How important are UC essays?

College Essays
1

<p>Well the title says it all. I'm interested in the answer mainly for UCLA. I had a great 2nd essay, but my first was somewhat bland. I talked about the world in a more literal sense, and how I came upon this realization of the enormity of it and how that has led me to want to do things beyond my community, and myself. I was trying to approach it to make it seem like I had a global perspective, rather than just a local one, but I don't know how well I was able to pull it off. It was written well (No grammatical errors, sentence structure fine), but I just don't know how well I did in answering the prompt.</p>

<p>What do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>Essays are very important. Often, many of the students they consider for admission have very similar stats. The personal statement is your chance to tell them something they might have questions on about you.</p>

<p>For most UC's other than Berkeley and LA, the personal statement serves to help you get as many points for their comprehensive review process as possible. (ie. points for leadership, etc.)</p>

<p>The UC's "supposedly" do not consider how well you can write, but what they can learn about you from the personal statement.</p>

3

<p>Essays are "very important" for Berkeley, and probably for UCLA, too. You should be okay with the first one, as long as you wrote it well.</p>

4

<p>Yea, it was well written but I'm just worried I didn't answer the prompt well enough. Also, my 2nd essay was excellent.</p>

<p>My stats are slightly above the UCLA average:</p>

<p>SAT: 2110
GPA: 4.36
Strong EC's.</p>

<p>So should I worry, or is UCLA still a match for me?</p>

5

<p>I don't think you would have any worries... if one of them is strong, that's pretty good. you definitely have the scores to get in.</p>

6

<p>essays are worth little for ucs. i wouldn't be surprise if they are worthless at at public universities.</p>

7

<p>Essays aren't worth that much, but they can play a factor into admission. UCs try to assess students holistically, so they can affect admission to them. 1 bland essay shouldn't hurt you, unless your other essays are bland.</p>

8

<p>Furthermore, essays are used by admissions officials to determine which of the two candidates of the same environment and test scores deserve to attend their college(hypothetically).</p>