what should i write about when they ask me to write about an essay on why i want to go to _____ college ?
ive read that it’s a taboo to be cliche and say something along the lines of how the school is awesome and the campus is beautiful but im utterly lost… please help me.
First, make sure the essay is not generic that one may just replace the name of the college for another application. This is the worst mistake and I have read a couple times people even forgot the change all the school names in the essay. Second, don’t make it sounds like an advertisement for the school. They are not interested in knowing how great their schools are. They want to know how does the school fit you and how you fit the school. Third, be specific about the programs, clubs, and activities you are interested in. Make sure what you described is actually available at that school (some students put a major in the essay that is not even offered). Fourth, learn the acronyms and terms they are familiar with (and do not use terms are not used in that school). You need to show you are not choosing that school blindly. You actually know the school and you know what you want at that school.
^ Agree. If you don’t know why you want to go, then you need to reevaluate. At this point, you should have done enough research on the school and the program in which you are interested to write a good essay. Aside from grades and test scores, Adcoms are trying to assess if the “fit” is right. You need to spend time on this and not just throw stuff at the walls to see if it sticks.
just want to elaborate a little bit on my fourth point above. The college for art and science may be called CAS, LAS, LSA, etc at different school. Make sure you use the right name.
Be very specific about why you think the school is awesome and campus is beautiful. You need Concrete examples not broad generalizations.
Read this thread for good advice:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1705515-some-help-with-why-this-school.html#latest
The advice is fantastic, but the example essay, with very, very little extra work, could be orders of magnitude better. This paragraph in particular:
If I take out the word Stanford, this sounds like it could very easily describe any number of schools. Any one of these sentences could be made so much stronger with a simple example:
What about the ES program’s website made the author feel that the school nourished wonder and awe?
Which guest speakers did they watch?
Which departments? What specifically was this person looking at?
This is exactly what @qialah meant - specific examples will make the essay very powerful.
Also, don’t be afraid to take the road less traveled. In fact, for my grad school, I was told after the fact how impressive my “why us” essay was. The reason? 99% of the people who apply for my department mention one of the handful of super big wigs we have in our department. The guys who are known across the country for their work. The professors you name because you only know a couple of professors at the school. I didn’t write about any of them. I picked the person whose work was most similar to my undergraduate research and I wrote about him and his work with details and specifics. The school was amazed that I knew about him and liked that I wasn’t drawn in only by the biggest names they had to offer.
That is exactly what I said in the beginning of #1.