<p>ive been wondering about this for awhile, and i asked this once a long time ago, but i still havent the best idea, so i wanted to ask here.</p>
<p>what do you guys think is the best way to go about writing a "why this college" essay? people have told me that i shouldnt be applying if i dont know the answer to that, but my fear is writing something thats much too trite. after all, since tens of thousands of people apply to these schools, its hard to effectively be your own advocate answering this question.</p>
<p>so in this situation, what are the general kinds of things that one can touch up on when answeirng this question? does it include things like course offerings, geographic location, etc? and what other things should one consider when writing one of these essays?</p>
<p>Touch on things that make the school, the school i.e., that sets it apart. If they have a convocation and that appeals to you say so and why. If you like the coffee shop downtown, call it by name and share the visual of that coffee shop, the street scene, the buzz etc. You can Google the college and get a bunch of things to mention, but keep in mind so can anyone else. Sharing something about yourself while showing that you have invested some time and energy into learning about the school and its programs/offerings will engage the reader. </p>
<p>The “trite” detail that you share may be trite or it may be the thing that truly resonates with the reader. Don’t worry about it, just be yourself.</p>
<p>Be genuine but in a way that is not cliche. There are many ways you can do this. I know a person at my school who got into Brown that wrote about the naked donut run and other odd events like that. My Stanford “why” essay was light-hearted, but ended on a serious note (focused on the Wacky Walk tradition, then went into academics and my major, opportunities, etc etc etc)</p>
<p>If you don’t already have this book On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld ([Amazon.com:</a> On Writing the College Application Essay: The Key to Acceptance and the College of your Choice: Harry Bauld: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Writing-College-Application-Essay-Acceptance/dp/0064637220]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Writing-College-Application-Essay-Acceptance/dp/0064637220)) you should get a copy. It’s mostly about the main essay, but there is very helpful info about the Why X College essays. It really helped me!</p>
<p>I read that book twice. It says to always be creative, not to ramble on about campus details that every idiot who visited the school website can make up along with a theasarus for those 10$ words.</p>
<p>I have a similar probably; How do u be creative when it asks you why you want to go to the school? I just ended up listing a bunch of details about Penn.</p>
<p>My method was to hang around/browse on some forums, and pay particular attention to the little details the actual students at the college give. Like for Swarthmore, I talked about their “Bathtub Debates” and how that was very amusing to me as a debater, etc. I never would have found out about if somebody hadn’t mentioned it on CC! It’s fine if you use some of the school’s advertised stuff to explain why you like the school – I did, and I did fine – but like they said, you want to include some aspect of the school that isn’t school-generated.</p>