Paste a supplemental essay, enter the college's word limit, and see how specific, personal and on-prompt it is, with the sentences behind each score.
Paste your supplement and press Grade. Your result appears here: a score for each of the 5 rows, the sentences behind it and one fix per row.
The grader scores a supplement on five rows, from Answers the Prompt to Voice and Concision, each out of 5, and quotes the sentences behind every score. You enter the college's word limit, and our code checks your draft against it exactly as it checks the Common App's 650. The full pipeline, its tests and its limits are on our scoring method page.
Supplements are short, so every sentence is judged. Give the grader the question and the limit.
Paste one supplement at a time, and paste the college's question into the prompt field: the first row is judged against it. Then type the word limit from the prompt; the presets cover 100, 150, 250, 350 and 650 words.
The grader needs at least 50 words to judge an answer, so one-line “short takes” can't be graded on their own.
Over your limit, the count reads “280 / 250 words: 30 over your limit”, and cutting goes first in Fix this first. The essay is still graded.
Use this grader for anything a single college asks for on top of the main essay. For the main essay, use the college essay grader, which checks the Common App's 650-word limit and its seven prompts.
For the University of California, the UC PIQ grader knows each of the eight questions and the 350-word cap.
The same five rows fit every common supplement. What changes is what counts as specific.
| Prompt type | What “specific” means here |
|---|---|
| Why us | Courses, programs, people or traditions found at this college, and why each matters to you. |
| Why this major | What you have already done in the subject, and the classes or research you want next. |
| Community | One community you belong to, your role in it and something you changed or learned. |
| Activity or interest | A moment from the activity, not a summary of it, and why you keep doing it. |
| Row | Points | What earns it |
|---|---|---|
| Answers the Prompt | 0–5 | Answers the exact question asked, directly and fully, rather than recycling a different essay. |
| Specific to This College | 0–5 | Details that only fit this college, such as particular courses, programs, research or traditions, or for other prompts, concrete details of your experience. |
| Connection to You | 0–5 | Ties the details back to your own experiences, interests and goals, so the reader sees why this matters to you in particular. |
| Engagement and Contribution | 0–5 | Shows how you would take part and what you would add: what you would do, join, start, study or bring to the community. |
| Voice and Concision | 0–5 | A natural voice and efficient writing that uses a short limit well: no throat-clearing, filler or repetition, and clean mechanics. |
| Total | 25 | Our code adds the row scores; the AI never does the arithmetic. |
Each row runs from 0 to 5. Bands: 0-9 Early draft, 10-15 Developing, 16-20 Strong, 21-25 Ready to submit.
A "why us" answer to a 250-word prompt for a fictional college, written by our team. It answers the question well; one generic sentence costs it on two rows.
Supplement prompt (250 words): Why are you interested in Larkspur College?
Every Saturday since tenth grade, I have pulled on waders and tested Mill Creek behind our middle school for nitrates. My data lives in a shared spreadsheet that the county reads about twice a year. At Larkspur, I want to do the same work where people use it.A
Level: Answers every part of the prompt directly, from the first sentences.
NoteAnswers the question in the first paragraph and stays on it to the end.
Larkspur's Watershed Lab is the reason I first looked at the college. Students there run the sampling program for the Alder River,B and the city uses their results to decide where to replant the banks. I want to join that sampling team in my first year and learn how to turn readings into recommendations that someone acts on.
Level: Mostly specific details, with a little generic praise.
FixNext pointSwap the sentence about the campus and reputation for one more detail that only this college offers.
I am also drawn to the first-year seminar on rivers and cities, because it is taught jointly by a biologist and a historian.B My creek is polluted partly because of a parking lot built in the 1970s,C and I have never studied why those decisions were made.
Level: Clear personal links for most details.
FixNext pointSay what you would do with what the seminar teaches you, so the course connects to a goal and not only to your curiosity.
Larkspur has a beautiful campus and a strong reputation, and I think I would fit in well there.E
Level: Generally clear, with filler, repetition or noticeable errors.
FixNext pointCut this sentence: any applicant could write it about any school, and it spends words your specifics need.
Outside class, I would bring my habit of keeping careful records. I would like to start a monthly creek cleanup with local high school students,D so the next group of tenth graders has someone to learn from.
Level: Some sense of engagement, but vague.
FixNext pointConnect the cleanup to the lab's river sampling, so your contribution builds on something the college already does.
Short essays reward precision. Most gains come from replacing general sentences, not adding new ones.
Do the research before you revise: the course catalog, department pages, student newspaper and club lists. Then find each sentence that could name any college and replace it with one that names something only this one has, plus why it matters to you. The Specific to This College row quotes the sentences behind its score, so you can see what it counted.
Start with an opening that restates the question, then sentences about rankings, size or location, then lists of three programs where one would do. Cut until you are under, and grade again: the Voice and Concision row usually rises when the filler goes.
Both, joined. A detail about the college earns its place when the next sentence connects it to something you have done or want to do. If a paragraph is only about the college, Connection to You drops; if it is only about you, Specific to This College does.
Rarely. Under 150 words, end on your most specific sentence rather than a summary of what you just said. The words you save are better spent on a second concrete detail.
An extra essay or short answer that a particular college asks for on top of the main personal statement, such as "Why us?", "Why this major?" or a question about your community.
Each college sets its own word limit, so enter the limit from your prompt and the grader checks your draft against it.
Specific details about the college, such as courses, programs or opportunities, connected to your own goals and experiences, rather than rankings, weather or location.
You can reuse ideas, but a strong answer names things only that college offers, so the grader marks down sentences that would fit any school.