Im struggling with the why essays.
The goal is to discuss the goals and certain aspects within the university that draws you to it. I have changed the format/tone/language/style numerous times and still sound boring and text book.
I am not a scholar or a true academia, my bread and butter and only hope of admission is really demonstrate my creativity and entertaining characteristics.
Can anyone share a bit what their why looks like? Obviously they are department specific and very person, so few can copy or steal from a small segment.
Thanks, any ideas or tips is greatly appreciated by me and anyone interested.
No, not obviously dept dependent. You can have fun with the Why Us, if you wish. It might be the quality of some interactions on campus or some general academic opportunity. You just want to stay away from generic (could apply to any college: you’re a top school or you have my major or you have study abroad) or trite (the food or “I liked the shops at the edge of campus”) or plain off (telling Dart, eg, that you like their urban environment.)
What did you like about the coleges on your list? It’s important to get the Why Us right, but what does your gut say?
Thanks for the help.
For example, I chose Michigan because it has excellent engineering, beautiful campus, and great research opportunities but I can’t talk abut my main reasons because only 5 million are going for the same reasons. So i dug deeper and find a way to add more fuel on top of it. Michigan gave 550 word so i made it more fun
The other essay limit is 300. I got thru BS/MS and ran out of space. Im really struggling to show the giordana pizza or beautiful lake side campus vibe.
While others are showing documentaries and Im selling SNL. Am I outsmarting myself?
To be honest with you, I personally had more success with story type of essays (narrative) compared to tropical essay format. Admission committee is reading thousands if not tens of thousnads of essay on same topic, so rather than typical essay format I recommend you adding a bit of humour or story into it. For example when you are writing why you want to get into certain program, you can add a bit of story on the incidence where you were attracted to certain school or more generally the field you want to get into.
Also I advise you taking out the parts where it is not school specific, such as Michigan is located in a great city. Basically all of the students who wants to go to school in Michigan can write that. It is even better if it is specific to you, where it is important for you to get into this program because of personal experience that you had before.
Hope it helped!
Btw I got into NYU BA/DDS program so I know the pain of trying to get into BS/MS program.
Good luck!
All of these essays should be chances to tell them more about yourself. So whatever you choose to write about you need to bring it back to highlighting things about you that would make a school want you. So first think of something about you or your accomplishments you want to highlight and then find a way to tie it back to why their school. You should be able to use parts of all your supplements over and over for different schools. Lots of cutting and pasting and reworking etc.
The “why” essay is a lot more straightforward than the Common App essay. I think the trick is to let your enthusiasm for the school show through. This isn’t the essay for creative formatting. My kids talked about majors, classes if they’d been to campus and sat in on them, if not then maybe specific classes they saw offered at the college, ECs/clubs, things about the community around the college. If you interviewed, you can talk about something from that.
Examples from when my kids wrote them:
- One essay talked about the school’s strength in her major, the opportunity to learn apiary skills in the college garden, and the great Thai restaurant near campus.
- Another one talked about why the college mission statement really appealed to her, and how the major options matched up with a summer program she’d taken (not at that college) that had helped her decide what majors she was interested in. She topped it off by talking about an EC club that was really interesting to her.
- In another one, my kid talked about some of the facilities associated with the university that aren’t obvious on the tour (one is a science facility that the university has a relationship with that she was excited about, another was what she saw when she walked around the visual arts building on her own when visiting). She also talked about a volunteer opportunity with the local community that was mentioned on the college website, and how that matched up with a volunteer activity she did in HS, so she was excited to be able to continue to volunteer in that area.
- In yet another, she talked about how much she loved the physical campus (which is a big selling point for that school), and that her great great grandfather had attended the college for a couple years back in the early 1920s (he never graduated, left to play pro football, but she felt a connection with the college and had his old yearbook). She also mentioned a special science tour we’d been able to go on when on campus, and how interesting a lab was that we’d stopped into on that tour.
The kid who wrote the above essays got in everyplace she applied. Obviously not just due to these essays, but I think they helped. So… scour the school website carefully for what you can say about them. Try to pick things that are unique to your interests and the school environment, philosophy, or offerings. Don’t feel that you have to strictly stick to academics (but don’t leave them out entirely – my kids generally led with academics, then added some non-academic items after that).
what @intparent said but then tie in those things to reveal stuff about yourself. Maybe an award you won, a ec you are involved in, volunteer work you have done etc. Maybe even something like one person I know always commented on whatever local bakery was around to then discuss their own love of baking. Also I agree try to lead with academics and then move on from there. Another example one boy I knew loved BB but was shorter and not a varsity player or anything. In his why Syracuse essay after he talked about academics, he basically wrote a love letter to Syracuse BB and how he wanted to be there biggest fan . He talked about his long standing love of the game and gave examples.
The Why Us isn’t the place for an award or love of baking. It’s a key question in the app.
@lookingforward I disagree. I think you can say why you love a school and also reveal parts of yourself. The whole application is supposed to be sharing who you are. The best why us essays I have read are I love this part of you because it relates so well to me and what I have done.
It’s also an opportunity to reveal stuff about “yourself.” I would actually argue that is the key of things. The university already knows all about itself, but wants to know about you and how you would connect to that bigger picture.
@shawnspencer I agree 100%
The mission statement is something I recommend also. If there are things that apply… Did you interview with a department or professor? Throw that in there and how that helped your decision. My son did that. My son also described the type of people he wanted to be surrounded by… Ambitious, creative , intelligent. He wanted people to push him and collaborate (also engineering). If you research a certain class or something else, let them know. Researching a school and going a little deeper shows applied interest. Does going to a Saturday game and Pizza Bob’s on State street something to look forward to sure… Do you look forward to doing research on x topic? They want to see another side of you.
Ok totally off topic question but I noticed an autocorrect typo in my previous answer of there instead of their. How does one edit their comment??
@collegecurious there should be a little wheel thing in the upper right corner of the box your typing into. Click that and it will say edit. You have 15 minutes. Then click save.
@knowstuff thank you. Can you correct something you wrote earlier than 15 min ago?
You can only edit for 15 minutes. After that, no edit. No worries, we all have typos out here. 
Regarding tying it back to yourself – remember that your awards and ECs are listed elsewhere in the app. So it is okay IN PASSING to reference something elsewhere in the app as a reason why a specific aspect of the college resonates with you. But this isn’t really the “toot your horn” section of the app. This is the “why am I a fit for your college?” section, and the “did you really research the college enough to have reasons beyond small class size and nice weather?” section. The purpose of the essay is to prove that you actually really looked at them, and aren’t just tossing an app there way because of their ranking or prestige or because they seem like a decent safety. You want to show them some love.