<p>Are they that important for the UC schools? It seems like they place much less weight on the personal statements than other factors such as GPA, SAT, classes, etc.</p>
<p>The UCs are very important at UC schools! Since they’re not allowed by law to use affirmative action, essays serve to allow them to look for signs of disadvantage and the like. So they’re not like essays for most colleges where you try to captivate them with your brilliant prose or wit. Tell them your tale of woe; that’s why they ask
read also <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/870866-how-much-do-ucs-care-about-essays.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/870866-how-much-do-ucs-care-about-essays.html</a> especially post #5</p>
<p>They don’t. I took Princeton review classes for the SAT and we had a little college talk too and there was a chart that showed how important certain things are for colleges and for public universities, they look a lot more at your GPA and SAT about 80% while the other 20% is your EC’s and essays…
Privates on the other hand is like GPA and SAT 60% and EC’s and essays 40%. </p>
<p>Privates take EC’s and essays a lot more into consideration as opposed to UC’s (especially if it’s school’s like UCB, UCLA, and UCSD)</p>