Demonstrated Interest and the “Why Us?” Essay
For schools that value demonstrated interest, the “Why us?” essay is particularly important. One of the ways in which schools protect their yield (keeping their enrollment number high) is by rejecting or waitlisting students who they think will go elsewhere. One way to show a school that you are truly interested in attending their school is a well-written “Why us?” essay. Among the many valuable insights Jeffrey Selingo provides in his book Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions (2020), he sites a case where the admissions officers at Davidson sift through the piles of qualified applicants looking for what differentiates them enough to move them through to the next round. They are looking for LTE (likelihood to enroll) and “the committee often turns to the ‘Why Davidson?’ essay to look for clues. In this case, the essay is boilerplate language about Davidson that can be found in any guidebook.” That senior remains in the deny pile.
Don’t make the mistake of writing about what the school already knows are its selling points—its location, weather, distinguished faculty, mascot, or anything else easily found on its website—and write about why you think you are a great fit for the school. Get to know the campus on your own. Visit it. Sit in on a class. Reach out to professors. Talk to alumni from your high school. Read the school newspaper and a course syllabus that interests you. Go to their website, but do a deep dive. Learn about their philosophy and policies, programs and clubs. This exercise will also tell you if the school is, in fact, a good fit for you, too. All the research you do might point you away from it instead of towards it. But most likely, you will get genuinely excited about the opportunities the school offers and that will put it you in the right headspace to write a sincere essay.
(And if you are wondering if the school you are interested in cares about demonstrated interest, you can Google a particular school’s Common Data Set and look in section C7 for “level of applicant’s interest” to see what level of importance they give it in the admissions decision process.)
