I’m writing the Cornell, JHU, and Northwestern supplements right now, and I’m not sure if I should be creative with their “Why school/major” prompts. People tell me that adcoms like detailed, straightforward answers rather than more out-of-box ideas. But I’m not 100% confident in the rest of my application, especially ECs, and I feel like writing a unique essay in a pool of straightforward ones will make me stand out. But if they truly just want me to answer the question, it may hurt my application. Thoughts/advice?
I think these are the toughest to write honestly. I can’t really answer your specific question, but happy to take a look of what you come up with and give you a “nay” or “yea” from there.
I think a lot of the points of these essays are first to see your interests in their school, do you write about them more like they are a first choice and you really really want to go there or do you seem somewhat artificial and there a back-up that you just did a bit of research for. The other reason is to see how academically interested you are. They say that they want you to truthfully answer the questions, and if you can show your academic curiosity, how much you love the school, and some initiative you may take when you get on campus with a truthful essay than do so, otherwise you may need to not be as truthful?