A really common interview question is why are you interested in this university? In almost every college admission interview you will see this question.
“Why Are You Interested In This University?”
They are a few other variations that are very similar to this question.
- How did you decide which schools interest you?
- Which schools are you considering and why?
What interviewers are looking for here is:
- Why do you demonstrate an interest in their university.
- They want to make sure you are knowledgeable about the university you are applying for. They care about students being in their university because you want to be in that school.
- They also want you to show a connection to that university. You are not just applying randomly, you are not just picking any school you want to send an application to. You are making a deliberate choice to their university because of somewhat specific about it.
How to answer it.
The way I recommend you answer this is:
- Tell them your criteria for choosing the university. If you are looking for a big school, tell them why. If you are looking for a small school, tell them why and once they understand your criteria, they would understand why their university is a good fit for that criteria.
- Tell them your research methods. If you have done an on-campus visit and you have learned about the university from being there, tell them about that. If you have booked online or you’ve done any other research, tell them what it is that you want to discover about their university that matches their criteria.
- Give them very specific school attributes. If that school has amazing research instructors or if they have a technology that other schools aren’t leveraging, tell them about that and tell them you know that their school is specifically good at something that interests you.
Criteria.
Now let me explain some of the criteria that you may lay out. You May talk about:
- Are you looking for a big school or a small school? That will make a difference, an interviewer would want to know what your PRIORITY is.
- Subject matter strength: you might be looking for a school that is particularly good in a certain subject that interest you.
- Or you might look for a school that has different resources than other schools or offers different experiences.
- You might be looking for a specific culture. Different schools are known for different things. Some schools are known for having overachievers, and some schools are known for Haven-based a based environments. Tell them what kind of culture you are looking for in your criteria.
Specific School attributes
Tell them the specific school attributes that interest you.
- What’s different? What’s different about their school.
- Things you observed. What are things you observed from your research?
- Areas of pride. What are areas they are particularly proud of? They might have something on their website that they go deep on. It may be the historical traditions that they have, it may be their connection to the community, it could be anything.
- Let them know about what is in their school that is specifically of interest to you.
Examples
Here are 2 examples.
- A student who is interested in a large diverse university. You can say the reason I’m choosing this university to interview with is that I want a big university where I will be exposed to a wide variety of students and a wide variety of subjects. And what I love about your university is that you have all kinds of subjects to study and in fact, you have more classes than any other university that I have looked into and I like the variety of the student body. You have a higher percentage of international students than other schools I’ve looked at. You also have a higher percentage of diverse ethnic groups and that is what I want in a college experience. I want that diversity and I also like the resources that come with large universities your university has tremendous research facilities and your library facilities are better than that of any other university I’ve found so I want that large diverse experience and your school is the best for that.
- A student that is interested in a small liberal arts school. You can say specifically I’m applying to your university because I like the small community environment. I like the idea of having small classes where I get more interaction with the professors. I still like the sense that I am going to build that community with my students and I know that your university is very involved with the local town and local authorities and that is extremely important to me. I want to be active in my community and by going to a small liberal arts college known for community service, I’m going to make the most out of my interest.
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Two different answers for 2 different types of universities.
Some good answers to these questions are:
- You can talk about the size of the school. That’s something that universities appreciate. Some students strive in big environments while some students strive in small environments.
- You can also talk about their academic ranking if they are really good in the subject that you want to go into. Tell them that you are picking their university because they are rated at the top of the universities list on business or healthcare or law etc.
- You might want to talk about their teaching style. Some universities have a very academic, very research-based teaching style, some of them are much more practical where they give you real-world experience.
- it’s okay to talk about geography. If you want to stay very close to your family or if you want to start your career in a certain part of the country. Tell them that you are interested in going to their university because it matches up with your geographic preference.
Some examples of things not to talk about include:
- Parties – I want to go to the school because their parties are great or
- Sports – because the sports team are really fun.
- Weather – it has really good weather or I just want to lay out on a beach because it is close to a beach and has warm weather.
- Don’t tell them you want to go to their university because some of your friends are going there or because that’s where your aunt went.
They want you to be an independent thinker, they want you to choose their university because of the criteria that you said based on your academic interest and the size of the environment you are going to strive in.
How to answer it.
- Your Criteria
- Your Research Methods
- Specific School Attributes
So make sure you have done your research on the university and be prepared to answer why you are choosing that university to apply to. And make sure your answers match up with something that the university is very proud of and something they are known for…
