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UVM: Ben & Jerry's Flavor

500 words (optional; choose one of six prompts)

Established in Burlington, VT, Ben & Jerry's is synonymous with both ice cream and social change. The 'Save Our Swirled' flavor raises awareness of climate change, and 'I Dough, I Dough' celebrates marriage equality. If you worked alongside Ben & Jerry, what charitable flavor would you develop and why?
What it’s really asking

This is UVM's signature playful prompt. They want you to invent an ice cream flavor that supports a cause, then explain why that cause matters to you. The 'why' is the whole point; the flavor is the wrapper. Choose this if you have a cause you genuinely care about and a sense of humor to deliver it.

Why they ask it

UVM uses this prompt to find personality and values at the same time. A great answer is fun to read and reveals what you would fight for. Readers learn whether you can be creative, specific, and sincere all at once, and whether your values come from real experience rather than headlines.

Three ways in
Start from the cause

Start from the cause you actually care about, then design the flavor backward so every ingredient and pun means something.

Anchor it in a story

Anchor the cause in a personal story, so the essay is about you and not a general issue everyone already agrees on.

Balance humor and heart

Let the humor and the heart share the page; the pun gets them smiling, the reason makes them remember you.

✕  Weak opening

“My ice cream flavor would be called World Peace Swirl, because I think everyone should just get along and be kind to one another.”

✓  Strong opening

“My flavor is 'Last Call,' a black-coffee base with shortbread cookies shaped like tiny diner mugs, and every pint funds overnight shelters that stay open past 2 a.m.”

✦ Annotated example · Ben & Jerry's: Common Grounds. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
My flavor is called Common Grounds, and it tastes like an argument that ended well. 1Coffee ice cream, because every good conversation in my town happens over a cup of it. Folded in: chunks of dark chocolate (bitter, like the parts nobody wants to talk about) and a swirl of honey (sweet, like the moment someone finally listens). The pints would fund civic dialogue programs that bring people who disagree into the same room with a shared task and free dessert. 2I picked this because I have watched my own community stop talking to itself. 3Two years ago our town meeting devolved into a shouting match over a single bike lane. A bike lane. I was there to cover it for the school paper, and what I wrote down was not the policy. It was the way two neighbors who had carpooled for a decade walked out separate doors. The issue was small; the distance it opened was not. I started wondering what it would take to get those two people back at the same table, and I noticed it was never the facts that fixed it. It was usually food, time, and a reason to stay seated. 4That is what Common Grounds funds: not a campaign that tells people what to think, but the unglamorous logistics of getting them to think near each other. The church basement rental. The facilitator's stipend. The childcare so a tired parent can actually come. 5Ben and Jerry built a company on the idea that you can put a stance in a pint and hand it to a stranger. Save Our Swirled does not lecture you about carbon; it gives you something delicious and a small nudge. I love that model because it is humble. It does not assume it can change your mind. It just keeps you at the table a little longer. 6I cannot fix a divided town with ice cream. But I can imagine a pint that funds one more conversation, sweetened just enough that two old carpool partners might sit back down, scrape the bottom of the same carton, and remember they used to like each other. I would call that a good return on dessert.7
  1. 1Names the flavor in the first line and gives it a pun that doubles as a thesis. UVM explicitly rewards a little fun, and this signals voice instantly while previewing the cause.
  2. 2Builds the flavor as an extended metaphor where every ingredient maps to the cause. This is specific and inventive, which beats a generic 'I care about kindness' answer.
  3. 3Grounds a playful premise in a real, sincere motivation, which keeps the essay from reading as a gimmick.
  4. 4A vivid, true-feeling micro-story (the bike lane, the carpooling neighbors) shows rather than tells why the cause matters. The reporter detail also reveals character.
  5. 5Defines the charitable cause with concrete, modest, realistic line items. This specificity signals the applicant understands change is logistical, not just slogans, which reads as mature.
  6. 6Engages directly with the named example in the prompt and articulates why that approach works. This shows the applicant actually read and thought about the brand, not just the assignment.
  7. 7Closes with humility (admitting the limits), loops back to the carpooling neighbors, and ends on a light, voice-y line that keeps the requested fun while landing the point.
Stuck? Start here
  • What cause do I care about because of something I personally lived, not something I read?
  • What flavor, base, mix-ins, and name could carry that cause so every detail means something?
  • Where can humor and sincerity coexist so the essay is both fun and memorable?
Before you submit
  • My flavor clearly supports a cause, and the 'why' is the heart of the essay.
  • The cause is anchored in a personal story, so the essay is about me.
  • Every ingredient or pun does meaning-work; nothing is random decoration.

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