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Sarah Lawrence College Essay Example by an Accepted Student

Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college located just outside of New York City. Well-known as one of the best liberal arts schools in the college, Sarah Lawrence offers students an exceptional education. Not to mention, the suburban campus just a 15 minute train ride away from NYC provides students with the perfect balance between a traditional campus experience and the excitement of a big city.

Gaining admission to Sarah Lawrence requires more than just a strong academic and extracurricular profile. Students wishing to attend will also need a stellar essay, which is where we can help. In this post, we will go over a real essay an accepted Sarah Lawrence applicant submitted and discuss what it did well and where it could be improved.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our Sarah Lawrence essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Sarah Lawrence Essay Example: Hyphenates

Prompt: Sarah Lawrence students are often described as hyphenates: director-playwright-sound designer, environmentalist-photographer, journalist-linguist, economist-poet. In 250-500 words, tell us about seemingly disparate interests you’ve brought together, or hope to bring together at Sarah Lawrence. (250-500 words)

Among blue abstract faces and messy paint splatters, I took my first steps. My childhood evokes memories of brightly colored canvases, stained overalls, and folk music. Being born into a family of eccentric artists, I grew up surrounded by the vibrant emotion that characterizes my mom’s paintings and my dad’s comics. I’ve proudly adopted their artistic habits, inspired by their open-mindedness and fierce self-expression. By exploring unconventional mediums, everything from collage-making to spoken word, I’ve realized that my identity as an artist knows no bounds. 

In a society that undervalues teenage perspectives, I watched the Gen-Z artists around me struggle to find a place for their self-expression that celebrates the inexperienced and experienced alike. Countless arts publications only accept work from highly accomplished teenage creatives, limiting the potential for creative experimentation among youth artists. Seeking to be the change I wish to see in the world, I took action. I created an online literary and arts magazine to provide teen artists with a platform to build community, practice creativity, and publish their work in a judgment-free zone. Watching hours of Youtube tutorials, I taught myself to design a website using online programs. As I found myself scribbling stanzas and sketching in my notebook while learning how to code, I realized that my identity as a 21st-century artist can extend into technology. As an oddball artist-activist-computer scientist, I feel driven to express myself creatively and scientifically to enact social change.

As my magazine gained traction online, garnering 3.5k+ views worldwide, I discovered the power that digital media has to share marginalized perspectives. I questioned how I could continue harnessing technology’s potential to amplify overlooked stories, merging STEM with my penchant for Artivism. Within my school’s student-athlete centric community, I noticed that countless other students’ unique accomplishments were sidelined. Promoting inclusivity, I worked alongside my student newspaper team to create a collaborative Youtube Channel. Together, we launched a video project to film interviews with students whose stories go frequently overlooked. Once again, I found myself challenging conventional expectations for an artist. As I expressed myself creatively by directing video production for the project, I also excitedly encountered data sets within video editing and statistics within sound design. 

I once thought I was exclusively “right-brained” but I’ve learned that I am most fulfilled when both sides of my brain work in tandem, drawing innovative connections between STEM and the arts. At Sarah Lawrence, I hope to continue my exploration as I work toward my goal of self-publishing a poetry book and creating a podcast to highlight female Latinx artists. Pursuing my artistic instincts, I’d challenge myself to dig deep and advocate for social justice in untraditional ways. Though I wandered into the world of computer science on accident as an out-of-place artist, I emerged from it with a new understanding of what art means – taking risks with an open mind. Embodying art’s spirit of adventure, I’m eager to continue forging intersections between art, advocacy, and technology.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay is engaging, well-written, showcases the student’s interests, highlights her accomplishments, and perfectly answers the prompt. That’s not an easy thing to do, so let’s break down what works so well.

In terms of the writing quality, this student uses imagery and details to paint a picture for the reader. Right off the bat, we are transported to her childhood home and can imagine a young kid growing up surrounded by art. The level of detail is maintained throughout the essay to thoroughly explain the projects she spearheaded. Her diction is also the perfect balance between being well-spoken, but still sounding like a teenager. Referring to herself as “ oddball ” and coining the term “ Artivism ” bring a level of familiarity to the essay that makes it seem like she is talking to a friend rather than an admissions committee—which is the goal.

The essay does an incredible job of showing the reader this student’s interest in not just two subjects, but three. Halfway through the essay, she tells us she’s an “ artist-activist-computer scientist ”, but we already identified those qualities ourselves just by reading about her desire to highlight marginalized voices, work with art, and code a website. This is a great example of showing, not telling . You want the reader to draw their own conclusions about you without you having to spell it out for them.

Because the student shows the reader her interests through her achievements, we also get to see what she has accomplished. Since she uses the projects she developed as tools to tell her story, it doesn’t feel like we are reading a brag sheet. The key is to describe your actions and explain why it made sense for you to engage in them, as this essay has done.

Between the effective story-telling and the high level of detail for her multiple interests, we can walk away without a doubt that this student fully answered the prompt. We end the essay  remembering her as an artist-activist-computer scientist, making this essay a huge success.

What Could Be Improved

This is a very strong essay and there’s not that much that needs improvement. However, one way this student could improve the flow of the essay would be to break up large paragraphs into smaller, more digestible ones. When there are only three paragraphs in an essay of 500 words, it puts more pressure on the reader to stay focused and make their way through big chunks of text.

There are two natural breaks in the body paragraph that could have split it into three, more focused, paragraphs. The first break would be after this sentence, “ Watching hours of Youtube tutorials, I taught myself to design a website using online programs. ” Then, there would be a new paragraph about the student discovering the marriage of art and computer science, which would be more poignant because it’s presented as a fresh idea to the reader and it wouldn’t be lost in a sea of words. The other break would occur right before she switches to talking about the video project for athletes, as that’s a new accomplishment that deserves its own paragraph.

Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay

Want feedback on your Sarah Lawrence essay before you submit? That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Sarah Lawrence College Undergraduate Admission Applications Rise 20 Percent

Feb 26, 2021

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First year applications to Sarah Lawrence College continue to rise, reaching an all-time high in 2021, with more than 4,500 students from around the world applying for the roughly 400 spots in the Class of 2025 – a 20% year-over-year increase that builds on several record-breaking application numbers in recent years.

“This cycle has certainly presented its share of challenges for students, but Sarah Lawrence is a college that prides itself on small class size and the individual attention students receive from faculty and staff,” said Kevin McKenna, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid. “The same individual attention is given in the admissions process – our team adapted and launched an exceptional suite of virtual recruitment events , including virtual campus tours and regular opportunities for prospective students to meet with current Sarah Lawrence students and get to know the College better. We were able to share the Sarah Lawrence story in new ways and reach students where they are.”

Sarah Lawrence practices a holistic admission process that prioritizes the individual voice and story of each applicant, appealing to students who will excel in the College’s self-driven curriculum. Though applicants may have not had the chance to visit Sarah Lawrence prior to the start of the pandemic, this year’s pool not only grew in size, but in strength and the cohort of applicants have clearly done their research on the College and can picture themselves on campus, designing their own liberal arts curriculum.

“As part of our holistic admissions, we leave it up to applicants to decide whether to include their SAT or ACT scores in their applications,” said McKenna. “Historically, about 60% of applicants submit their test scores, but this year that submission rate dropped significantly to lower than half of all undergraduate applicants.”

The Undergraduate Admission Office also introduced four new optional supplemental essay prompts this year, inspiring creative answers as applicants describe the traits they value in a college community or the multi-disciplinary hyphenate they’re hoping to embrace at Sarah Lawrence. Many applicants identified the College’s interdisciplinary mindset and welcoming community as the reason they hit “submit.” Below are a few excerpts from applicants, including students who were admitted through early decision and are the newest members of the Sarah Lawrence community and Class of 2025.

“Everything that I've seen about SLC say it's a place where I can find more of "my people;" a place where people are dedicated to and excited about learning and growing, both as individuals and as a diverse community.”

“Sometimes I feel that I have too many passions, which is why I am so grateful for the prospect of a liberal arts education, specifically one from Sarah Lawrence: where I can find peers who are equally interested in etymology and entomology, where many passions are celebrated, and where I would be unique but never alone. If I were to guess my hyphenate title now, I could see ‘playwright-performer-gender studies scholar,’ but I hope that might turn into ‘singer, dancer, poet, artist, nature lover, activist, and overall romantic.’”

“I want to be a part of a community where I can feel proud of who I am, and I believe that Sarah Lawrence is the place where I can do that.”

“I want to be a wildlife biologist who writes novels in her spare time, and also studies molecular chemistry, and works with children, and studies complex mathematics, and translates foreign languages, and discovers the next Rosetta Stone.”

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How to Navigate the New Supplemental Essay Prompts Post-Affirmative Action

It has been three weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action could no longer be used in college admissions. Based on the decision, though, students can still write an essay about their race as long as it is "concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability."

In the short time since the ruling was announced , some colleges have gone one step further when it comes to capturing a student's background by implementing a supplemental essay prompt that directly addresses this.

• For a student who writes about their race (or another form of diversity) in the main college essay: To avoid "hammering" repetitive themes, students should choose another aspect of their life if a college has a supplemental essay regarding background. In fact, this is a chance to show range and creativity. Diversity is not just about race. It can be about diversity of thought, geography, physical differences, socioeconomic background, religion, the family one comes from, and more. Even the type of roof over one's head or the neighborhood they live in says a lot about a student. By writing the supplemental essay about something besides their racial background, the student can layer even more information about themselves in their application.
• For an underrepresented student (racially, geographically, socioeconomically, etc.) who doesn't write about their background in the main college essay: It will be absolutely essential for the student to bring up their underrepresented background in one of these supplemental essays. In some cases, this would be the only way a college would know about a student's unique background. And because not all colleges will have a supplemental essay or one related to a student's background, it will be important for the student to indicate their background somewhere else in the application if possible. For example, a student who comes from a Hispanic background and receives the National Hispanic Recognition award from the College Board should list this under the "Honors" section of an application.
• For a majority student who feels like they have nothing to write about for a supplemental essay about their background or lived experience: Every single student has something unique to share about their background. The student has to be willing to spend time reflecting first before they claim they have nothing to write about. It could be their parents' marriage, a sibling with a disability, the town they come from, the school they attend, the native language of their ancestors they so desperately want to learn, their height, their style, their humor, their silence, their voice. This is a chance to show colleges and themselves that there is more to them than meets the eye.

READ MORE: How Saying “I Am” Can Change College Admissions

About Sara Harberson

Sara Harberson is the founder of Application Nation™, which provides personalized advice to college applicants and their families. In her book, SOUNDBITE: The Admissions Secret that Gets You Into College and Beyond, Sara reveals the secrets of her signature college admissions tool, the "Soundbite," and shares tried-and-tested exercises that have helped thousands of students gain admission to their school of choice. She is the former associate dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania and the former dean of admissions and financial aid at Franklin & Marshall College. Sara’s philosophy is that every kid applying to college deserves the best advice.

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Sarah Lawrence College takes swipe at the Supreme Court, inviting students to write their application essay about the court's ruling that tossed affirmative action

• Sarah Lawrence College is inviting undergrad applicants to write about how the Supreme Court's decision to overturn affirmative action is impacting their lives. 
• In June, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to consider race in college applications. 
• But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that students can still, in essays, write about how race has affected their lives. 

Sarah Lawrence College has a unique response to the Supreme Court's June decision to overturn affirmative action : encourage college applicants to make it the topic of their essay.

Sarah Lawrence's admissions website says prospective students applying to be undergraduates at the small liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, for the 2023-2024 school year should use the Common App.

As a supplement to that, "there may be more you want to tell us that just didn't quite fit into the rest of the application," the admissions site says. Students are then invited to choose from three additional essay prompts to aid their application materials.

Sarah Lawrence's Dean of Admissions Kevin McKenna told Insider that one of the optional essay prompts typically "asked students to reflect on the values of diversity and inclusivity within a community like ours."

"It felt a little disingenuous to simply re-use the same prompt this year in light of such a major ruling around race in admissions," McKenna told Insider.

"So we developed this new prompt in that spirit of still trying to foreground important attributes of our learning community, of which we identified two: first, that we ask our students to take on tough questions and challenging real-world topics head-on, with intellectual rigor and thoughtfulness; and secondly, that as a community that values diversity and equity in education as part of its mission, the current national conversations around race are of the utmost importance to us," he added.

The third prompt points directly to the Supreme Court and its decision.

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It specifically calls out Chief Justice John Roberts' written opinion, which states that although colleges and universities shouldn't consider race as it stands alone, they can consider how race has affected an applicant's life.

"In a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, 'Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university,'" Sarah Lawrence's essay prompt reads.

The prompt continues: "Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the Court's decision."

Instead of doing as Roberts suggested by asking applicants to write about how race has affected their lives, Sarah Lawrence is instead inviting students to write about how their lives — and their futures — might be affected by the Court's decision to abolish affirmative action.

McKenna said that "in the discussion of how this prompt came to be, that it is not intended to set any expectations that an applicant should feel that they need to address past traumas or injustices in order to gain admission to the college."

"Like many institutions and organizations working in higher education, our admissions office is concerned about the added anxiety this year that students (particularly black, brown, or indigenous students, but also students who may identify as LGBTQ) are going to feel forced into relaying narratives that they wouldn't otherwise choose to share with colleges," he added.

Instead, McKenna said that with the addition of the new third prompt, the school is "hoping to provide a space for students (if they choose) to address a challenging topic in society, and one that could directly impact the make-up of the student bodies of the colleges to which they are applying."

"The ability to deftly weave one's personal background, their goals for college, and their thoughtful reflections on a major societal issue into a cohesive statement or argument would speak very well to their ability to do the kind of work a liberal arts college like SLC demands of our students," McKenna added.

The Supreme Court's decision led by the conservative justices found that affirmative action policies, which allowed schools to account for a student's race in order to accept more diverse applicants, were discriminatory.

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

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Colleges Want to Know More About You and Your ‘Identity’

With affirmative action banned, application essays ask about “life experience,” the one place in admissions where discussing race is still explicitly legal.

By Anemona Hartocollis and Colbi Edmonds

“Tell us about an aspect of your identity or a life experience that has shaped you.”

— Johns Hopkins University

For college applicants, this is the year of the identity-driven essay, the one part of the admissions process in which it is still explicitly legal to discuss race after the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in June.

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A review of the essay prompts used this year by more than two dozen highly selective colleges reveals that schools are using words and phrases like “identity” and “life experience,” and are probing aspects of a student’s upbringing and background that have, in the words of a Harvard prompt, “shaped who you are.”

That’s a big change from last year, when the questions were a little dutiful, a little humdrum — asking about books read, summers spent, volunteering done.

But even if candidates can — or feel compelled to — open up, colleges face potential legal challenges. The Supreme Court warned that a candidate’s race may be invoked only in the context of the applicant’s life story, and colleges have consulted with lawyers to determine the line between an acceptable essay prompt and an unconstitutional one.

“Obviously, this is a pretty subjective standard,” said Ishan K. Bhabha, a lawyer who is advising many colleges and universities. “Different schools are going to have different levels of risk tolerance.”

Students for Fair Admissions, the group that defeated race-based admissions in the Supreme Court, is ready to challenge any essay topic that “is nothing more than a back-channel subterfuge for divulging a student’s race or ethnicity,” Edward Blum, the group’s founder, said.

“Feel free to tell us any ways in which you’re different and how that has affected you.”

— Duke University

Harvard, which was at the center of the lawsuit, has replaced last year’s single optional essay with five short essays, designed to allow the admissions committee to see each applicant as a “whole person.” The essays, up to 200 words each, are all required so that the admissions office can collect the same information from every applicant, according to Harvard.

The first essay question closely tracks with what the Supreme Court’s opinion said was permissible: “How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard?”

Johns Hopkins carefully explains what is allowed in its essay, which asks students to write about an aspect of their identity or life experience that has shaped them. “Any part of your background, including but not limited to your race, may be discussed in your response to this essay if you so choose,” Johns Hopkins notes on its website . But it adds a caveat: the information “will be considered by the university based solely on how it has affected your life and your experiences as an individual.”

Sarah Lawrence College, outside New York City, saucily incorporates a quote from the official summary of Chief Justice John G. Roberts’s majority decision in its prompt: “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life.”

Then the school asks applicants to “describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced or affected by the court’s decision.”

These college-specific questions are supplements to the main essay in the Common App, the online application used by more than a million students each year.

The Common App said it was keeping last year’s seven essay choices . One mentions identity, another obstacles overcome. But in a nod to the new imperatives, the Common App said that it would monitor the choices of different “student populations.”

“Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had.”

— Dartmouth College

Some students are seizing on the opportunity to write about race. Janyra Allen, 17, who attends Bard High School Early College in Baltimore, has started applying to colleges, with her top choice being Notre Dame of Maryland University. Janyra, who is Black, wants to be a nurse, and in her essays she has written about the lack of Black nurses and doctors in hospitals.

Janyra tries to include both her race and her accomplishments in her application answers, she said, because she wants universities to know “Black students can do amazing things, too.”

Amari Shepherd, 16, said she hoped colleges and universities would evaluate students based on merit, regardless of race. She is still thinking about what she wants to write in her essays, and although being Black is a large part of who she is, she isn’t sure if she will mention it extensively.

“I’m very proud of my race, but also I’ve worked very hard in my high school career,” said Amari, a senior at Frederick A. Douglass High School in New Orleans.

The essay may prove liberating for Asian American students, many of whom have been wary of how they present themselves. The lawsuit accused Harvard of racially stereotyping Asian Americans as high-achieving but bland and interchangeable — feeding the sense that applicants needed to appear “less Asian” by not majoring in science, for instance, or playing the cello.

Allison Zhang, a senior at a public high school in Maryland, said that she hoped to attend Georgetown or the University of Pennsylvania to study economics and political science. In her applications, “I’ve definitely been talking about my racial identity and also my gender because as an Asian American woman, that shaped a lot of how I view the world and the struggles that I’ve faced,” Allison, 17, said.

“Tell us about when, where or with whom you feel your most authentic, powerful self.”

— Barnard College

Some public universities are treading more carefully. The University of Virginia, for example, must navigate the tension between its stated commitment to diversity and conservative alumni , as well as the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, elected in 2021 largely on a pledge to overhaul education.

James E. Ryan, the president of the University of Virginia, sent a letter to the school community on Aug. 1, the unofficial beginning of application season, nodding to both alumni and the enslaved people who built the university and worked on the grounds.

He said that the university’s application now encompassed an essay prompt inviting applicants to talk about their connection to the university as children of graduates, or as “descendants of ancestors who labored at the university, as well as those with other relationships.”

John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who opposes race-conscious admissions, said that the new essay prompts seemed consistent with the court’s ruling.

What matters is not so much the wording as the way universities use the information, said Mr. Yoo, who served in the George W. Bush administration and is on the board of Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs.

“Suppose Harvard asked these questions and, magically, the racial composition of the freshman class is within three to four points of what it was before these essay questions,” he said. “I don’t think the courts are going to be fooled by innocuous-seeming essay questions which are used as a pretext by the colleges.”

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

Anemona Hartocollis is a national correspondent, covering higher education. She is also the author of the book “Seven Days of Possibilities: One Teacher, 24 Kids, and the Music That Changed Their Lives Forever.” More about Anemona Hartocollis

Colbi Edmonds is a reporter for the National desk and a member of the 2023-24 New York Times Fellowship class . More about Colbi Edmonds

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Colleges rethink legacy admissions in the wake of decision against affirmative action

Hari Sreenivasan Hari Sreenivasan

Christina Romano Christina Romano

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/colleges-rethink-legacy-admissions-in-the-wake-of-decision-against-affirmative-action

The Supreme Court’s decision to limit the use of race in admissions was a game-changer for colleges. While the ruling's biggest impact is on the most selective schools, a survey found nearly a quarter of all colleges considered race to some degree before the pandemic. Special correspondent Hari Sreenivasan looks at how some schools are reevaluating admissions for our series, Rethinking College.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Geoff Bennett:

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last summer to limit the use of race in admissions was a game-changer for colleges.

While the ruling's biggest impact is on the most selective schools, a pre-pandemic survey found nearly a quarter of all colleges considered race to some degree.

As part of our Rethinking College series, special correspondent Hari Sreenivasan looks at how some schools are looks at how some schools are rethinking admissions.

Hari Sreenivasan:

The Supreme Court's decision left burden on the schools. And many have been cautious, revealing what they may or may not do since the court issued its opinion.

But Wesleyan University President Michael Roth has used it as an opportunity to end the practice of letting students in because of their family connections.

What went into the decision to do away with legacy admissions?

Michael Roth, President, Wesleyan University:

So this is something I have been thinking about for, I'd say, five or six years.

And then, this summer, when I read the Supreme Court opinions that were so self-righteous about not using affiliation with broader groups to judge an individual's case, and we can't use affiliation with a racial group, I thought to myself, how could we continue this practice? How could we give an advantage just because of who your parents were?

Wesleyan joins a small group, including Johns Hopkins and Amherst, which both ended legacy admissions before the court overturned affirmative action. A few weeks after the Supreme Court's decision, Roth took the idea to the board.

Michael Roth:

Their first reaction wasn't enthusiastic, but — and I wondered, OK, could I continue as president, actually, if I don't believe in the policies?

Well, you see something that's unfair, you ought to correct it. The next day, they called me and said, we see the point. We should do this.

What about the argument that alumni and legacies and generational affiliation with the university helps create community, a benefit over time that says, you know what, this is what the alumni network gets me is access to people who succeeded from Wesleyan?

Yes, one of the reasons people choose to go to a highly selective school is because of the network it makes available to you, all the more reason not to let families hoard the wealth. You benefit from the system, you want your children to benefit from the system. It's a natural thing for a mother and father to want.

It's not necessary that an institution, especially a wealthy institution, give the preference to people who already have the benefits of the opportunities you have given them.

I also received some messages from alumni who said: "Bravo.My daughter wouldn't have applied — didn't apply to Wesleyan because she didn't want to be a legacy. And I told her she'd get in anyway. She said: 'I don't want to be associated with that.'"

The university says Wesleyan's rate of acceptance for children of alumni has always been under 10 percent. But other analyses have found some elite schools have much wider gaps between legacy applicants and other applicants.

A civil complaint that was filed against Harvard claimed legacy applicants were nearly six times more likely to be admitted compared to non-legacy applicants. And, this summer, a new analysis of several elite schools found children of alumni were nearly four times as likely to be admitted as applicants with the same test scores.

What is the kind of general or status quo thinking about legacies in the first place today, if it's not about giving your offspring a leg up?

I do think there's the crass version and then there's the cultural version.

The crass version is, people are much more likely to donate if their children get in. Many children get in because they're the children of alumni.

The end of affirmative action has made the application process even more intense for many students.

But because, in his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, universities can still consider an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise, the college essay is how many students are hoping to distinguish themselves and highlight diversity in their backgrounds.

Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York is addressing Roberts' statement directly. The college's president, Cristle Collins Judd, and its head admissions officer, Michael Roth, believe this encourages applicants to think about how the ruling affects them.

You made the decision to almost cut and paste the decision of the Supreme Court as one of the essay prompts. Why?

Cristle Collins Judd, President, Sarah Lawrence College:

Well, as the decision came out, and we read the decision and the syllabus that accompanied it, there was very specific language that was guiding us about how we could continue to both explore that question, but also something we knew our students and our prospective students would really engage in.

What do you think this decision means for you?

As one of three possible prompts and a supplement to the common application essay, the college quotes Roberts' opinion and continues: "Drawing upon examples from your life, quality of your character and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced, or affected by the court's decision."

Is this a way to circumvent the spirit of what the Supreme Court decision tried to prescribe?

Kevin McKenna, Head Admissions Officer, Sarah Lawrence College:

It is absolutely not an attempt to try to get students to disclose racial identity.

So, Kevin, what was the conversation like with your legal counsel when you said, this is kind of what I want to do?

Kevin McKenna:

I think the internal conversations that we had covered a lot of territory, and this wasn't just from a sense of legal obligation, but also ethical within the admissions office.

Is this something that we want to put out there, given the risk that some students might feel like they have to relive past injustices or traumas?

As schools and kids grapple with the changes brought about by the court's ruling, students like Molly Sannoo say the adjustment Sarah Lawrence has made might have helped her when she was applying to college.

Molly Sannoo, College Student:

I'm a first-year student here, and I had a lot of trouble applying to schools and everything like that. And my essay questions were kind of like very hard for me. And having this new essay question, I mean, it brings out a whole other part of people and finding out where they're from and having sort of a sense of, like, their community.

Both Sarah Lawrence and Wesleyan are highly selective small schools with fewer than 5,000 students each. But how will other universities handle changing admissions criteria?

Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal says it is a challenging time for the entire higher education system.

James Kvaal, U.S. Undersecretary of Education: One of the things that we saw in some of the states that banned the use of recent admissions was a change in who's applying to all types of colleges, not just the most selective colleges.

So it's important for students to continue to aspire, because even our most selective campuses, all types of students belong there. And it's important for all types of colleges and universities to have a plan for how they're going to react to the changing landscape.

He's noticed leaders in higher education are being proactive.

James Kvaal:

Well, I have seen a renewed sense of urgency about trying to build an inclusive higher education system. And there isn't going to be a single silver bullet. There's a lot of work to do across the board.

It's work universities and colleges will have to embrace in order to navigate the changing landscape.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Hari Sreenivasan in Middletown, Connecticut.

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Hari Sreenivasan joined the PBS NewsHour in 2009. He is the Anchor of PBS NewsHour Weekend and a Senior Correspondent for the nightly program.

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Sarah Lawrence College 2019-20 Supplemental Essay Guide

Regular Decision: 

Sarah Lawrence College 2019-20 Application Essay Question Explanations 

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250-500 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Activity

Optional: We know that there may be elements of who you are as a person and student that you may not feel are conveyed fully in the other sections of this application. If you wish to showcase a little more about your particular interest in Sarah Lawrence College, please respond to one of the prompts below. You can find some additional information about this section on our website here .

Newsflash: this essay is not optional! If you read over the prompts, you’ll find this is a prime opportunity to share more information with admissions and make yourself memorable. You’d better jump on that! Fortunately, these prompts echo some of the most common supplemental questions you’ll find on academics, community, and fit, so it’s very likely you’ll be able to strategically recycle another essay.

One of the cornerstones of a Sarah Lawrence education is student-driven research or creative work, undertaken with the mentorship of faculty that extends or expands the scope of the subject of a particular seminar course. In 250-500 words, tell us about an independent research project or creative work that you would like to design as part of your academic experience.

If you’re covering the liberal arts circuit in your college applications, it’s likely you’ve seen a prompt like this before. Which is to say, a prompt that asks you to design a unique course of study or research project. The goal of such questions isn’t to stump you or trick you into writing a new course catalogue. It’s a chance for you to showcase your intellectual curiosity! So, first and foremost, be genuine. Spend some time writing out a list of your interests: What do you love? What’s the last book or movie that really made you think? What questions keep you up at night? Beyond your core academic work, what do you love to learn about? Remember that this question is about you . If, at the end of this exercise, you realize that your ideal course of study doesn’t involve textbooks or calculus, that’s okay! If you want to study how stage combat and media reporting affected depictions of violence in comic books, that’s an option! If you want to do a deep dive on the evolution of street food in American cities, why not! You can always scour the Sarah Lawrence website for examples to make sure you’re on the right track. But start with your own ideas, we bet you have some good ones!

Sarah Lawrence’s educational model was founded largely on the notion that learning should be put to use for the benefit of a complex and interconnected society, and that approach to education has long valued the importance of diversity and inclusivity. In 250-500 words, tell us how you define diversity and inclusion, and what role you hope it will play in your college years (or beyond).

Sarah Lawrence, like most institutions of higher education, celebrates diversity, equity, and inclusion. What do these words mean to you? And how will diversity and inclusion play a role in your undergraduate life? Maybe you are the President of your school’s Black Student Union, where you discuss issues affecting the black community with your peers and empower each other to take action. Perhaps you’re hoping to continue leading discussions on identity and stereotypes through Sarah Lawrence’s club, Common Ground, next year. Perhaps friends you made in jiu-jitsu class have introduced you to a new art form and culture, influencing your decision to pursue study abroad opportunities in college. How do you see diversity and inclusion playing out in the next four years of your life? Whatever your background, we suggest you focus largely on your own personal growth or addressing a social issue that matters to you. Sarah Lawrence wants to know about your life beyond the classroom and how you will contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion on their campus.

Sarah Lawrence’s cross-disciplinary and self-directed program attracts students who want to delve deeply into intellectual and/or creative passions in ways that conventional academic structures may limit. In 250-500 words, tell us what aspects of your own goals, interests, or even personality led you to apply to Sarah Lawrence College and that make you a good “fit” with SLC

Sarah Lawrence might call this an essay about “fit,” but we call it a Why Essay . If SLC is your dream school, then this is your perfect opportunity to wax poetic on why you want to go. In sharing your deepest motivations, you’ll naturally showcase your fit. Don’t be afraid to get personal; small schools like Sarah Lawrence care about more than just your academic ambitions. They want to know that you’ll value the experience and benefit from the community. So our best advice: be vulnerable and be specific. Spend some time getting to know the school on a deeper level than the basic facts and figures. And connect some of your favorite offerings to your own personal hopes and dreams, whether it’s having the chance to study abroad or find a comfortable way to leave your small town without diving straight into a giant city. The more detailed you can be, the more you’ll demonstrate your commitment to the school, and by extension, your fit.

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