Common Mistakes
What NOT to put as your main reason for attending this school
Location: You should not highlight that you like the school for its location. For instance, your love for NYU cannot be justified because you like the city of New York. If that is your logic, why not Columbia, Fordham, Barnard, CUNY, or Parsons? You should want to attend the school for other values apart from the location, which is an unchanging factor.
Weather : Do not mention nice California weather and your longing to be by the beach when applying to Pepperdine, UC San Diego, and more. Do not talk about the nice warm weather when applying to Emory, Vanderbilt, or UT Texas. Although weather can be an important determining factor for you and your family, do not mention it in the essay as it’s not directly correlated to the academic excellence of the schools.
Student to faculty ratio: “Tuft’s 10:1 student to faculty ratio…” “Swarthmore’s 8:1 student to faculty ratio…”Yes - the admission officers know exactly what the ratio is as they were the ones who tried so hard to bring down the ratio. Although you may seem like you did your research, it doesn’t bring much insight into why you’re a good fit for the school.
Ranking: Do not mention ‘As your school is #2 in US News Ranking for the Economics program I want to apply for xyz…’ Do not mention Unigo, QS World University Rankings, The Princeton Review, etc.
“Tight-knit community” for Liberal Arts school: The class size is going to be smaller and you’ll have a discussion-driven education at liberal arts school. However, try to stay away from the commonly used ‘tight-knit community’ that liberal arts school offers.
Look for programs in the undergraduate section - B.A. is Bachelor of Arts, B.S. is Bachelor of Science, and BFA is Bachelor of Fine Arts. Do not write down programs or schools that’s for graduate students. If you see M.A., it is a master’s program, PhD for doctorates, and. J.D. is a graduate-entry professional degree in law. Make sure you’re on the correct department website. For example:
UC Berkeley School of Dentistry only offers M.S., D.D.S., Ph.D. programs so do NOT write about it
UC Berkeley Haas School of Business offers undergraduate programs (O) , while UCLA Anderson School of Management offers MBA programs (X). Do not get them mixed up.
Do not mix up school names.
It’s Dartmouth College, not Dartmouth University.
Washington University in St. Louis is 🚫 University of Washington - Seattle
University of Michigan 🚫 Michigan State University
Wellesley College is an all-women’s college located in Wellesley, Massachusetts, whereas Wesleyan University is a co-ed university located in Middletown, Connecticut.
USC stands for University of Southern California, not University of South California
And many more… so please check the school name in your supp essays
Do not mix up school mascots, color, motto, stadium, names of professors or buildings, alumni, etc…
E.g. NYU Tandon School of Engineering is based in Brooklyn, not Manhattan New York.
E.g. Do not mix up your cats. NYU’s mascot is Bobcat and Northwestern’s mascot is Wildcat. Both school colors are purple.
Resources
FISKE Guide to Colleges
Chegg.com/schools
Youvisit: https://www.youvisit.com/
School websites - Information Sessions
Youtube -> “School Name + Tour”
Blogs ran by schools
Look at school → major → class curriculum → syllabus → specifics of the topics covered or professor names