<p>Say you were a member of your local ACLU chapter, or volunteered with Planned Parenthood. Would it be a good idea to research specific clubs / ECs at the college you’re applying to that coordinate with the things you’re involved in now and mention them in your “Why?” essay? (i.e., an ACLU campus club or VOX chapter) Would this be viewed as genuine interest or “sucking up”?</p>
<p>For example, say you’re very involved with your local Amnesty International chapter, and are applying to UC Berkeley, (I have no idea whether UCB actually has an AI chapter, although I assume they do. I’m not even certain that the UC application includes such a question, I’m just using it as an example.). Would you mention in your essay that you’re “very interested in joining the Berkeley Human Rights Campus Group (or whatever)”?</p>
<p>They also like people who have obviously researched the school and aren’t just using the same essay with the name changed. I would say the more specific, the better.</p>
<p>Yes. Absolutely. That’s probably the best approach, not only to the “Why Acme U?” essay, but to the entire application.</p>
<p>The whole goal is to figure out what makes the college tick and how your specific interests mesh with the college. Researching the things that interest you will allow you to prepare a better application and, more importantly, help you figure out if the college is the right one for you in the first place. Even better, when you visit campus, go meet the people involved in the stuff you enjoy.</p>
<p>If the admissions office can visualize you as an enthusiastic teenager who will contribute to the the campus community, you’ve set yourself up for an acceptance letter.</p>
<p>And on a similar note, you might not go overboard on the volunteering at PP on the essay for a Catholic college, one that wears its catholocism on its sleeve.</p>
<p>Thanks, ses, that’s my plan, I was just wondering if they were worth mentioning. And thanks for the thought, sunny, but I won’t be applying to any religious colleges. Reed is about as religious as i get :).</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily agree with that. The goal is to find ways that your unique interests mesh with unique elements on campus. For some applicants, this will be an academic department (for example, a hard core high school science geek who has spent summers in research labs). For others, this may well be an extracurricular activity (for example, a high school student who has been involved in political campaigns or an unusually strong community service effort or religious activities, etc.).</p>
<p>Colleges are looking to support an entire range of activities. Certainly, they need hard core academic students, but they also need leaders in community service, the Jewish students association, the debate team, the young Republicans club, and on and on and on. You can ride just about any horse to an acceptance letter; it just has to be authentic based on your demonstrated interests.</p>
<p>Thanks, interesteddad. I am still in the very early stages of my college search process, and I’m sure that by the time I apply different schools will take on different forms in terms of “fit”. My prediction is, that for some colleges the atmosphere/social aspect, club and activity opportunities will carry more weight, (in addition, of course, to an excellent academic program) while for other schools my interest will be based mainly on academics. I’ll certainly keep your advice in mind while researching colleges :). For example, a lot of my interest in Brown stems from their philosophy of academic autonomy and also their close partnership with RISD, because I’m very passionate about photography and graphic design, and would like to continue those activities in a stimulating environment even though they will almost certainly not pertain to my college major (or “concentration” as the case may be). My interest in Berkeley stems in part from its heavily political environment. My thought was that colleges know that top students are applying to multiple top schools based on academics (or prestige), and that it might be advisable to list a few “subtleties”, however insignificant they may seem to some, that draw me to a particular school.</p>