Personal Essay

The personal essay portion of our application for admission is perhaps the best place to truly tell your story, to tell who you are and what is important to you.

While spelling and grammar is important (yes, use spell-check!), we truly value your honesty and authenticity. Personal essays should be between 300 and 500 words (roughly a half of a page to a page of typed writing). If you want to get the process started you may submit your personal statement in advance of your application by emailing it (as an attachment or just in the body of the email) to admission@houghton.edu.

Personal Essay Prompts

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Describe one of the major goals you have in life and discuss how a Christ-centered, educational experience at Houghton would help you accomplish that goal.

In a few sentences, please describe your faith perspective and how you see yourself contributing to and/or benefiting from the Houghton University community.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?