On the UTK website, under undergraduate admissions, it states that there is one required essay with the following prompt:
Please note that if you are applying via CommonApp and have selected any of the 5 prompts in the Personal Essay part of the CommonApp application, you may copy that essay and paste it into your UT required essay on the custom question.
It also indicates that there is a personal statement which is optional.
However, once on the Common App, UTK is marked as a school that does not require any essays and shows that the personal essay is optional. When you click on their writing requirements, the only question that comes up is the personal statement.
In the other schools DS18 applied to on common app, the writing requirements were very clearly laid out. Is anybody else confused about what they are supposed to do?
It says optional, but when you go through the steps to apply on the CA, it looks required. Even if it were truly optional, never hurts to include the essay if it’s done anyway.
When I am viewing the Common App, I see where the required essay should be entered under the Writing portion of the Tennessee questions. I don’t even see an area to provide the Optional Personal Statement.
@tonypa when I pull up the Dashboard of colleges S18 has applied to, next to UTK there is no ‘red flag’ indicating a required essay- only a yellow flag which indicates ‘writing, optional’ and a blue flag which indicates ‘writing, additional details’ which is required only for pre-pharmacy or nursing.
When I go the the Common App heading, it indicates which of his schools require the Personal Essay and which don’t and in the column entitled Not Required, it states clearly The University of Tennessee Knoxville.
When I go to UTK/Questions/Writing, this is what comes up…
Please select an essay topic.
What makes you unique? We strive to know the whole you and want to better understand how your unique qualities will contribute to our campus community. Share with us the qualities you believe make you “you” and/or a unique experience that will help introduce us to you.
Please write your essay here. (250 - 800 words)
That is definitely not one of the 5 Common App Essay prompts that are required for his other schools.
@VaNcBorder I think we are basically on the same page here, and I agree that it is confusing at the dashboard regarding whether an essay is required. Based on what I have seen, an essay is definitely required. Within the “Writing” portion of the Tennessee questions of the Common App, there is a note at the upper right hand side of the page that says, "If you selected any of the 5 prompts in the Personal Essay part of the application, you may copy that essay and paste it here for the University of Tennessee required essay.
However, I am still a little confused regarding what Tennessee calls a Personal Statement. If you use the Vol-in-Progress application from the UTK website, you have to submit the required essay, but it also allows you to provide a Personal Statement. The latter is different than a Common App Personal Essay. I don’t see anywhere on the Common App where a separate Personal Statement is accepted.
The Vol-in-Progress Application says this about the Optional Personal Statement:
Each year, UT Knoxville admits a freshman class using a competitive admission process that primarily considers the applicant’s experience and preparation in academic areas, but also considers many other individual factors through holistic review. All applications receive a thorough individual reading, and information provided in the personal statement is critical in the decision making process.
What should be included in the Personal Statement?
If you were having a personal interview with members of UT’s admissions staff, what information would you want them to know about you? Of particular importance are your academic interests and achievements. In addition, information concerning your involvement in school and the community, important personal experiences, how you might bring diversity to campus, awards and recognitions, special talents, obstacles overcome, and other aspects of your background and experiences will be considered in the individualized, holistic review of your application. This is what you should share in your personal statement.
@tonypa yes! We are definitely seeing, or not seeing the same things. I am thinking we should have done the Vol in Progress Application to clear up any confusion, but too late now. Son did what you and I both saw as instructions which was to copy and paste his Common App essay into the prompt. But because he did not see a spot to put the optional personal statement, that was left out.
When we went for a tour in July, the Admissions Officer was specific in saying that even though the personal statement was optional, she highly recommended the kids do it. I am so nervous that this has hurt his chances for admission.
Surely, I am not the only person who was found this to be an issue but not sure if it warrants S18 to contact his local UTK rep to try and clear things up.
@VaNcBorder My son heard the same from the admissions officer about the Personal Statement being highly recommended. However, it doesn’t seem right that they could penalize someone for not providing a Personal Statement since the Common App doesn’t provide a space for it. The University certainly could have added that option to the Common App.
@tonypa@VaNcBorder I agree that it’s a bit confusing. They have now updated the site to refer to the 7 prompts instead of the 5, at least. I think they have only used common app for the last year or two. In my experience, there is nothing wrong with calling or contacting an admissions rep. I can guarantee there are probably many others trying to clarify the situation. I hadn’t hard that about the importance of the personal statement but we toured last year so I may have forgotten about it. Not sure if my son will do it. Do either of you know when they start notifying about acceptances? It think it’s late October, but I’m not sure.
@s16s18s21s25 I am afraid that because son has already submitted the application, contacting the AO will not accomplish much. But it could be worth a try. I read that admissions notifications begin October 1st. So hopefully we will have our answer sooner vs later.
Has anyone found a clear answer on this? The Common App essay has been updated to the 7 prompts, yet it still says that UTK does not require it. However, when I go to the writing section under UTK’s questions, it simply lists three essay prompts and that we must select one. On the side under “Help” it still says “If you selected any of the 5 prompts in the Personal Essay part of the application, you may copy that essay and paste it here for the University of Tennessee required essay.” But that still doesn’t seem clear to me, especially since the prompts given are different than the Common App ones. I’ve checked the official website with the link that @tonypa gave, but there is still no “custom question” option to choose from.
@purplesparky Well, I was satisfied that you can just copy and paste your common app essay into the UTK writing portion of the common app. That is what my son did. He was accepted last Thursday. If you are still uncomfortable, I would suggest you contact admissions to get the straight scoop. Good luck!
@purplesparky He selected this prompt: “What makes you unique? We strive to know the whole you and want to better understand how your unique qualities will contribute to our campus community. Share with us the qualities you believe make you “you” and/or a unique experience that will help introduce us to you.” And then prefaced his response with this: (Answering the Common Application question: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”). There was enough space to add this preface since the UTK essay allows for 800 words.
Just a follow up that my son did email his regional admissions rep about the essay confusion and the rep had S18 send his ‘personal statement’ directly to him via email. He confirmed with my son once he received it.