Williams College

Essay prompts (1)

1 optional

1. portfolioFirst-year applicants — optional2026-27
   Source details

   First-year applicants — OPTIONAL. Williams requires no writing supplement; this is the only Williams-specific writing option, an academic paper submitted in place of (not in addition to) a supplemental essay. No length limit is stated for first-year applicants.

   Williams does not require a writing supplement. However, some students feel they do their best writing in an academic essay rather than a narrative piece. If you are interested in submitting an example of your academic writing, please submit a paper on any topic of your choice. It need not be graded, and may be an in-class handwritten assignment. We ask that you include a description of the assignment or prompt. Please do not submit lab reports.

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Williams College 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

No published AI policy for applicants as of Aug 27, 2026.

How reviews use this page

When you request a review for a Williams College 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.

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