“Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School to which you are applying at the university of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?”
I’m not sure how to approach this essay prompt. Since it’s specifically for the college I’m applying to and not in regards to the university as a whole, how do I write this? Should I talk about the research that certain professors are doing that interests me as well, or should I talk about what I want to major in? Im going to be applying to LSA, but my major is undecided–I was thinking either of Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience (BCN) or International Studies. What unique qualities do they want me to describe? Should I talk about professors I want to work with, class sizes, unique classes that UMich offers, what attracts me to my major, or…???
I’m finding this essay to be a little harder to approach than other “why us” essays. I don’t want to write something like “I love LSA because of the small class sizes and helpful professors” because UMich knows that already.
Any help is appreciated!
I like you describing the research as that is super specific and shows that you’ve done your research. Major is a major deciding factor (pun intended), so you can mention it, but only in passing. LSA doesn’t always have small class sizes, especially intro classes, so best to avoid that.
Honestly, just tell them why LSA. Why not engineering? Or nursing? Or art and design? Talk about potential careers or the flexibility you have if that is a reason (as an LSA student, almost every low level class is open to you, and you don’t have any strict requirements. They’ll tell you to take a quantitative reasoning course, but not necessarily a math class). Talk about the professors and why you want to learn from them. That’s basically what I talked about, and it worked for me
Michigan likes students that go really deep into their research. It shows passion, and the more passion the more their yield % goes up. Talk about the research IMO.
When I wrote this essay I talked about how many majors LS&A offers, and how helpful that is for someone who is undecided. I talked about how exciting it would be to be able to explore many different departments, all of which are top ranked in the nation.
Btw LSA doesn’t really have small class sizes (until you get to upper-level classes), so I wouldn’t mention that.
@microssrunner17 They’re looking for genuineness. They arent looking for anything in particular besides what you are interested in. What do you want to do in your future? How will LSA give you an avenue to reaching that goal? How is it different from the other colleges within UM (Engingeering, Kinesiology, etc.) or from other universities? If you don’t know what you are interested in doing in college, then you need to take time and figure it out what it is, and how LSA will make that happen for you.
