<p>Ok, when it comes down to it, just how important are essays and letters of rec? I mean, it seems like EVERYONE thinks their essays and recs are fabulous. So....if everyone's are fabulous.....does that mean they don't count much?</p>
<p>Not everyone's are fabulous. Remember that!</p>
<p>Well, everyone SAYS theirs a fabulous.</p>
<p>(God, I hope mine are fabulous...)</p>
<p>Everyone's are probably very good compared to other college applicants, but in comparison to other Yale applicants, it's hard to have fabulous.</p>
<p>I actually don't think my letters of rec are going to be as outstanding as some of the other people here, simply by virtue of the fact that I go to an extremely competitive NYC prep and have a far lower chance to be the 'best student in 30 years' than someone who goes to a mediocre public school. But luckily my teachers know me, my personality, and my work, so they'll say good things. I was reading in some admissions book that students from prep schools rarely get as good recs as public (non magnet) school kids, but they take it into consideration.</p>
<p>I know my essays are very strong though, if I may say so myself, because my counselor (ex admissions officer) called them the best he read all year. Hopefully that had some effect!!!</p>
<p>Luckily, I don't go to "an extremely competitive NYC prep," I go to one of those "mediocre public schools." *******.</p>
<p>essays and recs are really important for good schools because since test scores and gpa are similar for almost all applicants, they distinguish applicants by the ecs, essays and recs</p>
<p>Richard:
Well if I knew what you said that was starred out I could respond more efficiently (haha and accurately) but I take it you're somehow offended?? I didn't mean anything bad about the average public school, I think that we can all agree that there are some things about public schools that are harder to achieve than in private schools (like winning elections and club leaderships I'm sure), and some things that are harder to achieve in prep schools like being the best student that a teacher has had in years. Whatever, its just a simple observation. </p>
<p>PS if what you said that was starred had nothing to do with you cursing me out (:)) ignore everything I previously said.</p>
<p>Film, I know exactly what you're talking about. Gotta love NYC schools.</p>
<p>I love my mediocre public school!</p>
<p>haha gotta love mediocre public schools with guidance counselors who keep asking me if I'm sure I don't want to apply to Youngstown State (quite possibly the worst public college in ohio... and that's saying something) I'm sure the letter he wrote will really impress the admissions panel, especially the three typos I found after he sent it in...</p>
<p>wow, I thought i was the only one with a counselor like that. My counselor asked me why I was applying to so many schools when I asked him to send letters of recommendation to five colleges.</p>
<p>Our school pretty much runs the gamut. We have kids applying to 15 top tier schools and kids applying to no schools at all. I'd say that pretty much everyone who applies to college applies to IU Bloomington.</p>
<p>I don't have my school profile handy but I think only about 30% of students from my school go to 4 year colleges. A lot of them go to state schools and some of the other 70% end up at the community college.</p>
<p>I've had five counselors in four years. She got some help from other counselors on my rec, and I'm sure it was fine, but I wish I'd had a counselor who really knew me.</p>
<p>I'm fairly certain that my counselor created a new tense of verbs in her letter. Half of her letter was one run-on sentence and the other was full of fourth grade spelling mistakes. </p>
<p>It's so sad.</p>
<p>ouch, that's unfortunate.</p>
<p>It's times like these when I feel truly blessed to have a great counselor who knows me and likes me very much. I haven't read her recommendation, but I think it will be good.</p>
<p>I don't think my essays are fabulous at all...but the rec I read was jaw-dropping, tear-jerking good.</p>
<p>in my opinion, essays and recs serve as glue to tie together the rest of your app- they are what help provide a fuller picture of you as a human being, connecting the grades, test scores, awards and ecs with information about you.</p>
<p>Did anyone see the marks teachers/counselors made concerning what 'category' you are in (i.e., "top 10%" "top few encountered in career")? </p>
<p>Mine were all in the "top few encountered" but I wonder if most Yale applicants have that also?</p>