Sewanee: The University of the South supplemental essays
No. Sewanee: The University of the South asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
That is one piece of writing in all: the Common App personal statement. Early Decision closes November 15, 2026, Early Action closes December 1, 2026 and Early Decision II closes January 15, 2027, with the rest in the table below. This page lists Sewanee: The University of the South's application deadlines and what the application does ask you to write.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 15, 2026 |
| Early Action | December 1, 2026 |
| Early Decision II | January 15, 2027 |
| Regular Decision | February 1, 2027 |
Checked against new.sewanee.edu/admission-aid/application-process. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The personal statement carries the whole writing signal here.
Sewanee: The University of the South reads exactly one piece of writing: the Common App personal statement (250-650 words). There is no "why Sewanee: The University of the South" essay and no short answers, so adding it to a list costs zero extra essays; the statement you already have is the entire file here.
That cuts both ways. With no supplement, there is no second chance to show fit or interest in writing, so the one essay has to do all the character work on its own.
Early Decision (November 15, 2026) is binding: an admit commits you to enroll. A second binding round, Early Decision II, closes January 15, 2027. Early Action (December 1, 2026) is non-binding: an earlier answer with no commitment attached. Regular Decision closes February 1, 2027. Applying early means your essay is final about 11 weeks sooner; that is the revision time you trade for an earlier answer.
Paste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.
Your Sewanee: The University of the South checklist
One piece of writing, and it is required. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 15, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
It saves these rows to your essay manager, where each one carries a status you set yourself and the prompt stays attached to it. Add your other schools and they land on the same page, in deadline order. Nothing written yet? The topic quiz is free as well.
Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
Paste your essay for a free read
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Not sure what a review is? What an AI college essay review can and cannot do, and what a college essay grader leaves out. What the read checks against Sewanee: The University of the South’s own prompts is on the Sewanee: The University of the South essay review page.
Getting into Sewanee: The University of the South
Sewanee: The University of the South admits 56.9% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1260-1390 on the SAT and 27-31 on the ACT.
About 6 in 10 applicants are admitted, at a college of 1,607 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1260 | 1330 | 1390 |
| SAT reading and writing | 640 | 670 | 710 |
| SAT math | 620 | 660 | 680 |
| ACT composite | 27 | 29 | 31 |
What SAT score do you need for Sewanee: The University of the South?
A 1390 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1330 at their midpoint, and a 1260 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 27, 29 and 31. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for Sewanee: The University of the South?
- Sewanee: The University of the South sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1260-1390 on the SAT: a 1260 sits at the 25th percentile, 1330 at the median and 1390 at the 75th. A score at or above 1390 is a clear strength in the application; below 1260 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures Sewanee: The University of the South reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for Sewanee: The University of the South?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 27-31 on the ACT, with a composite of 29 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 27. Reported by Sewanee: The University of the South to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for Sewanee: The University of the South?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for Sewanee: The University of the South is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that Sewanee: The University of the South admits 56.9% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into Sewanee: The University of the South?
- Sewanee: The University of the South admits 56.9% of the people who apply, which is about 6 in 10 applicants. Numbers inside the reported range put you in a real position here, and the application itself decides the rest.
What Sewanee: The University of the South costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
Sewanee: The University of the South essay questions, answered
- Does Sewanee: The University of the South have supplemental essays?
- No. Sewanee: The University of the South asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. The Common App personal statement is the only writing in the application. It runs 250 to 650 words.
- How many essays do you write for Sewanee: The University of the South in 2026-27?
- One: the Common App personal statement. There are no Sewanee: The University of the South supplements in 2026-27, so adding this school to a list costs no extra essays.
Schools with similar admit rates
Sewanee: The University of the South admits 56.9% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: Virginia Tech (54.8%), Illinois Institute of Technology (54.9%), Georgia State University (55.4%), DePauw University (57.2%), Texas A&M University (57.4%), University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) (58.1%).