How to write a "Why this college?" essay that couldn't be about any other school
The most common supplement is also the easiest to get wrong. A simple test for specificity, where to find real details, and what admissions readers skip past.
The question we keep seeing
“Every "Why us?" essay I write sounds like the school's brochure. How do I make it less generic?”
The short answer
- Run the swap test. If you could replace the school's name with another's and the essay still works, it's too generic.
- Connect a specific resource to something you've already done and something you want to do.
- Skip rankings, prestige, weather, and "diverse community." Readers see them in nearly every essay.
Admissions readers see the same "Why us?" essay again and again: world-class faculty, a beautiful campus, a vibrant community. None of it is wrong. It just tells them nothing about you, and nothing to show that you know their school.
The swap test
Take your draft and replace the school's name with a peer school's. If the essay still reads fine, it isn't doing its job. A strong "Why us?" essay breaks when you swap the name, because it's built on details that exist only at that school.
A three-part structure
- What you've done. A specific interest you already act on: a project, a job, a question you keep chasing.
- What they have. A specific course, program, research group, club, tradition, or requirement that fits that interest. Name it.
- What you'd do with it. How you'd use it, and what you'd contribute back.
Two or three well-developed connections beat a list of ten program names. A list reads like you skimmed the website. A connection reads like you've thought about being there.
Where to find the specifics
- Department pages and course catalogs. Look for upper-level courses, not intro sequences.
- Student newspapers and club pages, which show what students actually do.
- Virtual information sessions and conversations with current students. Note what surprised you.
- Published curriculum requirements, which show how the school structures an education.
What readers skip past
- Rankings and prestige.
- Location or weather, unless you tie it to a concrete opportunity.
- "Diverse, vibrant community" with no example.
- Anything quoted straight from the admissions website.
Katalyna's writing studio links each essay to the school it's for and flags generic phrasing. It coaches the draft; it won't write it for you.
Try it in Katalyna
Writing studio
Structural feedback and inline flags on your own draft, linked to the school it's for.
Frequently asked
As long as the prompt allows, often 150 to 400 words. At the short end, develop one strong connection rather than cramming in three.
Only if you've genuinely engaged with their work and can say why it matters to you. Name-dropping without substance is easy to spot, and faculty move.
You can reuse the part about you. The part about the school has to be rewritten for each one — that's the point of the prompt.