Prompt database · 2026-27 cycle

Texas Christian University

Auto-updated — spot an error? tell usLast verified August 6, 2026

Deadlines

No deadlines published for this cycle yet. Check the source link above — we'll add them as soon as the school posts them.

Essay prompts

Confirmed with the school

No supplemental essay is required of general applicants.

Texas Christian University states that a first-year application needs no school-specific essay. The 9 prompts below belong to specific programs or cohorts and are required of the applicants they name — each one says who in its own heading. If none of them describes you, your personal statement is the writing.

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identityApplicants using the TCU Application2026-27500 words
Source details
Applicants using the TCU Application; applicants using the Common Application, ApplyTexas, or Coalition use the prompts within their own platform instead
At TCU, our mission statement is very important to us. “The mission of Texas Christian University, a private comprehensive university, is to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community through research and creative activities, scholarship, service, and programs of teaching and learning offered through the doctoral level.” This is integrated into all aspects of the TCU experience. If you were to write a mission statement about your life, what would it be and how does this mission direct your life and goals?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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identityApplicants using the TCU Application2026-27500 words
Source details
Applicants using the TCU Application; applicants using the Common Application, ApplyTexas, or Coalition use the prompts within their own platform instead
Tell us about the most significant person, experience, or circumstance which has shaped your life thus far. How has he, she, or it influenced your character? How might you use what you have learned to achieve your goals?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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otherApplicants using the TCU Application2026-27500 words
Source details
Applicants using the TCU Application; applicants using the Common Application, ApplyTexas, or Coalition use the prompts within their own platform instead
Those we call great will usually point to some failure in their lives as a pivotal moment leading them to their successful path. Tell us about a time in your life in which failure propelled you toward success.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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identityApplicants using the TCU Application2026-27500 words
Source details
Applicants using the TCU Application; applicants using the Common Application, ApplyTexas, or Coalition use the prompts within their own platform instead
In her best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees, TCU alumna Sue Monk Kidd wrote, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” What matters to you?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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academic interestBachelor of Science in Nursing program2026-27250 words
Source details
Applicants to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, submitted through the MyTCU Portal after the main application
Please describe the moment that nursing became your calling.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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academic interestBachelor of Science in Nursing program2026-27250 words
Source details
Applicants to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, submitted through the MyTCU Portal after the main application
How have you prepared, both academically and experientially, for the pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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communityJohn V. Roach Honors College2026-27800 words
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Applicants to the John V. Roach Honors College; choose one of three prompts
Transform the Community Every great community is built from the qualities and talents residents bring to it. In the John V. Roach Honors College, first-year students live together in Milton Daniel Hall, an incredibly engaged and connected community where highly motivated students encourage and support one another to lead from day one. So, before you get here, we want to know what you'll add to that mix and mission. Tell us about one essential quality or experience that you can't help but bring wherever you go, the thing that would show up whether you planned it or not. Share a specific story that puts it on display, including the real, ordinary, or even messy details of how it played out. Then take a step back: How does this quality or experience define who you are, and how might it shape the way you lead, support, or connect with the people around you in Milton Daniel, Roach Honors, and across TCU?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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activityJohn V. Roach Honors College2026-27800 words
Source details
Applicants to the John V. Roach Honors College; choose one of three prompts
Potential Unlocked Some of the best things Roach Honors students have achieved never showed up on a report card. Nobody assigned them. Nobody required them. They started because someone got an idea or got frustrated and decided to do something about it. We want to hear about a time you did that. Tell us about a project, effort, or pursuit that you started on your own, and walk us through what happened, including the messy, boring, or hard parts. How did you begin? What got in your way? What did you try, and how did it turn out? Then take a step back: What did the whole experience teach you about how you learn and why you keep going when things get tough? And how does it connect to what you'd want to explore at TCU and in Roach Honors?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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academic interestJohn V. Roach Honors College2026-27800 words
Source details
Applicants to the John V. Roach Honors College; choose one of three prompts
Where Curiosity Begins Everybody notices the big, obvious stuff. But our most interesting Roach Honors students are the ones who get curious about the things nobody else seems to see: a weird pattern, an everyday object, a habit, a place, a small problem that most people walk right past. So, here's what we want to know: What's a question you keep coming back to, maybe one you'll never fully answer? And what's the small, overlooked thing that got you thinking about it? Tell us where your curiosity started, what you notice that others miss, and how this way of paying attention says something about who you are and who you're becoming. Show us how your mind works when it's genuinely curious and working with real, specific details.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Texas Christian University has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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The school's published AI policy

If you choose to incorporate AI-based assistance while preparing your writing submissions for the John V. Roach Honors College at Texas Christian University, we expect you to approach it as you would when collaborating with others. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be powerful resources in your application process when utilized thoughtfully. These tools can help you generate ideas, edit your drafts, and refine your concepts, but it is crucial that your final submission reflects your own work. Please refrain from copying and pasting content that you did not create directly into your application. Focus on sharing real, specific details. This way, you can harness the benefits of AI while ensuring that your submission remains authentically yours.

This policy is from TCU's John V. Roach Honors College — TCU publishes no general first-year AI policy.

the school’s published policyChecked Sep 8, 2026

Our reading

TCU publishes applicant AI guidance only on its John V. Roach Honors College application page, which permits AI to generate ideas, edit drafts and refine concepts provided the final submission reflects the applicant's own work; no AI policy appears on TCU's general first-year, apply or nursing-supplement pages.

How reviews use this page

When you request a review for a Texas Christian University supplement, the feedback is grounded in exactly what you see here: the prompt itself, its word limit, and what the school publishes about its values and programs. That's the whole claim — calibrated to the prompt and the school's own published guidance, scored against a consistent rubric. Not insider knowledge, and never a rewrite: Second Read is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It flags weaknesses and tells you what to fix and why; it never writes a sentence of your essay.

Something wrong on this page?

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Prompts move mid-season

Every Friday: what changed in this week’s prompts. Nothing else. See what changed.