Showing Interest in College Admissions

Showing Interest in College Admissions June 9, 2012 Elton Brand is not a reason why you want to attend Duke University. Well, maybe he is. But you dont have to let Duke admissions officers know this! Oy vey. Showing interest in college admissions is importantand its important to show your interest the right way (photo credit: Keith Allison). Showing interest in college admissions is important. Dont understand what that means? It means that colleges want you to love them. Think of college admissions as a lot like dating but in college admissions, theres no benefit to playing hard to get.  Colleges want students who want them back. After all, it impacts their yield. If they admit a ton of students who have no interest in attending their university, their yield is going to plummet. But if they admit a ton of students who are keen on attending their university, their yield will skyrocket. Which alternative do you think makes more sense for a highly selective college? The latter of course! One of the ways in which colleges can easily gauge how interested you are in attending their university is through the Why College essay which is quite often a supplement. Wed like to present you with a sample excerpt of a Why College essay and then wed like for you to figure out exactly whats wrong with what the applicant states. Also, wed like to see if you can determine why what theyve written is wrong and how the college might be able to gauge their interest in their university on account of what theyve written. So here goes: I want to attend Duke University because of its small class sizes and beautiful Durham campus. At Duke, I would volunteer by tutoring children at the local elementary school. I would also attend basketball games. Growing up rooting for the likes of Elton Brand, Shane Battier, and Chris Duhon makes me excited to attend Duke. Duke is where I want to spend my college years! Spot anything fishy? If not, lets point out some major blunders for you. First, the student wants to attend Duke because of its small class sizes. But small class sizes arent unique to Duke. Amherst has small class sizes. So does MIT. And Caltech, UNC, and Stanford. Writing small class sizes as the reason you want to attend Duke is bad form its so clearly part of your template for all of your Why College Essays. Thats like going on a job interview and saying youd be good at this job because youre a people person. Oy vey! Thats a way how not to get hired! And what else is wrong in the sample excerpt you ask? How about saying you want to go to Duke because of basketball games? We all know Duke has a great mens basketball program under Coach K! But that shouldnt be the reason you want to attend this prestigious university! Dont fall into the group of hundreds and hundreds of applicants who cite basketball as the top reason why they want to attend Duke. Even if thats the case, you dont have to cite it explicitly to Duke admissions officers! Oh and how about citing some specifics when the students writes about volunteering with children in the community? Every college has an elementary school in the neighborhood. The applicant didnt even bother to mention a specific program or elementary school. If the applicant didnt bother, neither will the Duke admissions officers in checking off admit.