Occidental: Why Occidental

250 words maximum

Why are you applying to Occidental? Why do you think Occidental is the right place for you to pursue your interests?

What it’s really asking

This is Oxy's only supplemental essay, and though it is marked optional you should write it. It is a two-part 'Why Occidental' question: first your genuine reason for applying, then why this specific small liberal arts college in Los Angeles fits the interests you actually have. Note that Occidental accepts both the Common App and the Coalition Application on Scoir, and the supplement is the same. There are no separate program-specific essays for first-year applicants, so this 250 words has to do all the fit work.

Why they ask it

Occidental is small (about 2,000 students) and intensely focused on enrolling students who belong there. Readers use this essay to test whether you understand what Oxy is, a liberal arts college embedded in a major city, and whether your interests have a real home in their programs. It is also a demonstrated-interest signal: a thoughtful answer says you researched them, a blank one says you did not. Because the school is test-optional and holistic, these 250 words can tip a borderline file.

Three ways in

Map an interest to named resources

Name one interest you genuinely have, then map it to two or three specific Oxy resources (a named program, course, research center, or professor) that extend it.

Make LA part of the case

Use Los Angeles as part of the academic argument: tie your interest to a specific LA neighborhood, industry, organization, or ecosystem you could engage from campus.

Anchor on a signature program

Build around an Oxy signature like the Campaign Semester, the UN program, the Core Program, or undergraduate research, and show why that structure suits how you learn.

✕ Weak opening

“Occidental's small class sizes and beautiful campus in sunny Los Angeles make it the perfect place for me to grow as a student and a person.”

✓ Strong opening

“I want to spend a fall semester not reading about a campaign but knocking on doors for one, which is why Oxy's Campaign Semester is the first thing I tell people about your school.”

✦ Annotated example · Why Oxy, fieldwork in LA. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

Last summer I spent six Saturdays counting steelhead trout in the Arroyo Seco, the stream that runs right past Occidental's campus. ¹I came for the fish but stayed for the spreadsheet: which storm drains carried the most trash, how flow rates shifted after rain, why a creek a mile from a freeway could still hold native species. That tension between a damaged city and a living watershed is the question I want to keep asking, and Occidental is one of the few colleges where the watershed is the classroom. ²I read about Professor Bhattacharyya's Urban Environmental Policy work and the Oxy Arts partnerships along the LA River, and I could see exactly where my Saturday data fits. ³I want to take Field Methods in the morning and argue about zoning in a seminar that afternoon, because the trout problem is never only biology; it is policy, money, and who gets to live near clean water. Oxy's size is part of the draw. At a school of two thousand, I can knock on a professor's door with a messy dataset and actually get an hour of their time. ⁴I am applying because I do not want to study cities from a distance. I want to study this one, with people who already have their boots in the Arroyo, and then walk back to the same stream and check whether anything we decided actually helped the fish.⁵

1Opens with a specific, verifiable local detail tied directly to Oxy's geography. It signals real engagement with Los Angeles, exactly what Occidental rewards, instead of generic praise.
2Names a genuine intellectual question and links it to the school. This shows curiosity with direction rather than a vague love of learning.
3Specific, checkable program and faculty references prove the applicant did real homework. This is concrete fit, not flattery.
4Connects a real feature of the college (small size) to a concrete benefit for this specific applicant, reinforcing fit over generic prestige.
5Closes by returning to the opening image, tying personal motivation back to place and impact. The full essay lands near the 250-word ceiling while staying vivid and specific.

Stuck? Start here

What is one interest of mine specific enough that I could name two Oxy programs, courses, or professors that serve it?
If I dropped 'Occidental' and pasted this into another school's application, what exactly would break? If nothing breaks, it is too generic.
How could Los Angeles (a neighborhood, an industry, an organization, an ecosystem) actually advance the thing I care about?

Before you submit

I named at least two specific Oxy resources by name, not just 'small classes' or 'great professors.'
I addressed both halves of the prompt: why I am applying and why Oxy specifically fits my interests.
I engaged Los Angeles as part of my reasoning, and I stayed at or under 250 words.

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