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Many colleges ask some version of "Why do you want to study this subject?", sometimes as its own supplement and sometimes folded into "Why us?". Limits usually run from about 100 to 400 words. The question looks like an invitation to declare your passion. It is really a request for evidence: show the reader how your mind works inside the subject.
Readers see hundreds of essays that say the applicant has always loved biology and wants to help people. The ones they remember show a specific question the applicant could not leave alone, what they did about it, and where they want to take it next.
What the question is really asking
Three things, in this order of importance. What does your interest actually look like, at the level of a specific problem or idea rather than a field? What have you done about it, in or out of class? And what would you do with it at college?
It is not asking for your career plan, although you can mention one. It is not asking you to summarize your activities list; the reader already has it. And it is not a test of how early you discovered the subject. A curiosity that started last year and has been pursued seriously beats a lifelong passion that has been described but never tested.
A structure that works: origin, evidence, direction
- 1Origin, two or three sentences: the specific question, problem or moment that pulled you in. Not "science" but "why our tomatoes split after rain". Not "economics" but "why the price of the same bus ticket changed three times in a year".
- 2Evidence, most of the essay: what you did because of that curiosity. A course you chose, a book that changed your question, a project, a job, a mistake you made and fixed. Show your thinking as it developed, not only the result.
- 3Direction, the last few sentences: what you want to explore next, and, if the prompt is college-specific, the particular courses, methods or research at this college that fit that next step.
Weak and strong examples
I have always been passionate about biology because I want to help people and make a difference in the world.
In tenth grade I spent a month trying to work out why the tomatoes on our fire escape split after every storm. The answer, osmotic pressure, had been in my textbook all along. What I had not known was that I liked the looking more than the finding.
Computer science fascinates me, and I have taken every programming class my school offers.
The scheduling app I built for my mom's bakery worked perfectly until two employees asked for the same Saturday off. Fixing it taught me less about code than about how to turn a messy human rule into a precise one, which is the part I want to study.
The weak versions name an emotion and a field. The stronger ones name a problem, show the writer working on it, and end on an insight about how they think. Notice that neither stronger example mentions a career or uses the word "passion".
If you are undecided
Undecided is a legitimate answer, and colleges with broad first-year curricula expect plenty of it. Do not invent a certainty you do not have. Instead, write about the two or three questions you are choosing between, why each pulls at you, and what you would do in your first year to find out which one is yours.
An undecided essay still needs specifics. "I am interested in many things" says nothing. "I cannot decide whether the question I care about, why people trust some sources and not others, belongs to psychology or to data science" says a lot.
How it differs from "Why this college?"
| Why this major | Why this college | |
|---|---|---|
| The center | Your intellectual interest and how it developed | The fit between you and a specific place |
| Main evidence | What you have read, built, studied or tried | Programs, courses, methods and communities at that college |
| Reusable? | The part about you, largely yes | The part about the college, never |
| Most common mistake | Reciting your activities list | Praise that fits any college |
Some colleges ask both questions in one prompt. In that case, spend roughly the first half on the interest and the second on how this college serves it, and make sure every college detail connects back to something you said about yourself.
Read next: How to write the "Why this college?" essay
Lines to cut
- "Ever since I was a child" and "I have always been fascinated by".
- "I want to help people" without saying which people, with what and how.
- Salary, prestige or what your parents do, as the reason for the choice.
- A list of AP classes and grades. They are on your transcript.
- Course names copied from the catalog without saying what you would do in them.
Read next: Phrases to cut from any college essay
Questions
A score out of 100, a note on every sentence, the paragraph costing you most and a 10-point draft check, in 5–10 minutes. We never write a word of your essay.
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