2014 Application Essay Prompts

After much discussion among the admissions committee, we've now selected the essay prompts for the 2013-2014 first-year application. We hope they will inspire you to write an essay that will help us understand who you are, how you think, and what you might contribute to the University community. Keep in mind that your essays will be evaluated not only for admission, but also for possible selection for Honors Carolina, merit-based scholarships, and Excel@Carolina.

You'll submit two essays, the first of which is from the main part of the Common Application. These prompts are common to all schools who accept the Common Application and you can view both the prompts and instructions here.

The second essay will be specific to the UNC application. You'll choose one prompt and respond in an essay of 400-500 words. Here are the questions:

1. Most of us have one or more personality quirks. Explain one of yours and what it says about you. 
2. What do you hope to find over the rainbow? 
3. Why do you do what you do? 
4. If you could travel anywhere in time or space, either real or imagined, where would you go and why? 
5. Tell us about a time when your curiosity led you someplace you weren’t expecting to go.

We hope you'll have fun with these essays. We had fun writing the prompts, and we look forward to reading your responses!