<p>Hello, my friend has recently been talking to an adcom lately and when asked about whether it was better to state qualities about yourself or convey them tacitly through experience, the adcom replied something along the lines of this:</p>
<p>"From experience in the Stanford admissions board, I can tell you that an outstanding essay would be eyed suspiciously. Most essays are not well "polished", and the admissions staff is quick to reject an essay that they think was not written by the student. They really do like clear statements about the self. Those parts are often underlined and put down in the prospective-notes as qualities of the student."</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Sound advice? Anybody have experience otherwise?</p>
<p>i highly doubt this. i know i would be p.issed off beyond belief if some board “eyed my essay suspiciously” when i fully intend to write it all by myself…</p>
<p>If one part of your application has a completely different voice than other parts, then things are suspicious. Otherwise, that is a false statement. </p>
<p>The essay is intended to be a writing sample, if your a good writer, that works in your favor, not against it.</p>
<p>"“From experience in the Stanford admissions board, I can tell you that an outstanding essay would be eyed suspiciously.”</p>
<p>What they mean is that an essay that reflected the perspective of a wise elder or that seemed to have been written by Hemiingway would be so outstanding as to be suspicious.</p>
<p>Essays matter a lot to Stanford and may make a very big difference
in your admittance.</p>
<p>The quality of your writing and consistency of tone throughout your
app is a major factor in building credibility especially at Stanford. The
very basis of good writing is to show and not to tell?</p>
<p>I was admitted to Stanford with a “likely-admit-letter”. There were
hand penned notes from my AO who mentioned the essay.
(When I visited Stanford though I got the strong impression that my
Art Supplement had made an unique impression which garnered the
coveted ‘likely’ status.)</p>
<p>ChoklitRain LoL funny (too many rules for applying to Stanford)</p>
<p>OP, I think your friend misunderstood the adcom because there literally is no way they wouldn’t give the student the benefit of the doubt. Some of the smartest kids in the world with the best writing skills apply to Stanford, and yes, some essays will be pretty close to perfect. Have confidence in your writing and never be afraid to try to be perfect! </p>
<p>Choklitrain, we miss your jealous points over on the Stanford board. They’re quite entertaining. Please post some more!</p>
<p>^ I’ve made maybe two posts on that board out of my 1300. And Stanford is clearly one of the world’s best universities. That doesn’t make its undergrad admissions any less whack. And there’s no jealousy, i just don’t want to go there. Oxford is great, too. But I don’t want to go to CA or the UK.</p>
<p>Indeed, they make you send parts of your app to all different buildings, and the rules for applying and sending stuff are really vague. They need to work on that wack-ness.</p>
(too many rules for applying to Stanford)</p>