Lafayette is a liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Just over 2,600 undergraduate students attend the school that is 70 miles away from New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia. The acceptance rate is around 30%.

Let’s take a look at their supplements:

There’s a difference between being busy and being engaged. Lafayette comes alive each day with the energy of students who are deeply engaged in their academic, co-curricular and extracurricular explorations. In response to the prompt below, keep it simple – choose one activity and add depth to our understanding of your involvement.

What do you do? Why do you do it? (20-200 words). The response to this question is optional.

Before we begin, you should not consider this prompt as optional. If you’re serious about attending Lafayette, you need to submit a response. If you don’t, they won’t think you’re committed to becoming a member of their incoming freshman class. 

Moving on. This question is terrific. And rarely do we find the blurbs that accompany prompts to be helpful, but this one is. Read this sentence over: There’s a difference between being busy and being engaged. Now read it again. Lafayette wants you to write about something that you’re passionate about and engaged with. They do not want to hear about how busy you are as a member of the three clubs that meet once a week but accomplish nothing. 

Solid responses to this question will be centered around a long-term commitment to anything that you care deeply about. It could be a job, an extracurricular activity, a family responsibility, etc. Once you decide which activity to write about, you need to explain your why. We strongly suggest doing so by telling a story. If you’ve been tutoring for four years, highlight an experience that was challenging but rewarding. If you’re passionate about your job as a barista, take them through a day that reminds you why you love the job so much. It will be tempting, but do not break form and say “my job as a tutor has made me empathetic and a leader.” Show yourself being an empathetic leader by telling a story.

Students identify Lafayette as an excellent fit for countless reasons. In your response, be deliberate and specific about your motivation for applying to Lafayette.

Why Lafayette? (20-200 words)*

For the record, it’s highly unlikely that anyone has ever submitted a great response to this prompt using only 20 words. Aim for 200!

The best way to go about this prompt is to write a story about yourself with highly specific offerings from Lafayette weaved throughout. You should tell Lafayette what you plan to major in and then write about one class that you’d like to take and one professor who you’d like to research with. This is a short version of the popular “Why Us” question, and after you’ve covered academics, you should aim to include an extracurricular activity that you plan to join. 

It’s best to start by finding the “data” from Lafayette. So, for example, if you want to major in English, find an elective course about your favorite genre of literature and a professor whose expertise also aligns with your interests. Weave details about yourself in with the facts, and then explain why you want to join a specific club that is similar to what you did in high school. The final result should read like a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and make a case that Lafayette is the only logical place for you to go to college.

A short supplement doesn’t mean an easy supplement. Start gathering the information now and be precise about what you include.

If you need help, contact us here.