<p>What's the maximum number of essays an applicant can send in to a school without overwhelming the admissions officers? I have great ideas for five different essays, each of which conveys something significant about me. Five essays sounds crazy, though; I'd love to write them (I'm a writer!), but I'm short of time and I don't know if the admissions committee would be as thrilled to read them as I am to write them. Would submitting so many essays be detrimental to my chances of being accepted at schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, Duke, Dartmouth, and UChicago?</p>
<p>You send the number of essays they require. Do not sent additional essays. They want to see how well write and how well you can present yourself only in the required pieces. Extra pieces will not even be considered, as it would give you an unfair advantage over other applicants, and admissions do not want to read more. I</p>
<p>It’s like providing 5 answers on an AP FRQ that asks for 2. They will assess the first 2, not the best 2. The rest are trashed.</p>
<p>Now, what you can possibly do, is submit an essay as part of your “supplemental material”. I wouldn’t send more than two; one would be best. You’ll want it to be a demonstration of your writing ability, a piece you are extremely proud of- not necessarily one that answers a prompt from the application.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the response. I think I’ll send in two, then. Choosing which two is so difficult though!</p>
<p>I recommend e-mailing/calling admissions and running it by them first, if you can’t find enough info on supplementals for each university online. Every admissions board is different.</p>