<p>for not reading instructions, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>But how are you supposed to answer the "Why College X?" questions or "Why department or program Y" questions?</p>
<p>Do you mention why you think the school might be a fit, certain programs or professors or research? How do you tackle things like this if you're not even sure what you're interested in studying yet?</p>
<p>kk- i just wrote one for the university of rochester</p>
<p>i can tell you what kinds of things i wrote if you'd like</p>
<p>yeah robotab, could you?</p>
<p>Just my two cents, but I think it's crucial to be honest. The people reading your essay will have enough experience to be able to spot insincerity. </p>
<p>And there must be some reason you picked these schools. So if you picked a school because you think you and it are a good fit, or it has professors or research that interest you, go with that. </p>
<p>Not knowing what you want to study can be a good reason for picking a particular school. Some schools have philosophical positions about not rushing students into majors and let them spend their first year or two exploring interests and getting to know faculty--so if you bring that up, in reference to your situation, it shows you've done your homework and looked for a school whose process matches yours. </p>
<p>Your answer should demonstrate that you are familiar with the school and are making an informed decision to apply there (and are likely to attend and be happy/successful if chosen). You want to separate yourselves from the people who are applying just because of the school's prestige or name recognition, or because it's in their hometown, or because their parents suggested it, etc.</p>
<p>ok, here's what I wrote for The University of Rochester...
They asked for 600 characters w/ spaces and my thing's like 1400 lol, but I emailed them and asked if it was ok that I went over the limit by a lot for each question and they said it was fine and that it would not irritate them. They have 3 questions on their suppliment, and my responses are 2 paragraphs, 3 paragraphs and 1 paragraph in that order. I didn't just ramble on, and I feel that everything I said was crucial to my answering the questions in a way that truly demonstrates my love for the school and my personality.</p>
<p>The first question was "why did you choose to apply to the university of rochester?"</p>
<p>I began by saying how originally, the university of rochester wasn't one of my favorites, yet when i visited my top choices, i realized i would not fit in at them either for academic or social reasons. Then i said "Then i went to rochester." I then went on to say how i had heard about the top-notch acacemic (i mentioned 2 programs in particular that i had i found interesting). Then I sadi that I had not expected the campus to be so beautiful or the people to be so down to earth. I then had a paragraph break (i need to work on the transition between the two, or just abolish the paragraph split all together) and then i went on to say how i could see myself engaging in intelectual conversations with the students. I then concluded by saying how being able to take part in intellectually based conversations while being taught by world class professors was a perfect combo and that rochester had ecome a top choice for me.</p>
<p>I described it using better wording, but you get the idea. Please use your own ideas though, mine were just suggestions for possible routes you could take in your own essay. Make it seem as though you would be a valuable contribution to the school. Also, I've read that if you make it seem as though the people are above you, and that you aspire to be at their level, this looks very bad. Make it seem as though it's the school for you, and that you are the student for them.</p>
<p>Hopefully my advice helped :)</p>
<p>Be honest. that's it.</p>
<p>oh, and the university of rochester is a very good school- tier 1 and a half i'd say :) though people don't seem to know about it much. This is probably due to the fact that it's really cold in rochester, NY and the sports are division three in a league dubbed the nerdy nine :)</p>
<p>Between the two, it basically means the people are there for a good education, not the prestige of the name</p>