"Why Us" Week!
why they ask you this question
Dear Applicants,
It is “Why Us” week at Lucy’s Tips 4 College Apps. In this post, I’ll tell you why I think schools ask you this question. Later in the week I’ll tell you what can go wrong, and also what can go right, in these essays.
When I was a Writing professor at a small liberal arts college in Ohio, we often talked about how the English department could appeal to prospective students. When we did, we inevitably said the word “differentiation” a lot. The reason we kept saying this word is because the small liberal arts college in Ohio I taught at was almost indistinguishable from like twelve other small liberal arts colleges in Ohio. I don’t know how or why students chose to go there rather than one of the eleven others. I don’t know how you all decide you definitely want to go to Harvard and won’t even apply to MIT; UMich but not UIUC; Swarthmore but not Williams; Smith but not Wellesley; Carnegie Mellon but not Case; Bowdoin but not Bates.
The reason schools ask you to write a Why Us? question is because they are having the exact same kinds of meetings we had in the English department. They are worried about differentiation, so they’re making you worry about it! Why Us is actually a very good question that I would love an answer to. I have rarely—very rarely—seen it answered to my satisfaction, because these colleges are pretty much the same.
I think this context is important to keep in mind as you struggle to say something about these schools that is truly unique to them in the Why Us? essay. It can be done, and we’ll talk about how, but the reason it’s so hard to do is because the schools themselves can’t do it.
Til soon,
Lucy