Should I also write "why x" essays if I am writing a diversity statement?

lsnnnnn0011

Should I also write "why x" essays if I am writing a diversity statement?
I honestly think it's really hard to write interesting why x school essays unless one has regional ties or other personal, compelling reasons to go particular schools.

Cant Get Right

Yeah, you should write "why x" essays wherever you have sincere reasons. If you don't feel like you can write something good, think about making a campus visit to some of your top choices.

I'm from Mississippi and wrote a killer why Penn essay based on visiting Philadelphia and hanging out with a bunch of locals. I spent most of my time in Philly following people around to parties and dive bars. I mined the website and visited campus too of course. I sat in on a class, wandered around, opened doors I may or may not have been supposed to open, and I wrote about a lot of that in my essay. The heart of my essay though was that I'd really and truly fallen in love with Philadelphia.

This was a few months after I'd submitted my main application, and I'd been waitlisted. Having done some research, I knew that getting WL at Penn is a bit of a lost cause; they admit painfully few students from their WL. Within a week of submitting that Why Penn essay though, I was in. Without that trip and that essay, I would not have made the cut.

lsnnnnn0011

@"Cant Get Right"
Thanks for a wonderful advice. I am currently living outside the states so although I can't really visit my top choice schools anytime soon, I might actually visit and tour if waitlisted!

Cant Get Right

Make sure to mine their websites as well. Just go through and start opening up tabs and then go through them all. Look at their alumni stuff and faculty projects and everything. If you go deep enough, you may can write a why x statement just based off of that. This serves a dual purpose: It lets you know how to market yourself to focus your statement on the values most important to them, and it also informs you of which schools will be the best fit. You'll find that each has certain things they really emphasize, and it's a good thing to know what each school you're considering values.