<p>I'm having so much difficulty conveying passion in my writing; no matter what I do, I just sound like I'm writing an analytical paper for school, not a personal statement. Does anyone have any knowledge and/or opinions on how much Stanford cares about your essay, in comparison to how they look at your ECs, test scores, grades, interview, etc? I've already submitted my Stanford app, so I can't really change anything now. I'm just wondering about this school in particular because it's my definite favorite, so naturally I'm curious :)
How have you been conveying passion in your essays?</p>
<p>you need good essays, hands down.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to make it more passionate-- this strictly depends on the individual. try pretending that you’re actually talking, and trying to convince someone something. that always helps me</p>
<p>Stanford cares very much about essays because that’s what makes or breaks the person.
As for passion, choose a specific moment where you were doing what you love the most. You’ve probably been told that millions of times, but it works. It’s kind of like telling a story…your own story. If you need someone to read and give opinion, send it my way (:</p>
<p>@diglett: do you think showing enough passion and uniqueness in your essays would be enough to make up for the not-so-outstanding academics? i’m not talking about average grades, but i’m talking about not being like psat finalist, 9 APs, top 10%, that kind of stuff. Well, obviously stanford is a place for bright ppl so academics are important, but if your grades are showing an upward trend, then …would they take that as having some potential?</p>
<p>I think from the posts of admitted students, Stanford basically mandates good essays, even from top caliber students. From discussions about admitted students weekend, it seems that adcoms remember the students that they admit by some of their essays.</p>
<p>If I can recommend it to you (though it’s too late now as a high schooler), take a creative writing class. I write creative non-fiction fairly regularly (and by that I mean like twice per year, who has the time?), but everything I’ve learned about writing came from a creative writing class. Especially the poetry unit. And I DESPISE poetry. But a great essay uses a lot of poetic techniques. Heck, my personal statement was essentially in stanzas.</p>
<p>It also depends on the mood of the person looking over your application. Good mood = better chances. Upward trends are really good as far as I’ve seen over other decision threads. Essays do make up for a lot of it because high/perfect scores or high classes or awards don’t mean everything.</p>
<p>Write about how you cured cancer while climbing Mt. Everest. Gets 'em every time.</p>
<p>lol 10char^</p>
<p>I heard about some kid who straight lied and said he gave his mom a kidney. got into princeton.
Do that =D</p>
<p>i’m of course kidding.</p>
<p>I think essays are VERY important. This is how I see it: good stats put you on the maybe list, and then a really good essay is what could get you in. But, a really good essay could also make up for less-than-stellar test scores/grades, based on what I’ve seen in the decision threads from previous years.</p>
<p>But who knows? Maybe Stanford will like your analytical way of thinking. :)</p>
<p>Not to make light of kidney failure but who the hell wouldn’t give a kidney for their mother? You’re not special lying princeton child.</p>
<p>The way I see it is that great essays can make up for poor stats, while great stats cannot make up for poor essays. In other words, essays are important because they could make or break your application.</p>
<p>HAHAHAHA, I love this discussion about kidney donation. That’s right IPadraid, you tell 'em. Princeton kids ain’t so special D<</p>
<p>And yeah, that’s sort of what I was expecting to hear, I just thought maybe I would get lucky this time haha. Good advice too, although writing too much like a persuasive paper is actually a bit of a problem for me, nwdivisionchamps. I will look into getting help from a creative writing teacher and using more anecdotes.
And thanks for the offer, diglett, expect to receive some MIT short answers soon, because I’m struggling on those haha!</p>