A number of schools ask you to write about your intended course of study at their university and why you are interested in that university in particular.
This is when I tell my students that the college application process is like dating. Students obsess about whether or not a university wants them.
But guess what?
The universities want to be wanted, too.
One of the universities in my home state had a prestigious all-expenses paid scholarship including a year abroad for the top 20 or so incoming freshmen.
They noticed a troubling pattern at the large suburban high school where I taught—our seniors were using this prestigious honor as their back up plan if they didn’t get into a more elite university.
And they didn’t like it. Not one bit.
They pulled aside one of our counselors and told them that they wanted her to convey the message to my students to stop doing this. They were insulted.
So, that leads to the “why (fill in the name of your school)?”
First, you need to know that this essay needs to be highly functional. Less showing and more telling than I tend to see in the common application essay.
You need to get very specific on why THIS SCHOOL is a fit for you.
A BAD answer is saying that you love Boston if it is a school in Boston or to burn too many words of your essay for a school in Manhattan writing about how much you love Manhattan. That’s fine, but why this particular school in Boston or Manhattan?
🗝️ Do your homework! One of my current seniors knows she wants to go into neonatal nursing. I encouraged her to research the courses and extracurricular clubs associated with her major. She found out they have a Maternal and Child Health Club; she noted her intention to join the club as soon as she arrives on campus in the fall in her paragraph about why she has decided to be a nursing major.
🗝️ Go to the page of your major and see if there is a prominent professor during groundbreaking research in your field who you might hope to work for as an undergraduate.
⚠️ Be careful! Don’t unintentionally dork out on some visiting professor who no one knows in the department. Spend some time on that website!
Maybe you are genuinely interested in exploring giving back to the broader community of that university. Applying to Notre Dame? Look into the Big Brothers/Big Sisters in the greater South Bend area and talk about your interest in joining that organization.
Interested in being a leader on campus? Explore opportunities to lead.
One of my former students realized most of his peers went for student government and overlooked the student board that plans entertainment on campus. By his sophomore year, he ran for the position of inviting speakers to the university and landed Trevor Noah for the first time in the university’s history. Very smart. He identified a vacuum in leadership, and he filled it.
So, if that young man found the Union Board as a prospective student and spoke to his desire to become a member of that board, that can only enhance his prospects. It’s a smart move.
Let me be clear. For over thirty years, I have heard a common refrain across all campuses across the country.
The admissions people are attempting to answer a burning question after they determine you can handle the rigor of their curriculum:
How will you make a lasting contribution to their campus?
Will you lead?
Will you throw yourself into research?
Be a lab rat for a prominent professor in your field?
Will you lead within your major–joining a business fraternity, for example?
Major tip: show me you in action on that campus making a difference.
Here's an example.
A former student of mine was on our cross country team, and he knew that the college that was his reach school had a tradition of running past a statue of a founder and rubbing the statue's toe as they logged in their miles. After he demonstrated that he knew that college by alluding to research he had done about the school, he talked about leading his fellow runners past that statue and rubbing that statue's toe. That's powerful. He is projecting himself onto that campus.
That young man just graduated from college, so the example I am referencing is four years old.
Do you know how few essays stick for someone who reads hundreds of these essays every year? The very fact that I remember his essay says it all. Very effective.
Final thoughts:
So, as you compose your answer to the "why us?" question, I want you to get out a post-it note and write "How will I make a lasting contribution to their campus?" Put it on your mirror in your bathroom. Display a second one prominently where you do the bulk of your homework as well as your work for the college application process. When you are brushing your teeth, running, driving to school, I want this to be your refrain: How will I make a lasting contribution to their campus? This should drive your entire response. After you have shown them that you truly know their school, tell them how you plan to make a difference on that campus.
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