Schools / 2025-2026
Lewis & Clark CollegeSupplemental Essays
All 2 required prompts, taken apart one by one: what each is really asking, plus annotated example essays, so you can see how to do it well.
- 1 required (choose 1 of 2)
- Supplemental essays
- 300-400 words
- Word limit
- Required, 250-650 words
- Common App statement
- Test-free
- Testing policy
Deadlines Early Decision Nov 1 · Early Action Nov 1 (notify by Jan 1) · Regular Decision Jan 15 Admit rate Around 78 percent of applicants are admitted, which makes Lewis & Clark less selective on paper than its reputation suggests. Do not let that number lull you. The college is test-free and genuinely reads what you write, so a thoughtful, specific supplement carries real weight in the file. The average admitted student brings roughly a 3.65 high school GPA, and the essay is where a strong writer separates from a strong transcript. Prompts verified from Lewis & Clark’s official requirements ↗
Lewis & Clark keeps its writing load light but pointed. Beyond the Common App personal statement (250 to 650 words), you write one supplemental essay of 300 to 400 words, choosing between two prompts: a personal motto question and a different-perspectives question. That is it. There is no long list of program supplements to grind through.
The catch is that Lewis & Clark is fully test-free as of the fall 2025 class, so there are no scores to hide behind. The reading is holistic and the writing matters more here than at a school still leaning on numbers. Your core challenge is to make 350 words feel lived-in and unmistakably yours, not to perform a polished college-applicant version of yourself.
Both prompts ask what you learned or how you think, not what you won. Lewis & Clark rewards essays where the takeaway is honest and a little surprising, not a trophy list dressed up as growth.
The school's identity is exploratory and interdisciplinary. An applicant who follows an idea sideways, questions it, and stays curious reads as a natural fit better than one who just states a strong opinion.
The Pacific Northwest liberal-arts culture prizes students who can sit with people unlike them and actually change their mind. Showing real exchange, not just tolerance, lands well here.
With no scores in the file, the prose carries you. Concrete detail, a real setting, and a teenager's actual voice beat anything that sounds like it was written to impress.
The single most useful move at Lewis & Clark is to treat the supplement as a second window, not a second resume. Your Common App statement already shows one big thing about you. Pick the supplement prompt that reveals a different corner. If your personal statement is about a hardship or a passion project, do not repeat that energy here. Choose the motto or the difference prompt that lets readers meet a part of you they have not seen yet.
Then go small and specific. A 350-word essay cannot hold your whole philosophy, so anchor it in one concrete moment: a kitchen-table argument, a shift at work, a line your grandmother repeats. The best Lewis & Clark supplements zoom into a single scene and let the larger idea rise out of it. Readers remember the detail, not the abstraction, and detail is exactly what a test-free, writing-first admissions office is reading for.
Tell us about your personal motto and how it guides you (Latin not required).
Lewis & Clark introduces this with its own motto, Explorare, Discere, Sociare (to explore, to learn, to work together), then asks for yours. They want a phrase you genuinely live by and proof, through real examples, that it shapes how you act. The motto can be a saying, a family line, a rule you set for yourself, or a translated phrase. It does not need to be in Latin or sound profound.
A motto is a fast, revealing lens on values. In 350 words it forces you to commit to one organizing idea and then back it with behavior, which tells admissions far more about your character than a list of activities would.
Think of a phrase you actually repeat to yourself or hear at home, then hunt for the one moment that proves you mean it.
Start from a small habit you have, like always finishing the boring task first or always asking one more question, and work backward to the motto behind it.
Pick a motto you sometimes fail to live up to, and write honestly about the distance between the words and your actions.
“My personal motto has always been to never give up, no matter how hard things get.”
“My grandmother's rule was 'measure twice, then measure again,' and I once cut a board four times before I trusted the number.”
- 1Opens on a concrete, slightly funny scene that states the motto and immediately shows it in action.
- 2A small, specific payoff (a real bird, a warped roof) turns the motto from slogan into evidence.
- 3Widens the literal phrase into a way of thinking without ever announcing 'this taught me a lesson.'
- 4Ends on the motto restated through earned experience, not a tidy moral tacked on.
- What phrase do I actually say out loud, to myself or to other people, more than once a week?
- When did following this rule cost me something or change an outcome I can describe in one scene?
- Where do I fail to live up to this motto, and is that gap more honest than pretending I always nail it?
- Does one specific scene prove the motto, rather than me just defining it?
- Have I shown the motto operating in at least two different parts of my life?
- Did I avoid repeating the theme of my Common App personal statement?
Reflect on a time when you engaged with someone whose background or life experiences are different from yours and share with us what you learned from that experience.
They want a real interaction with one person unlike you, and what genuinely changed in your understanding because of it. The emphasis is on exchange and learning, not on demonstrating that you are tolerant. Lewis & Clark's stated goal is a community where students grow by trading ideas with people who see the world differently, so they are checking whether you can actually do that. Note that this prompt is required only if you choose it over the motto prompt; you write one essay, not both.
Liberal-arts colleges live on productive disagreement. This prompt tests whether you can stay curious when someone challenges you and whether you can name a specific way your own thinking shifted, which predicts how you will behave in a seminar.
Recall a talk where you started out sure you were right and walked away less sure, then build the essay around that turn.
Think about a workplace, team, or family relationship where someone's daily reality was nothing like yours and you had to adjust.
Find a time you said or assumed something off, got corrected, and actually sat with it instead of defending yourself.
“Volunteering at the shelter taught me that everyone has a story and we are all more alike than different.”
“Mr. Okafor ran the halal cart on Fulton Street, and for three weeks I argued with him about whether college was worth the money.”
- 1A named person and a specific, ongoing disagreement, not a one-time feel-good encounter.
- 2Sets up a real difference in background and stakes, with the writer's own view clearly on the line.
- 3The turn is internal and honest: the other person exposes a gap in the writer's own thinking.
- 4Lands on changed thinking, not changed minds, and admits to lingering uncertainty instead of a clean moral.
- Who have I genuinely disagreed with, and can I name what they believed and why?
- What did I get wrong or oversimplify before this person corrected my view?
- What do I now do or ask differently because of that one interaction?
- Is the focus on what I learned, with myself clearly in the frame, rather than a profile of the other person?
- Did I show real exchange and a shift in my thinking, not just polite tolerance?
- Is the other person specific and respectfully drawn, not a stand-in for a whole group?
Mistakes that sink Lewis & Clark essays
Option A fails when the motto is a borrowed quote you Googled. Choose a phrase you actually say or live by, even an unglamorous one, so the essay can prove it with a real example instead of explaining a stranger's words.
Option B is about what you learned, not a profile of the interesting person you met. Keep yourself in the frame: what shifted in your thinking, what you got wrong at first, what you do differently now.
With only two essays total, overlap is wasteful. If your Common App piece already covers your immigrant family or your robotics team, steer the supplement somewhere new so the reader meets more of you.
Sentences like 'I value open-mindedness and lifelong learning' say nothing. Replace every abstraction with a moment a reader can picture, then let them draw the conclusion you would otherwise have stated.
Lewis & Clark essay FAQ
How many essays does Lewis & Clark require for 2025-26?
Two pieces of writing. The Common App personal statement (250 to 650 words) plus one Lewis & Clark supplemental essay of 300 to 400 words, where you choose between a personal motto prompt and a prompt about engaging with someone different from you.
What are the Lewis & Clark supplemental essay prompts?
You pick one of two. Option A: 'Tell us about your personal motto and how it guides you (Latin not required).' Option B: 'Reflect on a time when you engaged with someone whose background or life experiences are different from yours and share with us what you learned from that experience.'
How long should the Lewis & Clark supplemental essay be?
300 to 400 words. The instruction asks for a short response to one question, so aim for the middle of that range and make every sentence specific rather than padding to the ceiling.
Is Lewis & Clark test-optional or test-free?
Test-free. Beginning with the fall 2025 entering class, Lewis & Clark does not consider SAT or ACT scores at all. The college has been a test-optional leader since 1991 and has now moved fully test-free, which makes your essays and transcript carry more weight.
What are the Lewis & Clark application deadlines for 2025-26?
Early Decision and Early Action are both due November 1, with Early Action applicants notified by January 1. Regular Decision is due January 15. Lewis & Clark uses the Common Application and charges no application fee. Confirm exact dates on the official admissions site.
Do I have to write about the personal motto prompt?
No. You choose only one of the two supplemental prompts. Pick whichever one reveals a side of you that your Common App personal statement does not already cover.
Prompts and facts verified against Lewis & Clark Admissions: Essay Topics and Tips, Lewis & Clark Admissions: Apply (deadlines and test-free policy), CollegeVine: How to Write the Lewis & Clark Essays 2025-2026 and College Essay Advisors: Lewis & Clark 2025-26 Supplemental Guide (Lewis & Clark College, 2025-2026 cycle). Supplements change yearly, re-verify each cycle.
Writing your Lewis & Clark essays? Get the free Common App read first.
Get my essay read