<p>I heard people saying that State schools do not pay much attention to the essays as they do to the standarized tests and GPAs. is that true?
What schools would fall into that category of not looking at the essays?</p>
<p>Of course they do, around here anyway.</p>
<p>I just talked to a UW-Seattle Undergrad admissions officer and she said that even if my bad SATs were 100 points higher, it wouldn't matter. It's more about the essay and ECs...the essay is really important because both of the prompts focus on multiculturalism/diversity, and that's what UW is all about!</p>
<p>I highly doubt other big state schools disregard essays. I mean, it's the only REAL self-expression on the application. They have to be interested.</p>
<p>"It depends on the school" an oft-stated phrase. Just see their individual websites.</p>
<p>MANY schools have no essay component whatsoever -- their mandate is to provide education to very large populations.</p>
<p>CSUs in California are purely mathematical. They don't have essays or recommendations. UCs are more hollistic but they don't have recommendations either.</p>
<p>If your #s are good they will not read it; if your #s suck they won't read it, only if borderline do they read it. No time w/ 1000s of apps to read each one. Even private schools do some weeding out and the essay is probably never read. Why read an essay of someone w/o a chance. They should send a thank you though thanking the applicant for the easy $$$.</p>
<p>It depends on the university. I know that Berkeley, for instance, considers essays "very important," on par with GPA and rigor of course load. Others, like CSUs, don't consider them.</p>
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UCs are more hollistic but they don't have recommendations either.
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<p>Well, they do request recs for some students (borderline ones, etc.).</p>
<p>Higher level state schools (Berkley, UM, UNC, UVA etc) place much more importance on essays than "normal" state schools, which I'm sure weed out and pick primarily based on stats.</p>