Tufts Essays 2025-2026

Tufts University Supplemental Essay Prompts: 2025-2026

Tufts University recently released their supplemental essays for the 2025-2026 admissions cycle. In this article, we will explain exactly what they are looking for in responses from applicants, so you can write essays that get you admitted there.

Applicants to the School of Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering: Please respond to one of the following three prompts in 200-250 words:

1. It's cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity and why?

Ideally, this should be a "why major" essay. The thing that excites your intellectual curiosity should be related to your major. I would pick a frontier problem related to your intended major and nerd out about that. I would try to relate either the applications of solving that frontier problem, the hypothetical tools needed to solve it, or the nagging questions its lack of resolution currently leaves, to a personal event in your life, and try to establish a strong personal connection.

It is key for this essay that you show the reader, in vivid detail, yourself trying to learn about this problem or engaging with topics related to solving it. They need to be able to visualize how your curiosity manifests in the form of you furthering your education.

Alternatively, you can write this essay about something you like to do, such as making disabled kids feel more included in general society, and how that goal of yours causes you to further your education in multiple fields needed to accomplish this objective. Again, in this alternative approach, vividly describing how you further your education in an intentional way to accomplish a goal is key.

To conclude this essay, I'd explain what it will mean to you to continue furthering your education in college in light of your goals.

2. How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?

Begin by painting a picture of how the most important aspects of your background, whether from your school or household, have influenced your identity. The reader should be able to clearly visualize the most formative moments and environments of your childhood. Showcase the experiences most pivotal in developing your initial set of values and interests that led you to partake in other activities, which further developed those values and interests until they evolved into the ones you currently hold. To conclude this essay, you should either discuss your expectations regarding how college will impact your personal growth, or explore how your adolescent journey has changed how you look back on your formative years.

3. Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community.

This prompt evaluates your ability to work with others and create positive change in your community. Tufts values students who will contribute to their collaborative campus culture, so focus on demonstrating leadership, empathy, and the ability to bring people together. Try to choose a community that best simulates the student-centric campus community you will experience during your four years in college. Ideally, this should be a community of peers that you actively contributed to in high school, one filled with smart, vibrant, and highly ambitious students.

Begin with a specific scene that shows you taking action to build collaboration or inclusion. Rather than starting with abstract statements about the importance of community, jump directly into a moment when you identified a need and took initiative to address it. Use first-person narrative to help the reader visualize your actions.

Describe the specific challenges you faced and the steps you took to overcome them. Show your problem-solving process and how you engaged others in your vision. Did you have to convince skeptical peers? Navigate different opinions? Adapt your approach when initial efforts failed? These details demonstrate your persistence and collaborative skills.

Focus on the impact of your efforts, both on the community and on yourself. Use concrete examples to show how your actions created positive change, increased participation, improved relationships, or greater understanding among group members. Admissions officers want to see that your efforts produced tangible results.

Colleges want to admit students who benefit from being immersed in their vibrant student communities. Therefore, concluding with how this community you contributed to, contributed back to you in terms of facilitating your personal and academic growth, and highlighting the specific, tangible nature of this development, would make for a compelling conclusion.

4. In addition, we will ask all applicants to complete this sentence in 250 words or less:

“I am applying to Tufts because…” 

As you begin to plan for the upcoming application cycle, know that we are here to help! We encourage you to learn more about the Tufts admissions process by exploring the admissions website, reading Jumbo Magazine or our student blogs, and following us on Instagram.

Given the resources they have asked you to use, for this "why school" essay, focus on the student culture at Tufts. Give strong personal reasons rooted in your lived experiences for why certain campus traditions appeal to you, and explain how participating in them will make you a better student there. Despite the emphasis on student experiences and campus life, it is also vital that you discuss the academic opportunities at Tufts. Make sure to mention professors you want to research with, explain why you want to conduct research with them, and highlight research centers where you'd like to participate. You might also cite student success stories regarding undergraduate research, and connect the ability to do such impactful work as an undergraduate to your personal motivation for undertaking this work. Convince the reader that Tufts has the right combination of school spirit and academic opportunities that will enable you to realize a clear, concrete goal that will make the world a better place.

If you want your college admissions essays to be the decisive factor that gets you into your dream school, schedule a free consultation with an admissions expert today to have all of your questions answered.