Colorado College 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Guide

Colorado College 2024-25 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250-300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why, Community, Diversity

In seeking to identify students who will thrive here, our supplemental essay prompt asks you to think about your experiences and potential for engagement with ideas in one of three areas that are critical to us as an institution and as a community:

Antiracism. Colorado College is committed to becoming an antiracist institution. We are working to break down systemic racism and foster an inclusive environment in which students, staff, and faculty of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives can thrive. With antiracism central to our mission, our students are better prepared to make meaningful change in the world.

Sustainability. We aspire to make CC a model for sustainability. 24 out of 30 academic departments offer at least one course that includes sustainability topics, we’re one of the top institutions in the country for water conservation, and our library is the largest net-zero academic library in the nation. We live our commitment to a thriving future.

Wellness. We recognize that there is no singular pathway to wellbeing, and empower students to envision and follow their own paths to wellness. Through a variety of resources designed to address physical, spiritual, and mental health while helping students develop skills in areas like stress management and building healthy relationships, we equip students to live healthy and fulfilling lives. 

With that background information in mind, here is the 2024-2025 supplemental essay prompt:

Colorado College values creating an equitable, environmentally-conscious, and healthy community. Choose one of these areas – antiracism, sustainability, or wellness – and describe your experiences and the specific ways you plan to get involved in this area at CC.

Colorado College may win the award for longest prompt ever while asking a very simple question: what have you done and what will you do on campus to further antiracism, sustainability, or wellness? Each of the three topics is fair game, so choose the one that speaks to you the most and write about your experiences. Maybe you developed crippling anxiety as you entered high school and discovered that swimming laps every morning was the perfect calming meditation. Perhaps you staged a protest at your school when they tried to remove recycling bins. If you don’t have any demonstrable experience with the topics, don’t worry; write about the aspects of your personality, values, or experiences that would prime you to get involved in one of these areas at CC. Perhaps you’ll act in allyship and challenge racial microaggressions when they arise in your dorm. Maybe you come from a multiracial family and have been struck by your effortless code-switching, prompting you to think more deeply about race in America and how you can effect positive change through a research project for your Linguistics minor. Whether you write about antiracism, sustainability, or wellness, make sure you tailor your response to demonstrate how you will further this agenda on campus.