UMass Amherst: Why Major

100 words

Please tell us why you chose the Major(s) you did? (100 words)

What it’s really asking

Why this field, for you, specifically? UMass wants the origin of the interest and a sense of where it leads. The strongest answers name a real moment the subject clicked and connect it, even loosely, to what you would study at UMass. If you applied undeclared or to multiple majors, explain the through-line that connects them.

Why they ask it

This prompt helps UMass place you academically and gauge whether your interest is real or resume-deep. A clear, specific motivation suggests you will persist in the major and use the department's resources, which matters at a school that admits by program and capacity.

Three ways in

Start at the spark

Open with the specific moment or problem that made the field feel real to you.

Tie it to action

Connect the major to something you have actually done: a project, a job, a class, a failure.

Name the thread

If undeclared or double-major, name the shared thread that ties your interests together.

✕ Weak opening

“I chose to major in computer science because I have always loved technology and want a career with good job opportunities.”

✓ Strong opening

“I picked statistics the day I realized my school's 'most improved' award always went to whoever started worst, not whoever learned most.”

✦ Annotated example · Why Major: public health from a clinic waiting room. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

I chose Public Health because of the four hours my mother and I spent in an emergency room for a problem a clinic could have solved in twenty minutes. ¹We had no primary doctor, so the ER was our doctor. I kept thinking the failure was not medical; it was a system that left us out of it. ²Public Health is the only major where that thought is the whole point: ³studying why illness clusters by zip code, not just by biology. ⁴I want UMass's program specifically because it pairs epidemiology coursework with fieldwork in nearby Springfield and Holyoke, ⁵so the data on a screen stays attached to a waiting room I would recognize. That is the major I want, and the reason I will not lose the plot of it.⁶

1Grounds the major choice in a lived, specific moment instead of an abstract 'I want to help people.'
2Reframes a personal story into a structural insight, which is exactly what the public health field asks students to do.
3Signals accurate understanding of the discipline rather than a guess at what the major involves.
4A concrete, field-specific example proves the applicant knows what the major actually studies.
5Anchors the choice to a UMass-specific strength and real local communities, rewarding the school's fit-with-a-flagship value.
6Closes by linking the abstract major back to the opening image, giving the short essay a complete arc near the 100-word limit.

Stuck? Start here

What is the exact moment this subject stopped being a class and started being interesting?
What have you done about this interest outside of school, with no one assigning it?
If someone asked what problem you want this major to help you solve, what would you say?

Before you submit

Does your answer name a specific moment or project, not just a lifelong love?
Could a reader tell why YOU chose this field, versus anyone who picked it?
If undeclared or double-major, did you make the connecting thread clear?

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