"Why this school" supplements are usually short — sometimes under 150 words — and they trip up a lot of students because there's no room for a scene or a big story arc. This one, written for Carnegie Mellon's information systems program, shows what a tight, specific version looks like.
Describe your career goals and aspirations. How do you plan to use your computer science degree to accomplish your goals?
In middle school, I started teaching myself to code by watching YouTube videos and reading through different websites. Although early on I wasn't extremely knowledgeable in the technology field, I realized it was something I was interested in.
My passion for technology didn't fully blossom until I was in high school. It was in my freshman year that I took an introduction to programming class that inspired me to want to pursue a career in the field. In this class, I learned basic skills like loops, functions, and conditional statements that allowed me to add on to what I already knew. After facing initial challenges and struggles, I grew to enjoy every second of it and knew I wanted to study it even further.
My goal is to use my technology degree to help people, whether it be through distributing resources, creating devices, or just sharing my knowledge and experience with others. I know that Carnegie Mellon's groundbreaking information systems program will provide me with the necessary knowledge, leadership, and decision-making skills to make an impact in the world.
What Made This Work
- Short and disciplined — no scene-setting beyond one sentence, because the prompt doesn't have room for it.
- Names the actual program by name, not just the school.
- Connects the program to a specific goal ("distributing resources," "leadership and decision-making skills") instead of generic praise.
- Could not be copy-pasted into a different school's supplement without the whole thing falling apart — that's the test for whether a "why this school" essay is specific enough.