Schools / 2026 entry
Queen's UniversitySupplemental Essays
All 4 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.
- OUAC (105 for non-Ontario applicants)
- Application route
- Personal Statement of Experience (PSE) on SOLUS
- General writing
- Commerce, Health Sciences, Nursing (Kira Talent)
- Supplementary application
- 335-word written + 2-minute video response
- Supplementary format
Deadlines OUAC applications open October 1, 2025 · Apply by (Commerce, Health Sciences, Nursing) February 1, 2026 · Supplementary Application due (those 3 programs) February 15, 2026 · Apply by (all other first-year programs) March 1, 2026 · Final document deadline (transcripts, English tests) March 31, 2026 Admit rate Queen's does not publish a single official undergraduate acceptance rate. Independent estimates place it roughly in the 40-50% range overall, with Smith Commerce, Bachelor of Health Sciences, Nursing, and Engineering admitting at notably lower rates. Admission is grades-led for most programs, with writing weighed alongside marks. Verify program-specific selectivity with Queen's directly. Prompts verified from Queen's’s official requirements ↗
Queen's is in Kingston, Ontario, and you apply through OUAC, the Ontario Universities' Application Centre, not the US Common App. If you live outside Ontario, including in the US or anywhere else abroad, you use the OUAC "105" application. There is no single Queen's essay that every applicant writes. Instead, what you write depends entirely on your program, and Queen's tells you exactly what to submit through a personalized To-Do List on your SOLUS student portal after you apply.
For most first-year programs (Arts and Science, Engineering, and similar), the written piece is the Personal Statement of Experience (PSE), completed on SOLUS, where you list your top activities and reflect on them in short, capped text fields. For Commerce (Smith), Bachelor of Health Sciences, and Nursing, you instead complete a mandatory Supplementary Application on the Kira Talent platform: one timed written response (335-word limit, 10 minutes) and one recorded video response (2 minutes to prepare, 2 minutes to deliver). The core challenge for international and American applicants is that this is short, reflective, and experience-based writing, not the long personal narrative you may have drafted for US schools. You usually cannot reuse a Common App essay here.
The Queen's rubric rewards what you *learned* and how an experience shaped you going forward, not a dramatic retelling. The strongest responses name a specific moment, then spend most of their words on the takeaway and how it changed your behavior or thinking.
Queen's explicitly assesses how you handle setbacks, solve problems, and adapt. They want evidence that you took action and stuck with something hard, not that you held an impressive title. A small, real example with a clear decision beats a prestigious-sounding role with no detail.
The PSE and supplementary written response are built around concrete activities and jobs (paid or unpaid), including ordinary ones like household responsibilities, part-time work, or community roles. Queen's values these equally. Choose experiences you can describe vividly, not the ones that sound the most prestigious on paper.
Readers (often two of them) look for genuine self-awareness about your impact and contribution. Queen's requires the writing to be in your own words without professional assistance. A modest, honest insight reads as more mature than an inflated one.
Treat every word as expensive. The Queen's written pieces are short and capped (200 characters per activity field on the PSE, 335 words on the supplementary written response). That means you cannot afford a slow windup. Open on a concrete moment, name the challenge or decision in the first sentence, and spend the bulk of your words on reflection: what you did, what you learned, and how it changed you. The rubric's top tier is reserved for responses that "reflect meaningfully on what they learned and how it shaped their perspective or behavior going forward," so make that reflection the spine of your answer.
Prepare for the format, not just the content. Commerce, Health Sciences, and Nursing applicants face a timed, randomized question on Kira Talent with a mandatory practice round. You will not see the exact prompt in advance, so rehearse the muscle: pick three or four real experiences in advance, and for each one know the challenge, your action, and the lesson. Then you can adapt any prompt fast. For the 2-minute video, practice speaking to a camera until you sound like a calm, clear version of yourself, because composure under pressure is something the video rubric directly rewards.
List your top activities and jobs (paid or unpaid), including the positions held, in short capped fields.
Queen's wants a quick, honest inventory of what you have actually done: arts, athletics, faith-based roles, hobbies, volunteering, part-time work, and household or family responsibilities. Each entry gets its own tiny field with the position you held.
This list anchors the rest of your statement. It shows the kind of person you are through how you spend your time, and it gives your readers the raw material they connect to the reflection you write next. Queen's treats every activity as equally valuable, so this is not a contest of titles.
Choose activities you can later reflect on with a real story, not just the ones that look impressive on paper.
Write the role or contribution you held, not just the organization, so a reader immediately sees what you did.
Include real responsibilities like a job, caring for siblings, or a long-running hobby. Queen's values these equally.
“Member of various clubs and volunteer organizations throughout high school.”
“Lead barista and closing-shift trainer, Hillside Cafe (12 hrs/week, two years).”
- 1Names a concrete role and a measurable contribution in under 200 characters, so the reader instantly sees responsibility, not just attendance.
- 2Treats a household responsibility as a real role. Queen's explicitly values these equally, and it signals reliability and maturity.
- 3Pairs initiative (founder) with a concrete outcome (30+ laptops), which previews a strong reflection entry later.
- 4Demonstrates the discipline the format demands: every word earns its place because the character cap is brutal.
- Which five experiences could I actually tell a short, specific story about?
- For each one, what did I personally do that someone else would not have?
- Which of these reveal initiative, care, or persistence rather than just a title?
- Every field names my actual role or contribution, not just the group.
- I included at least one ordinary or family responsibility, not only prestige items.
- Each entry is under the character limit and reads clearly on its own.
Draw on your listed experiences and explain how your attributes are consistent with what Queen's is looking for, using full sentences.
This is the heart of the general PSE: choose a couple of the experiences you listed and explain, in real sentences, what they taught you and how those qualities fit Queen's. It is reflective writing, not a summary of your resume.
Your readers (often two of them) are looking for self-awareness, initiative, and meaningful reflection on growth. This section is where grades stop mattering and your thinking takes over. A specific lesson, honestly told, is what moves you up the rubric.
Start with a single concrete moment from your activities list, then zoom out to the lesson it taught you.
Pick a hard decision or a failure and show what you actually did about it, step by step.
Close on how the experience changed your behavior or perspective going forward, not just how it made you feel.
“I have always been a passionate and hardworking person who loves to help others.”
“The first laptop I tried to repair, I made worse, and the student needed it by Monday.”
- 1Opens on a specific failure with stakes. It earns attention immediately and sets up genuine reflection rather than self-praise.
- 2Shows initiative and persistence concretely (asked for help, put in the hours), which are exactly the attributes the rubric names.
- 3Quantifies the outcome without bragging, grounding the lesson in real impact.
- 4Lands on a forward-looking lesson about behavior change, which is precisely what the top rubric tier rewards.
- What is a moment where I struggled or failed and then figured something out?
- What did I do, step by step, that someone watching would have seen?
- How do I actually behave differently now because of it?
- I anchored on one specific moment, not a general personality description.
- Most of my words are about the lesson and the change, not the setup.
- A reader finishes knowing exactly how this experience shaped me.
Respond to a randomly assigned prompt (often about a significant challenge you faced and how you handled it) in a timed written response on Kira Talent.
For Commerce, Health Sciences, and Nursing, this timed written response replaces the general PSE. You get a prompt at random, usually asking you to describe a significant challenge and how you approached it, and you write under a clock with a hard word cap.
The written rubric prizes a clearly articulated challenge, thoughtful and creative problem-solving that 'shows planning or creativity,' and authentic reflection on what you learned. Under time pressure, structure is your friend: challenge, action, lesson.
Have three real challenges ready in your mind so you can adapt to almost any random prompt fast.
State the challenge in your first sentence. You do not have time for a slow build under a 10-minute clock.
Spend at least a third of your words on what you learned and what you would do differently next time.
“Throughout my life, I have faced many challenges that have shaped who I am today.”
“Two weeks before our fundraiser, our venue cancelled and we had already sold 80 tickets.”
- 1Names the challenge and the stakes in one sentence, which is essential when you only have 335 words and 10 minutes.
- 2Shows planning and structured problem-solving, the exact quality the written rubric rewards, with a visible decision-making process.
- 3Resolves with a concrete, slightly surprising outcome, which reads as authentic rather than tidy.
- 4Closes on a transferable lesson about behavior, fitting the rubric's emphasis on reflection and growth, and lands well under the word cap.
- 1A small, specific, human opening that suits Health Sciences and avoids cliche about always wanting to help people.
- 2Shows adaptability and self-awareness, two named rubric qualities, through concrete adjustments rather than claims.
- 3Reframes a common value (empathy) as an earned, practiced ability, which reads as mature and genuine.
- 4Ends forward-looking and broadens the lesson without overreaching, staying within the tight word budget.
- What are three genuinely hard situations I have navigated, with a clear decision in each?
- In each, what specific steps did I take that a reader could picture?
- What is the one-sentence lesson I now carry forward from each?
- My challenge is stated in the first sentence, not the third paragraph.
- I show a real decision and concrete actions, not just feelings.
- I am under 335 words and I end on a forward-looking lesson.
Record a spoken answer to a randomly assigned prompt: 2 minutes to prepare, 2 minutes to deliver, no script visible on camera.
After the written response, you record a short video answering a second random prompt. You get two minutes to think and two minutes to speak. There is no retake unless the system assigns you a fresh question, and you cannot read from a script.
The video rubric rewards initiative, appreciation for others' perspectives, and 'maturity, self-direction, and creativity or composure under pressure.' It is testing whether you can think and speak like a calm, real person, not whether you memorized lines.
Use your two prep minutes to pick one example and three beats: point, example, takeaway.
Speak slightly slower than feels natural. On camera, a measured pace reads as composure.
Look at the camera lens, not your own image, so you actually connect with the reader watching.
“Um, that's a really good question, let me think about that for a second.”
“The clearest time I changed my mind because of someone else was during a group project last spring.”
- 1A direct first line that answers the prompt immediately, which steadies your nerves and signals composure to the reader.
- 2Introduces another person's perspective, which the video rubric specifically rewards, and admits a flaw honestly.
- 3Shows real reflection and self-awareness spoken plainly, which matters more on video than polished phrasing.
- 4Closes with a forward-looking, school-specific line that fits comfortably inside two minutes of speaking.
- When did someone else's view change my mind, and can I tell it in two minutes?
- What are the three beats (point, example, takeaway) I want to hit out loud?
- How do I sound when I am calm and clear, rather than rehearsed?
- I answer the prompt in my first spoken sentence.
- I include one concrete example and one honest reflection.
- I finish comfortably inside two minutes without rushing or reading.
Mistakes that sink Queen's essays
A 650-word personal narrative will not fit, and its storytelling style is not what Queen's asks for. The PSE and supplementary written response are tighter and more reflective. Rebuild from scratch around a single experience and its lesson.
Naming five impressive activities and stopping there wastes the opportunity. Queen's weighs reflection heavily. For each experience you discuss, make sure the reader learns what *changed in you*, not just what you did.
A part-time job at a grocery store, described with a real decision and a real lesson, scores better than a vague mention of 'leadership' in a famous-sounding club. Queen's says activities are valued equally, so pick the one you can make concrete.
The supplementary written response is timed (10 minutes, 335 words) and the video is recorded live. Do the mandatory practice round, watch the clock, and remember the work must be your own words without professional help. Missing the February 15, 2026 supplementary deadline can end your application for those programs.
Queen's essay FAQ
Does Queen's University require an essay?
Not a single common essay like US schools. Most first-year programs ask for a Personal Statement of Experience (PSE) completed on the SOLUS portal, where you list activities and reflect on them in short capped fields. Commerce, Health Sciences, and Nursing instead require a mandatory Supplementary Application with a timed written response and a recorded video. Your exact requirements appear on your personalized To-Do List in SOLUS after you apply.
What is the Queen's Personal Statement of Experience (PSE)?
The PSE is Queen's reflective written component for many first-year programs. You list your top activities and jobs (paid or unpaid) in short fields, then write a reflection drawing on those experiences to show qualities like initiative, adaptability, and self-awareness. It must be in your own words, with no professional assistance, and it is weighed alongside your grades.
What are the word and character limits?
On the PSE, each activity field is roughly 30 words or 200 characters with spaces, and the reflection runs up to about 500 words (some fields cap at 2,000 characters). For Commerce, Health Sciences, and Nursing, the Supplementary Application written response has a 335-word limit with 10 minutes to write, plus a 2-minute video response.
What are the Queen's application deadlines for 2026 entry?
OUAC applications open October 1, 2025. Apply by February 1, 2026 for Commerce, Health Sciences, and Nursing, with their Supplementary Application due February 15, 2026. All other first-year programs have a March 1, 2026 application deadline, and the final document deadline is March 31, 2026. Always confirm current dates on Queen's official site.
Do American and international students apply through OUAC?
Yes. Applicants from outside Ontario, including students in the US and other countries, apply through the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC) using the 105 application, not the US Common App. After you apply, Queen's gives you a personalized To-Do List on SOLUS showing exactly which written components your program requires.
Can I reuse my US Common App essay for Queen's?
Generally no. Queen's writing is shorter, more reflective, and experience-based, and parts of it are timed. A 650-word personal narrative will not fit the PSE fields or the 335-word supplementary response. Build a fresh, tighter piece centered on a specific experience and what you learned from it.
Prompts and facts verified against Queen's Supplementary Information (official), Queen's Supplementary Application FAQ (official), Queen's Supplementary Application Rubric (official), Queen's Undergraduate Admission Dates & Deadlines (official), Queen's US High School Applicants (official) and OUAC Undergraduate Guide - Queen's (Queen's University, 2026 entry cycle). Supplements change yearly, re-verify each cycle.
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