University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's wording, checked October 26, 2026“Please explain your interest in your second-choice major or your overall academic or career goals.”
Illinois asks for about 150 words.
How to approach it
- 1Show the connection to your first choice or why it is a real option.
- 2The prompt lets you answer with your overall academic or career goals. Use that route if the two majors share a purpose.
- 3Write it so a reader in that department would want you.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1Why the second-choice major interests you, with one piece of evidence.
- 2How it relates to your first choice or to the same underlying goal.
- 3What you would do with it at Illinois.
Where the 150 words go
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| Where the interest comes from | about 50 |
| How you think about the subject | about 50 |
| Your path at this college | about 50 |
Mistakes to avoid
- A backup with no interest shown.
- Repeating your first-choice essay with the major's name changed.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Illinois answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 150 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Where the interest comes from | A specific, preferably recent experience (a class, project, job, reading, problem) shows the interest is real, not a stated passion. |
| How you think about it | The reader sees the applicant's own thinking: a question they pursue, a connection they made, a view of the field. |
| Your path at this college | It names how this school's curriculum, structure or opportunities fit the plan, specifically enough that it would not fit another school unchanged. |
| Illinois's ask | It ties the academic interest to what Illinois offers, not to the field in general. |
Check your Illinois answers
Paste this answer (and any other Illinois answers you have). One report covers all of them: the checklist above for each, a note on every sentence, coaching questions and a revision plan. One supplement token ($4.99) covers the whole college. We never write a word of it.
Check your college supplemental essays
All of this college's answers in one report, for 1 supplement token.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Common App or any college.
Open the picker and search for a college to see its 2026–27 supplemental questions.
Supplement reviews are paid: your free review is for the Common App essay or a UC answer · we never write your answers
Questions
More on Illinois and this kind of question
- Princeton: Academic interests (A.B.) · 250 words
- Princeton: Why engineering at Princeton (B.S.E.) · 250 words
- Columbia: Your preferred areas of study · 150 words
- Penn: College of Arts and Sciences · 50-200 words
- Penn: The Wharton School · 50-200 words
- Penn: Penn Engineering · 50-200 words