that don’t require essays at all. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any colleges that don’t require supplemental essays. With that said, most American universities have some essay requirements, even if they don’t ask for writing supplements.

Supplemental essays vs. Personal Statement

Often, top colleges without supplemental essays will require students to write a personal statement . Recall that supplemental essays vary in length and number of essays to complete depending on the school. In contrast, the personal statement is one essay that most schools have as a part of their college application requirements. However, both supplemental essays and the personal statement are important when it comes to creating an authentic application narrative . 

The personal statement is a part of the Common Application. There are seven prompts to choose from, one of which is open, meaning you can write anything you’d like. The personal statement is longer than most supplemental essays at 650 words. While you’ll just write on one of these prompts, the others touch on common college essay topics. Don’t hesitate to brainstorm for a few of the Common App prompts, not just one.

Supplemental essays are usually shorter than the personal statement. School requirements will vary. While there are colleges without supplemental essays at all, others may have as many as six!

How many supplemental essays do college require?

While there are competitive colleges without supplemental essays, the majority of universities require at least one supplemental essay. However, the number of required supplemental essays will vary greatly. 

For example, Northeastern University doesn’t have a writing supplement requirement on the Northeastern application. However, that doesn’t necessarily make the Northeastern application easier than other universities. Since it’s a top school, applicants will still need to do everything possible to make their Northeastern application stand out. 

Unlike the Northeastern application, the University of Chicago has one required “why school” essay and various supplemental essay prompts to choose from. In total, students applying to UChicago will write two supplemental essays. 

When it comes to the number of supplemental essays a school requires, there is no single answer. All schools will be different, so be sure to check each school’s individual application requirements on their admissions sites. 

What kind of colleges require essays?

Generally, it is rare to find colleges that don’t require essays at all. While there are some colleges without supplemental essays, most still require students to submit the personal statement. Therefore, most colleges in the U.S. require essays in some form. Even if you’re applying through a different platform like UC Apply or the Coalition Application , you’ll have to write.

A better question might be: why do colleges require essays? The majority of universities’ admissions teams use a holistic evaluation process. That means that each of the college application requirements receives equal consideration. Your supplemental essay is an opportunity to share more about yourself with admissions. Successful college essay ideas will center on stories that show personal growth and self-reflection. 

What are college application requirements?

If you’re looking for colleges without supplemental essays, then you’ll need to sift through each school’s requirements. Simply put, college application requirements are all the materials that applicants need for a complete application. 

Here are some of the most common application requirements: 

• Basic biographical and demographic information
• Extracurricular activities
• Personal statement
• Application fee
• Transcripts
• Counselor and/or Teacher letter(s) of recommendation

In the application, students will be able to add their essays. Keep in mind that each school’s college application requirements vary, so you should confirm specifics on their websites. 

Do all colleges require supplemental essays?

Luckily for those who dread essay writing, there are colleges without supplemental essays. Soon, we’re going to provide you with a comprehensive list of well-known colleges that don’t require supplemental essays. 

However, keep in mind that most schools do require students to complete the personal statement. So, for those who are hoping to find colleges that don’t require essays of any kind, it will be challenging. Nevertheless, students who have an extreme aversion to essay writing will find some top colleges without supplemental essays. 

Why apply to colleges that don’t require essays?

There are a few reasons that students want to apply to colleges without supplemental essays. Some students may feel like the essays are too stressful. And while there are ways to manage that stress and write compelling essays, some students may just prefer not to. 

However, probably the number one reason that students are intrigued by colleges without supplemental essays is time. Thinking of college essay ideas and writing essays is time-consuming. When you consider that some students apply to as many as 15 schools, it can feel overwhelming. Even adding just a few colleges that don’t require essays to your college list will lighten the burden. 

Additionally, there are many competitive colleges without supplemental essays. Just remember: if you apply to colleges without supplemental essays, make the rest of your application as competitive as possible. It certainly isn’t an excuse to slack on your application narrative. In fact, with colleges that don’t require essays, you must pay extra attention to your demonstration of academic achievements and extracurricular involvement. 

As stated above, colleges without supplemental essays usually still require a personal statement. However, this essay can be used for multiple schools. That is to say, once it’s written, you’re set for all of your applications to colleges without supplemental essays. 

33 Best Colleges without Supplemental Essays

Finally, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Let’s check out some colleges without supplemental essays. 

Top 33 Colleges without Essays

1. colby college.

This small liberal arts school in Waterville, Maine, is the first to make our list. As the 12 th oldest liberal arts school in the US, Colby College has ample experience providing students with an intimate learning environment. If you’re interested in a liberal arts education from a small Northeastern University, then check out Colby’s application requirements .  

2. Grinnell College

Students who attend Grinnell are encouraged to “pursue passions with purpose.” While it may seem surprising that such a school numbers among colleges that don’t require essays, take advantage of it and apply ! Grinnell College is consistently a high-ranking liberal arts school. Here, students are encouraged to create a course of study that best supports their intellectual freedom.

3. Middlebury College

Another of the many liberal arts colleges without supplemental essays on our list is Middlebury College. Located in Vermont’s Champlain Valley, the natural beauty will inspire your learning as a natural laboratory is just outside. Its acceptance rate is 13%, so you’ll need an impeccable application in the absence of supplemental essays. 

4. Colgate University

Located in New York state, Colgate University provides its students with a high quality liberal arts education. Like all others on our list, the Colgate application doesn’t include supplemental essays. There are 56 majors for students to choose from. Colgate values a curious mind, so be sure to show your curiosity in your Colgate application. Check out what you need to complete your Colgate application. 

5. Temple University

This is the first public research university on our list of colleges without supplemental essays. Temple University has 17 schools and colleges in which to study, but an emphasis is placed on experiential learning. Given Temple’s location in the heart of North Philadelphia, students will have all the opportunities that the city provides. 

6. Oberlin College

The one-of-a-kind education provided by Oberlin College allows students to explore both academics and the arts. Indeed, the Oberlin College ranking across metrics speaks for itself: the Oberlin College ranking in national liberal arts colleges is #39 . And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Oberlin College ranking in Most Innovative Schools is #16 . Of course, the Oberlin College ranking isn’t everything. But, the Oberlin College ranking does speak to the school’s quality, unique liberal arts education. For Oberlin College (not the conservatory) no supplemental essay is needed. 

7. Case Western Reserve University

There are hundreds of programs at Case Western Reserve for students to pursue. However, overall, the student population is committed to making a difference, with education a stepping stone to an impactful career. In addition to being one of our colleges without supplemental essays, Case Western Reserve is also test-optional through fall 2024. 

8. Bates College

The Bates way is all about “aligning who you are with what you do.” Students will be a part of a community with values such as social responsibility and diversity and inclusion. Check out the requirements for what it takes to be a part of this unique campus. Keep in mind that the Bates College acceptance rate is quite competitive. In fact, the Bates College acceptance rate is considered most selective at 17% . So, although Bates is among the colleges that don’t require essays, the Bates College acceptance rate means intense competition for admittance. 

9. Northeastern University

This well-known university in Boston , Massachusetts, is among the most competitive colleges without supplemental essays with an 18% acceptance rate. Experiential learning and research are among the core parts of a Northeastern University education. If you’re interested in innovation and impact, then see what you need to apply .

10. Hampshire College

It may be unsurprising that Hampshire College, the self-proclaimed “original disruptors of higher education,” is among the colleges that don’t require essays. Hampshire believes that their radical education experience leads to greater impact. This is a community that values experimentation, discovery, and investigation in a non-traditional manner. If that sounds up your alley, take a look at their application requirements. 

11. DePaul University

This large private university in Chicago, Illinois, is next on our list of colleges without supplemental essays. Faculty provide high-quality teaching in order to give their students the best educational experience. DePaul aims to provide an experience that combines “mind, place, people, and heart.”

12. Drexel University

Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Drexel University is arguably one of the best colleges without supplemental essays. It’s nationally recognized for its co-op experience. This learning model allows all students to have ample hands-on experience in their field of interest before even graduating. Drexel admissions may not seem super competitive with an acceptance rate of 83% . However, that doesn’t mean you should slack on the application. Impressing Drexel admissions could lead to scholarships, which are also an extremely important part of the college application process. 

13. Kenyon College

This college may not be a household name, but they’ve played a huge part in the model of faculty advising nationwide. In fact, according to Kenyon College , they invented it. So you can imagine the quality attention the learning experience that students will receive here. 

14. Dillard University

Louisiana’s first private liberal arts HBCU makes our list of colleges without supplemental essays. The undergraduate population is around 1,200, making it a small school. At Dillard, students can expect personalized attention and a tight-knit campus community. After applying and being accepted, students will have 22 majors to choose from. 

15. Skidmore College

Creative thinking is at the heart of Skidmore’s education model. Located in Saratoga Springs, New York, this private university offers students an excellent education in a bucolic college town . At Skidmore College , students are encouraged to explore a variety of educational interests as all majors are interdisciplinary.

16. Ohio State University

Located in Columbus, Ohio—the fastest-growing metropolitan in the Midwest — Ohio State University places an emphasis on improving local and global communities. In fact, they have contribution efforts in every county in Ohio. And, with six campuses throughout the state, students can choose which location will best serve them. 

17. Louisiana State University

As a leading research university in Baton Rouge, LSU is among the best colleges without supplemental essays. No matter their major, every student is able to participate in research opportunities. LSU ’s emphasis on research is a crux of the community as it comes from a drive to improve the world. 

18. University of Alabama

With over 100 areas of study in 8 schools and colleges, the University of Alabama provides students with ample options. At the University of Alabama, research is highly valued, but students are ultimately encouraged to pursue their passions. Check out the freshman requirements to learn more about applying. 

19. University of Cincinnati

Another large public research university makes our list of colleges without supplemental essays. UC has excellent co-op and internship programs from which students can gain practical professional experience while studying. University of Cincinnati students will gain an excellent education and hands-on experience.

20. Clemson University

Clemson admissions prides itself on the university’s tireless work ethic. Through this, they encourage their students to “change lives, change perceptions, and…to change the world.” Students willing to work hard to achieve their future goals should check out the application requirements . Clemson admissions falls in the middle when it comes to selectivity. The Clemson admissions rate is 49% . Logically, we can see from the Clemson admissions rate that nearly half the students that apply will gain admittance. 

21. University of Pittsburgh

Located in the heart of the city, the University of Pittsburgh is among the top colleges without supplemental essays. This large public university focuses on innovation as a path to positive change. With a prime location, students are encouraged to take advantage of all that the university and city have to offer.  

22. Wesleyan University

Forming students to be “intellectually agile” is a huge part of the Wesleyan curriculum. With 45 majors to choose from, students are encouraged to take advantage of the large range of available courses. Additionally, there are over 5,000 internships opportunities available starting from your first year on campus. 

23. Miami University

You may have seen this school ranking in the top 50 public universities in the US. There’s certainly no doubt that Miami University in Ohio is one of the best colleges without supplemental essays. With many dynamic undergraduate programs available, students will be able to pursue a wealth of careers in their chosen fields. An active student body helps in forming a strong campus community in a location brimming with natural beauty. 

24. University of Connecticut

As a large university with a rural location, the UConn campus community is like a small town of its own. Students can enjoy a wide range of study options, ample student organizations and clubs, and renowned leaders as faculty members. Learn more about the application requirements. 

25. University of Delaware

The beautiful campus and experienced faculty of the University of Delaware provide for about 18,000 students. Through research, internships, and study abroad opportunities, students are encouraged to find their authentic way of changing the world. 

26. Florida State University

FSU is one of the best value colleges without supplemental essays. Students here are intellectually curious, academically driven, and socially conscious. The FSU experience is centered around providing students with the tools to achieve their goals. 

27. University of Georgia

Even though this is a large university, students are seen as “the individual they are.” The University of Georgia is committed to accessibility and inclusion. Additionally, 92% of the university’s graduates are employed or continuing their studies within six months of graduation. 

28. University of Houston

As the third largest university in Texas , the University of Houston is one of our top colleges without supplemental essays. As a diverse campus community, the university aims to change lives and communities for the better. It emphasizes discovery and conversation as a foundation for students’ development.

29. Indiana University – Bloomington

The possibilities are endless when you study at Indiana University Bloomington . Students will gain hands-on experience in their field either in the lab or on the ground. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to learn from faculty who are renowned in their discipline. 

30. University of Kansas

There is certainly no lack of options when studying at the University of Kansas . There are over 400 degree and certificate programs to choose from spread out over 14 schools. Innovation, research, and the pursuit of knowledge are pillars of the UK educational experience. 

31. University of Kentucky

Another UK makes our list of colleges that don’t require supplemental essays. The University of Kentucky offers over 200 degree programs in 16 schools. One of the university’s main values is finding ways to advance Kentucky—from education, to health, economy, and culture— to ensure its progress. 

32. University of Massachusetts Amherst

Located in an ideal college town, UMass Amherst is the largest public research university in New England. The school offers over 110 majors on campus. In addition, students are encouraged to be curious explorers through study abroad opportunities. 

33. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

This large university with a city campus encourages students to discover the unknown. Whether it’s through internships or research opportunities, students are challenged to pursue their interests and push their academic limits. Learn more about the application requirements to get started.

As you review this list, please note that college essay requirements are subject to change. With this in mind, make sure to visit each school’s admissions website to confirm all supplemental essay requirements.

It may seem alluring to apply only to these colleges that don’t require essays. However, keep in mind that these institutions place more importance on GPA and extracurriculars. So, when considering applying to schools without supplemental essays, think about these factors. Will your application narrative be impactful to admissions teams without additional essays? Will your personality and values shine through? 

What is the best school that doesn’t require supplemental essays?

Looking at the acceptance rates of the colleges that don’t require essays, we can determine which schools are the most selective. In this case, Colby College ( 9% ), Grinnell College ( 11% ), and Middlebury College ( 13% ) have some of the most selective acceptance rates. However, the Bates College acceptance rate also makes it quite selective. In fact, the Bates College acceptance rate is similar to that of Northeastern University. 

The best colleges without supplemental essays will vary depending on what you’re looking for. So, how can you determine your top colleges without supplemental essays? Well, when making your college list you should consider factors such as majors, location, size, and campus culture. This will help you focus your college search on a few key criteria.

Firstly, make a list of what you want in your university. For example, do you want to go to school in a large city? Are internship or co-op programs important to you? Is your major available, and are you intrigued by its curriculum? Ideally, you want to be excited imagining yourself on a college’s campus. As you think about your college list priorities, you’ll be better able to identify which university is best for you. In fact, you may have already started by determining you want to look at colleges that don’t require essays!

College Application Requirements: Beyond Essays

Coming up with college essay ideas might be one of the biggest stressors in the college application process. And yet, there is certainly much more to completing an application than just essays. Colleges that don’t require essays still have other requirements that applicants will need to send by the school’s application deadlines . 

For example, let’s look at Colby admissions, which features on our list of colleges that don’t require essays. The Colby admissions site states the application requirements are the completed application, academic records, and financial aid application. Non-native English speakers may also be required to submit a language proficiency certification.

Additionally, there are optional materials you can add to enhance your application, which vary from school to school. Colby accepts standardized test scores , additional recommendation letters, an arts supplement, and an “elevator pitch” video.

Of course, these are just application requirements outlined by Colby admissions. Drexel admissions, Clemson admissions, and any other college admissions office will have other—often similar—application requirements. When comparing colleges to add to your college list, these requirements will likely be an important factor. 

Students can usually count on the following materials being required during the application process: 

• Completed application
• Academic records
• Teacher/counselor letters of recommendation
• Language proficiency exam (where applicable)

Many schools are continuing test-optional policies first instated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some do require standardized testing scores as well. Always check the admissions site for the application requirements and deadlines. For example, Colby and Drexel admissions have slight differences in their requirements, even though they’re both colleges that don’t require essays. Always confirm requirements on admissions websites!

How to make your college application stand out!

Even when applying to colleges that don’t require essays, you still need to carefully craft a compelling application narrative. Creating a cohesive application narrative or personal brand during the college application process can be tricky. Ideally, your application should tell the story of who you are and what drives you, both academically and personally. You’ll show this through your grades, courses, achievements, and extracurricular activities . 

Regardless of other college essay ideas you need, you will need to write the Common App personal statement. This is the only significant writing the admissions teams will see from applicants at colleges that don’t require essays. In light of that, it needs to be an excellent example of your writing skills while also demonstrating your personality. 

The Common App provides students with a few college essay topics to choose from. In order to generate the best college essay ideas, choose to write on college essay topics that genuinely excite you. While brainstorming , make a list of college essay ideas from the given college essay topics. Think about anecdotes, meaningful experiences, and personal growth that pertain to the college essay topics. Successful college essay ideas lead to authentic essays, which is the key in standing out to admissions. 

Essay Guides and Essay Resources

As we’ve mentioned, even when applying to colleges that don’t require essays, most applicants must complete the personal statement. Don’t stress about coming up with college essay ideas on your own! CollegeAdvisor.com provides ample free resources for students at every step of the college application process—including the essays. 

Unfortunately for those aiming to apply to colleges that don’t require essays of any kind, most require the personal statement. The best way to generate college essay ideas is by reading successful essay examples. Check out some of these Common App essay examples to understand what works. And, before even worrying about college essay ideas, learn more about the Common App essay in this article . We’ll outline the most important factors when writing this essay. 

If you’re reading this, you probably want to apply to colleges that don’t require essays. However, don’t let that limit you in the college application process. If you love a school, but they require supplemental essays, keep it on your list. Don’t let a disdain for essays keep you from attending your dream school .

CollegeAdvisor has many school-specific essay guides covering everything from college essay ideas to revising that final draft. Check out our USC , Yale , UChicago , and many more college-specific supplemental essay guides. If you’re stuck on thinking up college essay ideas, then these guides are a good place to begin.

Colleges Without Supplemental Essays – Final Thoughts

Without a doubt, supplemental essays are one of the most stressful parts of the college application process for many students. From choosing college essay topics to generating college essay ideas and actually writing essays, there’s a lot of effort involved.

However, as you can see from this article, there are many colleges that don’t require essays. So, if you’re crunched for time or feel overwhelmed by needing various impactful college essay ideas, you have options. It’s never a bad idea to add some schools that don’t require essays to your college list. 

Keep in mind, though, that you’ll most likely still need to write the personal statement essay. But one essay is better than six. And, remember that CollegeAdvisor can provide personalized attention for anything from brainstorming college essay ideas to applying for financial aid. Reach out if you’d like some guidance in your college application process. Otherwise, take advantage of our large library of free resources!

This article was written by Sarah Kaminski. Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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College applications require a lot of hard work and dedication. At times, it can feel difficult to stay organized during the application process. Especially if you have a sizable college list. Between writing a successful college essay and chronicling your various extracurricular activities , there are a lot of application sections to focus on. And that doesn’t even take supplemental essays into account! 

Knowing how to find the right college for you often requires a lot of research. That said, referring to a list of colleges without supplemental essays can be a great way to add to your college list. Especially if you don’t have time to write more essays. Ultimately, this is why having a list of colleges with no supplemental essays can be such a helpful tool. 

In this article, we review over 40 colleges that don’t require supplemental essays. Again, these colleges can serve as great last-minute additions to your college list!

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Northeast: colleges without supplemental essays

Let’s take a look at some of the best colleges without supplemental essays. As you go through this list, research the universities without supplemental essays that most stand out to you. And remember, there are lots of top colleges without supplemental essays!

Midwest: colleges without supplemental essays

Alternatively, if you’re interested in attending college in the midwest and are still wondering what colleges don’t require supplemental essays? consider some of these competitive colleges without supplemental essays.

South: colleges without supplemental essays

Still wondering what colleges don’t have supplemental essays? Take a look at some of these good colleges without supplemental essays located in the south. 

Deciding on your list of colleges

As you assemble your college list, you’ll likely want to research the differences between colleges and universities . You’ll also want to consider questions such as: Do you prefer urban or rural settings? Smaller or larger classes? etc. During your initial college research, you might also want to consider some of the ​​ top public universities in the West , as well as liberal arts colleges in the East . 

Ultimately, you’ll come up with a list of preferences, as well as other criteria, that will help you decide which colleges you want to apply to. It’s important to use these same standards when deciding which colleges without supplements you should add to your college list. In other words, although it may be easier to apply to schools that don’t require supplemental essays, you should always research each college thoroughly before choosing to apply. 

Key takeaways and moving forward

Colleges without supplemental requirements can make excellent additions to your college list. In fact, purposefully selecting several colleges without supplemental essays can help you save time and stay organized during the college application process . After all, it takes a lot of work to put together a strong college application. Writing your personal statement, asking for letters of recommendation , preparing scholarship essays , and continuing to engage in your extracurricular activities are all incredibly time-consuming. That said, if you feel like you could benefit from professional guidance while you work on your college applications, reach out to learn more about our services .

• January 13, 2023

40+ Colleges That Don’t Require Supplemental Essays

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Colleges Without Supplemental Essays 2021-2022

We recommend that most students apply to 8-12 colleges —typically at least two safeties, four targets, and two reaches. This strategy boosts a student’s odds of getting into multiple schools, increases their options, and even offers leverage to negotiate for more financial aid. 

Unfortunately, applying to this many schools is time-intensive, especially considering that many schools require supplemental essays as part of their application. Applying to 10 colleges could mean that you need to write 10-20 extra essays! Luckily, there are many schools that don’t have any extra essays beyond the Common App essay or personal statement, if you’re looking for schools to balance out your list without the additional writing.

Below is a list of 45 liberal arts colleges and universities without essay supplements. The list isn’t comprehensive, but it covers a spectrum of schools of varied selectivity. The list does not include any schools with optional essays, which are something we always encourage applicants to complete. 

Top Liberal Arts Colleges Without a Supplemental Essay Requirement

Update: We removed Grinnell College and Colgate University from this list because they’ve historically sent optional supplements to students after they applied.

Top Research Universities Without a Supplemental Essay Requirement

Should you only apply to schools with no supplement.

Applying only to schools with no supplement would limit your options severely, so we don’t recommend it. That said, supplements can serve as a litmus test for how much you care about a particular college. If you’re really excited to attend a particular college, you’re more likely not to mind extra application work (after all, it’s a chance to show a college why they should accept you). Conversely, if you’re turned off by writing a supplemental essay, it could indicate that you’re not as excited about a school as you thought you were.

Some essay prompts also give you insight into the personality of a college. For example, the University of Chicago is known for its quirky essay prompts—the 2021-2022 supplement has applicants explore ideas like What if the moon were made of cheese? and What’s so easy about pie? If UChicago’s unorthodox essay prompts make you cringe, it’s a possible sign that the school’s culture isn’t right for you. If they excite and inspire you, you could be a perfect fit.

Overall, a college’s essay requirements should not be a major deciding factor as to whether or not you apply to a school (unless you’re truly short on time). What’s most important is whether or not you will fit with the school academically and socially . Consider things like:

• Do you match the stats for admitted students? 
• Does the school offer strong programs in your areas of interest? 
• Are there resources to support your unique values and pursuits outside of the classroom? 
• Is the school located somewhere desirable for you? 

What Are Your Chances of Acceptance at these Schools?

If you’re trying to round out your school list, it’s important to know whether a particular school is a reach, target, or safety. CollegeVine can help! Our free chancing engine considers factors such as your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities to estimate your odds at hundreds of colleges across the country, along with providing tips to strengthen your profile.

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40 Colleges Without Supplemental Essays 2022-23

By Brandie Erickson • October 10, 2022 • College Application College Search

As high school seniors begin the college application process, they quickly realize that applying to colleges can take a lot of work! Putting together the personal statement—a 650-word essay that helps demonstrate to colleges what type of person you are—activity list and supplemental essays are a time-consuming process that many students spend months preparing. 

On average, the number of applications submitted to Common App, one of the biggest college application platforms, has increased yearly, with 14.4% more applications submitted in 2020- 21 than in 2019-20. As students apply to more schools, some of the top universities have gotten even more competitive, with Columbia University and Harvard University accepting less than 4% of their applicants for the class of 2026. 

Because of the increased competition, many students are trying to beat the odds and will apply to ten or more universities. It’s not uncommon for some students to apply to more programs, especially if they are applying to highly selective schools or programs like direct medical programs. According to Nicole Gress , a counselor at Moon Prep, her direct medical students will typically apply to a mixture of BS/MD, Ivy League, and other traditional colleges for a total of 25-30 schools. 

However, it is essential first to build a balanced college list rather than applying to only the most competitive schools. Having a list with colleges categorized as safeties, matches, and targets ensures that students will get into a number of schools, giving them options on May 1 when making their college decision. 

Applying To Schools With No Supplemental Essays

Here is a list of schools that don’t require supplemental essays to apply to their undergraduate program. Check the school website to make sure the information is accurate. Also, note that you might have to write essays for these schools if you are interested in their honors programs, scholarships, or a specific program within the school. By adding some schools that don’t require a supplemental essay to your college list, students can pad their numbers, apply to more schools, and have more options.

• Albion College
• Case Western University
• Clemson University
• Colby College
• Connecticut College
• Dillard University
• DePaul University
• DePauw University
• Drexel University
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Fordham University
• Grinnell College
• Kenyon College
• Middlebury College
• Muhlenberg College
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Northeastern University
• Ohio State University
• Seton Hall University
• Siena College
• Skidmore College
• Spelman College
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Stony Brook University
• SUNY Binghamton University
• SUNY Buffalo
• University of Alabama
• University of Arkansas
• University of Colorado-Denver
• University of Connecticut
• University of Dayton
• University of Delaware
• University of Denver
• University of Iowa
• University of Minnesota
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• University of New Hampshire
• University of the Pacific
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of St. Thomas
• University of Vermont
• Wesleyan University

To learn more about how you can build a balanced college list, including what you should consider like career/major goals, financial aid needs, school size, location, Check out our most recent article on Forbes . 

Previous Post

Colleges That Don’t Require Any Supplemental Essays

• Adelphi University
• Alaska Pacific University
• Albion College
• Alma College
• Baldwin Wallace University
• Barry University
• Bates College
• Bay Path University
• Beloit College
• Bryant University
• Butler University
• Caldwell University
• Capital University
• Centenary College of Louisiana
• Christopher Newport University
• Clarkson University
• Colby College
• College of Saint Benedict
• Concordia University Wisconsin
• Cornell College
• Cottey College
• DePaul University
• Elmira College
• Gettysburg College
• Grinnell College
• Hanover College
• Hellenic College
• Hollins University
• Hope College
• Iona University
• Juniata College
• Kenyon College
• Lyon College
• McKendree University
• Menlo College
• Middlebury College
• Northeastern University
• Northern Vermont University Johnson
• Northern Vermont University Lyndon
• Ohio State University
• Ripon College
• Pace University
• Pacific Lutheran University
• Sacred Heart University
• Salisbury University
• Seton Hall University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• SUNY Binghamton University
• Susquehanna University
• Temple University
• Trinity University
• Union College
• University of Alabama at Birmingham
• University of Colorado Denver
• University of Connecticut
• University of Idaho
• University of Missouri – St. Louis
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• University of New Hampshire
• University of Rhode Island
• Wesleyan University
• Whitman College
• Wilkes University
• Woodbury University

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Category: Admissions , College Admissions , Uncategorized

Tags: Admissions , admissions help , advice , application , applying to college , college application , college applications , college essay advisors , college list , colleges , list

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Colleges that Don't Require Supplemental Essays

Padya Paramita

May 9, 2022

As you prepare for the college admissions cycle, you might be tempted to add schools to your list that require less work than others. While some schools like Yale have over five supplemental essays, there are colleges that have none! So, we offer you a list of colleges that don’t require supplemental essays . Although most colleges definitely want to see students answer school-specific prompts to determine fit, there are several top colleges that don’t require supplemental essays , including Williams, Middlebury, and Northeastern. Take a look at the full list below.

Liberal Arts Colleges that Don’t Require Supplemental Essays

• Albion College
• Allegheny College
• Bates College
• Beloit College
• Coe College
• Colby College
• Colgate University
• College of the Holy Cross
• Connecticut College 
• Denison University
• DePauw University 
• Dickinson University
• Drew University
• Franklin and Marshall College
• Furman University
• Gettysburg College 
• Goucher College
• Grinnell College
• Hamilton College
• Hanover College
• Hollins University
• Hope College
• Illinois Wesleyan University
• Juniata College
• Kenyon College
• Middlebury College
• Muhlenberg College
• New College of Florida 
• Oberlin College
• Rhodes College
• Ripon College
• Sewanee—University of the South
• Siena College 
• Skidmore College
• Spelman College
• St. John’s College (essay optional except for Pharmacy program)
• St. Lawrence University
• Susquehanna University 
• Thomas Aquinas College
• Union College
• Ursinus College
• Wesleyan University (there are essays only for international students)
• Whitman College
• Willamette University
• Williams College

National Universities That Don’t Require Supplemental Essays

• Binghamton University
• Case Western Reserve University
• Clark University
• Clemson University
• DePaul University
• Drexel University
• Florida State University 
• Gonzaga University
• Miami University—Oxford
• Michigan State University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Northeastern University
• Ohio State University
• Purdue University
• Seton Hall University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Stony Brook University  (Honors College has essay requirement)
• SUNY Buffalo
• Temple University
• Tulane University
• University of Alabama
• University of Arkansas
• University of Colorado -Denver
• University of Connecticut
• University of Dayton 
• University of Delaware
• University of Denver
• University of Iowa
• University of Minnesota
• University of Nebraska—Lincoln
• University of New Hampshire 
• University of the Pacific
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of St. Thomas

How to Successfully Apply to Colleges That Don’t Require Supplemental Essays

So, since you don’t have to write essays, how exactly do you convince admissions officers that you’re a strong applicant? You must take advantage of the following components:

• Personal Statement - The personal statement is a common essay that goes to all of the colleges you apply to within one application system—and colleges that don’t require supplemental essays are no exception to this rule. The most common of these are the Common App personal statement prompts. You only have to write about one of the prompts provided by the Common App. The word limit is 650 words, which is a scant number to narrate a powerful story without leaving out too many important details. At the end of the day, you can write about anything, as long as it tells a story unique to you.
• Activities List - When it comes to building a strong extracurricular activities list, it’s important to prioritize your passions, career interests, and ways to establish yourself as a leader. Prestigious colleges want to see tangible achievements and commitment towards activities you enjoy. And if you see a gap in the activities at your school, or find an opportunity to involve a greater community, don’t be afraid to start your own initiative! Once you’ve built your extracurricular profile, make sure you take advantage of the Common App activities list and describe what you did in order of impressiveness.
• Letters of Recommendation - A college recommendation letter is a note from someone who knows you well in an academic or professional setting, highlighting your best qualities and why they recommend you for a position or institution you’re applying for. For most cases, colleges require letters of recommendation from two teachers, one from your guidance counselor, and provide the option of one additional recommendation that could come from a coach or club advisor. They should be written by teachers who know you the best. 

Now that you have an idea of which fall among colleges that don’t require supplemental essays , you can carefully conduct research to make sure you want to apply—and would genuinely be happy there. Don’t just blindly apply to schools just because there are fewer essay requirements. But, these should save you some time in terms of the essay load so take advantage of these if you want to add some targets or safeties as well. Happy searching!

Tags : applying to college , supplemental essays , college essays , Colleges that Don't Require Supplemental Essays , no supplemental essays , colleges with no essays

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Lists & Rankings > College Admission > Colleges For B Students, Late Bloomers, And Underachievers

Colleges and Universities That Don't Require Supplemental Essays

List produced by the facts.

* Green "Yes, connect me!" buttons indicate a featured school

• Albion College (Albion, MI): An application essay is recommended but not required.
• Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY): No additional essays are required, but students may submit special talent supplements. Yes, connect me!
• Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH): Additional materials are an optional way to enhance your application. Yes, connect me!
• Clemson University (Clemson, SC): No personal essay is required with the Common or Coalition Application.
• Colby College (Waterville, ME): Supplemental essays aren't required, but students may opt to submit a video through InitialView Elevator Pitch.
• Connecticut College (New London, CT): No supplemental essays are requested beyond the Common Application personal statement requirement.
• DePaul University (Chicago, IL): Personal essays are optional and not required for first-year student applicants; however, test-optional applicants are encouraged to submit the essay through the Common App.
• DePauw University (Greencastle, IN): An additional essay beyond the personal statement is required to be considered for the Honor Scholar Program.
• Dillard University (New Orleans, LA): If a first-year applicant doesn't meet certain requirements, they must submit two letters of recommendation and a personal statement (a three-to-five-paragraph essay outlining your future aspirations) for further consideration.
• Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA): A 250–650-word essay via the Common or Coalition Application is the only writing requirement for most applicants, while certain programs in the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design require an additional writing supplement. Essays submitted on paper or emailed directly to the University are not accepted.
• Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck, NJ): Essays, résumés, and recommendation letters are optional but welcome.
• Fordham University (Bronx, NY): An essay as part of the Common Application is required, but other writing opportunities are optional; applicants will not be penalized if they choose to skip these sections. Yes, connect me!
• Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA): No fee to apply and no required supplement.
• Kent State University (Kent, OH): Personal essays aren't required for first-year applicants.
• Kenyon College (Gambier, OH): Prospective students who have an interest or talent they would like to share may submit an optional portfolio.
• Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT): A supplemental essay is not required; any additional materials submitted beyond what are required are not guaranteed to be reviewed by admissions readers.
• Muhlenberg College (Allentown, PA): Only a personal essay is required of applicants.
• New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, NJ): An additional essay on a specific topic is required to apply to the Honors College.
• Northeastern University (Boston, MA): Additional essays are not required beyond the personal statement through the Common or Coalition Application.
• Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ): An essay through the Common Application is the only writing requirement. Yes, connect me!
• Siena College (Loudonville, NY): The essay is optional for the majority of applicants, though many students still choose to submit one to help the admissions team learn more about them. Applicants also have the option to submit a graded English or history paper from junior or senior year to show off their best work. Yes, connect me!
• Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY): Supplemental materials will be reviewed but aren't required; however, an additional essay is required in order to apply for the College's Porter-Wachenheim Presidential Scholarships in Science and Mathematics.
• Spelman College (Atlanta, GA): Students who are invited to the honors program will be required to submit an additional essay.
• Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ): Just one personal statement is required of applicants.
• Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY): Additional essays are required for Honors, WISE, University Scholars, Scholars for Medicine, and Scholars for Dental Medicine applicants.
• The Ohio State University—Columbus (Columbus, OH): Freshman applicants to the Columbus campus are only required to write a Common Application essay, while no essay is required for admission to OHIO's regional campuses. Yes, connect me!
• The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL): No personal essay is required for first-year student applicants.
• University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY): The University may ask applicants to submit a personal statement and/or mid-year grades if they apply without test scores.
• University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR): A personal essay isn't required through the Common App, but supplemental essay prompts are available for students who would like to apply for scholarships.
• University of Colorado, Denver (Denver, CO): The personal statement is the only writing sample submitted during the application process. Yes, connect me!
• University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT): A personal essay through the Common Application is the only writing requirement for prospective students. Yes, connect me!
• University of Dayton (Dayton, OH): Just one essay is required of applicants.
• University of Denver (Denver, CO): No essays are required beyond the Common App personal statement. Yes, connect me!
• University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA): If a student doesn't provide ACT or SAT scores at the time of application, they may be required to submit additional academic documents or a personal statement to receive an admission decision. Yes, connect me!
• University of Minnesota—Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN): No essays are required, but applicants have the option to submit short answers to supplemental questions.
• University of Nebraska—Lincoln (Lincoln, NE): A personal essay isn't required for admission, but applicants must write a 500-word essay about themselves with a focus on leadership, career goals, and community service to be considered for the University's Leadership, Service & Diversity Enhancement Scholarships.
• University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH): No supplemental essays or writing prompts are required other than the essay required as part of the Common Application.
• University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA): A personal statement or the Common Application essay is required for scholarship consideration as well as for students applying test-optional. It could also increase your chances with guaranteed admission programs or help explain extenuating circumstances. Yes, connect me!
• University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN): Applicants aren't required to answer the University's essay questions, but it's "highly recommend" to do so, especially if you apply without test scores.
• University of Vermont (Burlington, VT): An optional essay is available as a chance for the University to get to know you better. Yes, connect me!
• University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA): A personal statement is the only writing requirement for prospective students.
• Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT): The submission of supplemental materials is optional.

Source: Moon Prep

Want more information on how this list was compiled? Find out more about  where our Lists & Rankings come from .

About This List

Having schools on your list that don’t require supplemental essays gives you more time and energy to apply to more colleges and programs. The following schools do not require supplemental essays as of the 2022–2023 application season. Please keep in mind that if you're interested in special programs such as honors, Nursing, or scholarship opportunities, you may still be required or encouraged to write essays—especially if you don't submit standardized test scores. (This list was compiled by our friends at Moon Prep , with additional research by CollegeXpress.)

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Colleges That Don't Require Supplemental Essays

In This article we provide you a list of colleges that don't require supplemental essays during admissions. We also discuss why most colleges require supplemental essays

Updated by TCM Staff on 16th April 2020

Colleges That Don't Require Supplemental Essays

In this article we provide you a list of colleges that don't require supplemental essays during admissions. we also discuss why most colleges require supplemental essays.

16th April 2020

First of all, we need to understand why colleges require supplemental essays before we get into which colleges don’t require it. According to a report published by the national association for college admissions counseling in 2019, the percentage of first-time applicants applying to seven or more schools in 2017 reached 36%, up from just 9% in 1990 and 17% in 2005.  This would imply that the number of applicants is steadily increasing and as a result, a college must have more stringent application screening barriers. Since the application rates have infinitely increased the acceptance rates have steadily declined. Now students or potential candidates must not only submit a common application but also a supplemental essay as part of the admissions process. The overall admissions process is composed of a variety of steps. The first is submitting a common application followed by the submission of an essay entailing your interests and characteristics. Lastly, an interview will take place in order to reaffirm your place in the university of your choosing. 

Most colleges buy into the universal appeal of a supplemental essay as it tests a candidate’s ability to draft and think on the spot. It also gives the admissions board an insight into the person they are potentially considering for admissions into their university. Most supplemental essays are based off a prompt. These prompts could vary in terms of dexterity and complexity. For instance, the prompts in Dartmouth university are rather eccentric like the importance and meaning of the unlimited breadsticks in the olive garden. A supplemental essay also has the ability to turn a candidate from a mere statistic to a real eligible contestant. 

On the other hand, when you are picking a college you should not base your choice on the fact that they require a supplemental essay. According to recent polls, the main reason people are apprehensive of essays is because of the amount of time it takes to draft as well as the level of personal information and details it requires. But these details are trivial compared to the opportunities you will be exposed to once your admissions have been confirmed. If you seem to be hesitating on a certain college due to their requirement of a supplemental essay we request you to apply more effective criteria for selection. These criteria include location, financial requirements, course material, and load as well as the overall demographic of the college. Once you have researched all of these things then you can take into consideration the requirement of a supplemental essay.

Colleges that do not require supplemental essays

Given below are a number of colleges that do not necessarily require a supplemental essay as a part of their admissions process:

Clark University

Clemson University

DePaul University

Drexel University

Miami University

Northeastern University

Seton Hall University

Stevens Institute of Technology

Stony Brook University

University of Arkansas

University of Colorado–Denver

University of Iowa

Franklin & Marshall College

Grinnell College

Middlebury College

Providence College

Sarah Lawrence College

Connecticut College

Adelphi University

Alaska Pacific University

Albion College

Alma College

Baldwin Wallace University

Barry University

Bates College

Bay Path University

Beloit College

Bryant University

Butler University

Caldwell University

Capital University

Centenary College of Louisiana

Christopher Newport University

Clarkson University

Colby College

College of Saint Benedict

Concordia University Wisconsin

Cornell College

Cottey College

Elmira College

Fordham University

Gettysburg College

University of Connecticut

University of Idaho

University of Missouri – St. Louis

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

University of Miami

University of New Hampshire

University of Rhode Island

University of Vermont

Wesleyan University

Whitman College

Wilkes University

Woodbury University

In conclusion, most colleges require a supplemental essay in order to discern what kind of person they are admitting into their university or college but in the spirit of lending a helping hand, The College Monk has provided an extensive list of colleges that don’t require a supplemental essay. 

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Top Colleges without Supplemental Essays 2023

• November 4, 2022
• Parents Must Read , Student Admission , Study Abroad , Under Graduate

Supplemental essays are additional pieces of writing required by many highly-selective universities, and they can be just as revealing and important as your personal statement. However, while applying to multiple colleges, writing these supplemental essays take a lot of time and effort as well. In this article, we will go through the top colleges without supplemental essays. Additionally, we will also go through the advantage & disadvantages, and application tips.

Supplemental College Essays

A supplemental essay gives you an opportunity to tell the admissions committee about something you weren’t able to cover in your main essay. These supplemental essays are usually shorter than the main college essay, but they are equally important. Some colleges ask for just one supplemental essay while others may require several.

Supplemental essay prompts come in all shapes and sizes. In some cases, schools let applicants choose from several options. In addition to the Personal Statement, many colleges require applicants to submit supplemental essays. Students need to respond to a wide variety of topics like their most meaningful activity, their interest in a particular college or major, or an important community they belong to.

Supplemental essays give the opportunity to applicants to give more information to an admissions committee to further show why they are a good fit for a school. Prospective students should keep in mind not to repeat something that has already been covered in their main essay.

Pros and Cons of applying to colleges without supplemental essays:

Colleges do care about supplemental essays as your writing gives colleges extra insight into who you are as a person beyond your grades.

Strong supplemental essays give you an advantage in your application to many different schools is your chance to prove that you know what makes the school special and that you are excited to attend that particular institution.

Good supplementary essays highlight two points, that you are a good fit for a college and simultaneously complement the college by discussing its unique strengths.

Colleges that do not require a supplemental essay help students pad their numbers, apply to more schools, and have more options. It is recommended that most students apply to 8-12 colleges—that is two safeties, four targets, and two reaches. This strategy boosts you from getting into multiple schools, increases your options, and supports negotiating for more financial aid. 

Key Advantage of Applying to Colleges without Supplemental Essays

Applying to many schools is time taking, especially considering that many schools require supplemental essays as part of their application. Applying to 10 colleges could mean that you need to write 10-20 extra essays. But there are many schools that do not have any extra essays beyond the Common App essay or personal statement; you can balance out your list without the additional writing.

Disadvantages of Applying to Colleges without Supplemental Colleges

Applying only to schools with no supplement would limit your options severely, and is not recommended. Supplement essays are proof of how much you care about a particular college and if you are really excited to attend a particular college, you will not mind extra application work; after all, it gives you a chance to show a college why they should accept you.

On the other hand, if you are turned off by writing a supplemental essay, it could indicate that you are not as excited about a school as you thought you were.

So, what should you do?

To conclude, supplemental essay requirements should not be your major deciding factor as to whether or not you apply to a school unless you are truly short on time. What is most important is whether or not you will fit in with the school academically and socially.

How to improve admission chances if no Supplemental Essays are required:

As you begin the college application process, you realize that applying to colleges can take a lot of work. Putting together a personal statement that helps demonstrate to colleges what type of person you are, an activity list, and supplemental essays are time-consuming and you spend months preparing it.

Over the years, the number of applications submitted to Common App, one of the biggest college application platforms, has increased.  First of all, it is important to build a balanced college list rather than applying to only the most competitive schools keeping safety, matches, targets, career, major goals, financial aid, school size, location, and more.

Once this information has been gathered, students can start categorizing their school list into safety schools, match schools and reach schools. A mixture of these three types of schools can help you create a balanced college list- Safety schools.  Match schools.  Reach schools. 

Key Components to Focus on while Applying to Colleges without Supplemental Essays

As you do not have to write essays, the only way you can convince admissions officers that you are a strong applicant is by taking advantage of the following components –

Personal Statement

The personal statement is a common essay that is submitted to all the colleges you apply and  colleges that don’t require supplemental essays  are no exception to this rule.

The most common of these are the Common App essay prompts . You only have to write about one of the prompts provided by the Common App. The word limit is 650 words, which is a very small number to narrate a powerful story without leaving out too many important details. At the end of the day, you can write about anything, as long as it tells a story unique to you.

Activities List

When it comes to building a strong extracurricular activities list, it’s important to prioritize your passions, career interests, and ways to establish yourself as a leader. Prestigious colleges want to see tangible achievements and commitment toward activities you enjoy.

If you see a gap in the activities at your school or find an opportunity to involve a greater community, go ahead and take initiative. Once you have built your extracurricular profile, make a list of your activities and describe what you did in order of impressiveness.

Letters of Recommendation

A college recommendation letter is a note from someone who knows you well academic or professional setting. Your teacher or counselor can do justice to this role, highlighting your best qualities and why they recommend you for a position or institution you’re applying for. In most cases, colleges require letters of recommendation from two persons; a teacher or a counselor who knows you the best. 

List of Top Colleges without Supplemental Essays:

Liberal arts colleges that do not require supplemental essays.

• Albion College
• Allegheny College
• Bates College
• Beloit College
• Coe College
• Colby College
• Colgate University (optional)
• College of the Holy Cross
• Connecticut College 
• Denison University
• DePauw University 
• Dickinson University
• Drew University
• Franklin and Marshall College
• Furman University
• Gettysburg College 
• Goucher College
• Grinnell College
• Hamilton College
• Hanover College
• Hollins University
• Hope College
• Illinois Wesleyan University
• Juniata College
• Kenyon College
• Middlebury College
• Muhlenberg College
• New College of Florida 
• Oberlin College
• Rhodes College
• Ripon College
• Sewanee—University of the South
• Siena College 
• Skidmore College
• Spelman College
• St. John’s College (essay optional except for Pharmacy program)
• St. Lawrence University
• Susquehanna University 
• Thomas Aquinas College
• Union College
• Ursinus College
• Wesleyan University (there are essays only for international students)
• Whitman College
• Willamette University
• Williams College

National Universities that do not require Supplemental Essays

• Binghamton University
• Case Western Reserve University
• Clark University
• Clemson University
• DePaul University
• Drexel University
• Florida State University 
• Gonzaga University
• Miami University
• Michigan State University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Northeastern University
• Ohio State University
• Purdue University
• Seton Hall University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Stony Brook University  (Honors College has an essay requirement)
• SUNY Buffalo
• Temple University
• Tulane University
• University of Alabama
• University of Arkansas
• University of Colorado -Denver
• University of Connecticut
• University of Dayton 
• University of Delaware
• University of Denver
• University of Iowa
• University of Minnesota
• University of Nebraska—Lincoln
• University of New Hampshire 
• University of the Pacific
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of St. Thomas

Sources: 1 , 2 , 3 .

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• International Student
• Essay Writing Center
• Admission Essays

Colleges and Universities that Don't Require an Admission Essay to Apply

Writing and submitting an admission essay is possibly the most notorious step of the college application process. Students applying to schools spend months deciding what to write about, drafting, proofreading, and editing their admission essays. For international students, particularly those who speak English as a second language, writing an admission essay can be particularly daunting. Thankfully, there are a number of colleges and universities that don’t require an admission essay!

What is an Admission Essay?

Most US colleges and universities require applicants to write a short essay about themselves or a specific topic as part of the application process. These essays might be in response to a specific prompt, such as: “Who has been the most influential person in your life?” or “What event has most shaped the person you are today?” but most applications offer open-ended prompts that allow applicants to choose the topic they would like to write about.

Admission essays provide insight into your writing skills, but they also help admission boards get a sense of who you are as a person- something that test scores and GPA scores don’t allow. The essay gives you an opportunity to talk clearly about your goals, and can give admissions officers a better idea of how well you might fit in with the school.

However, these essays can be particularly difficult and stressful for international students, particularly students who speak English as a second language. The ability to write clearly and concisely about yourself in a foreign language is not an easy skill to achieve, and some international students may prefer to avoid the admission essay altogether. Luckily, there are a number of colleges and universities that don’t require an admission essay. This could be for a variety of reasons:

Why do some colleges not require an admission essay?

It takes an admissions officer a lot of time to read and evaluate college application essays. For small schools with less resources and large schools that receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications, the resources required to read every essay from every applicant may outweigh the benefits of the extra information gained from the admission essay.

Many colleges choose to only require essays for the most competitive programs, such as honors programs, engineering, and nursing, or for scholarships, where additional information may be more instrumental in making decisions.

Some schools, particularly public schools, admit students based on a specific selection index, which is based on a combination of GPA, test scores, and/or class rank. If applicants meet the minimum index score cutoff, they are automatically admitted.

However, if you are a “borderline” candidate, meaning you don’t quite meet the minimum criteria, these schools often require or recommend that you write an admission essay. This will allow you the opportunity to provide additional information on why you feel you would be a good fit for the school in spite of not quite meeting the academic criteria.

Some schools hope that by eliminating the application essay they can make the application process easier and attract a wider variety of applicants. They hope that by presenting their application process as an easier alternative to more intensive applications, more students will apply to their institution.

How to Make Your Application Stand Out Without an Essay

Because so much of your interests and personality come through in your essay, if you’re not submitting an essay you need to make sure the rest of your application really pops. There are a few different ways that you can do that:

Obviously, you want to do well in all of your classes, but literature courses in particular will be seen as placeholders for your essay-writing skills. When schools don’t require an application essay, they will likely look more closely at your grades in classes that are more writing-intensive, to make sure that your writing skills are up to par.

Make sure that your recommendations are coming from the best possible people for you. You’ll want to ask people who know you well and can speak about who you really are, as well as your accomplishments. Without an application essay, you may not have the space in your application to talk about your extracurricular activities, so you’ll want to find references who can discuss this aspect of your life.

Many schools offer the option for students to submit a resume along with their applications. This is another chance for you to promote your extracurricular activities. Before you put together your resume, do some research and find a solid template. Make sure your resume is well balanced with academic and extracurricular accomplishments, is not longer than one page, and is free of typos and spelling errors

Colleges and Universities in the United States that Don’t Require an Admission Essay

If you want to know if a particular school requires an essay to apply, search “[name of school] international student admissions requirements” on Google. This should result in a list of guidelines for applying to that school. If you’re looking more generally for schools that don’t require essays, below is a list of a few US colleges and universities that don’t require an admission essay to apply:

• University of Alabama
• Alabama State University
• University of Alaska
• Arizona State
• Arkansas State University
• California State University
• University of Colorado - Denver
• University of South Florida
• Full Sail University
• University of Hawaii - Manoa
• University of Idaho
• Indiana Wesleyan University
• University of Southern Indiana
• Iowa State University
• University of Iowa
• Kansas State
• University of Kansas
• Kentucky State University
• Louisiana State University -Baton Rouge
• University of Louisiana - Lafayette
• Eastern Michigan University
• Western Michigan University
• University of Minnesota
• University of Mississippi
• Mississippi State University
• University of Southern Mississippi
• University of Missouri
• University of Montana
• University of Nevada - Reno
• Daniel Webster College
• University of New Mexico
• University of South Dakota
• Tennessee State University
• Utah State University
• West Virginia University
• University of Wyoming

If you’re interested in applying to colleges or universities that do require admission essays, check out our Essay Writing Center for tips and advice you can use to improve your essay writing skills.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, do any colleges not require essays for admission.

Hi everyone! I'm a junior starting my college search, and I'm curious if there are any colleges out there that don't require essays for admission. It'd be nice to have a few less essays to write! Thanks in advance.

Yes, there are colleges that don't require essays for admission! These schools often have a more streamlined application process and look at other factors, such as GPA, class rank, and standardized test scores (if applicable), when evaluating prospective students.

Many state schools, such as all California State Universities (those in the Cal State system), do not require essays as part of their application process. Additionally, some smaller schools and community colleges also don't require essays for admission.

That being said, you'll still find that most colleges do require essays. So, don't rule out a school automatically just because it requires essays - rather, be thoughtful about not overextending yourself in terms of the number of essays you're committing to writing, and make sure that the ones you do write are as strong as possible. Admissions essays help colleges understand who you are as an individual beyond your academic profile, and thus can make a significant difference in the decision process, if the school requires them.

Finally, even if a particular school doesn't require any school-specific supplemental essays, there's a decent chance it will still require a main personal statement, which you can submit to all of your schools through a platform like the Common App. Since you may well end up needing to write this essay, even if none of your schools have any supplements, you may find CollegeVine's guidance on how to tackle it useful: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-common-application-essays/.

Overall, while there are certainly schools out there that don't require essays, odds are at least some of your schools will, and it's important to craft high-quality responses for these institutions. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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The Case for Marrying an Older Man

A woman’s life is all work and little rest. an age gap relationship can help..

In the summer, in the south of France, my husband and I like to play, rather badly, the lottery. We take long, scorching walks to the village — gratuitous beauty, gratuitous heat — kicking up dust and languid debates over how we’d spend such an influx. I purchase scratch-offs, jackpot tickets, scraping the former with euro coins in restaurants too fine for that. I never cash them in, nor do I check the winning numbers. For I already won something like the lotto, with its gifts and its curses, when he married me.

He is ten years older than I am. I chose him on purpose, not by chance. As far as life decisions go, on balance, I recommend it.

When I was 20 and a junior at Harvard College, a series of great ironies began to mock me. I could study all I wanted, prove myself as exceptional as I liked, and still my fiercest advantage remained so universal it deflated my other plans. My youth. The newness of my face and body. Compellingly effortless; cruelly fleeting. I shared it with the average, idle young woman shrugging down the street. The thought, when it descended on me, jolted my perspective, the way a falling leaf can make you look up: I could diligently craft an ideal existence, over years and years of sleepless nights and industry. Or I could just marry it early.

So naturally I began to lug a heavy suitcase of books each Saturday to the Harvard Business School to work on my Nabokov paper. In one cavernous, well-appointed room sat approximately 50 of the planet’s most suitable bachelors. I had high breasts, most of my eggs, plausible deniability when it came to purity, a flush ponytail, a pep in my step that had yet to run out. Apologies to Progress, but older men still desired those things.

I could not understand why my female classmates did not join me, given their intelligence. Each time I reconsidered the project, it struck me as more reasonable. Why ignore our youth when it amounted to a superpower? Why assume the burdens of womanhood, its too-quick-to-vanish upper hand, but not its brief benefits at least? Perhaps it came easier to avoid the topic wholesale than to accept that women really do have a tragically short window of power, and reason enough to take advantage of that fact while they can. As for me, I liked history, Victorian novels, knew of imminent female pitfalls from all the books I’d read: vampiric boyfriends; labor, at the office and in the hospital, expected simultaneously; a decline in status as we aged, like a looming eclipse. I’d have disliked being called calculating, but I had, like all women, a calculator in my head. I thought it silly to ignore its answers when they pointed to an unfairness for which we really ought to have been preparing.

I was competitive by nature, an English-literature student with all the corresponding major ambitions and minor prospects (Great American novel; email job). A little Bovarist , frantic for new places and ideas; to travel here, to travel there, to be in the room where things happened. I resented the callow boys in my class, who lusted after a particular, socially sanctioned type on campus: thin and sexless, emotionally detached and socially connected, the opposite of me. Restless one Saturday night, I slipped on a red dress and snuck into a graduate-school event, coiling an HDMI cord around my wrist as proof of some technical duty. I danced. I drank for free, until one of the organizers asked me to leave. I called and climbed into an Uber. Then I promptly climbed out of it. For there he was, emerging from the revolving doors. Brown eyes, curved lips, immaculate jacket. I went to him, asked him for a cigarette. A date, days later. A second one, where I discovered he was a person, potentially my favorite kind: funny, clear-eyed, brilliant, on intimate terms with the universe.

I used to love men like men love women — that is, not very well, and with a hunger driven only by my own inadequacies. Not him. In those early days, I spoke fondly of my family, stocked the fridge with his favorite pasta, folded his clothes more neatly than I ever have since. I wrote his mother a thank-you note for hosting me in his native France, something befitting a daughter-in-law. It worked; I meant it. After graduation and my fellowship at Oxford, I stayed in Europe for his career and married him at 23.

Of course I just fell in love. Romances have a setting; I had only intervened to place myself well. Mainly, I spotted the precise trouble of being a woman ahead of time, tried to surf it instead of letting it drown me on principle. I had grown bored of discussions of fair and unfair, equal or unequal , and preferred instead to consider a thing called ease.

The reception of a particular age-gap relationship depends on its obviousness. The greater and more visible the difference in years and status between a man and a woman, the more it strikes others as transactional. Transactional thinking in relationships is both as American as it gets and the least kosher subject in the American romantic lexicon. When a 50-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman walk down the street, the questions form themselves inside of you; they make you feel cynical and obscene: How good of a deal is that? Which party is getting the better one? Would I take it? He is older. Income rises with age, so we assume he has money, at least relative to her; at minimum, more connections and experience. She has supple skin. Energy. Sex. Maybe she gets a Birkin. Maybe he gets a baby long after his prime. The sight of their entwined hands throws a lucid light on the calculations each of us makes, in love, to varying degrees of denial. You could get married in the most romantic place in the world, like I did, and you would still have to sign a contract.

Twenty and 30 is not like 30 and 40; some freshness to my features back then, some clumsiness in my bearing, warped our decade, in the eyes of others, to an uncrossable gulf. Perhaps this explains the anger we felt directed at us at the start of our relationship. People seemed to take us very, very personally. I recall a hellish car ride with a friend of his who began to castigate me in the backseat, in tones so low that only I could hear him. He told me, You wanted a rich boyfriend. You chased and snuck into parties . He spared me the insult of gold digger, but he drew, with other words, the outline for it. Most offended were the single older women, my husband’s classmates. They discussed me in the bathroom at parties when I was in the stall. What does he see in her? What do they talk about? They were concerned about me. They wielded their concern like a bludgeon. They paraphrased without meaning to my favorite line from Nabokov’s Lolita : “You took advantage of my disadvantage,” suspecting me of some weakness he in turn mined. It did not disturb them, so much, to consider that all relationships were trades. The trouble was the trade I’d made struck them as a bad one.

The truth is you can fall in love with someone for all sorts of reasons, tiny transactions, pluses and minuses, whose sum is your affection for each other, your loyalty, your commitment. The way someone picks up your favorite croissant. Their habit of listening hard. What they do for you on your anniversary and your reciprocal gesture, wrapped thoughtfully. The serenity they inspire; your happiness, enlivening it. When someone says they feel unappreciated, what they really mean is you’re in debt to them.

When I think of same-age, same-stage relationships, what I tend to picture is a woman who is doing too much for too little.

I’m 27 now, and most women my age have “partners.” These days, girls become partners quite young. A partner is supposed to be a modern answer to the oppression of marriage, the terrible feeling of someone looming over you, head of a household to which you can only ever be the neck. Necks are vulnerable. The problem with a partner, however, is if you’re equal in all things, you compromise in all things. And men are too skilled at taking .

There is a boy out there who knows how to floss because my friend taught him. Now he kisses college girls with fresh breath. A boy married to my friend who doesn’t know how to pack his own suitcase. She “likes to do it for him.” A million boys who know how to touch a woman, who go to therapy because they were pushed, who learned fidelity, boundaries, decency, manners, to use a top sheet and act humanely beneath it, to call their mothers, match colors, bring flowers to a funeral and inhale, exhale in the face of rage, because some girl, some girl we know, some girl they probably don’t speak to and will never, ever credit, took the time to teach him. All while she was working, raising herself, clawing up the cliff-face of adulthood. Hauling him at her own expense.

I find a post on Reddit where five thousand men try to define “ a woman’s touch .” They describe raised flower beds, blankets, photographs of their loved ones, not hers, sprouting on the mantel overnight. Candles, coasters, side tables. Someone remembering to take lint out of the dryer. To give compliments. I wonder what these women are getting back. I imagine them like Cinderella’s mice, scurrying around, their sole proof of life their contributions to a more central character. On occasion I meet a nice couple, who grew up together. They know each other with a fraternalism tender and alien to me.  But I think of all my friends who failed at this, were failed at this, and I think, No, absolutely not, too risky . Riskier, sometimes, than an age gap.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, handsome, successful, but in many ways: an endearing disaster. By his age, I had long since wisened up. He leaves his clothes in the dryer, takes out a single shirt, steams it for three minutes. His towel on the floor, for someone else to retrieve. His lovely, same-age girlfriend is aching to fix these tendencies, among others. She is capable beyond words. Statistically, they will not end up together. He moved into his first place recently, and she, the girlfriend, supplied him with a long, detailed list of things he needed for his apartment: sheets, towels, hangers, a colander, which made me laugh. She picked out his couch. I will bet you anything she will fix his laundry habits, and if so, they will impress the next girl. If they break up, she will never see that couch again, and he will forget its story. I tell her when I visit because I like her, though I get in trouble for it: You shouldn’t do so much for him, not for someone who is not stuck with you, not for any boy, not even for my wonderful brother.

Too much work had left my husband, by 30, jaded and uninspired. He’d burned out — but I could reenchant things. I danced at restaurants when they played a song I liked. I turned grocery shopping into an adventure, pleased by what I provided. Ambitious, hungry, he needed someone smart enough to sustain his interest, but flexible enough in her habits to build them around his hours. I could. I do: read myself occupied, make myself free, materialize beside him when he calls for me. In exchange, I left a lucrative but deadening spreadsheet job to write full-time, without having to live like a writer. I learned to cook, a little, and decorate, somewhat poorly. Mostly I get to read, to walk central London and Miami and think in delicious circles, to work hard, when necessary, for free, and write stories for far less than minimum wage when I tally all the hours I take to write them.

At 20, I had felt daunted by the project of becoming my ideal self, couldn’t imagine doing it in tandem with someone, two raw lumps of clay trying to mold one another and only sullying things worse. I’d go on dates with boys my age and leave with the impression they were telling me not about themselves but some person who didn’t exist yet and on whom I was meant to bet regardless. My husband struck me instead as so finished, formed. Analyzable for compatibility. He bore the traces of other women who’d improved him, small but crucial basics like use a coaster ; listen, don’t give advice. Young egos mellow into patience and generosity.

My husband isn’t my partner. He’s my mentor, my lover, and, only in certain contexts, my friend. I’ll never forget it, how he showed me around our first place like he was introducing me to myself: This is the wine you’ll drink, where you’ll keep your clothes, we vacation here, this is the other language we’ll speak, you’ll learn it, and I did. Adulthood seemed a series of exhausting obligations. But his logistics ran so smoothly that he simply tacked mine on. I moved into his flat, onto his level, drag and drop, cleaner thrice a week, bills automatic. By opting out of partnership in my 20s, I granted myself a kind of compartmentalized, liberating selfishness none of my friends have managed. I am the work in progress, the party we worry about, a surprising dominance. When I searched for my first job, at 21, we combined our efforts, for my sake. He had wisdom to impart, contacts with whom he arranged coffees; we spent an afternoon, laughing, drawing up earnest lists of my pros and cons (highly sociable; sloppy math). Meanwhile, I took calls from a dear friend who had a boyfriend her age. Both savagely ambitious, hyperclose and entwined in each other’s projects. If each was a start-up , the other was the first hire, an intense dedication I found riveting. Yet every time she called me, I hung up with the distinct feeling that too much was happening at the same time: both learning to please a boss; to forge more adult relationships with their families; to pay bills and taxes and hang prints on the wall. Neither had any advice to give and certainly no stability. I pictured a three-legged race, two people tied together and hobbling toward every milestone.

I don’t fool myself. My marriage has its cons. There are only so many times one can say “thank you” — for splendid scenes, fine dinners — before the phrase starts to grate. I live in an apartment whose rent he pays and that shapes the freedom with which I can ever be angry with him. He doesn’t have to hold it over my head. It just floats there, complicating usual shorthands to explain dissatisfaction like, You aren’t being supportive lately . It’s a Frenchism to say, “Take a decision,” and from time to time I joke: from whom? Occasionally I find myself in some fabulous country at some fabulous party and I think what a long way I have traveled, like a lucky cloud, and it is frightening to think of oneself as vapor.

Mostly I worry that if he ever betrayed me and I had to move on, I would survive, but would find in my humor, preferences, the way I make coffee or the bed nothing that he did not teach, change, mold, recompose, stamp with his initials, the way Renaissance painters hid in their paintings their faces among a crowd. I wonder if when they looked at their paintings, they saw their own faces first. But this is the wrong question, if our aim is happiness. Like the other question on which I’m expected to dwell: Who is in charge, the man who drives or the woman who put him there so she could enjoy herself? I sit in the car, in the painting it would have taken me a corporate job and 20 years to paint alone, and my concern over who has the upper hand becomes as distant as the horizon, the one he and I made so wide for me.

To be a woman is to race against the clock, in several ways, until there is nothing left to be but run ragged.

We try to put it off, but it will hit us at some point: that we live in a world in which our power has a different shape from that of men, a different distribution of advantage, ours a funnel and theirs an expanding cone. A woman at 20 rarely has to earn her welcome; a boy at 20 will be turned away at the door. A woman at 30 may find a younger woman has taken her seat; a man at 30 will have invited her. I think back to the women in the bathroom, my husband’s classmates. What was my relationship if not an inconvertible sign of this unfairness? What was I doing, in marrying older, if not endorsing it? I had taken advantage of their disadvantage. I had preempted my own. After all, principled women are meant to defy unfairness, to show some integrity or denial, not plan around it, like I had. These were driven women, successful, beautiful, capable. I merely possessed the one thing they had already lost. In getting ahead of the problem, had I pushed them down? If I hadn’t, would it really have made any difference?

When we decided we wanted to be equal to men, we got on men’s time. We worked when they worked, retired when they retired, had to squeeze pregnancy, children, menopause somewhere impossibly in the margins. I have a friend, in her late 20s, who wears a mood ring; these days it is often red, flickering in the air like a siren when she explains her predicament to me. She has raised her fair share of same-age boyfriends. She has put her head down, worked laboriously alongside them, too. At last she is beginning to reap the dividends, earning the income to finally enjoy herself. But it is now, exactly at this precipice of freedom and pleasure, that a time problem comes closing in. If she would like to have children before 35, she must begin her next profession, motherhood, rather soon, compromising inevitably her original one. The same-age partner, equally unsettled in his career, will take only the minimum time off, she guesses, or else pay some cost which will come back to bite her. Everything unfailingly does. If she freezes her eggs to buy time, the decision and its logistics will burden her singly — and perhaps it will not work. Overlay the years a woman is supposed to establish herself in her career and her fertility window and it’s a perfect, miserable circle. By midlife women report feeling invisible, undervalued; it is a telling cliché, that after all this, some husbands leave for a younger girl. So when is her time, exactly? For leisure, ease, liberty? There is no brand of feminism which achieved female rest. If women’s problem in the ’50s was a paralyzing malaise, now it is that they are too active, too capable, never permitted a vacation they didn’t plan. It’s not that our efforts to have it all were fated for failure. They simply weren’t imaginative enough.

For me, my relationship, with its age gap, has alleviated this rush , permitted me to massage the clock, shift its hands to my benefit. Very soon, we will decide to have children, and I don’t panic over last gasps of fun, because I took so many big breaths of it early: on the holidays of someone who had worked a decade longer than I had, in beautiful places when I was young and beautiful, a symmetry I recommend. If such a thing as maternal energy exists, mine was never depleted. I spent the last nearly seven years supported more than I support and I am still not as old as my husband was when he met me. When I have a child, I will expect more help from him than I would if he were younger, for what does professional tenure earn you if not the right to set more limits on work demands — or, if not, to secure some child care, at the very least? When I return to work after maternal upheaval, he will aid me, as he’s always had, with his ability to put himself aside, as younger men are rarely able.

Above all, the great gift of my marriage is flexibility. A chance to live my life before I become responsible for someone else’s — a lover’s, or a child’s. A chance to write. A chance at a destiny that doesn’t adhere rigidly to the routines and timelines of men, but lends itself instead to roomy accommodation, to the very fluidity Betty Friedan dreamed of in 1963 in The Feminine Mystique , but we’ve largely forgotten: some career or style of life that “permits year-to-year variation — a full-time paid job in one community, part-time in another, exercise of the professional skill in serious volunteer work or a period of study during pregnancy or early motherhood when a full-time job is not feasible.” Some things are just not feasible in our current structures. Somewhere along the way we stopped admitting that, and all we did was make women feel like personal failures. I dream of new structures, a world in which women have entry-level jobs in their 30s; alternate avenues for promotion; corporate ladders with balconies on which they can stand still, have a smoke, take a break, make a baby, enjoy themselves, before they keep climbing. Perhaps men long for this in their own way. Actually I am sure of that.

Once, when we first fell in love, I put my head in his lap on a long car ride; I remember his hands on my face, the sun, the twisting turns of a mountain road, surprising and not surprising us like our romance, and his voice, telling me that it was his biggest regret that I was so young, he feared he would lose me. Last week, we looked back at old photos and agreed we’d given each other our respective best years. Sometimes real equality is not so obvious, sometimes it takes turns, sometimes it takes almost a decade to reveal itself.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom

Who Would Want to Go to a College Like This?

By Tressie McMillan Cottom

Opinion Columnist

The moral panic about “woke” campuses has metastasized into actual legislation, and not just in the swampy idylls of Florida. Last week the governor of Alabama signed a bill that purports to limit the teaching of “divisive” topics in its colleges and universities. The bill is similar to Florida’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in public colleges, which was signed into law last May. Both are all-out attacks on learning by excommunicating liberal ideas from the classroom. Other state legislatures have also been busy. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Republican lawmakers have proposed 81 anti-D.E.I. bills across 28 states. (So far, 33 haven’t become law, and 11 have.)

Because most students attend public universities, state-level threats to higher education are especially troubling. While the federal government has outsize authority, states have more direct political reach. Republican leaders in the most reactionary states are banking that their appeals to moral panics about teaching history, race, gender and identity will attract donors and political favor. Bills already passed in Florida and Alabama are examples of shortsighted, counterintuitive legislative overreach. This political theater lifts up a caricature of college, in which coddled minds are seduced into liberal ideas. Without university leaders, politicians or voters mounting a defense of faculty governance and democratic speech, anti-woke reactionaries can remake college into the very thing they claim it is: cloistered institutions that cannot respond to what their students want and need.

It is hard to combat legislative overreach in states where gerrymandering and the structure of elections favor reactionary Republicans. But unlike in K-12 schools, in higher education, the students hold a tremendous amount of power. Public colleges and universities need students’ tuition dollars. If states become hostile to students’ values, those students could choose to go elsewhere or to forgo college altogether. That would set up a standoff between right-wing political favor and students’ dollars. But first, students would have to be paying attention. They would have to care. And they would have to be willing to choose colleges that match their values.

That is why I read with interest a recent report put out by the Lumina Foundation and Gallup on how policies and laws shape college enrollment. Part of a larger survey about students’ experiences of higher education, the report left me with one major takeaway: The national debate about so-called woke campuses does not reflect what most college students care about. It is worth looking at the report’s key findings. They underscore how unhinged our national debate over higher education has become and how misaligned Republican-led public higher education systems are with the bulk of college students. It isn’t hard to imagine that students could vote with their feet, avoiding schools in states that are out of step with their values.

The report names four reactionary changes in the national policy conversation that might shape students’ feelings about going to or being enrolled in college. First, there’s the group of bills against teaching supposedly divisive concepts, as in Alabama and Florida. Second, there’s a 2022 Supreme Court decision on concealed carry permits for firearms. Students fear that it signals how states with more restrictive gun regulations will change their campus gun policies in anticipation of legal challenges. Third, there are the sweeping changes to the availability of reproductive health care that came after the fall of Roe v. Wade . The Wild West of different abortion bans, legal challenges to Plan B and birth control will shape students’ experiences of college . Finally, there’s the Supreme Court decision in 2023 that effectively ended race-based affirmative action in admissions. States are already broadly interpreting that decision to include scholarships and programming.

If you are applying to college in 2024, you are tasked with not just choosing a major at a college where you can be happy and that may admit you at a price you can afford. You are also considering if you will be safe from gun violence, able to get medical care if you need it, qualified to use some types of financial aid and likely to encounter a liberal arts education that could improve the trajectory of your life.

I read the report closely for takeaways and what some of the fine-grained data points mean. The big context is that most students still choose colleges based on quality, cost, reputation and job prospects. Because I am interested in which of the four reactionary changes matter most (and to whom), I pulled those out of the list of all things that matter to students. Students care about — from most to least important — gun violence, “anti-woke” laws and reproductive health care. Because race-based affirmative action is measured somewhat differently from the other concerns, it is not ranked.

I lived through a campus shooting last year . As I watched college students climb calmly out of windows to escape the building, I realized this is a generation raised on constant shooting drills. That might explain why 38 percent of students who study on campus said they were worried about gun violence at their schools. Campus gun policies mattered at least somewhat to 80 percent of those surveyed. And of those who cared, students who wanted more restrictive gun policies outweighed those who preferred looser policies by five to one, according to the report.

As for those “divisive” concepts? Students want them. A majority of students who cared about those issues, the report notes, said they did not want restrictions on classroom instruction. Even more notable, students’ opinions do not align with the rabid political partisanship that dominates headlines. In a look at the students who care about this issue, some political differences might be expected. And there are some. But the good news is that they aren’t nearly as partisan as one might imagine. Even 61 percent of Republicans who cared about this issue when choosing a college preferred a state that did not restrict instruction on topics related to race and gender. That’s compared with 83 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of independents.

It is remarkable, given these data points, how little politicians and the public are talking about how afraid college students are — not of new ideas but of being shot on campus.

Fears about reproductive health ranked third among these changes; 71 percent of those surveyed said that a state’s reproductive health care policies would influence where they chose to go to college. The gender split here was a mixed bag. While many men cared about reproductive health, women were, by 18 percentage points, more likely than men to prefer states with fewer restrictions on reproductive health care. It is impossible to claim causation, but hackneyed culture wars about gender are not happening in a vacuum. They animate men’s and women’s values. The data suggests that it will be hard to recruit men (who are inclined to want more health care restrictions for women) and make female students feel cared for and safe. There may not be a way for a single college to serve both masters.

The Supreme Court affirmative action decision’s role in shaping students’ college choices is harder to parse than the other reactionary changes. People do not have a common understanding of what affirmative action means or how it works. Even so, 45 percent of those surveyed said the ruling would shape their decision of which school to attend or if they went to college at all.

While the idea of woke campuses may get attention and motivate parts of the reactionary Republican base, the report says that those partisan differences are moderate among students. “Most current and prospective students of all political parties who say these issues are important to their enrollment,” the report notes, “prefer more restrictive gun policies, less restrictive reproductive health care laws and fewer regulations” on curriculums.

Put more simply: Republicans must seem like aliens — if not dinosaurs — to the very college students they claim to be saving from hostile college campuses.

Debates about what happens on college campuses are proxies for partisan politics. They are also convenient ruses for clawing back the nominal democratization that higher education underwent during the last half of the 20th century. Those of us who see education as something more noble than a political football should care about the way partisan attacks and sensational headlines will harm real people trying to make sense of their lives.

Students go to college because they want jobs, they want to be educated or they want to be respected by others (or some combination of all three). A college or university implicitly promises them that it has the legitimacy to allow access, foster learning and confer status. The trick is that when universities play into the con game of moral panics about woke campuses, they become the thing we fear.

The loudest story about American colleges is disconnected from what college students care about. Even so, the nation’s diverse, aspirational college students are trying to make college choices that align with their political values. According to this survey, they are remarkably progressive, fair-minded and unafraid of intellectual challenge. If only our politics lived up to their values.

Tressie McMillan Cottom (@ tressiemcphd ) became a New York Times Opinion columnist in 2022. She is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science; the author of “Thick: And Other Essays”; and a 2020 MacArthur fellow.

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