Supplemental Essays DO's and DON'Ts

for the “Why Us” Question

 

DO’s - Here are some steps you should take when answering supplemental essay questions:

 

• DO take clues from how the question is asked. Since many of these questions all fall into similar categories such as “why do you want to go to our school?”, it’s easy to simply just answer it with that particular question in mind. But, you should READ THE QUESTION because each college will have a slightly different angle on any one question. You want to be sure that you are answering all aspects of the question that is being asked. Sometimes, colleges will give you clues to what they are looking for in how they phrase the question, and this can help you develop ideas on how to answer it.

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• DO explain why you want to spend the next 4 years of your life there being involved in intellectual and academic pursuits. While this tip may sound like a no-brainer, you’d be amazed at how many students forget to mention the academic reasons that attract them to the school. Instead, they focus on all kinds of other things.

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But, aren’t you going to college to get an education, first and foremost? Think about and research the educational opportunities that are offered at the school. Why are they an academic fit with who you are, how you learn, what you have done and what you are interested in pursuing? You don’t have to know what you want to major in to include this in your essay. In fact, if you are undecided, it’s OK to talk about that, but then consider what does that school have to offer you to help you explore and decide?

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• DO discuss how and why you fit at the school. Schools want students on their campus who are going to be happy and successful. Just as every student is different, so is every college, and admissions offices want to be sure that you understand what their school is all about before you land on their campus. After all, if you get there, and you don’t fit, you’re not going to be happy. What do we mean by “fit”? For example, say you are applying to a school with a student body that is known to be significantly involved in community service, and this is something that you yourself have been a part of while in high school. Talk about that. Or, what if you are looking for a school with a lot of spirit because that’s something that you didn’t have in your own high school experience? You can discuss that. Whatever aspect of a school attracts you, be sure to back it up with personal reasons for why it does appeal to you, when you write your essay.

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• DO give examples of how you will get involved at college and have an impact on campus. Colleges are all about building an academic community with the key word being “community”. That means that they don’t just want students who are going to go to class, go home and not interact as part of that community. They want your college years to be a give and take where both student and school get something out of the equation. So, tell them what you want to get involved in. If it’s something that you’ve already been involved in, relate it to your current experience. If it’s something new, explain why you want to try it. Let the college know that you will be a contributor and a positive asset to the school.

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• DO be specific. This cannot be stressed enough! In the previous few bullets, we suggested topics that you should try to cover in your essay. With each of these you must get specific, specific, specific. And did we mention that you have to get specific? So, discuss some classes that intrigue you. Find a professor who focuses on your area of interest and mention her work. Talk about particular clubs and activities where you could see yourself contributing. Highlight things that impressed you when you visited the campus that made you want to go there.

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Touch on interactions that you may have had with students, staff or alumni of the school. Name names. Let the college know that you are really interested in attending their particular institution by showing them that you know about and are interested in specific things.

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• DO do your research. Before you ever start typing your response to this essay question, know what you are talking about. Spend some time on the college’s website so that you truly understand what the school has to offer you and why you really should want to go there. Check out what the college prides itself on. Look at the course offerings. Be clear on how the curriculum works. Educate yourself on the extra-curricular opportunities.

The only way you can get specific (see bullet point above!) is to do your research.

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DON’Ts - Here are some things you should NOT do when answering supplemental essay questions:

 

• DON’T focus on superficial aspects of the school. Oh, how many essays have we read that have talked about how great the food looked in a college’s cafeteria! C’mon. Is that really a reason that you want to go to a certain school? Even if it is, that shows a shallowness of thought that you probably don’t want to reveal to the college of your choice. You must gear your essay to discuss more meaningful aspects. Common pitfalls when it comes to these more “superficial” topics are:

• School Setting and/or Geographic Location: Students spend a good chunk of their essay focused on a school’s setting or geographic location and simply talk about the location without either making it about the school or about themselves. (“And University of XYZ is located right in the heart of ABCity, which I love so much!”). While the setting is, of course, an integral part of the school, and, therefore, fair game, when students makes this the crux of their reason for attending, it sounds like the student just wants to get to that location, regardless of the school itself. It’s perfectly fine to talk about the location and have that be a reason, but as with any with any other aspect of your essay, you need to make your discussion personal and relevant to you. (“I love the fact that University of XYZ is located in the heart of ABCity because, as a musician myself who loves listening to all types of music from show tunes to jazz, I would really enjoy getting a chance to go to the many different types of musical performances that I’ll find there.”)

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• College Reputation: A college’s reputation is NOT a good reason to say you want to go there because that says nothing about you nor why you are a fit for it. On the other hand, if you can back it up with specific examples of why that reputation was earned, and its relevance to you, then go for it. For example, you could say, “I’m excited about the prospect of studying engineering at U of XYZ, which has attracted top notch faculty, such as Prof. Prizewinner who teaches engineering in my area of interest.”

 

• DON’T just compliment the school or overuse hyperbole. “U of XYZ is by far the best place on earth! It has the most intelligent and motivated students anywhere! Your study abroad programs are like no other!” Most colleges are proud of their institutions, and they should be. But, let’s face it, none of them are a utopia, and unfortunately, you sound completely fake, when you make sweeping, superlative statements about the school without also being able to support your claim. While you absolutely should be enthusiastic and think very highly of the schools you are applying to, and you should tell them so, a better approach is to compliment the school in the context of yourself. For example, if you want to study abroad, and the college has a strong offering in this area that is one of the main reasons that you are attracted to it, then discuss a particular program they have that might appeal, and explain why it excites you and why you feel it’s so top notch. Remember, specificity is always best.

 

• DON’T waste words telling them what they already know. Often, when students do get specific about particular courses, programs or activities that they are interested in at a given school, they spend the majority of their writing focusing on describing and explaining it. Well, guess what? The school already knows what that class, program, or activity is all about because it’s their class, program, or activity! Don’t waste your precious words. Spend your prose making it personal and discussing how those courses, programs, or activities fit with who you are and what you want to accomplish.

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• DON’T write a “Plug and Play” essay. A “Plug and Play” essay is one where you submit the exact same essay to each school that asks the question, and you only change up a couple of small details, one of which is the college’s name. If you are applying to several schools, the “Why Our School?” question is one that you will probably have to answer multiple times during your application season, so the appeal of doing a “plug and play” is obvious. We do not, however, recommend this approach. Experienced admissions readers know a mostly generic “plug and play” essay when they see one, and it does not cast a favorable light on the student. It leaves the impression that the student didn’t have enough interest in the college to take the time to understand the school and write an essay that was based on the unique things about that institution. It’s OK to reuse the same themes about yourself from one essay to the next, so that you don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel, but you absolutely should tailor the essay to the individual school that you are writing about and be genuine about the reasons that you are interested in that particular institution.

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• DON’T go too broad - you only have a few words. The length requirements for the “Why Our College?” essay cover a range. Some ask for just a few characters, while others have no restrictions. The most common maximum length requirements, however, seem to be in the 150-300 word range. We’ve recommended a lot of things that you should consider covering when you write this essay, but how do you do that when you only have a little bit of space to do it in? In a word: focus. Don’t try to do it all. Instead, pick one or two things that appeal to you about the school and drill down on just those things. Better to go deep than wide, so that you can really make the argument, at least on one level, why you and that institution are the right fit.