<p>I would never really write a letter to my roomate. After all, I could just wait a bit and meet him firsthand. I would much rather strike up conversation from the usual "Where are you from?" and "What do you do?" questions. I mean, what am I supposed to do? It's 250 words... Am I to just reveal my innermost self through a letter? I just couldn't see it happening. A letter is so impersonal. Besides, I probably wouldn't be boasting about anything good to my roomate (it'd be a bit arrogant). All I would be doing is pardoning myself for defects, and not something harmless like snoring, but things that can be used to read a bit too much into me like being messy--very messy--(does Stanford want unorganized ppl?) and having loud music as I study (does Stanford want ppl with bad study habits?) and cursing (self-explanatory) and being loud etc. Are these the things that Stanford really wants to hear?... Cuz I doubt it.</p>
<p>You're right. They don't want a real letter that you would write to your roommate of course. Write it in letter from, but use it as a chance to show some aspects of yourself that's not in the other parts of the app. You CAN make up fictitious cirumstances too, so it's not writing to someone completely unknown.</p>
<p>bump... Need to know too</p>
<p>Pretend that it's not even to your roommate. Here's what the prompt might look like if you were to take out the "roommate" bit:</p>
<p>"Write about something, anything you want, that shows something about you and helps us get to know you better."</p>
<p>If you were to make it like a letter and start talking to your roommate about things that show nothing about you ("So we could go to cafes together..." and "I hate alcohol, so you better not be much of a partier," etc.), then you're misunderstanding the prompt, which Stanford sees very often. It's just a creative, open-ended essay that you could take in a serious direction or a fun/light-hearted one. You don't even have to write it in the form of a letter -- many don't. Do what you want with it -- Stanford just wants to see who you are.</p>
<p>Also, read this if you haven't already:</p>
<p>Wow, very informative article. Haha, actually makes me think I might have a chance! Thanks, kyledavid!</p>
<p>That article was okay. It's 1998 article, and it says the stuff Stanford tells its applicants and parents. But it's still pretty much true that high scores are preferable.</p>
<p>High scores only = reject
Passion only = reject
High scores + passion = alright, let's take a look</p>
<p>especially this year cuz the pool is sooo big for EA</p>
<p>wow, that article makes me think i have no chance =)</p>
<p>Why so? I thought it added a bit of life to the perception of admissions -- i.e. that there's more to it than just numbers.</p>
<p>Nice article. Everyone on CC should read it if only to see that people who didn't cure cancer got into S. It also really portrayed the importance of the essays</p>
<p>I wish that I had read this before I submitted my essay. I wrote it as if I was writing to my future roommate. Do you think that will really hurt my chances?</p>
<p>No, that's what a majority of applicants did, I think. I wrote about my life and what I enjoy to do in my spare time. Of course, it wasn't like the example they had in the article, but my Roommate essay had a bit of looseness and informality to it.</p>
<p>Yeah, same here. I wrote about what I like to do and my life. I think that's what they wanted. THe prompt was definitely less formal than the others and I'm sure they just want a clear image of you away from the bragging and number crunching.</p>
<p>i discussed my secret culinary ardency; how i watch food channel and love cooking, even if I've almost caught my house on fire before.</p>
<p>oh my god!!! haha I LOVE cooking too... even though Im a guy! (not being sexist or anythink haha wink wink) The food channel's GREAT too!</p>
<p>im hoping they dont think im a total fruit.. but hey! that might end up helping me in the end if they do think im gay - MINORITY STATUS!!! WOO!</p>