 Why did you select this university? A lot of F1 visa interviews begin and sometimes end with just this one question. And in this video, I'm going to explain how you can answer this for your visa interview. Keep on watching. Hi guys, my name is Shachi and I'm a travel and visa coach on this channel. You will find lots of useful videos on the US visa process. We have tons and tons of content on F1 visa. So do check it out. And this is the fall 22 series. And in this series, we will continually uploading videos or the next two to three months to help you clear your fall visa interview. So make sure that you subscribe and hit the bell icon. So this video, we're going to understand how to answer one of the most frequently asked F1 visa question. And that is why did you pick this university? And to be honest, it's not really easy to answer this question because most of the US universities are similar in a lot of ways. And hence finding a unique answer as to why you pick this university and making sure that it's not sounding too generic is no easy task. And continually we see interview experiences like the one that you can see on the screen right now, but the visa officer has asked not once, but twice the same question. Why did you pick this university? And even at the end of it, he just doesn't seem to be satisfied with the answer and gives a reply that this course is offered by other universities as well. So you need to make sure that this scenario doesn't happen to you. So let's begin this video and we will start by looking at certain dos and don'ts of answering this question with some sample answers. So let's get started. So make sure that you watch the video till the end because at the end of the video, I'm also going to be talking about three really useful resources which will help you in framing your why university answer. So let's start with the don'ts and there are three important don'ts that you need to keep in mind while answering your question. Why did you pick this university? The first one is do not read facts from the university's website and include it in your answer for why this university. So if you're just going to pick factual information available on the website of the university and use it in framing your answers, it's not really going to add any value. So while including information such as how will the university is, what kind of awards they have done, what kind of accreditation they have, because again, this is not specific to your profile. The second don't is don't sound boring. So the view is taking so many interviews day in and day out and when a student comes and repeats the same answer, you know the same sentences, the same words at some point of time, they just stop listening. So make sure that you're not using the same phrases that is being used by almost everybody and this will include sentences such as the course is flexible, the university is well reputed, this suits my requirement and so on and so forth. Make sure that every sentence that you use in the answer for why this university is specific and driven by sound research. And the third don't is very very important and this is using too many adjectives. So time again I see students make this mistake and using too many adjectives when describing why they picked this university. So using adjectives such as stop notch, faculty is great, course is amazing, this is exactly what I was looking for. I am really excited to join this university. So using one of one odd of these is fine, but if your entire answer is just going to be filled with these adjectives, it's not really adding any value and again shows that you might not have done any research in choosing or understanding why you want to go to this university. So to put all these three don'ts into perspective and really understand how not to answer the university question, I have with me a student and let's see how she answers this question. So Janvi, why did you pick this university? I chose this university because it's exactly what I wanted. The course is amazing, it's flexible, the university is one of the best. The faculty is top notch and is very well qualified. The university is also 130 years old and boasts a campus that forms over 450 acres and is continually committed towards making a difference towards the communities. So this is exactly the type of answer that you need to avoid. If you're still here, still watching the video, let me know by giving this video a thumbs up and comment below and let me know which program are you going for in the US. Are you going for Masters? Are you going for Bachelors? And also let me know what's your exact program. So do comment below and let me know. So now that we've looked at the don'ts, let's come to the do's and I'm going to talk about three do's which will help you frame better answer for why this university. The first one is include details about your course. So the reason for choosing the university should be driven by the course curriculum that you're going for. So if you can give details of the course that is being offered by the university and explain why that's a good fit for you, it's really going to help your answer. The second one is talk about the extra credentials and the extra value add that you're getting apart from the mean curriculum. So anything like certifications, workshops, industry visit, a chance to be part of some conferences or events and these are always unique to a university. So if you could find this and include it in your answer for why this university it's really going to be for pure answer. And the third do is bring in an interesting fact. So bringing an interesting or fun fact about the university really shows that you've gone out of your way to talk to people to do your research and you're really serious about studying in this particular university so this is also immensely going to help your answer. So these are the three do's and to understand a little bit better of how to incorporate them again let's talk to Janvi and see how she answers this question. So Janvi, why did you pick this university? I selected this university because the course curriculum has a dedicated career track in cybersecurity with latest subjects like cyber defense and compliance. I can also do extra certification courses in related fields like computer networks which will really add to my profile. The university also has a program called Innovation One which can give me an opportunity to learn and understand recent cybersecurity issues in the industry. So now that we've looked at the do's and don'ts I'm going to talk about some useful resources which will help you in framing your answer. First one is the US News website. So the US News website is a credible and a very useful tool or rather very useful website to find information about the university such as rankings to do a comparison between universities and also to know about the latest events the latest offerings by your university. Second is the program structure on your university website. I know I said don't look at the university website but what I meant is that don't look at the about section but do pay attention to the program structure which has been described on the university website and this will require you to dig a little deeper. So go down that rabbit hole and really go into your program structure look at what are the subjects that are being offered what are the tracks that are being offered open program brochures and doing this research will really help you identify what is unique about the course that is being offered by the university and as a bonus if you go through the program structure you'll also be able to answer certain additional questions such as tell me about the first semester subjects tell me about the subjects related to your specialization which are being asked of late in the visa interview and the third useful resource is alumni group so I really feel that talking to people who have studied from your university can help you find a lot of useful information can help you find a lot of interesting facts and this adds a lot of credibility to your answer so don't hesitate to reach out to people who have studied from the university reach out to them through alumni groups through LinkedIn through other social media platforms and especially if they have done the same program that you're going for then I'm sure that you can find a lot of unique points which you can add to your answer so guys this is everything that I had to share about answering the very important and the tough question why this university so I really hope this video has helped you if you have any more questions please feel free to leave them in the comment section below also reach out to me via Instagram my Instagram handle is at shachi.myla so like I said we have a lot of useful content coming up so the next video in the series is going to be a real visa experience video where a candidate is going to share his experience of getting the visa accepted after two rejections and also how he handled a really long and grueling visa interview so make sure that you do watch this next video if you want more in-depth prep please feel free to connect with me so we have F1 workshops which are running almost every Saturday and this workshop is a great way to give a head start to your interview you can also take one-to-one session with me so go for a one-to-one consultation session or a mock interview session to really beef out your interview process and for the fall intake we have a very unique program called the 7 day program and this is a 7 session program which will be an end-to-end prep beginning right from filling your DS160 form, preparing your profile to answer structuring and taking mock interviews so the details of all these good things like always is in the description box below so please do check it out we also have a lot of free resources to help you in your interview prep and that too is in the description box thank you so much for watching, do take care, do prepare well F1 visa interviews I believe are going to be trickier this year with all the drama about getting slots and not being able to give interview almost immediately being really really well prepared is essential so don't lag on your preparation make sure that if this is your first attempt you ace it in the one go alright, signing off for now, see you in the next one bye