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Choosing the Perfect ApplyTexas College Essay Prompt

Last updated August 12, 2023

While preparing your college application it’s important to pay attention to what each school requires as part of their supplementary (or additional) components. The ApplyTexas application, serving all Texas public colleges, both 4-year and 2-year, and some private schools with one easy form, provides three prompt options for your college essay. Each school on your list may require 1, 2 or even all 3 of the prompts so you need to confirm which prompts you are required to respond to. There are also some schools that don’t require an essay at all! 

With three prompts to pick from (and the possibility the schools on your list don’t even require a college essay) - how do you know which prompt to pick or if you need to write an essay at all? The first place to start is on the ApplyTexas website. On this site, you can search each school on your college list to find their essay requirement. Use the Get Schooled College List Builder to stay organized as you do this research!

Category 1: Essay requirement is limited to one specific prompt only (example: Texas A&M only accepts Prompt A)

Category 2: One essay submission is required but students can pick between two or all three prompts (example: University of Dallas allows students to choose between Prompts A or B)

Category 3: The college is “essay optional” meaning they do not require a college essay but will accept one if the student chooses (example: for Baylor any essay prompt will be accepted but nothing is required)

Category 4: Colleges may have their own college essay prompts, provided within the ApplyTexas application. These are usually for specific majors within the school (example: Southwestern University art majors have a unique question to answer)

Category 5: An essay is not required and is not accepted as part of the application! (example: Texas Southern University and many others do require or accept a college essay)

With so many options what does all this mean? DO YOUR RESEARCH! Make sure when writing your ApplyTexas college essay you are completing the right prompt, if one is required at all. Once you have identified your prompt, and are ready to start writing, follow our simple instructions to outline and write the best essay yet! Check out this article by College Forward for even more tips to help your essay shine.

Need help? Submit your college essay for free feedback from Get Schooled!

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