<p>any tips on how to approach the why engineering essay? i think mine are too trite</p>
<p>well, be brutally honest with yourself - why DO you want to go to SEAS? what's underlying it all? Along with some perhaps-shallow answers like "it's an ivy league school" and "it's in new york", you'll probably have feelings rather than expressions - a vague sense of why you like the students or the atmosphere or the academic approach or something.</p>
<p>Focus on those feelings and search for what goes into them. Really try to get specific. Relating a mini-story in 2 sentences is OK if you can't describe it any other way.</p>
<p>It'll come, you just have to have more focused thinking.</p>