Social Science Nerdiness ~ Why Northwestern? Essay

What are the unique qualities of Northwestern - and of the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying - that make you want to attend the University? In what ways do you hope to take advantage of the qualities you have identified?

Environmental issues have always drawn my interest, but it was only after I started composting at my high school that I figured out what I could do to solve them. My experience in the composting program gave me an idea for a business. I now plan to start a firm that contracts composting and recycling service to municipalities, producing in-demand natural fertilizer while hindering climate change and cutting costs for cash-strapped governments. In order to make this start-up succeed, I will need to know more than how to conduct business; I will need to know about the complex political, environmental, and economic climate of America and the international community. An education from Northwestern, particularly in the small classes of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, would provide me with the background in business, economics, and environmental studies that I will need to achieve my goal.

Beyond working toward a major in Economics and double minor in Business Institutions and Environmental Policy and Culture at Weinberg, I will prepare for my future career by completing certificate programs in Entrepreneurship from the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in Managerial Analytics from the Kellogg School of Management, or in Leadership from the Center for Leadership. The Certificate in Entrepreneurship would give me a foundation in the skills I need get my business off the ground while the Certificates in Managerial Analytics and Leadership would leave me with a high aptitude for making business decisions. The InNUvate club will also help me become a better entrepreneur by supporting me as I develop and refine my business plan and share ideas with other future and current environmental technology entrepreneurs. I plan to participate in the university's new composting program to gain insight into how a start-up composting operation functions that can be applied later in my professional life. To compliment my coursework and extracurricular involvement, I aim to head my own research project on the need and potential market for the expanding composting and recycling services industry as well.

As a social science nerd, I devour any information on human cultures, demographic distributions, and past events that I can find. Though I plan to use my college education to prepare for a career in business, it will not feel complete unless I get to pursue my passion for combining the study of anthropology, geography, and history. As I have never had the opportunity to formally study linguistics or the spread and evolution of language as an indicator of human migration (though I have done some informal independent research into the latter), I want to enroll in a few electives related to those subjects as well. Fortunately for me, Weinberg offers a wide variety of social science courses that I can take as an aside to my focus on business, economics, and environmental studies. I could also conduct additional research into social science-based topics. Outside of Weinberg, I would enjoy taking film production classes at the School of Communication to continue my education in the art of filmmaking. It is this possibility of deeply engaging in both my career-related and other scholarly interests that attracts me to the Weinberg Colleges of Arts and Sciences and to Northwestern University as a whole.

Any feedback (especially constructive criticism) would be very helpful. Thank you in advance!

And if you could, comment on how well I address the prompt.

There's nothing wrong with the essay itself, but the problem with the "Why us" supplements is that they don't really care about you as much as they do about them. I feel as though you don't address the prompt correctly because you didn't mention anything unique to Northwestern at all, bar the inNUvate program. All they want to hear is why you want things offered there and only there, try to be as specific as possible. The best advice I can give you is, after you write your essay ask yourself, "If I put that sentence in any other college's supplement would it still work?"

great reply enigma33 . i also applied to northwestern , but was wait listed . It is kinda tricky
Firstly, its kinda like a dreamy essay, you want to accomplish alot, which is good but very unlikely since you are going into economics.
mentioning northwestern business school doesn't make it unique. i should start with your own qualities and relate them to 1 or 2 qualities northwestern has.
go to daily northwestern to see what the school is passionate about/

Your essay is good with little grammatical mistakes.
I think you tell us too much about your dream but not enough for how you can grow up in this specific university.
In my opinion, the proper ratio between these two aspects should be 1:1.
Also, you did not clearly point out the uniqueness of Northeastern.
To improve this aspect, I suggest getting more academic information from its website. It would be better If you can mention special programs and academic projects and state how you can engage in and learn from these programs.

Here's my revised version:

What are the unique qualities of Northwestern - and of the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying - that make you want to attend the University? In what ways do you hope to take advantage of the qualities you have identified?

Environmental issues have always drawn my interest, but it was only after I started composting at my high school that I figured out what I could do to solve them. My experience in the composting program gave me an idea for a business. I now plan to start a firm that contracts composting service to municipalities, producing in-demand natural fertilizer while hindering climate change and cutting costs for cash-strapped governments. I have done informal research into this idea, and, to my excitement, I have found that such a firm could succeed. The small, discussion-based classes at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences would allow me to delve deep into subjects that I truly love and that are pertinent to my career goals - business, economics, and environmental studies - while developing the type of analytical thinking that will help an aspiring entrepreneur like me thrive in the business world.

The academic options I would have as a Northwestern student interested in environmental entrepreneurship are unparalleled; there are so many programs that I am interested in that it will be hard for me to decide what to do. Beyond working toward a major in Economics, I certainly plan to earn a minor or certificate, if not two. The Weinberg minors in Business Institutions and Environmental Policy and Culture would give me an interdisciplinary approach to business that would be more than helpful in a field focused on tackling complex environmental problems with creative solutions. A Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Leadership, or Managerial Analytics would give me the foundations of the decision-making skill I will need to successfully run a business too. I want to join all of these programs, but since I can only pursue one or two to supplement my major, I will confer with the highly involved professors and advisors at Weinberg to ensure I choose the right non-major concentration for me.

Even the extracurricular activities at Northwestern entice me. The InNUvate club would help me become a better entrepreneur by supporting me as I develop and refine my business plan and share ideas with other future and current environmental technology entrepreneurs. I plan to participate in the university's new composting program as well to gain insight into how a start-up composting operation functions. Northwestern's focus on undergraduate research beckons me too. While attending the university, I aim to conduct formal research on the need and potential market for the expanding composting services industry.

As a social science nerd, I devour any information that I can find on human cultures, demographic distributions, and past events. Though I plan to use my college education to prepare for an entrepreneurial career, it will not feel complete unless I get to pursue my passion for combining the study of anthropology, geography, and history. As I have never had the opportunity to formally study linguistics or the spread and evolution of language as an indicator of human migration (though I have done some informal independent research into the latter), I want to enroll in a few electives related to those subjects as well. Fortunately for me, Weinberg offers a wide variety of social science courses that I can take in addition to my business, economics, and environmental studies ones. Outside of Weinberg, I would enjoy taking film production classes at the School of Communication to continue my education in the art of filmmaking. It is this possibility of deeply engaging in both my career-related and other scholarly interests that attracts me to the Weinberg Colleges of Arts and Sciences and to Northwestern University as a whole.