Occidental is small liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. A vast majority of students on campus are involved with either volunteer work or community engagement, and the acceptance rate is around 37%.
Their supplement is broken down below:
Why are you applying to Occidental? What are your intellectual curiosities and why do you think Occidental is the right place for you to pursue them? (200 words maximum length)
We love a truncated “Why Us” question. There are two things that you need to accomplish with your answer: 1) explain your academic interests and 2) explain why Occidental is the best place to pursue them.
We’re reluctant to give a word count, but you can probably get your origin story (the story about how your academic interests came to exist) down to 50 words. It’s difficult, but doable if you’re thoughtful about which information you include. After that, you’ll shift into finding offerings at Occidental that align with your goals. You’ll need:
A sentence about what you plan to major in.
1-2 upper level classes that you want to take, along with reasons why
A professor who you’d like to do research with
Because this question strictly relates to academics, there’s no need to write about extracurricular activities. But make sure that you’re relying on details from your past when you’re explaining why you want to take certain classes and work with professors. For example, if you’re interested in doing Biology lab work, you might refer back to the independent research project you did over the summer. By weaving details about your experience in with Occidental’s curriculum, you’ll illustrate the link between your interests and their offerings. And rather than list format, go over your information and find a way to arrange everything into a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Oxy’s central mission emphasizes the value of community amidst diversity. What do you value in a community and how do you see your perspectives and life experiences enhancing it? (200 words maximum length)
In an ideal world, this would be an exercise that all high school students are required to complete before they start the college process. That way, you can get clear on what you’re looking for and use the list as a framework through which you decide where to apply to college. But when colleges ask this, they want to know that your vision aligns with their offerings. If you tell Occidental that you want to go to a big school with weekly football games, they’ll know right away that you will not be a good cultural fit for the school.
So how do you answer this? You describe Occidental without being super obvious. Envision, and then write out, specific examples of what you’re looking for. But also, make sure that vision exists on Occidental’s campus. When working with TKG clients, we like to scene set. So, instead of saying that you want to sit in small classes, actually describe what that looks and feels like. Maybe you walk into class and someone asks you how you did on that English paper, or your professor asks you how your weekend was. With 200 words to work with, you’ll probably have room for 3 illustrations. If these illustrations feel strange to you, be careful about making declarative statements (ex: “I value a diversity of perspective”) as they often come off as self-important and cringe-worthy.
Quirks, idiosyncrasies, peculiarities. They help differentiate us. What is one of yours? (134 words max)
If something immediately came to mind, you should go with that. If nothing came up, it might be helpful to outsource. Ask your close friends, family members, or anyone who you spend a lot of with what they would consider to be a quirk of yours. Also, a quirk does not have to be inherently bizarre. It might be a ritual that you’ve been doing for a while, or an unexplainable preference. We would suggest going with humor on this one, as 134 words is a short enough essay that doesn’t require much seriousness. If you can, have some fun!
Please answer one of the following questions (300 words max):
A. Research is an integral part of an Oxy education. Completing a senior comprehensive is a requirement of every Oxy student. Additionally, there are opportunities with the Institute for the Study of Los Angeles, the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, the International Richter Grant, the Summer Undergraduate Research Center, and other departments to conduct research. What is something you would like to research and why?
Good question! Three steps to answer it:
Explain how you’ve already familiarized yourself with the research topic that you’re going to write about. You don’t need to be a pro, but you shouldn’t pick something that A) you’ve never heard of or B) doesn’t make sense within the context of the rest of your application. So, if you’ve been killing it in STEM, you shouldn’t write about a desire to research Gothic Architecture if you’ve never taken an art class before.
Define your research project and provide your “why.” Enthusiasm will go a long way here!
Explain how Occidental’s resources will help you with your senior comprehensive. You don’t have enough space to outline the project entirely, but Occidental would like to know that they can provide you with the tools for the research project. While you’re doing this, weave details about your “why” in with Occidental’s offerings.
B. Briefly describe a current event or social movement that is affecting a city, town, or place that is important to you. Describe its significance to the community as well as its future implications for that community.
A. Place. That. Is. Important. To. You. Read those words over and over again. Yes, there are a lot of current events and social movements going on right now. But in order to successfully answer this question, you’ll need to flesh out the link between yourself and the movement. A macro-level answer won’t suffice here. This is because essays about issues and events can quickly become at best impersonal, and at worst very teenager on a soapbox. If something does come up for you, describe how it has impacted your community before moving on to potential issues in the future.
What is the first song you would play for your roommates on move-in day?
These last two questions are not the two questions that decide whether or not you get into Occidental. Your best bet is to make a list of ten songs that come to mind, and then choose the best one. Just don’t pick a song by an artist who is polarizing.
If you had your own food truck or restaurant, what would it be called?
We are standing by our opinion from last year and restating that asking what type of food you’d serve would be a better way to understand the preferences of Occidental students. But again, don’t overthink this one! The only wrong move is to plagiarize.
Occidental’s supplement is long, but provides a lot of variety and gives you a lot of opportunities to showcase new aspects of your personality. Be thoughtful about how you’re choosing to answer the questions.
If you’d like to work with someone one-on-one, contact us here.