The University of Richmond is located in Richmond, VA with a little more than 3,000 undergraduates. It’s a relatively challenging school to get into and is definitely academically rigorous. With an academic emphasis in the liberal arts, Richmond students rave about small class sizes, a gorgeous campus, and a diverse array of courses and extracurricular available to them. We’re going to walk you through how to tackle their supplement.

Please select one of the following prompts to address in 350-650 words:

Before we delve into which prompt to tackle, we want to address the wide word count range indicated by Richmond. 350 and 650 words are super different. We typically recommend that for this supplement, students write at least 450 words, but there is really no need to go above 500/550. We find that when students try to stretch their answers, it’s abundantly obvious and ends up diluting the content. Think quality over quantity. Don’t say things twice, and if you’re having a hard time expanding, think about the flow of your essay: is there a clear beginning, middle, and end? If you can’t determine those clear transitions, you have some work to do. Once you work through that and ensure that each section is clearly defined, we’re pretty sure you’re going to be in range. 

Now, onto the prompts.

Prompt 1: What is an urgent global challenge, social justice topic, or racial injustice issue about which you are passionate? What solutions or outcomes do you hope to see?

For this prompt, it’s important to not get soap-box-y about it. We know. It’s 2020. Things are wild right now and there’s a lot to be (rightfully) angry about. We’re on your side (#voteforbiden). But, don’t take this prompt as your excuse to rant about the things you’ve really just learned about racial injustice and how the criminal justice system is built on racist frameworks. This is not the place for your rant. This is, however, the place for a measured and structured piece of writing that clearly outlines the second part of the prompt (which is just as, if not more important than the first part of the prompt): “what solutions or outcomes do you hope to see?” 

Your answers are just as much about showing that you’ve read and given thought to the specific prompts as they are about creating a rich piece of writing and telling a story. This answer, if you choose to tackle it, should be rife with structural changes and suggestions for community-based change. Generalizations won’t serve you here. “Awareness and listening,” is not an adequate solution. 

Prompt 2: By the time you graduate from college, there will be jobs that don’t exist today. Describe one of them and how Richmond might prepare you for it.

Okay. This is a little bit of a “Why Richmond?” and also a little bit of a “tell us your dream job.” It’s important for you to identify your academic interests and provide some context and background for them, similar to how’d you put together a “Why Richmond?” intro + academics paragraph. From there, it’s up to you to take it in a very intentional and narrow direction that outlines a specific role and job with unique enough responsibilities that suggests that you’ve considered Richmond’s attempt at “zaniness.” They’re saying that they want you to come up with something totally unexpected and creative as an occupation, which isn’t entirely reasonable or useful in our opinion, but here we are.

Think about what you like doing most and how you can utilize those skills most effectively, while still describing a reasonable extension of your area(s) of your academic interest. It should all stem from Richmond and your academic major(s) and minor(s) of choice -- think in an interdisciplinary way and find a creative way to weave together your multiple interests. 

But, ultimately, this needs to be rooted in Richmond’s academic offerings and how you’re so excited about your majors, classes, and the faculty that you’ll be able to study under. Be specific, show that you’ve done your research, and show that you’ve spent some time having fun thinking about your answer to this prompt. There’s no way to answer this incorrectly, but you can submit something that isn’t adequately focused or researched. So be sure to not get too carried away with the “dream job” part of this, and keep it focused on Richmond. 

Prompt 3: You are required to spend the next year in either the past or the future. To what year would you travel and why? 

Egh. We really don’t like this prompt. . It is, at best, written through the white gaze. We’ll explain: if you’re a person of color, a person in the LGBTQIA+ community, or a person who identifies with any marginalized group, history--really, any era of history--is not a friendly place to ~daydream about where you’d want to spend one year~. 2020 isn’t the best, but neither was the entirety of the 19th century. If you’re going to go with this, think very critically. Remember it is a full year and not a day. Going to Woodstock might be fun, but ask your elders about their anxiety level in 1969.

So, we don’t know. Perhaps we’re reading too much into it. But unless you have a seriously great answer for this, we’d steer clear. You could always write about the future, but we think grounding your supplements in more tangible things is usually a good idea. Feel free to email us with your *stellar* take on this prompt. We just think that the other two are probably a way better use of your creativity and depth.

if you have any questions or if you want to talk this through--this isn’t an easy supplement.