Given Amherst College’s emphasis on liberal arts, how much weight does the school assign to the essays portion. In addition to the common app essay, Amherst requires three supplemental essays. I know this question would be tough to gauge an accurate value, but any answers would be helpful.
I can’t find it, but I remember UC Berkeley had a pie chart breaking down each aspect’s weight of the application process. Berkeley placed around a ~30% weight on the essays.
For freshmen, so I assume transfers too, essays are marked as “very important” on the CDS: https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/C%2520Admission.pdf
I’m applying as a transfer student. Transfer students actually have to write one or two more essays than a freshmen would, which leads me to believe the essays may be equally as important as grades.