The Sarah Lawrence application is a lot like a Sarah Lawrence education—the power is in the applicants’ hands to decide how to share their story and through which media. One option many students gravitate toward is the supplementary essays, one of which invites students to share what drew them to Sarah Lawrence and what made it feel like such a strong fit for them personally.
Fit has to go both ways, and optional pieces like these essays can help our admission counselors picture you on campus—whether you discovered Sarah Lawrence during a tour or through the pages of this magazine, we want to know who you are and where you might land in our intellectual and social communities. These pages share excerpts from a few randomly selected essays from the Class of 2023—your potential peers.
Here’s how some of our current students described it on their applications.
I appreciate that Sarah Lawrence faculty members and students are on a first-name basis and that classes are intentionally kept small in number.
From the fairytale-like buildings mixed with modern architecture to my tour guide sharing Sarah Lawrence’s love of The Princess Bride, I enjoyed the overall vibe that the campus gave out.
I picked up an SLC course catalogue and couldn't put it down. So many classes piqued my interest, both in subjects I'm familiar with and subjects I have yet to explore.
When the tour guide started talking about dons, conference work, and its nontraditional grading system, I had a 'this is it' feeling.
This was not just your typical liberal arts college.
The Class of ’23
4,048 applicants
52% admit rate
400 first-year students
12 average class size
26% self-identifying students of color
13% international students
75% of students receive financial aid
$38k average financial aid package
$34m in scholarships each year