No two college supplements are the same, but there is one question that shows up again and again. Why our school? If you are applying to multiple schools with supplements you will probably have to write multiple essays on this exact topic (no, you can’t just reuse the same one). While word counts and specifics can vary, these essays always follow a similar structure and goal. After reading this blog post you’ll be set to answer all of them. 

Take the University of Michigan, for example. You have 500 words to tell the admissions office why you specifically want to go to Michigan and why Michigan is the best school for you. We like to think of it as a venn diagram:

The biggest issue we see in first drafts of these types of essays is what we like to call a “why” dump. Students just start listing things: the campus, the culture, frats, how the cherry blossoms bloom in the spring. These essays don’t work. very school knows they have a nice campus. They don’t want you to regurgitate the brochure they created.  They don’t need you to tell them about that, but more importantly, you really haven’t said anything about yourself or why YOU want to go there. 

Sometimes students also have the mindset of, “Why wouldn’t I want to go to ____.” This also makes these essays tricky to write. Yes, schools know that students will want to go there. Why else would you be applying? But taking a “why wouldn't I” approach makes it harder to talk about why you specifically would thrive at the school. 

Now that we’ve talked about what you ����dzܱ����’t write about, let’s talk about what you should write and how you should do it. 

We like to break these essays into 5 paragraphs. We don’t like to call them 5 paragraph essays because they are not argumentative or persuasive essays like the essays you write in English class. They share certain structures, but there are also some important differences. Here’s how we break down each paragraph: 

The Origin Paragraph:

Your first paragraph should start with a little story about how you fell in love with an academic subject. This should be the subject that you are telling the school that you want to study. An important note: you don’t have to end up studying that topic. Let’s say you write your origin story about fishing with your dad which inspired a love for Marine biology. But then, when you get to school, you fall in love with computer science. No one is going to hold you to your essay. It’s important, however, that you write like you are 100% in love with Marine biology (or whatever else you are writing about) and plan on pursuing it when you get to college. 

A big hurdle to this is you can’t write that you are undecided even if you are. Part of the admission office’s job is to plan a class. They are looking for graduates who will pursue a wide and diverse class load. If everyone is undecided, then theoretically, they could have a year of all History Majors and not enough history classes to support everyone. That would be a nightmare. So even if you have no idea what you want to do this summer let alone the next four years, try your best to pick an academic pursuit you are interested in even if you aren’t sure you will actually study it later. 

The next thing: it’s important to pick an academic pursuit. We love that you are hyped to keep playing the oboe throughout college, but unless you are pursuing a music major, it’s not the time quite yet to talk about it (yet!). Every university is a research institution first, no matter how lively their campus activities are. When it all boils down to it, they want you to come for the academics, not the sick extracurricular band.

While the origin story should be about how you fell in love with your academic pursuit, the best ones take place outside the classroom. Let’s say you are talking about your passion for being a Poli-Sci major. It’s much more exciting to talk about the time you phone-banked for a local politician rather than the Civics class that everyone in your high school was required to take. Make your origin story unique and personal. Then after you’ve told your story, finish the paragraph with something to the effect of, “And that is why I want to study _____ at the University of ______.” This is really the crux of what your essay will be about. 

Paragraph 2: Show you have researched the academics. 

So you have now told them you want to go to the University of Michigan to study history after maxing out every history class in your high school, doing some self-guided project, and volunteering at a local museum gave you a passion for history. Great! What’s next? 

Well, now it’s time to say why The History Department at the University of Michigan excites you and why it is unique and special. This means doing some research on classes and professors and any unique offerings. Every school has a course catalogue that you can find online. Most of them will look something. Read up on some courses they offer and some of the professors who teach them. Pick a couple of courses that excite you or seem genuinely interesting to you.  

A quick note on the types of classes we want students to look for. Don’t pick anything that is a 100 or intro-level class. Classes usually marked with a 100 level mean that it’s a beginner class. Classes like these are not unique to any school. Most colleges have something similar. They might seem interesting or unique to you now, but that’s probably because they are cooler than high school classes. Trust us, the really good ones start after the 200s.

Find a class that feels interesting and unique at the 300 or 400 level (this might be marked slightly differently depending on the school as a 3 or 4 as well). For example, if you are looking at Michigan’s history catalogue, you might find, “HISTORY 421 - Religions of the African Diaspora” and “HISTORY 328 - Blackness and Jewishness: A History of Encounters.” These classes are a lot more interesting to talk about than “History 101 - Europe pre- 1800.” You should find at least two courses and, ideally, they should be ones that fit together in some way AND tie into the story you are telling about yourself.   

Mentioning specific professors or programs is also a great addition to this paragraph. Look at the department page and familiarize yourself with who teaches the type of classes you are interested in. See if they are doing research. This is a great time to mention them by name as well. Mentioning these specifics tells the reader that you really did your research which will make you seem more serious about the school.

Paragraph 3: Extracurriculars that fit. 

While academics come first, schools also want to know that you will be doing something other than rushing a frat outside of your classes. The name of the game here is cohesion. Similar to picking a major to write about, no one is going to hold you to joining any specific club once you step on campus. The clubs and extracurriculars you mention in this paragraph should connect to something you are already doing in high school. If you have never played a sport in high school, now is not the time to talk about the intramural volleyball team. Think about what you do now, are you in student government? Do you do the school play every year? Are you on the debate team? Look for clubs at the school that are similar. It doesn’t have to be exact but what you pick shouldn't feel like it came out of nowhere. Most schools have a list of schools on   

Most universities have a staggering amount of clubs, (15 acapella groups???? ) so get specific. If you did the play every year in high school, you can write about getting involved in theater, but make sure to say which theater group on campus you are most interested in and not just say, “do plays.” 

We had a former student who did ballet. She clocked in 25 hours of ballet a week and while she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue that hard schedule in college she knew she had to talk about dance. She also had done some volunteering, so when she found out that Penn had a group that taught dance classes to inner-city children, she knew that was the right club to speak about. While she also wanted to do other clubs while she was there as well, this one fit her narrative best. (PS: She got in.)  

Choosing the right club gives you an opportunity to talk about yourself and your past and shows a linear trajectory to the school. Being hyper-specific shows not only that you have done your research, but that this opportunity is unique to the school.  

Often students want to quit some of the things they are more involved with in high school when they come to college. That’s fine, we all know it’s going to happen just don’t tell them that. 

Paragraph 4: Location Location Location

This is going to be your shortest paragraph. We like to think about paragraphs 2-4 as Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, respectively.

While this is the smallest of our paragraphs, it should still fit our overall narrative. If you are talking about history, think about specific museums or historical sites. If you mentioned wanting to join the orchestra, think about opportunities to see classical music live in town.  

This is the shortest paragraph because it isn’t directly connected to the university, but it’s still important that it connects to you and is still specific. Every city might have a historic district, why is this town the one that draws you in?

Wrap it up!

Your final paragraph is also going to be short. We just need to wrap up our essay and tie it with a bow. This will most likely only be 2-3 sentences. One of those sentences will be a re-iteration of the points above. “I would love to be a part of University of MIchigan’s History department because I will be able to take classes that help me pursue my interest in outsider histories and I hope to grow outside of my classes as part of the writing staff of the Michigan Daily and as a member of the Ann Arbor community. Go Blue.” Pretty much you just want to remind them of all the great points you have already made. You will probably also have a sentence that sums up as, “Because of these points no other place is as good for me as this school will be.” 

You could most probably flourish at a lot of different schools, but your conclusion should make the reader think, “this is the only place you could flourish the most at.” You can be very blunt in your conclusion. Really spell it out for readers. 

A note on Word counts

We used Michigan as our example here because it’s one of the longest word counts. Some schools have shorter word counts. Be mindful of the word count before you start writing. 

Even at lower word counts, this structure is the gold standard of what you should include. But you might need to speed it up. For a 200 word essay, your origin might need to be cut down to only a sentence or two to fit the word count. Instead of a 2-3 sentence conclusion, you might have to do just 1 sentence. But the overall form can still be followed. 

Why the ‘Why’

These essays might not feel like the most creative writing, but telling a compelling story through examples is important. These essays give you an opportunity to be specific and really highlight that you have done your research on a school. 

Schools only want to admit students that they think will come. Yes, you might have applied to Yale, Penn, and Michigan, but you don’t want any of them to know that you might choose another one if you get accepted to multiple. Being specific shows that you have taken the time to really learn about the school and you didn’t just apply because, “it’s a good school, so why not!”  

When you have done this right, your essay should scream, “of course I am going here. It’s the only place for me where I can do the things I am most interested in. I have a plan and this is it!” Even if you never do a single thing you wrote about when you actually get there. 

If you do the research and follow our 5 paragraph structure, this essay should be no problem. Make sure you give yourself the time to really look into the school. If you skimp or rush through the research step, this essay will be tougher than it needs to be. This might not be the most exciting essay you write (or the most creative), but it’s important to many schools. Hey, maybe doing this essay will even make you more excited to go there!  

Need more help? Reach out. We’d love to help you through this process.