How important is a good essay (what is a good essay?)

Applying to College
1

The title is kind of self explanatory. Im curious to know what a good essay sounds like, and how big of a factor it is in getting accepted. I’ve written one already ( I’ll be honest not one of my best) but I dont feel it to be especially awful. Would anyone mind taking a look at it and giving me some insight.

2

<p>If you read mine i'll read yours :D</p>

3

<p>sure why not</p>

4

<p>should I email it to you</p>

5

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>^^ check that site out. It has some great info for writing essays.</p>

6

<p>yes email it to me at <a href="mailto:beramodk@yahoo.com">beramodk@yahoo.com</a><br>
Mine is almost done.</p>

7

<p>hello? Hello?</p>

8

<p>You can email me at <a href="mailto:DanEli7d12@hotmail.com">DanEli7d12@hotmail.com</a></p>

9

<p>A good essay should be clear, honest, interesting, and "you." It should be unique in presentation. Ideally, the essay should really reflect who you are, so that very few other people could turn in the essay and have it really fit in with the rest of the application. (So the I want to help people so I built a house in a 3rd world country generic essay won't cut it.) You can write about virtually ANYTHING as long as you make it really personalized. It should be specific, to the point, and show, not tell. You probably know when you read a good essay or a really bad one, even if you're not exactly sure how to go about writing a good one.</p>

10

<p>Hey you forgot to include the prompt!</p>

11

<p>How big a factor the essay is in getting accepted probably depends on the school. The more selective the school, the more important the essay. Schools at the lower end will probably take someone with good stats no matter what, and large state schools sometimes with more than 50,000 apps to read are often very stat driven out of logistic necessity. But high end schools have more applicants with great stats than they can possibly accomodate, so they use the essay and ECs to choose among them.</p>