<p>This is only supposed to be about a paragraph…Tell me what you think! Thanks!</p>
<p>Describe your academic interests and how you plan to pursue them at USC. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.</p>
<p>I was drawn to a major in the social sciences because it would combine my love for topics like language, culture, and history. I quickly became enthusiastic specifically about international relations because I pride myself on having a global outlook that enables me to see past boundaries that can blind others. At USC I would not only be able to study international relations, but I would be able to live international relations. I feel so passionate about USC because my academic interests align exactly with USC’s best features. It was a major selling point to me that USC students can enjoy living in a fantastic international city and that USC enrolls more foreign students than any other school in the country.</p>
<p>I would make it much more specific. What are USC’s “best features.” Find maybe two others besides the foreign students and explain why those appeal to you. Don’t ‘tell us’ USC is a good fit for you, “show us.”</p>
<p>I think you can tighten up the writing substantially. You don’t need two sentences to explain your attraction to international relations. You think a global outlook is important. You want to live with lots of international students which USC has. Great. My advice would be to find some other ways that USC “walks the talk” about this that excite you.</p>
<p>im applying there too but im confused.
it says for it to be one paragraph
but the character count is 3500
that is a lot for one paragraph…</p>
<p>i wrote my essay without seeing the “approx. one paragraph”
so i went ahead and wrote my essay and its multiple paragraphs but its
well below 3500 characters.
im not sure why they gave us so many characters to use =/</p>
<p>OK I revamped my short answer…this is how it’s looking now:</p>
<p>My academic interests are endless. I want to read about Nietzsche and Marx. I want to listen to lectures about the cosmos and feel small. I want to appreciate art, statistics, physics, and foreign languages. USC’s wide range of classes satisfies my inner nerd, allowing me to pursue an education spread over multiple fields. Even better, at USC I will be able to explore my intellectual curiosities with the guidance of world class professors in a small class setting. And while these assets of USC were major selling points to me, my passion for the University of Southern California is ultimately rooted in my love for international relations. At USC, I would not only be able to study IR, but live IR. As a student I’d be living in a fantastic international city, with more enrolled foreign students than any other school in the country. I cannot think of an environment more conducive to my academic growth and success.</p>
<p>This is a work in progress…I need to shape it up more, I know…</p>
<p>And just to address this now - yes, I did change my short answer quite a bit. Every time I edit it, I end up with an entirely different paragraph. This current draft is much more personal and specific to me. I guess I want to use the supplement as a means for USC to try to gauge who I am.</p>
<p>Of course making the answer more personal/casual/conversational meant compromising some formality. My answer lacks the ‘sophistication,’ I guess, that abbas432’s link had. </p>
<p>Is this a good or bad thing? Yes and no. I guess I’m trying to find a balance here. </p>
<p>I want to hear some more thoughts on this :)</p>
<p>It’s certainly got a lot more personality now. However, it’s still a little generic. You could pretty much substitute any of 100 school names for USC and it would still be true. </p>
<p>Also it might sound a little more intellectual if you said you wanted to “read Nietzche and Marx” instead of “read about” them.</p>
<p>I think I really like where my short answer is now…</p>
<p>My academic interests are expansive. I want to read Nietzsche and Marx. I want to listen to lectures on the cosmos and feel small. I want to appreciate art, statistics, physics, and foreign languages. USC is one of the few universities whose broad range of courses encompasses my interests, allowing me to satisfy my inner nerd by pursuing an education spread over multiple fields. My passion for the University of Southern California is ultimately rooted in my enthusiasm for international relations. I will be able to supplement my global awareness gained from the School of International Relations with living in a vibrant international city alongside more enrolled foreign students than any other university in the country. USC will allow me to fully explore my intellectual curiosities and grow as a globally literate international relations student.</p>
<p>My academic interests are expansive. I want to enter the minds of Nietzsche and Marx. I want to listen to lectures on the cosmos and become aware of the limitless boundaries of the universe, minimizing my existence to a spec of dust. I want to appreciate artistic expression, statistics, quantum physics, and foreign languages. USC is one of the few universities whose broad range of courses encompasses my interests, allowing me to satisfy my ambition to expand my knowledge even further. My passion for the University of Southern California is ultimately rooted in my love for international relations. My choice of IR reflects my ability to see past boundaries that blind others and desire to take on challenges of international importance. I will be able to supplement my global awareness gained from the School of International Relations with living in a vibrant international city alongside more enrolled foreign students than any other university in the country. USC will allow me to fully explore my intellectual curiosities and grow as a globally literate international relations student.</p>
<p>I know this thread is about a year old, being seeing how you helped so well last time I’ll try as well. Applying to the same school by the way. Business Major.</p>
<p>Although I have never personally visited USC, I have enjoyed the marvelous surroundings of Las Angeles itself. The wide variety of people is the main reason I chose USC as one of my top colleges in the first place. Living in Oklahoma my whole life, you basically only get to see the country side of the world. Being a business major at USC would help me expand on the vary international relations I lack, which will help me in the business world down the line. The University of Southern California is in the top twenty five business colleges in the world! Being taught by the best will ensure that I become the most informed on modern business techniques. I also have a great passion for the entertainment industry. With the surroundings of USC basically being the headquarters of entertainment, I will be able to develop as an artist. Hearing that USC has a great student environment is one of the biggest perks a college can provide.</p>
<p>How is this “what will you do” essay diffrent from “why do you choose our school” one? The essays shown above, I think, are more suitable for the former prompt. The tone is rather passive (USC is …, my choice is, … I will be able to … → all “to be”). </p>
<p>Should I instead put emphasis on what I “do”? Should I focus on participating in one activity, or list a number of clubs / activities I’m interested in?</p>
@schmisar It needs to be more specific to USC. Poke around the school website. Look up IR classes that sound cool. See what unique opportunities USC offers its IR students. In short, the more you can make this specifically about USC rather than a strong university in general, the better. I got my BA at Tufts and my MA and PhD at USC and honestly could swap in Tufts for USC in your essay and not lose anything.
@Chase2013 Same advice roughly that I gave above, but you make two pretty big no-nos. First, don’t list it’s ranking. If USC is in the top 25 and that’s your reason for going there, how can they think you won’t ditch them if you get into a top 10? Colleges love bragging about rankings but they don’t like hearing that as a reason. Same goes with city. If a big city is what matters, why USC over UCLA? Or even other schools in big cities, such as NYU, Columbia, UChicago, etc.?