<p>HI everybody. I have an interview coming up in a couple of days, and was wondering: what's a way to answer the Why our college? question? </p>
<p>It seems to me that if you just say, for example,
"X college has a unique program that combines specialized engineering with a strong, liberal arts english program & has a great basketball team", sure it's honest, but THEY'VE ALREAYD HEARD THAT!
Most of the students applying there say it, and counselors say to take a "craetive and originial" approach to answering the question.</p>
<p>What do they mean by "original & creative?"</p>
<p>it's just an interview, not your essay.
If you want to be creative then it's your chance to think; not have use think for you. Most colleges only ask for a short paragraph bc they know it is extremely limiting. Unlike a general essay, there is little room for creativity. </p>
<p>Unique and creative means pertaining to you. For instance, everyone knows Duke has a great basketball team, but maybe you're interested in the engineering program as well because you want to be an engineer.</p>
<p>It doesn't even have to be specific, you could love the campus, the intellectual environment, the faculty, the students, hell, the architecture. It just has to be a be a reason.</p>
<p>Mind if I hijack? I've been wondering something like that too...
If you're answering an essay question on the subject, and you're applying to school abc only because they have great academics in the subject you like, is that a bad reason?</p>
<p>Do you mean specific department (I'll go with biology, even though I'm not interested in being a bio major), or something specific within "biology"?</p>
<p>I've heard that you should say something like, "I've met several times with prof. X, and this is exactly the kind of experience that I would like to continue having at your school..." (describe experience briefly)... but I'm not completely sure. You should make it very particular to the school though-- otherwise it'll just be dismissed as another typical essay, like "I want to go to your school because on top of great academics and intellectual atmosphere, it has a great sports teams. I also loved the campus when I visited, and could really picture myself there. I plan on majoring in X, and your school really has a great X department. This is why I want to go to this college."
that's just boring and you could put anything into X and write that for any college. make it special.</p>
<p>mostly, just insert how the school will help you. Talk about what you will do at the school, what organizations you will join, etc. As for the essay being unique to a college, do not waste your time doing that unless you're only applying to 5-6 schools. what most people do is tweak their why essays for each college. It saves time and hassle. plus, the essay is more of a tiebreaker at all but the most selective colleges.</p>
<p>yeah actually was duke. damn, you guys sure know your research.
Ok, so specifics. The thing is, I haven't stayed overnight or gone to any courses @ Duke, and i can't really say anything specific other than what's on the website.</p>
<p>Then spend an hour looking through the website at student testimonials/class bulletins/the online newspaper. Odds are something will jump out at you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
damn, you guys sure know your research.<a href="or%20I'm%20an%20engineering%20applicant%20too%20and%20I%20know%20one%20of%20the%20essay%20questions%20combines%20%22why%20engineering%22%20and%20%22why%20duke.%22%20:D">/quote</a></p>
<p>The answer to this question is more an exercise in seeing how deeply you're weighing options -- not to see if it matches a certain bucketload of answers (uh-oh: he didn't mention the great urban arts scene that our town is known for. He's obvious ignorant of our school! Guards, take him away!)</p>
<p>"The answer to this question is more an exercise in seeing how deeply you're weighing options -- not to see if it matches a certain bucketload of answers (uh-oh: he didn't mention the great urban arts scene that our town is known for. He's obvious ignorant of our school! Guards, take him away!)"</p>
<p>Lol. Yeah, that makes sense. Hmm, it seems that i was overthinking this a bit.</p>