In this episode of TUN TV, Dr. Crystal Rose interviews April Paris-Joseph, CEO of Paris Educational Solutions, about the three steps high school seniors should know about writing a winning “Why Us?” essay for college applications. This is Part 1.
Dr. Crystal Rose: Welcome to The University Network TV, where we scan the globe to give students, their families and educators the very best tips for student success. I’m your host today, Dr. Crystal Rose. And in this college-bound series, we have advice for high school seniors entitled, “Three Steps to Writing a Winning ‘Why Us?’ Essay for Your College Applications.”
If you’re a high school senior applying to college, this is for you. We all know that essays are tough. Even in this test-optional period, they’re very much a part of the college admissions process. We definitely want to shed light on this process today.
Let me give you an overview. Step One will be the ABCs of the “Why us?” essay — its purpose, point, and product. Step Two, we’ll use a mnemonic device, WIN, to keep top of mind what it is you’ll want to accomplish in the essay. With all that said, we’re not doing this on our own. We will be reviewing this with April Paris-Joseph, CEO of Paris Educational Solutions.
Welcome, April.
April Paris-Joseph: Hi, Crystal.
Dr. Crystal Rose: Thank you for joining today. We’ll be exploring these three steps to writing a winning “Why us?” essay for college applications.
April Paris-Joseph: Yeah. I think you said something that was really interesting – that the essays are still really important even in the test-optional world – and I think I’d love for students to understand that the essay may be even a little more important than it used to be, right?
We’re less focused on these data points, fixed data points about you, especially one that’s only in a day, right? You got one moment in time in a test, and now we’re giving you more opportunity to be holistically evaluated.
And we’re doing that through the essay. Who are you? Who are you representing yourself to be? And what are you telling us about why you should be part of this campus? Bringing us back to this whole idea of the “Why us?” essay.
Then the college wants to know, Why do you want to come be on our campus? Why are you picking us to apply to? And, inversely, you could call it the Why You? Essay. Why should we pick you to be on our campus, versus some other student?
Dr. Crystal Rose: Step One is understanding the ABCs of the “Why us?” essay, which is to understand the purpose. April, can you walk us through these points?
Acceptance, Be specific, and Check it out.
Dr. Crystal Rose: I have “A” for acceptance. How does that relate to the purpose of this essay?
April Paris-Joseph: So, really, they’re deciding who they’re gonna accept into their institution.
And this is your opportunity to tell them why they should want you on their campus – both why you want to be there, and why they should pick you. And that’s kinda it in a nutshell, right?
Dr. Crystal Rose: Next, I have “B” for be specific. Could you please share more in the context of the point of the essay?
April Paris-Joseph: Yeah. Give a good reason.
A good one is not, “Your school is really great because it has so many thousands of students.” That’s not specific. Really get in there and say, “Because I’m really interested in this program,” or “I learned that you have this club that’s very exciting to me.” Something really nuanced.
And yes, maybe you can find it on the website, but it certainly is past page one. You have gone a few clicks deeper and shown some due diligence.
Dr. Crystal Rose: Finally, I have “C” for check it out and count. Let’s talk about “check it out” first.
Yeah. Again, back to “How are you gonna be specific?” You have to check out the school in detail.
April Paris-Joseph: So a lot of times, students apply to six schools because they all look the same. But they’re all not really the same.
So, have you done the deep dive in your research to figure out what’s different and unique about each campus? Can you demonstrate that? And have you really thought about it?
UCLA and UC Berkeley aren’t the same place. They just aren’t.
So, do you know why you’re picking these schools?
Dr. Crystal Rose: Now, for “count” as in word count. Can you please shed more light on this?
April Paris-Joseph: If you try to put 300 words into a 250-word-count essay in the Common App, it’s gonna get cut off.
They said 250, make it 247, 249, not 255. That’s too many and it’ll cut off.
Dr. Crystal Rose: What a fantastic overview of the “Why us?” essay. Thank you, April, for this excellent discussion.
April Paris-Joseph: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Crystal Rose: And to our audience, thank you very much for joining us.
Hopefully, writing your “Why us?” essay will be that much easier with these three steps, The ABCs to Win and the tip for crafting the essay that tells colleges why you want to be there and why you belong. Here’s to your success. I’m your host, Dr. Crystal Rose. Until next time, on TUN TV.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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