I’m not sure what you disagree on. I didn’t say “Why us” essay wasn’t important to the adcom. It was. It was to them because they wanted to make sure you would commit to the college if they accepted you. That’s the classic definition of yield protection. What other business in the world where you, the customer, have to show affection for the business before it would render service to you?
How does the perfect Why Us ensure a kid will matriculate? Imagine a smart kid who knocks all his Why Us writing out of the park, for each college that asks.
In ED, sure, it matters, but it’s the ED that commits a kid.
^I’m against ED too. ED locks up too many seats, causing RD acceptance rates to plummet, which in turn cause applicants in the next admission cycle to apply to even more colleges, so on and so forth. A very vicious cycle.
Anyway, “Why us” essay certainly isn’t nearly as bad. But imagine a kid who applies to a dozen or more colleges and writes a “Why us” essay for each college. S/he better has a unique reason to want to go to each one of these colleges. Is that credible for all applicants like her/him? More likely, s/he likes college B for the same reason s/he like college A. S/he just need more backup options in this brutal admission process, but s/he certainly isn’t going to tell the colleges that they’re her/his backup options. How genuine are these essays?
It’s no different than going to 10 job interviews and answeing the question “why do you want to work for us?” I think it’s a valid question and gives insight into who you are as an applicant and what you will contribute to the college and vice versa.
^In these job interviews, the answers are likely less than 100% genuine, so yes, it’s a good analogy. There’s also one significant difference in the two cases. In college application, an applicant is the customer (who would pay the college for its service). In job application, the company would pay if the applicant is hired. So the more accurate analogy is that the college should send its admits a “Why us” letter instead.
OP just needs to write the right answer to the Why Us,. Yes, it’s fine to include mention of the legacy, as long as the explanation isn’t solely how much Dad liked Duke.
A good Why Us solves it and spares the arguments about why the Why Us.
OP try to understand what Duke looks for. They talk about it on their web site.
@1NJParent Sorry I was not clear, I disagree with your statement that the Why Duke essays have ‘very little real value’. Of course not 100% of them are genuine. You could make the same argument for the essays and recommendations. Then what? Discard all of that and make admissions based on empirical data only?
At a minimum, the Why Duke essay can show the AO that the student has done research about the university and has thought about how they would fit in and what they want to achieve by going there. Besides getting the brightest students possible, these universities also want to get a class that is diverse in their interests, backgrounds and talents. The Why Duke essay is one piece of data that they can use to achieve that diversity.
As far as the notion that students are the customer and the universities are the supplier, I see it more as a partnership. It is normal in the business world that in those types of situations, both parties market themselves (and we all know that universities spend a lot of money on marketing) and want to know why they should partner with the other party. I see it in my business all of the time. We are selective with whom we do business with and regularly turn away business for many reasons including lack of commitment, financial instability, different strategic objectives, etc. We want to find long-term business partners that see our company as a part in their business model.
If you don’t buy the partnership rationale, there is the simple supply/demand principle. The fact is that more people want to get into Duke than Duke can accommodate. So, they don’t really need to sell themselves to each student. Their reputation does that for them already.
So a student who showed affection for Duke and expressed how s/he would fit in at Duke wouldn’t find her-/himself equally a good fit at, say Harvard? S/he may have even send the exact same essay, with the name Duke replaced by the name Harvard, to Harvard. Come to think of it, Harvard doesn’t even require a “Why Harvard” essay, if I recall correctly. How does Harvard pick its class in the absence of such essay?
How does “Why Duke” essay help achieve diversity? You lost me…
@1NJParent I’ll break it down for you:
First topic: Point #1: As I said in post #15, the AO told us that when writing the Why Duke essay, “if you substitute any other university’s name in this essay, it should not make sense.” So, if someone used the same essay and substituted the university name, it would not be considered a good essay per the words of the AO. It would not be unique to Duke. They want to see why you want to go to Duke over Harvard or any other school. What is unique about Duke that makes you want to go there?
Point #2: There is no reason that a student cannot be a good fit for both Duke and Harvard. I did not say that and that makes no sense, they are not mutually exclusive.
Point #3: As I said in post #26, “The Why Duke essay is one piece of data that they can use to achieve that diversity.” Notice the “one piece”? You really like the strawman arguments, which are easily countered.
Second topic: As I said in post #26 and in this reply, it is one piece of data. It shows Duke why you want to be there and what you want to do and get out of your 4 years at Duke. They don’t want a class full of people that want to be apart of the same programs/majors/clubs/activities etc. It gives the applicant another opportunity to reveal to Duke who they are, what drives them and what they want to achieve.
It seems that you don’t understand what a good “Why X University” essay is, therefore you do not see the purpose and value.
Some examples they gave were along the lines of: “I want to study and do research under Dr. Smith because he is the leader in the field XYZ research and my goal is to someday solve XYZ problem.” Or, "I want to participate in the DukeEngage program in Costa Rica because I am interested in coastline reclamation. " You can’t substitute Harvard in there and have it make sense. This helps them know the candidate better, and get a diverse group of students that aren’t all interested in the same things. Get the point?
“So a student who showed affection for Duke and expressed how s/he would fit in at Duke wouldn’t find her-/himself equally a good fit at, say Harvard?”
Possible. Allowable. Of course they could find match at H, notonly Duke. The Why Us is one of several supp questions, not on the Common App. Goes only to that college.
In the absense of a specific Why Us, adcoms will be looking at your presentation in the CA, as well as the other supp questions. This match or alignment with a holistic college doesn’t fall out of the air, once they see your stats and ECs. You work it.
Sure, you might be able to substitute a name because several colleges may offer some similar fits, approaches or assets. You aren’t getting so specific down to naming a building you’ll walk by or naming classes.
Nor is this where you distinguish yourself by the program you want, unless it’s completely (relatively) unique. Eg, something about the curriculum allowing you to pursue x and y. All that other selling goes on in other sections.
It’s not the Dr Smith thing. Don’t write yourself into a corner. Don’t name a program only offered to grad students, where no UG can even take a class. Not things you can spend 5 minutes in a catalog to find or reading the mission statement and scribble out.
This question is more a “warm and fuzzy” sort. Not meant to be generic.
Know the college well enough and it should be easy.
This. Any college should be able to ask - why us - and a student should be easily able to answer. It might be the same reason for multiple colleges - the students I encountered seemed so happy; I felt at home in the class I sat in on after my tour and enjoyed my conversation with Professor Jones of the English department; I love that there are hiking trails within minutes of campus and can’t wait to get involved in one of the acapella groups. Whatever you actually want to do as a freshman.
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Architecture? If there’s no fit between you and the client no one is happy.
These are the words that the office of alumni relations used. Sports was their analogy. You make a good point, however; I think it is reasonable to assume that the influence of a basketball coach at admissions is much much (MUCH!) greater than than that of the alumni relations office.
I believe that they do, as the connection in our family is grad school and the alumni relations office met with and counseled my daughter. I wonder if they will help less/more based on degree or donor status.
Duke is committed to meet 100% of demonstrated need, theoretically making it an easier decision to apply ED if you need aid. Theoretically.