"Why this college?"

College Essays
1

<p>How do you answer the question, "why this college?" It is so hard to say that this college will prepare me for success, that I want to learn in this environment, etc without feeling generic. Even the sample Ivy League essays that I've read sounded generic in this aspect.</p>

2

<p>Honestly, most of the sample essays I’ve seen in books are pretty bad.</p>

<p>I have a lot of trouble with these prompts too, especially since it’s hard for me to visit schools. I tend to:
a) focus more on myself than the school
b) look for schools that don’t require those essays (lol)
Stanford doesn’t, for example. </p>

<p>I made a thread on this a month or so ago and some of the responses were helpful:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1521735-those-why-us-essays.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1521735-those-why-us-essays.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thanks!
(And thanks for the peer review btw!)</p>

4

<p>I agree those are hard. I think my daughter wrote the exact same thing that was probably on 50% of her college’s applications. You don’t really want to tell the school about itself, it already knows. You are selling yourself as an attractive community member in the rest of the application, so perhaps this is a good place to identify the traits the school has that would benefit you. For example, not just because it has an open curriculum, but because you could potentially do xyz with that opportunity.</p>

<p>Any school can prepare you for success, so hone in on specifics of the school that will personally help you.</p>

<p>What is the environment of the school and how does that fit with how you’d like to learn/how you learn best.</p>

<p>Show you’ve done some homework on some aspect or two. Make the connection that shows the fit.</p>

<p>I hope this isn’t too generic but I didn’t want to spell it out either.</p>

5

<p>The easiest way to answer the “why this college” question is to research the school. For example:</p>

<ol>
<li>Look through a course catalog and find several courses at each college that you really want to take. Specifically mention them in your essay.</li>
<li>Like wise for any noteworthy or famous professors teaching interesting courses you want to take. </li>
<li>Does the college offer a major you really want that other colleges do not? If so, mention it.</li>
<li>Does the school have any fun or unusual traditions – something that makes them stand out from other university’s? And what does that say about the atmosphere or tone of the college.</li>
<li>What type of housing does the college offer? Residential College System? Singles? Off Campus Housing? What do you find attractive about each school’s housing?</li>
<li>What town is the college located in? Sometimes it’s really difficult to separate the town from the school – think Ann Arbor/UMich, New York/NYU, Cambridge/Harvard, etc.</li>
</ol>

6

<p>I posted this several years ago but I think it is still applicable today:</p>

<p>Many of the supplemental essay prompts are some variety of “Why this school?” And it seems so hard to write. What do you say? What do you really know about the school? Unfortunately, so many times the final essay will go on about how awesome the school is, how great the faculty is, and how unbelievable certain programs are.</p>

<p>And that’s so wrong.</p>

<p>Tip #1: The essay needs to be about YOU. The schools don’t want to hear about themselves. They want to know why their school would be a good fit for YOU. What are YOU interested in and why would their school provide that for you?</p>

<p>Tip #2: You don’t want to come across as blindly in love with the school. Never say things like “I’ve wanted to go the Great State since I was two years old.” Or “Going to Great State would be the culmination of a lifetime dream.” As a matter of fact, you want to be just a little aloof. You want to come across as: “I wondered if Great State would be a fit, so I investigated…”</p>

<p>Tip #3: (Pardon this crude analogy, but it really works here). Imagine that the school is a classmate of the opposite sex that you really would like to date. How would you approach that person? Would you walk up and say “You’ve been my dream date since I started thinking about girls/guys”…? Of course not. It would be a turn-off and you would come across as a little nutty and desperate. And you know desperate does not work. What would work is… “Hey, I love sci fi movies and I heard that you might also.” A little cool and casual might win the day.</p>

<p>Tip #4: Don’t laugh at Tip #3. It works.</p>

<p>Let’s look at the following essay on “Why Stanford?” and analyze it:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It was NOT love at first sight… not yet. But there was that air of possibility. Only after I got to know the place did it look like there was a match. Just like with a person… even if there is chemistry on the first date, you don’t declare everlasting love. How much stronger will it seem if that declaration only comes after you get to know the person in depth?</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>