<p>I’m going to talk about the journalism opportunities available in NYC (tie it into my extracurricular as editor-in-chief of my school’s newspaper) but also want to touch upon the fact that Greenwich Village is an area which I can feel comfortable about being gay. (unlike the town I’m living in right now)</p>
<p>My response isn’t fabricated or anything, but my worry is that they get several “gay” responses every year. Would you guys advise against it?</p>
<p>I’m no expert but you’re being honest and it’s unique to you. Keep in mind NYU is the most popular school in the world for applications (or at least I think it is). I’m sure they get a lot of every kind of topic you can think of.</p>
<p>Just like the personal statement, the “Why ___?” has to be an essay about YOU. They know about their own school, so those who write about how great the school is come across as prestige-hounds. But you really want to tell why the school is a FIT for YOU. So start out saying that you are searching for a FIT for YOU and that several things are important to you. </p>
<p>Your things mentioned above fit right into that… you want to be in a city with journalism opportunities (notice the subtle difference between that statement and saying “NYC has great opportunities for journalism”)… you want an environment where you can feel comfortable as a gay man… etc. You’ve done your research and NYU looks to be a great fit for you. </p>
<p>Very subtle difference in approach, but you want it to look like
a) you have requirements for yourself,
b) you’ve done research into schools/cities/environments, and
c) it looks like NYU is the choice YOU want to make.</p>
<p>–Robert Cronk, author of Concise Advice: Jump-Starting Your College Admissions Essays</p>
<p>Make sure most of your requirements pertain to NYU and not just NYC.</p>
<p>If you believe that the admissions office gets a lot of essays talking about the same thing i would veer away from that topic… remember they read thousands of applications a day. Try and write something unique and different that sets you aside from all the other applicants. I know someone who applied to an ivy league & in their entire essay they wrote about things such as how they saved lives, were a super hero, and pretty much fictional things and at the end wrote… but i never attended Princeton University- they got accepted. That’s just a little example of how admission offices look for interesting things not the same old stuff they usually get. I don’t know if that’s much help but good luck!</p>