<p>^ Can essays make or break admission?</p>
<p>Yes. Duh. Stop trolling.</p>
<p>Yes, but essays are very unlikely to compensate for weak grades (I mention this because sometimes people with relatively weak grades have asked if an excellent essay can compensate).</p>
<p>Essays particularly can make or break admissions when it comes to the very top colleges, which have an overabundance of applicants with excellent stats and ECs. Most colleges, however, base their decisions almost entirely on the stats. For them, one would have to write something that sounded insane, bigoted or set off other kinds of red flags for one to be rejected due to one's essay.</p>
<p>If you're applying to top 50 schools an essay can ruin your application or it can reinforce it. I can't imagine any essay "getting you in" at a top school.</p>