<p>Just a quick question, what is AP Russian ? Because if it existed, I would've taken it.</p>
<p>And yeah, for private colleges, great to amazing essays could help offset average sat's (yours are pretty good though, why u worryin') and some grades.</p>
<p>Of the schools on your list, I'd say they are very important at Tufts and even more so at Brown. Your stats will qualify you for serious consideration at both schools, but the essays will make the difference, imo.</p>
<p>Agreed. (Assuming the essay isn't absolutely horrible). They may be the determining factor when near the end of the process the admissions folks still have 20 spots to fill from 150 applications with similar stats.</p>
<p>At most of those schools, most applicants have the necessary stats to be admitted. Thus, essays are huge factors in who is admitted. Blow them off, and you'll probably be rejected. Do your best, and you raise your admissions chances (though keep in mind that at all of your schools, most applicants are rejected).</p>
<p>Essays are not as important when it comes to admission at more numbers-driven schools, which is what most public universities are.</p>
<p>Hmm well thanks for the info, everyone. The whole essay-writing thing's pretty daunting.. I just hope these hours of working on them well tip that scale in my favor. :p</p>
<p>kgr: I'm not sure if AP Russian's that popular outside of my school. We just have it because Russian's the only language offered. I think the course culminates in some rigorous M/C section, writing section, and a conversation session between the student and some tester in Washington DC, via telephone. Yeah.. I'm still not sure haha.</p>
<p>I don't agree with some people saying they are of phenomenal importance. In an college essay book that I've read, I think a Princeton Dean of Admissions said that 90% of the applicants were unaffected by their essays.</p>
<p>they were unaffected cuz their essays were't great, and they weren't terrible. the essays were prolly just run-of-the-mill essays that anyone can pump out. thats y most ppl aren't affected. those that are affected are the ones tha tCOMPELTELY blow off their essays, or work really really hard and write AWESOME essays</p>
<p>What would you say would be an awesome essay? a creative one? a heartfelt one? an enlightening one? a witty one?
The hardest thing about doing these is writing what you want while being pressured to insert things you figure they want to see.. And then there's that quote: "There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance." (!!!!!)</p>
<p>A solid essay is very important. It won't make up for a horrible SAT (1300-1400) to schools with 25-75 from 1500-1580, but it will definitely boost you up there if you fit in the middle 25-75.</p>
<p>ouch....1300-1400 isnt a "bad SAT" i know what you were trying to say...but remember there are tons of people on these posts who cant go on and brag about all these schools you got into--be careful how you phrase things</p>
<p>" the hard thing to figure out is writing what you want while being pressured to insert things you figure they want to see.."</p>
<p>If what you want to write about is not what the adcoms want to see, then that's not the college for you. If you find yourself working and working to force yourself to write to fit what you think the adcoms want then apply elsewhere.</p>
<p>OK, I think that we have to take there importance in the context of the application as a whole.</p>
<p>CAUTION: While we (hopefully) spend many hours on each essay, it often seems like that is 85% of the work for the applications. Don't forget that while it is easy to write down grades, test scores, activities, etc., they took much more time.</p>
<p>---However, when looking over an application, a significant amount of time is used reading the essays (probably over 50% of the time when not in committee). Along with the reccomendations, this is what the adcoms focus on during a signficicant amount of the time. Your essays have to be in the main pack to keep in consideration, but for most schools, that will do fine. For the very top, however, they need to be in the top 10-15% or so (arbitrary). While having an AMAZING essay will always help, its not completely required.</p>
<p>Because the essays are the only part of the applications still under our control, we often give them more weight then they deserve. As they are the only controllable aspect, spend alot of time on them, but don't consider them the end-all effect on your application.</p>