<p>You think you are interested in living and studying at Northwestern for four years for such-and-such briefly stated, specific good reasons. Here comes a chance to see Northwestern first-hand in a summer camp. Of course you would jump at the chance. You can find out if Northwestern is really for you. You can find out what you should study/do next to improve your chances of getting in. You can learn at the camp and thereby also improve your chances. You can make a great impression and really improve your chances. Makes sense to me!</p>
<p>A freshman at Brown told me to include 'what you will bring to the college community' as well as 'what you want from the college'.</p>
<p>I'd say that giving the real reasons why one wants to go to a particular school will be recognized for its candor.</p>
<p>When one applies to an Ivy, part of the reason is the prestige factor. So, why not acknowledge it? If the geographical location is a factor, one can admit that as well. What becomes important, however, is to be able to single out some other distinguishing characteristic over and beyond the run of the mill reasons.</p>
<p>It is the way that I approached my apps and we will know soon enough whether I was on the right track.</p>
<p>I didn't say the university was prestigious, but I showed that the department I wanted to go was, by citing some papers from that department that were published in 'Nature' and the name of a nobel laureate professor I admired.</p>
<p>Academic things better to mention maybe the FOCUS program at Duke or Interdisciplinary Programs at Penn. </p>
<p>Another main function of the essay is what I can bring to their society, so I scanned all the list of ECs available, read details of ones that caught my attention, and added a couple I sincerely wanted to join.</p>
<p>Just don't say you want to go to Princeton because of the love movies, and don't say you want to go to Harvard because the whole university is prestigious. If your credentials already have enough force to push you in, you won't be hurt by this. But if your credentials don't (or if there's more than you who have that level of credentials and ECs.) it could hurt.</p>
<p>I had problems when I was dying to go to a prestigious college but I could not write out why. I believe some of you suffer this as well. All I tried to do was just showing how much I had investigated about the college so that I found out it fits me. I didn't mention only myself in the 'why' essay, but I linked what I knew about the college with myself.</p>
<p>Well, like I said, we will know soon enough whether my approach worked.</p>
<p>The prestige aspect was one sentence of my "why" explanation. I included it because it is definitely a reason why I applied - and I would suspect, it is a reason why most people apply to an Ivy.</p>
<p>The primary emphasis that I placed was on the challenging intellectual environment that would be offered to me and which I could make a contribution. More specifically, I cited a couple of areas of study - outside of my intended major - which the specific schools that I applied have strong programs.</p>
<p>"If your credentials already have enough force to push you in, you won't be hurt by this. But if your credentials don't (or if there's more than you who have that level of credentials and ECs.) it could hurt."</p>
<p>How prestigious do the creds have to be?</p>
<p>In Petersons' best college admission essays, Duke's director of undergraduate admissions says:
The essay porrtion of the application generally wil not "make or break" an applicant's chances of admission. In fact, the best essays are generally writted by students who would have been admitted even without great essays. I don't want to understate the importance of essay, however. An outstanding essay will indeed help a "borderline" applicant to gain admission, while a poor essay will hurt a borderline student's chances of admission.</p>
<p>Kilini, I can't predict how much is enough to push because I believe "borderline" means students with the same credentials with others (no matter how cool they are). If three applicants are all class presidents, 1600 on SAT, and so on, essays can make a break between them (Maybe adcom could be expecting these smart people to do well on essays. So, if they don't it's really likely that the smart applicant don't care and don't really want to go to the college to which they submit poor essays). However, another applicant who simply has 1200 on SAT but who has been brought up in a slum area could be admitted at the same time and by the same college.</p>
<p>Another possible explanation is that if someone says she wants to go to college A because it's so popular (for the sole reason), adcom would think she knows nothing more about the college. She just wants to go to college A to follow her friends in a fasionable manner. Sure, if I were an adcom who found that this applicant can still bring other positive things to campus, like atheletics, leadership, etc. that stands out together with the fine academic history; I would admit her. But if she's nothing more than that, with everything so simple and poor essays, she would be the blew-off borderline.</p>
<p>Anyway, I am not an adcom and not experienced on this, so don't trust all my words. Admissions issues are so delicate that I have no idea how to conclude.</p>
<p>In this essay, this is your opportunity to showcase your knowledge of the school, and why you would benefit from it's atmosphere and education. Colleges ask this question because they may want to know not only why you are applying, but also if you are "seriously" applying to the school, and not using it as a "fall back." Before you answer the essay question, you should research the college first. A helpful college ranking guide that will help you to answer the "why do you want to attend this school" essay is "The Fiske Guide To Colleges" by Edward Fiske. This book is helpful because if your college is located in the book (all Top Tier Colleges are mentioned in the book), there will be detailed analysis about the curriculum, the school's diversity, the school's academic atmosphere, the dorms, its location, its social life, what the school has to offer, etc.</p>
<p>The main problem in answering the "Why this college?" essay is that you just cant make it unique. Anything you think of will, or usually will, be used up by someone else!!! </p>
<p>Kinda makes me wonder how my seniors answered them and got in!</p>
<p>I posted this question at essayedge's discussion forum. They told me not to mention about prestige...even if that is your motive...Try to mention things specific to that college and try to link that with you. But that's easier said than done!!! And what's more, I was about to write on that until I got to see the discussions on this thread....I found out that all the ideas that I came up for the essay were only too common...Guess I will have to start all over again :-<</p>
<p>This question can be answered easily if the college who has asked for this question is indeed unique in some way. For example: you can say i want to go to MIT, Caltech, harvard or princeton to be taught by Nobel laureattes. Now that's something you don't find in othe colleges!!</p>
<p>For someone who is undecided in a major, the question " Why ___? " seems even more difficult. If the real truth of why you want to go to a school is because of the geographic area it is in, the size of the school, the friendliness of the students, the excellent reputation it has academically, and the fact that when visiting it, it just felt like a perfect fit and just where you want to be, somehow this doesn't seem enough to discuss in the essay. Without discussing a major you intend to study it seems a bit weak and yet totally the truth. Those kids with majors seem to have a lot more substance to write about in this essay.</p>
<p>If undecided, do you guys make up a passionate interest academically for this essay? My son is working on this essay now and he is taking a very, very humorous and creative approach to answering it. It is an awesome essay but it is not a straight forward answer that clearly and powerfully explains in detail all of the academic reasons he wants to go to that school. Opinions?</p>
<p>I focused on the negative aspects of UChicago in my Why essay :)</p>
<p>Did you get in, hypernovae? I imagine it might be a refreshing essay!</p>
<p>I sent in my Cornell College and Beloit College essays. All were "why us" school, too.</p>
<p>
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my why Reed essay was 3-4 pages long
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Phew, I thought I was the only one. :P</p>
<p>I wrote some of the general stuff for my Swarthmore essay (proximity to Philadelphia, liberal arts education, diversity), and then went into much more detail about the things I was really passionate about or had learned about during my interview (the Tri-College Consortium, intellectualism and the music program).</p>
<p>i've written a whole slew of "why ___" essays. for me, it's not that hard: i have a lot planned out: major in chemistry, grad school, proffession.. it all requires research.. it so happens i applied to midsize school that are big on research. then i kinda see. if i find that i don't really know what else to write, i start inserting a lot more semi-serious stuff, still answering the question, but showing my writing style more, which takes up space very nicely.</p>
<p>but then again. if i were an adcom, i would take the "why ___" essay more as a writing sample. it's hard to make something ultra creative, so it most likely is going to be the most serious essay the applicant submits. so, it'll show how well the applicant can write. so i think that the main thing in this essay is to write well. actual details are less important. though they should be there. come on, there has to be something about the school that made u apply there</p>
<p>in a related story, i have no clue what im goign to do for penn.. i dont actually want to go (my parents are making me apply for the financial aid package), and it's not my type of schoool. i have no clue what im goign to do for their essay.</p>
<p>Can you use something contrived or silly as a hook? I'm applying to NYU and they have a similar question. I would like to add a sense of humor to it by mentioning one of their clubs that first got my attention. Thanks!</p>
<p>I took a sort of different approach... I wrote my essay in the form of a speech, being given by me (as a seventh term congressman), thirty or so years from now, to the incoming class at the University I was applying to. I referenced what I felt when I was in "their" shoes and what I saw in the college I was writing the essay for. I also referenced how the school had prepared me for the career I undertook. Apparently, it worked.</p>
<p>you can give all sorts of reasons for these kind of essays right? I come from singapore (in the tropics). Can I say the warm climate will suit me at rice.</p>
<p>
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I come from singapore (in the tropics). Can I say the warm climate will suit me at rice.
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Iffy, I'm not sure the colleges want climate to be the main reason for wanting to go. That and location are the most general (and common) reasons.</p>
<p>wow sweetdreams87 i REALLY liked your essay.
right now i am attempting to finish up my why brown essay..but it is so boring :|</p>