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Minnesota  /  Essays  /  Prompt 1

Minnesota: What you want to study

150 words

The U of M has 8 freshman-admitting colleges and more than 150 majors. Please share a few words about what you'd like to study in college, career paths that interest you, or your favorite subjects in school.
What it’s really asking

In a paragraph, what do you actually want to learn or do, and why? This is Minnesota's only universally required supplement, a compact "why this major / why this field" prompt. Nursing applicants answer this plus three additional 250-word essays about choosing nursing, how their experiences prepared them, and why the U's School of Nursing fits.

Why they ask it

With eight colleges and 150-plus majors, the U uses this to gauge academic fit and direction, not to test eloquence. Because the school is test-optional through Fall 2027, this short paragraph often does heavy lifting in showing readers you are ready to use what the U offers. They want signal that you have thought about the next four years.

Three ways in
Follow one class or moment

Name the single class, book, or moment that turned a subject from a requirement into a question you actually care about, then chase that thread for the rest of the paragraph.

Work backward from a job

Start from a career you can genuinely picture yourself doing and trace it back to what you would need to study at the U to get there.

Be honest about being undecided

If you have not settled on a major, name the two or three fields you are weighing and the specific curiosity or tension that connects them. Concrete uncertainty beats empty certainty.

✕  Weak opening

“Ever since I was a child, I have been passionate about learning and exploring all of my many interests.”

✓  Strong opening

“I want to know why my grandmother's tomato plants thrive in soil the rest of our garden gives up on.”

✦ Annotated example · From compost bin to soil science. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
My grandmother kept a compost bin behind her garage, and the summer I turned fifteen she handed it to me. 1I started testing the pH of the finished soil with cheap strips, then graphed how the readings shifted when I changed what I fed it. 2That backyard habit is why I want to study soil science and agronomy. 3Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences draws me because I want to work on how the Upper Midwest keeps its farmland healthy as the climate shifts. 4Long term, I'd like to become an extension agent who translates research into advice farmers can actually use, 5though I'm just as happy starting with intro chemistry and a stack of dirt samples.6
  1. 1Opens with a concrete, specific image instead of a generic claim like 'I love science.' Minnesota rewards honest curiosity, so a real object roots the answer immediately.
  2. 2Shows the interest grew from a real, hands-on habit, evidence over assertion within a very tight word budget.
  3. 3Names the major outright. This delivers the 'concrete academic direction' the school explicitly values, rather than vague enthusiasm.
  4. 4Ties the interest to a specific U of M college and a regional problem, signaling the applicant has done real research and fits the place.
  5. 5Connects study to a clear career path, exactly what the prompt invites, and shows direction without overpromising.
  6. 6Closes with modest, honest curiosity over polish, keeping the answer human and within the tight 150-word limit.
Stuck? Start here
  • What is the most specific question, in any subject, that you have actually gone out of your way to answer on your own time?
  • If you had to pick one job to shadow for a week, what would it be, and what about it pulls you in?
  • Which class or moment made a subject stop feeling like homework and start feeling like yours?
Before you submit
  • Did I name at least one real, specific interest instead of staying abstract about exploring my passions?
  • Does my first sentence already say something concrete, with no "ever since I was young" runway?
  • Did I connect my interest to something the U actually offers, like a real college, major, or path?

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