Occidental is a small liberal arts school in Los Angeles, California with just over 2,000 undergraduate students. Classes are generally small: 90% of them have less than 30 students and the average class size is 18 students. The acceptance rate hovers around 37%.
Why are you applying to Occidental? What are your intellectual curiosities and why do you think Occidental is the right place for you to pursue them? (200 words maximum length)*
This is a straightforward “Why do you want to go here” essay. But it’s strictly about academics (there’s no mention of what you plan to do outside of the classroom) and your response is capped at 200 words, so your research and writing need to be super focused.
Your goal with this essay is to prove that your intellectual curiosities (their words, not ours) are best explored at Occidental. Start by looking at Occidental’s majors and minors. Don’t just pick something that sounds cool; you need to choose a major that makes sense within the context of the rest of your application. So, if you’re killing it in Biology and Calculus and have only one Spanish class under your belt, don’t pick Japanese studies. It won’t make any sense. Look at the classes that you’ve done well in and genuinely enjoyed, and find a similar major.
If you’re undecided, we understand. It’s okay to be undecided in real life. But you can’t write that you’re undecided in the application. Occidental is trying to balance their class, so applying as undecided is not the move because they don’t quite know where to place you. Writing that you’re undecided also gives off the vibe that you might take longer than four years to graduate, and that is also not what they’re looking for. Again, look at the majors and minors until you find something that you’re interested in. No one is going to hold you to the major that you write about in this essay.
By writing about a major, you’re starting to address your “intellectual curiosities.” If you have an origin story, which is a reason why you want to major in what you plan to major in, include it but keep it brief. The word count here is not your friend, so be mindful and tell them the story of how your academic interests came to be without taking up too make space.
Once you’ve decided on your major, find 1-2 upper-level (200-300 level) classes that you want to take. Introductory courses are offered everywhere and are not specific to Occidental. When writing about classes, it’s extremely important to include the reason why you want to take that class. Finding a class that sounds interesting is not hard, but finding that reason can be. Think about the things you’ve learned about in class, jobs or internships that you’ve had, summer and online courses you’ve taken, books you’ve read, and anything else that connects you to the subject matter of the course.
If you have space, after you’ve written about your classes, find a professor who you would like to work with. This is important because writing about a person who teaches there is extremely Occidental specific, which is the purpose of this essay. Explain why your background would make you a good fit for working with them.
Oxy’s central mission emphasizes the value of community amidst diversity. What do you value in a community and how do you see your perspectives and life experiences enhancing it? (200 words maximum length)
Occidental is one of many colleges that are being very blatant about inclusivity this year. Our advice is to ignore the second part of the question that says “how do you see your perspectives and life experiences enhancing it?” because if you answer the question properly, that part should be implied.
So how do you actually answer the question? There are two ways.
Scene set by writing out the setting(s) you want to be in. Write about the college community that you want to be a part of by giving specific examples of what that looks like for you. You’ll probably have room for 3-4 of those illustrations. Here’s a bare-bones example that you shouldn’t copy but can use as inspiration: “I’m exhausted from pulling an all-nighter in the library. My roommate knows that I was up all night and had my favorite breakfast waiting for me when I got home at 7am.”
Answer it head-on with declarative statements. Write out what you’re looking for in a college community. If you go this route, be careful. The whole “I want to be in a classroom and have my views challenged by someone who doesn’t look like me” is 1) overdone and 2) teeters on the edge of a soapbox.
Quirks, idiosyncrasies, peculiarities. They help differentiate us. What is one of yours? (133 words max)
We won’t go so far as to say that this question is fun, but you definitely shouldn’t take yourself too seriously with this one. If you’re reading this and immediately think of a quirk, write about that. If you’re unsure, text your friends and ask your family members. Something to think about: sometimes we have quirks that we don’t realize are quirks, and sometimes our quirks are kind of boring. Like drinking the same exact cup of coffee every day. (Same number of ice cubes, same milk to coffee ratio, same cup). What we mean to say here is that your quirk doesn’t have to be cringeworthy or weird to make it a true idiosyncrasy.
Here are a few of our quirks:
Only allowing toothpaste to be squeezed from bottom to top
Eating food in a certain order: light to heavy. (Salad, soup, steak.)
Having a favorite spatula, mixing bowl, and stove burner
Again, 133 words is not a lot of words. It’s also a weird number, so @Occidental we see you with your ~quirk~.
What is your favorite word (in English or another language) and why?
This question isn’t great, and you don’t have a lot of room to explain your “why.” UVA also asks this question, but it’s a 250 word supplement. Think about the personality trait that you want Occidental to know about and work backwards. Are you hilarious, caring, motivated, or inquisitive? Think of a word that personifies that trait for you. But please, please don’t pull out your SAT flashcards.
On the common app website, you’ll simply type the word under this question. Below, you have 25 words to explain why.
Explanation (25 words)
Use this space to explain why it’s your favorite word. Maybe there’s a backstory or you learned about the word in a peculiar, special, or funny way. You’ll only have about two sentences to do this.
What is the first song you would play for your roommates on move-in day?
We don’t understand what this question could potentially reveal about an applicant, but the good news is that there is no wrong answer here. Think about what song you would play, and write that one. Don’t overthink it.
If you had your own food truck or restaurant, what would it be called?*
Hey @Occidental, why don’t you ask about the type of food? That would be much more interesting. Same advice as above, there really isn’t a wrong answer. Just don’t plagiarize by picking a restaurant that already exists in real life or on television.
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