“Why did you choose our university?”
Is it just me or is this the most frustrating prompt a university can give us? Excuse me admissions, but you already work there; you should know the reasons people apply better than anyone. Allow me to construct a brief list in case you forgot:
1. It’s a school.
And I’m out of ideas…
It’s a trap of a question, even when they expand the prompt to include direction: “What about our clubs and activities…” “Making specific reference to the curriculum and classes…” “Knowing now that the manticore is weak to mage-fire…”
We end up writing an advertisement for the university that we already decided to apply to, and struggling to include as much information from the website as possible without outright plagiarizing:
“Ocean University is unique among the sea-faring schools, because it is one of the only schools in the nation to offer a full-time Atlantean exchange program to sophomore students. Additionally, the marine horticulture courses (MHOT 165 and MHOT 167) stand at the forefront of seaweed harvest technology. The university is top in the field in Delphinidae Linguistic analysis, and the work of Dr. Tursiops makes new strides each year.”
But enough about the frustrations, you’re here for actual advice. Effectively answering this question means recognizing and avoiding the trick. The first thing to remember is the purpose of essays in an application. The answer may seem like it’s just extra work, or to weed out the people who don’t want to write fifteen papers in addition to schoolwork, but the kinder answer is to give you (the applicant) a chance to introduce yourself outside of grades and test scores. Your GPA isn’t going to tell an admissions officer how you think, or how you were raised, or that your passion for film has influenced every decision since fourth grade–but your essay can. A quality essay is nearly always going to be you writing about yourself.
I’ll say that again, because it’s important:
A quality essay is nearly always going to be you writing about yourself.
With this in mind, we can go back to the prompt.
“Why did you choose our university?”
This isn’t a question about the school, this is a question about you: What about you made you decide to apply to our school? The response might still be an advertisement, but you are the product, not the university. The “reason” you give can be almost anything – the classes, the clubs, the staff, the location, the air quality – what matters is what you say about yourself:
“My whole life I have dreamed of being an explorer, and I have always been obsessed with being first – first in line, and first to finish. This drive is what attracted me most to Ocean University. Though nearly every university has a study abroad program, OU is unique in that it partners with the newly discovered kingdom of Atlantis. OU students are first to enjoy that experience, and the fact that students as young as sophomores have been granted access is unprecedented – a fact that I intend to take full advantage of. More than anything I want to explore a new world before anyone else can, and OU is the best place for me to achieve that lifelong dream.”
The difference between this example and the first one is the focus. In the second example, there is reference to the school, but we learn more about me and my personality than the program I mention. In this sort of essay it is safe to assume that the reader knows about the school, and they know the reasons that “someone” would want to go there. What they don’t know – what they give you the chance to tell them – is why YOU want to go there.
-Laura