<p>Honestly, after writing 10+ college essays, I simply could not write any more, so I dropped Duke, Yale, and the University of Delaware. Oh, and the BU Honors college. I considered applying to the University of Chicago, but I did not have time to think up creative responses. </p>
<p>Apart from the number of essays, the topics were difficult. For instance, Duke asked me why I wanted to study engineering (which is basically what I wrote my main common app essay about, so I didn’t want to be redundant) and why I wanted to study at Duke. I couldn’t think of a legitimate reason why I wanted to go to Duke, so I took that as a sign that I shouldn’t even apply. Same with Delaware. The BU Honors College essay just made me want to cry because it was so involved, and it was the last one I had to do so I just didn’t apply to the Honors College.</p>
<p>Mhm, I definitely dropped some that had annoying essay requirements if I was so-so about the school. I just ended up with a shorter college list since I’m too lazy to write so many specialized essays.</p>
<p>My son didn’t complain about essays, but he dropped Penn and MIT becasue he didn’t want to take what he thought were unnessary SAT II subject tests. Northwestern recommends them, but does not require them, and since NU was his ED choice, he figured he was all set. And since he was accepted, I guess he was right.</p>
<p>I was going to apply to Rice, UPenn, and Notre Dame, but decided not to because of their tedious essay requirements. It was unlikely that even if I got accepted that I would end up going to any of those places anyway.</p>
<p>I did, however, apply to Stanford; I wrote three brand new essays uniquely for them and spent time deliberating good responses to their Short Answer questions. Curiously, even if I get in I have no intention of going there because it’s simply too far away. Would LOVE to go there if it was a reasonable distance from home. I guess I applied because I felt I could really highlight my best personal aspects through their prompts. I liked that a lot.</p>
<p>I also applied to Harvard. I thought their supplement was ideal: basic personal info and an optional essay - only the students who really care will be the ones to write this essay. In addition, it has NO limits for topic or length. Mine was 4 pages, single-spaced, and probably the most interesting essay I’ve ever had the pleasure to write. Because of this optional opportunity they have presented their students, they can really select the cream of the crop - even if it takes a little extra work for them to read essays like mine.</p>
<p>The problem with Rice, ND, and UPenn was that they were too specific - limited word count and specific topics. Don’t get me wrong - students should be able to write good essays that meet these specifications, but admissions should only expect to see applications from people who have these schools very high up on their list.</p>
I’m sure that’s part of their goal. Why should they waste time and money (I doubt if the $70 fee really covers the cost of an evaluation) on a student who likely won’t come? Like you to Rice/UPenn/ Notre Dame and my son to MIT, why bother? </p>
<p>The problem with this method of weeding out applications is the same as most problems of the college game - that the people who can’t afford to play the game are the ones most damaged. The broke kids who are too busy working to take the time to write all those essays are the ones who could benefit the most from Ivy financial aid.</p>
<p>I applied to eight schools on the basis that they all had no essay or an optional one (which I didn’t submit for any), because I am incredibly lazy and a procrastinator like most normal seniors. I finished my commonapp and sent everything in December 30 and 31. I originally intended to apply to several other schools that I removed from my list because I didn’t want to write anything extra, including Columbia and UChicago (though in UChicago’s case I did look over the prompts and thought out ideas for essays, just never went through with the writing).
Two of them did however have a short response section.</p>
<p>I dropped Wake and added Vanderbilt due to essay-length (or lack thereof) reasons. I really enjoyed writing essays for Tufts - even though there were four of them, I think their prompts are great.</p>
<p>At the last minute I found myself nervously scrambling for more schools to apply to (that irrational fear that I’ll end up nowhere really started to grip me towards the end) and ended up applying to Boston College and Dartmouth solely because they lack intense supplements. </p>
<p>On the other hand I dropped Wake Forest because it was just way too excessive when considering my only luke warm interest.</p>
<p>My not applying to Wake Forest (a school I barely care for) could open up an acceptance for someone who did apply that was much more enthusiastic about the school than I am.
I appreciate the heavy supplements some schools display because, as you can see, essays weeds out uninterested applicants, at least that definitely held true for me.</p>
<p>One school I applied to specifically, Tufts, had a 5% decrease in apps this year. Now I’m wondering if this is a result of essay requirements…
(Either way, all the better for my chances right?)</p>
<p>Son dropped Wash U St Louis due to lack of essay supplement. He felt it’s a joke, that the school is obviously playing the US News ranking game by baiting more applicants to apply and thereby increasing their ranks. I agree with his assessment.</p>
<p>He also dropped Rice due to the question of listing all the schools that he applied to. He felt that it’s none of their business. I agree as well.</p>
<p>I dropped a number of colleges because it was the first year the New SAT (2400 points) was being given, and I had gotten a perfect math score on the old version my junior year and was not willing to retake it. Any schools that required the new one I crossed off my list.</p>
<p>I loved Marsian’s story! My D didn’t apply to a college with a similar question for the same reason. She couldn’t think of anything to write, and had way too many other things to do. </p>
<p>My S will probably not apply to Wake Forest, in part because the application was too time-consuming when my D completed it and in part because WFU isn’t very generous with merit aid. </p>
<p>One college decision letter said something like–we hope that you’ve enjoyed writing the essays for us and that you’ve learned something about yourself. Ha! While that is a nice sentiment, that statement made me feel that the letter’s author doesn’t understand how stressful and fatiguing the life of a high school senior can be.</p>
<p>While my daughter didn’t end up dropping any specific colleges because of their essays, they probably helped to limit the number of applications that she sent out. After 8 applications, she was completely fed up with writing essays.</p>
<p>During the process, we heard a lot of grumbling from our daughter about the weirder prompts. Some of them were so off the wall that we were left scratching our heads as to what the colleges could possibly hope to learn about from them about the applicants.</p>
<p>@ngongs - The question of listing all other schools to which you applied is completely optional and will not affect your application at all. Agree on the WUSTL thing, though I still applied.</p>
<p>I dropped a couple LACs and UChicago because of the essay requirements. Almost dropped Rice, but I am so thankful I didn’t. I actually like the idea of using a fancy supplement. Nothing ridiculous, of course, but the college is really helping to get rid of those students who aren’t seriously considering the school–the ones who are just applying for the name or because they can and probably won’t attend even if they are accepted. I realized I didn’t really want to go to the LACs or UChicago when I noticed how little enthusiasm I had for working through the longer supplement.</p>
<p>I scrapped one school from my list for precisely this reason. Claremont Mckenna. I had no clue how to approach the prompt, and it was supposed to be around 2 pages long. Obviously if it had been my dream school I would have come up with something and submitted. I feel like this will only be an issue for schools that aren’t near the top of an applicant’s list anyways.</p>
<p>Another school was the exact opposite. If it had requested difficult essays, I would not have applied. Definitely nowhere near my top choice. Since the essays were easily doable, with one optional prompt, I went ahead and conjured up something quick and sent it in. (commonapp school)</p>
<p>I dropped Columbia due because of the numerous short responses required and a time crunch. I also applied to WUSTL simply because I did not have to do any additional work. WUSTL tricks applicants a bit though with all of the essays it requires for scholarship applications.</p>
<p>Dropped Tufts because the essays did not look like fun at alllll. Also even though it was “optional,” I still would have felt obligated to do the optional 4th essay, 'cause I’m weird like that.</p>
<p>I also dropped Tufts because of the essays and Georgetown because it wasn’t common app. Some of my top choices had rather time-consuming applications, so I didn’t want to waste time on schools near the middle of my list.</p>