<p>If everything else is good - standardized test scores, grades, extra-curriculars, recommendations - will bad essays kill you?</p>
<p>It depends on the schools. To some schools, the essay is the most important thing. To others GPA an scores are most important. If a school has a lot of supplements, it is probably a writing heavy school which means they want strong essays</p>
<p>A really bad essay can kill you. I really good essay might make up for some other small weaknesses. Most essays probably make very little difference one way or another. Some schools (Chicago, Tufts) seem to pay more attention to essays than most.</p>
<p>At competitive schools they can count heavily. Once an application makes it past an initial screen for grades/rank/scores is when they start looking at essays and LORs. </p>
<p>The readers are looking for reasons to accept or reject each applicant. A poorly written essay makes it easy to reject an application–there are so many good applications, and there are only so many slots–and a poorly written essay not only puts the applicant’s ability to write at the college level in question.</p>
<p>It also calls into question the student’s transcript. Did this applicant actually do well in a rigorous curriculum–or does the high school just give As to students who show up? And, if the readers are familiar with the high school and its rigor, a poorly written essay sends the message that, while the student is capable of writing a competent essay, the fact that he chose to send in something so sub-par indicates that the student doesn’t care enough about going to this school–so they may as well accept another applicant who actually wants to go there.</p>
<p>How about not incompetent but as someone said “a bit grandiose/pompous”.</p>
<p>At one competitive school that I have some knowledge of, 95% of the applicants meet the GPA and test score requirements. What the college is looking for is what has the student accomplished? You can’t tell from a list of ECs what a person has done. Even having a titled position within an EC doesn’t tell you what they really did. Everyone must know at least one person elected “president” (or some such title) who did nothing once elected. So the way to convey what you have accomplished is via your essay. It must be reasonably well written and highlight your accomplishments.</p>
<p>Basically agree with #3 and #4.</p>
<p>It’s unwise to write a mediocre essay unless you’re applying to a school at which you would be a star admit. (A college “beneath” you.) The applicant pool at competitive colleges can be guaranteed to be of high-caliber, overall, so submitting an inadequate essay is a high-risk move. (Because of what #4 said.)</p>
<p>Among other things, I do teach writing, and continue to be amazed at the poor quality of writing for college applications by students with high grades & great scores. By poor quality I am not referring to grammar (separate issue), or even to structure (also separate issue), rather answering the bleepin’ prompt! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Question: What do you envision doing with your life?
“Answer”: I’m a terrific person.</p>
<p>Question: What’s the greatest challenge you have ever encountered?
“Answer”: I feel sorry for my neighbor’s cat.</p>
<p>Question: What specific (translation, concrete) benefits have you gained from an exxtracurricular activity?
“Answer”: I’m going to save the world.</p>
<p>I only slightly exaggerate; the examples are merely a reduced version of the essential messages.</p>
<p>Hint: Students, do NOT tell admissions officers that you have a secret plan to save the world, or that you have an indefinite desire to “help others.” </p>
<p>The six biggest mistakes I encounter:</p>
<p>1- Answering the prompt you wish had been asked</p>
<p>2- Giving few/no specifics; speaking in broad generalities (“I was transformed.” Period.)</p>
<p>3- Overpromising about your future; exaggerating (Messiah complexes)</p>
<p>4 -Writing in fluent cliche – whether about yourself, community service, current issues, etc.</p>
<p>5 -Insisting that every response begin with a narrative or entirely consist of a narrative. (Hint: in general, unless you are an exceedingly clever & creative writer, the committee is less-than-interested in your toddler behavior and how that eventually evolved into a desire to attend college.) Answer the question, students. Why do you, Student, want to go to this Fantastic College today – now-- from your senior year vantage point. And not why parents want you to go or classmates want you to go.
(Hint #2: If you have no clue how to answer Why College X? It should definitely not be on your list.)</p>
<p>6 - An apologetic tone about the desire to attend that college: i.e., presenting an unsolicited “defense” about your wish to go to college. (Hint: The Institution exists for the purpose of enrollments. You are graduating from high school. If you have decent grades & other elements, you are among the qualified who need no special engraved invitation merely to apply. You qualify to apply, and no defense of that is necessary, such as assuring them that you have an intellect and that your transcript is not a fake.)</p>
<p>I’m feeling wicked tonight. :D</p>
<p>I’m not encouraging submitting poorly written essays at all, but my intuition tells me that bad technique will get a better reception than bad character traits.</p>
<p>I advise my students like this:</p>
<p>the written items; essays and recommendations speak for you when you are not in the room to speak for yourself.</p>
<p>Write the essay like you were delivering the speech of your life and presenting it live to the admissions committee, which is essentially what you are doing. You can skip the “members of the admissions committee” ;).</p>
<p>I agree with sybbie719. I tell students that their essay is a substitute for an interview. It is the only time the ad coms hear your “voice” to get a sense of you.</p>
<p>I think it’s possible to answer the question you wish you had been asked, but only if you are careful to also answer the prompt. My sil (who also taught freshman writing as a grad student) explained it to my oldest this way. There is the prompt - you have to answer it. But there’s also the agenda. The admissions committee wants to get to know you, so you have to answer the prompt in a way that helps then get a sense of who you are. This was the part that my “I’m a computer nerd” son had trouble with. His final essay wasn’t great, but he did start and end with a bit of a joke, so at least the essay left the impression, “I’m a computer nerd with a self deprecating sense of humor” and not just “I’m a computer nerd”.</p>
<p>My son started several of his “Why X college” with all the reasons he didn’t like them at first, and then went on to what changed his mind." Had very good luck with that approach!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No dispute on that, mathmom. (However, usually that’s not what occurs; usually it is a substitute, not an addition.)
:)</p>
<p>
Look at the schools Common Data Set, section C7, to see how much the school weights essays as part of the admission criteria.</p>
<p>How important are essays? Depends on where your scores/grades fall in relation to that particular’s schools freshmen admission pool. For tippy top selective schools it matters a lot, since many applicants will have tippy top grades/scores.</p>
<p>The purpose of the essay is to let your voice and personality shine through. You want the adcom to say “I want to meet this person” rather than another Winning touchdown, volunteer in a foreign country, my grandmom who died, essay. So if you come off as pompous? That could easily sink an admission.</p>
<p>It’s not just about getting in to the school. At some schools, the essays weigh heavily into who gets merit money among the top students.</p>
<p>My D wrote an essay about “an important person who’s changed her life”. She chose her baby brother. It was simple, warm and funny. She ended up with a full ride at her school. I believe kids should write about what they know and make it personal and interesting.</p>
<p>Most of the time it will make no difference (and will barely be read). But at colleges with low acceptance rates, they have to find reasons to reject students (acceptances are easy). Lots of students. Any reason they can find to reject an applicant is good with them.</p>
<p>The downside is much bigger than the upside.</p>