Drake University supplemental essays

Program-specific prompts

These apply only if you are applying to the named program or school.

• Honors ProgramRequired

  A question you chased

  Think about a time you pursued a question or idea outside of school because it sparked your curiosity. What was it, what did you discover, and how did it shape your perspective? In what ways has that continued to influence you?

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

• Honors ProgramRequired

  Reading other minds

  Suppose you discover the means by which humans can read the minds of other humans without them knowing. Obviously, this technology would be highly desired by many corporations, governments, etc. What would be the ethical thing to using this technology and why? What risks are there to doing this with this technology and what benefits make you willing to embrace these risks for the sake of benefits?

• Honors ProgramRequired

  Thinking challenged by others

  Describe a time when your thinking was challenged through conversation or collaboration with others. What did you learn from the experience? How did it influence the way you think about engaging with others? How (if at all) have you incorporated the lesson of that experience into you current approach to such conversations?

  How to approach it

  For a challenge prompt, the challenge is the setup, not the essay. Spend most of the words on what you did and how you changed. Readers are wary of trauma used as currency; growth is the currency.