We’ve talked about how important it is to tell colleges what you plan to study. And last week, we helped you choose your major for your college applications. This blog post will detail how to write your “why this major” college essay in three steps.
Explain how your academic interests developed:
We often refer to this as an origin story. These can take a long time to brainstorm and write because we often don’t realize that the things we’re currently doing, or have done in the past, are the very clues that you should be highlighting. In other words, one BIG thing doesn’t need to have occurred.
Let’s say that during middle school, your favorite hobby was reading. You went to the library on most days after school and kept a catalogue of books to read in the future. Once you got to high school, you started a book club and did a brief stint as a writer and editor for the local paper. While at the time, it probably just felt like developing a hobby and getting a summer job, you could look back now and connect those dots into reasons as to why you plan to major in English.
Or maybe it went something like this: your parents demanded that you stop watching Netflix and sign up for an extracurricular activity. You decided that you would tutor kids who go to your middle school, because it was convenient but you fell in love with it and continued tutoring for all four years of high school. This kind of path, where even you surprised yourself with an interest, can also work for an origin story. This person, by the way, wants to major in elementary education.
If you’ve decided that you want to major in something, write the name of the major down on a blank piece of paper. Then, write down everything that you’ve done related to that major. This list can include classes that you’ve taken in school, books you’ve read, online courses you’ve taken, summer programs, memorable conversations that made your wheels turn, jobs, internships, and research rabbit holes you’ve gone down. During this initial brainstorm process, write down everything that comes to mind.
When working with TKG clients, they’re often reluctant to share everything that comes to mind. When pressed, they’ll recall something, let’s say a conversation that often took place around the dinner table about politics or a parent’s job as a doctor. And while overhearing and/or eavesdropping on a conversation is not great content for a college essay, we highly suggest digging into what you did after these seemingly unimportant moments. We once worked with a student who would google terms and phrases that he heard at the dinner table, which sparked his interest in the great big world of business.
Exceptions exist, but we generally see origin stories play out in one of the following ways:
A singular experience that made you fall in love with your major. Before you get excited, these singular experiences need to be followed up with action and growth. But it’s totally fine if that one summer doing an independent project made you fall in love with computer science.
A chain of events that culminated in an a-ha moment.
Go back to your list and think: what makes the most sense for me? Keep in mind that this part of the college essay will effectively introduce you to the admissions team, so don’t rush this process.
Dig deeper and look at the bigger picture.
IMPORTANT: Colleges like to admit students who are going to take advantage of their resources. They do not like to made to feel like stepping stones. So, when we say look at the bigger picture, we don’t mean telling your dream school that you need a 4.0 from a reputable institution in order to get into business school, which is your actual goal because you want to be filthy rich. For that reason, when working with TKG clients, we don’t allow them to write about the alumni network they can’t wait to dip their toes into. If you get in, by all means, network! But for the purposes of your why this major essay, you should remain grounded in academics.
It can, however, be helpful to slightly elaborate on your goals and attach some kind of meaning to your origin story. This should not account for a majority of your essay; 1-2 sentences should do it. If you skip this step, your introductory paragraph might end up sounding like a resume. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Why is (insert major here) important to me?
What are my goals within the field?
What is one thing I would love to accomplish?
What is one subfield I’m fascinated by?
What questions might I ask in the future?
These are brainstorm questions! We’re not suggesting that you go full philosopher in your essay. These questions are meant to inspire thinking about the few sentences that will serve as a transition into the last step.
Let’s say you want to major in Environmental Science. For your origin story, you wrote about a summer program in Peru, a failed hydroponics project, a longstanding love of National Geographic, and a few books you’ve read multiple times. Instead of going directly into step three, it might behoove you to look ahead a bit. For example, “One of my goals is to continue researching how climate change affects the agriculture industry.”
Highly specific, we know. But specificity is best. Here’s the thing, colleges want to know what you’ve been doing up until now. They also don’t expect you to know everything about the field you plan to study. By highlighting a goal, or explaining how studying X major aligns perfectly with your values, you’ll show that you’re on the right path but are also actively identifying areas of growth.
Demonstrate the link between your interest and the college.
Most colleges don’t just want to know why you want to major in Math. They want to know why studying Math at their school is the only logical next step for you. So, if your “why this major” essay asks why you want study at a specific college, here’s what you should do:
Identify 1-2 upper-level classes that you want to take, and explain why.
Find 1-2 professors you’d like to do research with and explain why you’d be a valuable addition to their research team.
Write about one specific academic opportunity that you plan to take advantage of should you be admitted.
Depending upon the length of your essay, you might not be able to fit all of the above in. Use your best judgment about where to cut it down, and make sure that you’re writing about something that is truly specific to the school you’re applying to. Spend a lot of time on your “why,” and look back at the original list you made. By relying on specific examples from your resume, you’ll be able to demonstrate the link between your interests and the school’s offering.
Feeling lost? Reach out to us.