<p>I can't believe that the college admissions process is so heavily based on essays.</p>
<p>What about smart, nice students that are just not good at "selling themselves." Yeah everyone says "don't write about what the adcoms want to hear, but what naturally comes." But really, if you weren't writing for the adcoms, would you be writing the essay at all? You have to present an aspect of yourself in a positive light to the adcom. What if you're not good at writing essays? Does that mean the a potential nobel prize winner should be denied at Harvard or MIT? And above that, what if you're great at English, etc. but just not good at writing essays about YOURSELF. Yeah, maybe you're really introverted, and that's a negative quality, but does that warrant rejection from a prestigious university?</p>
<p>Perhaps people who aren't good at selling themselves on paper aren't going to be the ones selling themselves in the real world. Perhaps colleges don't want these applicants.</p>
<p>If you are introverted the essay can actually be a good thing...you can share something about yourself in writing not face to face
If you can't sell yourself in an essay, without someone looking at you, how in the world would you get a job, prove your case, debate in class, stand up for yourself</p>
<p>Sure, for some people its a stretch, but that is college. If you can't write about yourself, or a life event or something, will you be able to even be away from home? If a person is so shy and introverted that an essay is painful, how will they deal with strangers in a dorm, a mean professor, having to change a class</p>
<p>if you can't sell yourself in an essay that you can work on for months (and revise, edit, revise, edit ... start over, revise, edit) how the heck are you going to sell yourself in a job interview???</p>
<p>IMO, top colleges get hundreds of applications with 2100+ SAT scores and top 5% of the class blah blah blah ... they can utilize the essays to distinguish the individual who best fits their school and who will thrive in the environment.</p>
<p>question...is "gah" an azn thing...i have alot of asian friends and they're the only ones that use it...does it mean something in mandarin or cantonese?</p>
<p>well, the world doesn't know who you are until you tell the ppl somehow... and one of the ways is writing. and in some obvious cases(college admission), ppl REQUIRE to tell them about you through writing.. so i guess we just have to get better at it.</p>
<p>well i wouldn't be surprised if its only a written thing and they started encorporating it into the language. kind of like saying lol....well i never hear asian guys saying it...it's usually my friends. i've seen it alot on aim, but i've heard it too a couple of times.</p>
<p>Well, nobody wants a "robot", so to speak. It's great if you get 2400, 4.0, 3x/800, but if you can't demonstrate basic skills needed in the workplace or at school, then what good is it? I mean, a prospective employer will pick a lesser student with those intangibles every time (unless the job involves sitting in a room doing equations or something).</p>
<p>"And above that, what if you're great at English, etc. but just not good at writing essays about YOURSELF. "</p>
<p>i'm sure there are methods you could use if you are truly great at english/ writing to write an excellent essay about yourself </p>
<p>good thing you are thinking of this now- ahead of time
i know too many who didn't even think of this possible problem till a month before the essay was due!</p>
<p>aside from this, i know people with great social skills who just cannot write very well</p>
<p>but i think given time one should be able to produce at least one amazing essay... </p>
<p>aside from this, i wonder how many people still are paying for 'help' writing papers!?</p>