<p>i put <a href="http://www.google.com%5B/url%5D">www.google.com</a> too, but my fav book was A Separate Peace, anyone put that?</p>
<p>lol let's list everything we put.
Didn't someone start this in the 2011 ED thread, but it got lost among all the other 1000 posts?</p>
<p>I put youtube.com</p>
<p>youtube is a good one! I considered putting that as well...</p>
<p>i put myspace.com....lol yea yea</p>
<p>oh I forgot what I put :D </p>
<p>The book was "James Bond - Casino Royale" I think, my favorite movie Collateral, my favorite website spiegel.de (a big German newspaper website - thought about taking google.com, too), favorite line was I think "The difference between genius and insanity is measured only by success" (don't know, could have got cold feet), favorite recording: Metallica - Black, fav keepsake/memento my brain, inspiration: sports, two adjectives... one was creative, the other one I don't know anymore...</p>
<p>LOL I printed out everything at least 3 times - just this page I didn't...</p>
<p>But as u can see, I was brutally honest and probably pretty exceptional. Don't know whether they like Metallica, Collateral or James Bond but I did not want to pretend anything...</p>
<p>wahahahahahahha i can't believe it - 2 German applicants with the same favorite website! hahahahaha</p>
<p>Can you write the name of a series for "favorite book", or do you have to choose one from the series? (I'm thinking about Terry Pratchett's *Discworld books... there are about 30 of them.)
*I'll probably choose an Elvis Costello album for "favorite recording", but I haven't decided which yet.</p>
<p>I put Orion by Metallica. I don't think they have a song called Black. It's either Fade to Black or Blackened.</p>
<p>OK, everyone should stop debating about this because this is the truth. There are two aspects of this truth: </p>
<p>Number one, if the princeton site says they are important, then IT'S IMPORTANT!!! (of course, you don't have to believe princeton, but then why would you even apply?)</p>
<p>Number two, essays are really the primary source from which colleges will split you and person B from, besides the stats and all.</p>
<p>What makes you think that colleges can't lie, or rather, that they are pretty much forced to lie? If they said that they don't care about essays, they'd get looked down upon. Harvard's pretty much the only school that can shift the system.</p>
<p>^^ very true</p>
<p>The hackneyed arguments I've been hearing which support the importance of the essay have a good basis, ie "they show insight into the character of an applicant" but they are blown way out of proportion. First off, no matter what anyone thinks, a couple of essays are not going to supplant four years of accomplishments. Second of all, with modern "college craze" and hypercompetitiveness, many essays that students submit are edited by professionals, private conselors, etc. Even more so, the art of writing from the heart has been denaturized by "how to write a killer college essay book" or "50 essays that got them into harvard" and the like. </p>
<p>Face the facts. There are much more similarities between us than differences. This attitude of "my essay is super unique and is going to make someone cry" is not going to get you into a freaking academic institution where the PRIMARY purpose is pursuing an education. Everyone has hardships, have overcome difficulties, etc. Maybe there are a couple of essays out of thousands that can change admissions decisions, but come on, stop depending on your essays and get real. College is about education and how you have mastered your academic skills, not about how you have helped build a well in Africa (i'm not deriding that action in any sense whatsoever). Go join the Red Cross or something if you really want to do that. And also, don't assume all smart people are uninteresting or that the "avg" applicant is boring. Everyone has a spark, just depends on where you find it.</p>
<p>kyzan we are talking about splitting hairs as well, though. between a handful of ppl who have all "mastered your [their] academic skills..."</p>
<p>obviously an admissions officer is going to want someone who is portrayed well and vividly in a well-written essay. it also shows the amount of time u put into the app, becuz i everyone knows the essays take the most time. </p>
<p>the adcom officers know that they are trying to build a COMMUNITY, and don't want 1000 identical ppl who are insanely smart</p>
<p>my words, pk. essays are important. ditto. do you think princeton wants only freakmachines with perfect scores? uninteresting people? the very good students with smart essays get in before the perfect-scorers. adcoms want creative people who convey something.</p>
<p>OMG, why do people always asuume perfect scorers are "freakmachines." That is such a goddamn lie and an overgeneralization. Just because they answer a couple of more questions right than you on the SAT doesn't automatically qualify them as "boring" or "uninteresting." Phillyland, you have no idea what you are talking about. The vast majority of us are creative, its what is emphasized here in the states. Essays are important to a degree, but there is no basis on what you guys argue against the creativity of other applicants. Again, like i said, no one is "boring" and most people have passions they want to pursue.</p>
<p>^lol kyzan, that was not meant to be an insult.. i didn't mean to generalize, now realizing that my previous post looks like this. of course there are perfect scorers with lives, but also perfect scorers without. i was referring to the latter and wanted to make the point that essays help to differentiate and that is why some people with lower scores get in. if they would solely look at the scores, it wouldn't be like this. Once again, sorry for the bad wording :(</p>
<p>From the many qualified applicants Princeton must get, with one statistically perfect candidate after another, the essays are the only thing that allows an applicant to actually be a human being.</p>
<p>Not only will they able to gather how well you can write, they also get a taste of your creativity, style, and level of profundity. That's as important as any SAT score, IMHO.</p>
<p>I apologize to you as well Phillyland, for being so harsh to criticize. Anyways, I think essays are important, but scores are more important, IMHO</p>
<p>I don't think you can really compare the importance of scores versus essays. High grades and test scores are a prerequisite to get in, but the essay can be what makes one high-scoring applicant stand out among the others. A stunning essay won't help if your scores are mediocre, but neither will a high SAT score compensate for a weak essay (I think you'd need some truly extraordinary ECs for that).</p>
<p>You guys can't assume that all perfect scorers are bland, boring nerds. I myself managed to get a 2380 and I am far from bland...in fact I'm relying on my creative original essays to get me in, lol</p>