Overview

• Leading institutions including Harvard, MIT and Columbia have integrated the disagreement prompt into their 2025 application supplements.
• Admissions consultants recommend steering clear of hot-button political topics and framing balanced conflict scenarios to demonstrate composure.
• Schoolhouse.world’s dialogue portfolios, accepted by top universities, let applicants debate on Zoom and earn ratings for empathy, curiosity and kindness.
• Critics warn that rehearsed civility advantages students who can afford private tutoring and deepens inequities in hyperselective admissions.
• Commentators and student writers urge universities to reinvest in humanities courses and structured dialogue programs to cultivate authentic debate skills.