<p>From "Words from an Undergrad" thread:</p>
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[quote]
Now as far as the essays, there's about a 1 in a
million chance they will affect your decision
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<p>
[quote]
ESSAYS are under the "VERY IMPORTANT" part of admissions criteria for P'ton
[/quote]
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<p>Which of these views is true? IT seems like everyone has a different opinion on the importance of essays.</p>
<p>let's face it: nobody knows!</p>
<p>They are very important. At extremely selective institutions at which most of the applicants are academically qualified, essays and teacher recs are the primary way in which readers distinguish between applicants with similar backgrounds and statistical profiles. Anyone who tells you differently hasn't worked in admissions.</p>
<p>When you're in a less selective environment, of course, the pendulum swings back and the numbers become more important.</p>
<p>i agree with the first quote...besides y would princeton write that the essay isn't important- then no one would do a good job and again it wouldn't have any significance. They have to write its important but it is my no means a defining portion of your app</p>
<p>Trust me. There is no portion of the app that is extraneous. The AdComs do not have time to waste with meaningless ceremony.</p>
<p>Nah, I think that the favorite _____ section could be done away with.</p>
<p>Once again, the "favorites" section can help distinguish between candidates who are a statistical tie. For example: Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" and Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" crop up over and over again. Other choices can be a refreshing change.</p>
<p>The favorites section could show some things about a candidate. If someone said they wanted to be a doctor, but their favorite movie was "Saw II"...well, then that person is a very sadistic creep.</p>
<p>Hahahaha, Clen. Very true.</p>
<p>What did everybody put for their favorite website? I know it doesn't really matter and that it's not as if you will be accepted or rejected based on your favorite website and blahblahblah but I'm such a detail-freak. I feel like such a tool putting the truth (uhh, collegeconfidential.com, duh!) and I pretty much don't look at other websites besides shopping online, colleges websites, my email, and sometimes Economist.com. </p>
<p>What did everybody else put?</p>
<p>awwwwww mannnnn i put the fountainhead for my favorite book. gosh. at least i was honest. ha.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brooklynvegan.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.brooklynvegan.com/</a></p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>yeah, I mean, those books are popular for a reason; they're amazing! I put Emma as my favorite, as I'm a sure a gatrillion other people did...but it's the truth!</p>
<p>j07--I put colbertnation.com as my fav website. If the adcom goes to it they either think a) wow, she's kind of interesting and has a fascinating sense of humor or b) wow, she's weird and/or dumb to think this is funny.
I sure hope it's a!!</p>
<p>I put Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov as my favorite book.
Very good book if you haven't read it.</p>
<p>I have a kind of weird question...would it be okay if our favorite word was in Spanish as long as we wrote the English translation right next to it? What about our favorite book? The book I'm thinking of has an English translation that's fairly well-known (well, I think), but I'm talking about the Spanish version.</p>
<p>I suspect that would go over well.</p>
<p>lol, i put catcher in the rye as my fave book.</p>
<p>i think as a whole, the essays, recs, and interviews give a subjective view of the applicant and are important if you're on the median of being accepted or not. adcoms wanna see that you're a person with a personality, not just a bunch of numbers.</p>
<p>I put google.com as my favorite website... And I think the essays are important!</p>
<p>haha, ernie, i thought about putting google.com, but then i realized it's not a website actually. it's merely a search engine, and except the gmail stuff, nothing you find is from google itself. but i think you're fine, coz the admissions officers couldn't be that picky~!</p>
<p>^^^^^^^er, im pretty sure that anything starting with ''<a href="http://www.'">www.'</a>' is a website.</p>
<p>LMAO! yeah fred is right... Technically, it IS a website...lol</p>