I’m sure this has been asked before, but I’m not sure whether it is appropriate to use “will” or “would” in a “Why School” essay. (i.e. “At Yale, I will join the school newspaper.” vs “At Yale, I would join the school newspaper.”) I assumed the latter was preferable (the former seemed a bit presumptive, especially with extremely selective schools), but after seeing a bunch of successful essays that used “will,” I’m wondering if “would” seems less confident. Thoughts?
I doubt admissions officers are reading your responses that closely to try and assess your level of humility and/or confidence, haha. My thoughts are that it won’t matter what kind of tense you use. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever used “will”; I more likely used “would,” and even more often, “plan to” / “intend to,” which sounds confident without being presumptuous, at least to me.
Thank you! I think the stress of the encroaching November 1st deadline is getting to me… haha 
@OnMyWay2013