To be super honest, I chose my colleges because:
But should I talk about those when answering why [college]? I feel like if I talk about wanting to live off campus, the AO will be like “oh so you are not going to contribute to the community”.
And also it’s a very generic answer. That is living off campus and scheduling flexibility can be achieved at a thousand+ colleges. So you wouldn’t be making a convincing case for the schools you are applying to. Surely you had some other reasons for picking those schools?
No reference to how the campus looks, living off campus, rankings. Flex class scheduling, meh…only if it’s unusual, like block schedule.
For why us essays: major, specific classes you are going to take, specific profs you’d like to take classes with or do research with, specific clubs you will join.
You should not be able to copy and paste Why Us essays, if you can, they are too generic.
Yeah, unless you are applying to colleges that pride themselves on those features e.g. “Here at college XYZ, our mission is to provide education to nontraditional and working students!” (but these colleges are seldom highly ranked so I doubt it), I would not mention those factors. It’s like how you don’t tell someone on a first date that you asked them out because they lived close and were about a 6 looks-wise so you figured you had a decent chance. In short, the “Why Us” essay is the time for a few white lies.
So to be super honest in return–the AOs I have seen discuss these essays have almost all implied, or just said, they do not like to hear the main distinguishing factor for their college was rankings. I also agree citing wanting to live off campus is likely to compound the issue of it sounding like you maybe do not have particularly good reasons as to why them (good by their standards, at least).
And again, continuing to be honest–I think the best solution to this issue is not to pick colleges that way. Like, appropriate rankings can give you some leads, but then ideally you would really investigate your possible colleges, visit in person if possible, online if not, look at department webpages of interest, look at admissions pages and in particular their “what we look for” pages, and so on. Then put together a well-informed list of colleges which are particularly good fits, both them for you and you for them. If you follow that process you necessarily have other things to talk about besides rankings.
So in some sense this advice is coming to you too late if you are already applying without having done all that. Still, you could at least give it a shot. Do that stuff (probably just online at this point, although if a school is close, maybe in person), and see if anything really excites you, resonates with you, and so on. That is then something you can talk about.
Is that true? A lot of schools we visited did not allow off campus housing for freshmen.
Brown, Rice, SMU, UConn, Vanderbilt, Amherst, BU
Other schools our D is interested in also require it: Georgetown, UNC, UVA, Columbia
Since the OP mentioned rankings, I wonder what the actual percentages are among the T50 schools.
The OP didn’t specify living off campus freshman year.
Still not a great answer, in my opinion.
I agree that’s not what the OP should say but I was curious.
My D moved up UT and Michigan in her personal rankings because she didnt have to live in a dungeon-like dorm (she would totally relate to the OP), especially after our tours and her friend attending Duke described her dorm as shabby and terrible.
A school should have value for its offerings - so this is not a good answer.
Maybe they have an unusual degree or unusual classes that are of interest. Or a religious community you’ve heard about. Or the architecture or you can’t get the mascot out of your head.
They don’t require students to live on campus - ok - but that’s one of a million schools - so no points there.
They have good rankings - well that’s great - but what will they contribute to you academically, what will you to them, etc. A ranking is a 3rd party “validation” - but while many choose schools based on this, you don’t say this. You “imply” why having you there will enhance the school and ranking - i.e. what can you contribute.
Flexible scheduling - again, one in a million schools.
Why should they “hire” you - not for any of those reasons.
Sell them on how you add value to their campus.
You are a salesman.
The product is you.
Yeah, with a sufficiently narrow rankings range, presumably this gets you to a manageable list.
So I think the core issue is using rankings like that. Colleges which have why us essays in the first place do not seem to love that reason.
Yep, the AOs don’t want to hear about rankings in the “Why Us?” essay.
It’s silly, of course. Colleges (other than Reed maybe) put in a lot of effort to rise in the rankings because they know it attracts students. But then they want prospective students to pretend they weren’t attracted by the ranking.
It’s a game the students have to play at selective schools. They have to pretend they think rankings are irrelevant and that they just happened to find a college that was a good fit…and then my goodness, by total coincidence it happens to be highly ranked…not that I care or even notice!
I feel like “Why us (besides rankings)?” should be the official topic. Like, I understand why these colleges would ideally want to hear you considered other things to be very important TOO. But the de facto message of “be honest except don’t mention rankings” does seem to be asking too much.
I’m pretty sure Rice doesn’t require anyone to live on campus?
I understand these priorities and my kid felt the same way, wanting to live off campus like an adult, control her schedule, cook her own food etc. and it is true that a lot of high-ranking schools do not want students doing this. I agree though that citing these reasons as the reason for picking the school is unlikely to produce success.
Imagine telling someone you were interested in them romantically because they were free the same time of day as you, were not too clingy, and seemed in demand by others on the dating scene. I think for most people that would be a hard no. I think the “why us” answer should ideally create an “i love your mind, our values jibe and I have so many ideas for amazing things we can do together” vibe.
I was going to have my S24 write because they keep sending him emails, flyers, and brochures that he feels guilty not applying. But I doubt that will go over well.
Have a look at this. The first section gives a good explanation of how you can approach Why Us essays.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/supplemental-essay-tips-plus-the-covid-question-on-the-ca/
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