<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>While I know that the Personal statement 500 word essay is critical to making admissions decisions, I am wondering how much impact the "Why our university" essay plays. Do colleges take a great, punctilious, approach to check for grammatical errors and specifics in your essay. I guess, what exactly should you demonstrate in this essay?</p>
<p>You should demonstrate that you are a good fit for this particular college. You should be able to show that you are familiar with the school and have some specific reasons to choose it.</p>
<p>Any other thoughtss?</p>
<p>Any other thoughts guys?</p>
<p>i was wondering about this too. Do you focus more on what you like about the school or what you can offer the school. I emphasized mainly on the former, but now I'm not sure if I should. To the OP, mine is for Duke, too :-)</p>
<p>This essay is for me the hardest (UPenn). As for me, I'm mainly focusing on what I can offer the school, just throwing in a bit about what they can offer me.</p>
<p>It depends on the question. Some schools say what do you offer to the school, and others would ask what can you offer. When i wrote one for UMich, I mostly wrote about how I could bring a lot of diversity to the campus. For NYU, I wrote a short supplement about the programs they offer that interest me. I am yet to write a super important one though.</p>
<p>The Penn one is basically asking Why would you and Penn make a good match, so it's kind of both sides of the coin :)</p>
<p>Well then I'd say write something about the campus or research if you havent visited. Find some cool tradition about the school or some really interesting NOT well known tidbit about the school that shows you have researched. And relate something awesome about the school to your own interests, and talents.</p>
<p>For example you could research a professor and say how you would love to study under him. You could research a building and its architecture or something cool. Or a cool tradition and say how you are interested in it. Whatever is your passion try to convey how you would pursue it through the college. I don't know - just be honest! Im no expert :)</p>
<p>I don't think any of us are experts- but those are REALLY good suggestions and many thanks!</p>
<p>Play adcom for a minute. You want to find students eager to take advantage of what your college can offer, students aware of what makes X a great school.</p>
<p>Your other essays have already told about you, and implicitly what you'd contribute. For this one, explain why X is a place you'll be able to do so, and what you hope to take away from the college experience.</p>