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Maryland  /  Essays  /  Prompt 2

Maryland: Something we might not know about you

650 characters (about 100 words)

Something you might not know about me is…
What it’s really asking

Maryland is handing you an open door. This prompt wants the real, slightly off-script detail that does not fit anywhere else on the application: an odd hobby, a quiet skill, a surprising responsibility, a contradiction. It is a personality test more than an achievement test.

Why they ask it

Across 60,000 applications, the readable, human answers stick. This is where you stop sounding like a resume and become a person a reader remembers. The best responses make an admissions officer smile or lean in.

Three ways in
Reveal a genuine quirk

Share an odd hobby or obsession with a specific detail, not a polished accomplishment dressed up as a fun fact.

Surface a hidden role

Name a responsibility or job you quietly do at home or in your community that never shows up elsewhere on the application.

Own a contradiction

Reveal a true tension in yourself (loud onstage, shy offstage) and show it honestly rather than smoothing it over.

✕  Weak opening

“Something you might not know about me is that I am a very hard worker who never gives up on my goals.”

✓  Strong opening

“Something you might not know about me is that I have memorized the bus schedule for three counties.”

✦ Annotated example · What you might not know: the 64 bus. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
Something you might not know about me is that I can recite the entire 64 bus route from memory, every stop, in order. 1For two years I rode it ninety minutes each way to a magnet school across the city, 2so I learned which seat stays warm in winter 3and which driver lets you on when your card glitches. I did homework against the window, sketched the skyline, and once walked a lost tourist to the aquarium. 4That commute taught me that wasted time is mostly a decision.5
  1. 1Opens with a surprising, specific claim that delivers on the prompt instantly. Concrete over polished, exactly Maryland's taste.
  2. 2Grounds the quirk in real circumstance, turning a fun fact into a window on the applicant's life and grit.
  3. 3Sensory, lived detail that no generic essay would invent. This is the kind of texture that reads as true.
  4. 4A small list that shows resourcefulness and warmth without ever announcing those traits.
  5. 5A modest, earned reflection that lands cleanly within the character limit.
Stuck? Start here
  • What do your close friends know about you that no teacher or counselor would?
  • Is there a role you quietly play at home or in a group that never shows up on paper?
  • What is a small, genuine obsession of yours that says something true about how you think?
Before you submit
  • Is this actually surprising, or just a softer way of bragging?
  • Did I use a concrete detail instead of an adjective like "hardworking"?
  • Does it sound like me talking, not a college-essay narrator?

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