Why English Major Essay: Beyond 'I Love Books'

Why English Major Essay: Beyond 'I Love Books'

A why English essay should show one passage you could not settle: a line that supports two readings, what you tried, and what you still cannot explain. That is the skill the major trains. UW–Madison's English program wants students to write arguments "that push beyond summary to analysis." A love of reading is the starting point, not the evidence.

Our view: "I have loved reading since I was little" is the sentence every English applicant can write, so it tells a reader nothing about you. A favorite-author list shows taste. "Words have power" is a claim about language in general. None of them shows you doing what an English major does all day: reading a text closely, finding the place where it resists you, and arguing about it. One honest paragraph about a sentence you got wrong is stronger evidence than a page about how much books mean to you.

Every page quoted below was checked on October 30, 2026. Prompts change, so check each college's page again before you submit. When your draft is ready, the why-major rubric reads it against the exact prompt you paste.

What an English major trains, in one department's words

UW–Madison's 2026-2027 Guide entry for the English B.A. lists its learning outcomes. Two describe the skill your essay should show:

"(Critical thinking) To be able to discern and integrate divergent and contradictory perspectives, identify and question assumptions, and assess evidence and methods."

"(Critical writing) To write original, coherent, and compelling arguments that push beyond summary to analysis and independent and critical thinking in clear prose that meets expectations for grammatical correctness."

The same page says the general major "emphasizes literary and cultural studies" and has two named options, Creative Writing or Language and Linguistics. Students in the Creative Writing option "take the core curriculum with a sequence of creative-writing workshops."

That is one university's major. But the outcomes give you a test for your draft: does it show you discerning "divergent and contradictory perspectives" on a text, or does it only say you like texts?

Why "I love books" answers sound alike

Three defaults, each a constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement:

I have loved reading ever since my mother read me bedtime stories.

True for many people, and nobody can check it. It is the origin of a habit, not evidence of a skill.

My favorite authors include Austen, Morrison, Orwell and Tolkien.

A list of names is taste. It does not show what you noticed in any of them.

Words have the power to change the world.

A claim about language, not about you. It could open an essay on journalism, law or advertising.

Each one passes what we call the reverse test: a student who has never closely read a single page could write it.

The interpretive-problem paragraph

This is the decision procedure for the core of a why English answer. Run it on one passage.

1. Quote the passage. One or two lines, exactly. If you cannot quote it, you have not found it yet.
2. Name the two readings. What the line seems to say, and what it might mean instead.
3. Say what you tried. Reread for a pattern, compared another scene, wrote a paper and got pushback.
4. Say what you still cannot settle, and the kind of course that would help: a seminar on narration, a course on a period, a class that reads criticism alongside the novel.

Here is the move in two lines. Both are constructed examples, written by us, not real applicant statements:

Reading Hamlet showed me how powerful words can be.

I cannot decide whether Hamlet delays because he doubts the ghost or because he doubts himself. Act 3 supports both: he stages a play to test the ghost's story, then passes up the chance to kill Claudius while the king is praying.

The first sentence is about you liking a play. The second is about the play, and it shows a mind working on it: two readings, two scenes, no resolution yet. Our why this major essay examples use the same evidence-first shape in other fields. (Both scenes are in Act 3 of the Project Gutenberg text: the play in scene 2, and the prayer in scene 3, where Hamlet says "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying.")

Columbia's list question is English evidence in list form

Columbia asks every applicant a list question, and for an English applicant it is the same evidence in a different format. From Columbia's 2026-2027 questions page:

"List the titles of texts, resources and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums and other content that you enjoy."

The page sets a "100 word maximum" and says: "Your response should be a list of items separated by commas or semicolons." It adds: "No author names, subtitles or explanatory remarks are needed."

Three rules for an English applicant's list:

• Show a pattern. Ten unconnected classics say less than eight titles a reader can see you chased one question through.
• List only what you have read or watched. An interviewer or a reader of your other essays may pick one up.
• Include things outside school. Columbia asks for what shaped you "outside of academic courses", so the assigned novel from English class is the weakest item on it.

Constructed example: a Columbia list for an English applicant

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant list. (12 titles, 31 words)

The Turn of the Screw; Wuthering Heights; The Great Gatsby; Rashomon; Frankenstein; The Moonstone; Pale Fire; Heart of Darkness; The Remains of the Day; Atonement; Dracula; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The pattern is the student's question: narrators whose account may not be trustworthy, and stories told by more than one narrator. A reader who knows the titles sees it; the list never states it, because Columbia wants no explanatory remarks. Count your own list in the application's counter against the 100-word maximum.

Creative writing or literature: different evidence

If you are applying for creative writing, the evidence changes. Literature answers rest on texts you read and argued with. Creative writing answers rest on your own drafts: what you wrote, what failed, what you changed and why. UW–Madison's Creative Writing option adds "a sequence of creative-writing workshops" to the core curriculum, which tells you what that path trains: drafting and revising under critique.

Our recommendation: if you want both, lead with the one your prompt asks about, and give the other one sentence. If the college gives you an area menu instead of a single major, our guide to what do you want to study and why shows how to join two areas through one question. If a creative writing program asks for a portfolio or writing sample, follow that program's own instructions; it is a separate document from the why-major answer.

Constructed example: a UT-shaped first-choice answer

Written to the shape of UT Austin's first-choice major question, which its essays and short answers page caps at 40 lines, "about 250-300 words". The student, class and teacher are invented. The two quotations from The Great Gatsby are exact, from the Project Gutenberg text: the first in chapter 1, the second at the end of chapter 3.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. (260 words)

English is my first-choice major because of two sentences I still cannot fit together. Early in The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway tells us, "I'm inclined to reserve all judgements." By the end of chapter three he says, "I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." My class read the second line as a joke Nick does not get. I was not sure.

I reread the novel looking only for moments when Nick judges someone, and I stopped counting at thirty. So either Nick is wrong about himself, or he means something narrower by "judgements" than I do. I wrote my term paper arguing the first and got it back with one comment in the margin: "What if he believes it?" I did not have an answer. I still do not.

That is what I want from an English major: not more books to love, but the tools to decide what a sentence is doing when a narrator describes himself. I want courses on narration and point of view, and seminars where I have to defend a reading against classmates who see it differently, because my best argument so far came apart under one question in a margin.

I have loved reading for a long time. That is not why I am applying. I am applying because a narrator I trusted turned out to need checking, and I want to learn how to check. I would also like to learn how critics have argued about Nick, so that my next paper starts where theirs left off.

What it does: steps 1 to 4 of the procedure in order. The two quotations are the evidence; "I stopped counting at thirty" is the work; the margin comment is the unresolved part; narration courses and seminars are the major. The love of reading appears once, in the last paragraph, and only to say it is not the reason.

Before you submit a why English answer

• Is there one quoted passage, copied exactly?
• Does the answer name two readings, not one opinion?
• Did you say what you tried, and what you still cannot settle?
• Is the love of reading at most one sentence?
• Have you removed author-name lists that show taste but no reading?
• For Columbia's list, do your titles show a pattern without explanatory remarks?
• Does the answer complete every clause of the prompt, at the limit printed this week?

Questions about why English essays

Can I mention that I love reading?

Yes, once. It is the start of the story, not the reason for the major. Spend the words on one passage you argued with.

Should I quote the book in a 150-word answer?

Yes, one short line. A quotation is the cheapest proof that you read closely, and it costs only a few words.

Is a why English essay different from a why creative writing essay?

Yes. Literature answers rest on texts you read; creative writing answers rest on drafts you wrote and revised. If a program wants a portfolio, that is a separate submission.

Do I need to have read obscure books?

No. A class novel you read more closely than the class did is better evidence than a rare title you mention once.

Get a free review of your supplemental essay

Get a free Quick Review of your supplemental essay against GradPilot's why-major rubric. It reads whether your answer names English as your direction, gives a reason the field fits, shows the passage or draft you worked on, and completes every part of the prompt you paste. For Columbia's list question or other short personal answers, use the personal short-answer rubric.

More why-major guides:

• Columbia supplemental essays 2026-2027: all of Columbia's questions, including the list.
• Why political science major essay: turning a cause into a question.
• Why this major essay guide: eleven why-major prompts quoted with their limits.
• All Common App essay guides: the full undergraduate hub.

Sources

Retrieved October 30, 2026, except where noted.

• UW–Madison Guide, English, BA (2026-2027 Guide): learning outcomes; named options; Creative Writing workshop sequence.
• Columbia Undergraduate Admissions, Columbia-Specific Questions (2026-2027, updated July 28, 2026): list question, 100-word maximum and formatting instructions.
• UT Austin Admissions, Essays and Short Answers (no cycle label): first-choice major prompt and 40-line limit.
• Project Gutenberg, The Great Gatsby and Hamlet: the quoted lines and their chapter, act and scene.