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I hear a lot of suggestion for applicants to write Why Penn, Why Michigan, Why Virginia essays, but I don't recall seeing any posters suggest writing Why NYU or Why Columbia essays. Should candidates that are serious about those schools do so? Would this increase an applicant's shot at scholarship money?

People write a lot of "Why Mich/Penn/UVA" to avoid yield-protect if they have higher numbers. I'd write the "Why NYU/Columbia" essays. If yours is well thought out and well written, it certainly won't hurt, though don't count on it to increase your chances of admission or $ substantially.

sgtgrumbles wrote:I hear a lot of suggestion for applicants to write Why Penn, Why Michigan, Why Virginia essays, but I don't recall seeing any posters suggest writing Why NYU or Why Columbia essays. Should candidates that are serious about those schools do so? Would this increase an applicant's shot at scholarship money?

It can never hurt to tell a school why you think you are a match for them (and them a match for you). If it can convey your particular passion for the school in a meaningful and unique way, why not give it a shot? In all likelihood, it will mean absolutely nothing and will get tossed aside after a quick skim. Will it increase your chances of scholarship? I REALLY doubt it. I'd imagine such statements are more used when debating between two borderline candidates who are alike in every way. Given two such candidates, I'd imagine they want the student who went the tiny extra step of showing a strong passion and unique reason for wanting to attend.

So this is fine even if schools don't explicitly mention that they take optional essays? I believe NYU has something mentioning that applicants can write diversity statements, but I don't think they mention anything regarding a "Why NYU" essay.

sgtgrumbles wrote:So this is fine even if schools don't explicitly mention that they take optional essays? I believe NYU has something mentioning that applicants can write diversity statements, but I don't think they mention anything regarding a "Why NYU" essay.

Came here to ask this. I didn't write one because NYU does not even mention this in its application. I would gladly have written one otherwise. Isn't there a possibilty that unsolicited essays come off as put-offs?

The main downside is that, like with lots of LORs, they might not want to read through extra things they didn't request. Also, from what I've read on TLS, they know they're awesome and don't necessarily need an essay about it. I'm not writing ones for them, personally.