Do people actually name-drop university programs/classes/professors in their supplemental essays?

Lindagaf
Fri, 31 Oct 2025 20:31:00 +0000

leapftstars:

Ive written about my current research in time scales and desire to dive deeper into that research as i continue it at MIT, as well as my plan to broaden my research topics to include applied mathematics (for example, computational biology, something i’ve been wanting to do since working with marine biologists on turtles in costa rica). MIT has many opportunities for this kind of thing (UROP, etc) and I know the math department and I would be able to work to reach my goals. generally, the point is that i’m someone who wishes to specialize in both pure and applied math as a researcher, and i feel like it fits MITs desire for an explorer type of person who has specific passions.

This seems like the basis of a good essay to me. When you say MIT has many opportunities, why don’t you say that in your essay, but explain what those opportunities are? I.e., I’ll continue my research at UROP using their __ and __,. And HOW is their math dept going to help you reach your goals? Write that.

I am not seeing that you are having great difficulty with this. If you show that MIT offers what you need and why you need to be there to do it, you will probably show what they are looking for in this type of essay.