“Why us” essays

A “why us” essay is a research assignment dressed up as an essay. The question isn't whether you like the college. Everyone applying likes the college. The question is whether you know what you'd do there, and whether that plan could only happen on that campus.

So start with the course catalog, not the brochure. Find two or three specific things: a class, a program, a requirement, a way the college organizes learning. Then connect each one to something you've already done or wondered about. That connection is the essay.

Skip the tour-guide adjectives. “Beautiful,” “world-class” and “close-knit” could describe two hundred colleges. Skip the rankings, too; the readers already know them. If you can swap another college's name into your draft and it still works, it isn't finished.

Watch the word limit. At 150 words you get one idea, developed. At 400 you get two or three, linked. Don't try to cover everything the college offers. Pick what you'd actually use.