Can Personal Statements really determine if your in or not?

Applying to College
1

<p>Lets say i there one applicant who has a GPA of 3.9 with a little bit of Prep Programs, a fair enough of EC, low Test score. and not alot of community service.</p>

<p>Another one has a 4.3 GPA with many Prep programs, Lots of EC'S, higher test scores, and alot of Community service.</p>

<p>If these students where applying to:
UC Berkeley
UC LA
UC Sanata Cruz
UC Davis</p>

<p>which one will they get in.
Lets say that the student with a 3.9 wrote a better Personal Statment.
( Both Personal statements are pretty good though)</p>

2

<p>The thing about personal statements is that they can’t just be judged “good” or “bad;” besides writing quality and style, they also have to mesh well with the whole application. And what is “fair enough of EC”? What is “low”? What is “not alot”? How many more ECs, how much higher are the scores, what is “alot”? What are the personal statements about? Be more specific. You haven’t provided enough information to say anything.</p>

3

<p>Essays count a lot only at highly competitive schools and only once you have the stats. UCs are very stats based.</p>

4

<p>It can totally get you out if you write something weird, like torturing frogs or spitting in someone’s food. (They are real essays!)
UCs are very much based on stats, if you have 2400 SAT+4.5 GPA I don’t think a poorly written essay can keep you out, but remember, the scholarship committee also looks at the essays. At a private college, the admission counselors might look at your application more holistically. Schools like UChigago weighs essays very very heavily.</p>

5

<p>UCs= Not really.
Privates = Yes and no. A personal will get you out if you had the stats to be “in” in the firstplace. It cant get you out if you didn’t have close enough #'s</p>

6

<p>^But berkeley wants a strong personal statement, gpa, and courserigor. If your SAt’s aren’t too high, a average to below average personal statement will probably merit you a rejection at UCB.</p>

7

<p>UCB and UCLA use a holistic admissions process. The personal statement is very important and absolutely can help you gain acceptance.</p>

8

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<p>I second this. There’s a YouTube video in which several Cal admissions representatives speak about the process, and they all said that one of the most common misconceptions about admissions at UCB is that the essays are not important, when in fact, they really are. So it would be in any prospective applicant’s best interest to write the best personal statement they can.</p>