<p>Do you guys want to know how obsessed I am with Penn? Yes? Okay. My SAT essay was actually about Wharton(an essay on which I got an 11 on btw). I decided wanted to go to Penn in the 9th grade. Since then I’ve always dreamt about attending Penn, hence my username, Penn_dreamer:).</p>
<p>that's touching. I love Penn too. Be even more obsessed! You can do it! Stalk your regional admissions officer and let him/her remember you. Make a collection of Penn info. Make a folder on your comp with a whole bunch of websites where you can find info about Penn (i.e. upenn.edu, collegeconfidential.com, etc.), go to every College Night meeting where Penn will be present and furiously take notes.</p>
<p>This reminds me of myself during the Harry Potter era. hah was I obsessed!</p>
<p>oh and watch out for mean people. They usually love trashing these kinds of threads.</p>
<p>wow... but doesn't that kind of burn bridges with the non-Penn schools that you're applying to? ...the ones who'll read your Penn-worshiping SAT essays and be like "***?!"... </p>
<p>kudos on the courage to do that...</p>
<p>that's crap. I have never in my life ever heard of colleges looking at your writing sample on your SAT and even remotely consider using that for your application. Your essays are SOOOO much more indicative of your potential, why would an essay written in 25 minutes on a pretty generic topic, decided for you, carry any weight? There are so many more important components of the application. Don't worry, your "I love Wharton" essay isn't going to kill your chances at the other schools. If your qualified, you'll get into them.</p>
<p>and by the important essays I mean the college essays, as in personal statements. Sure, you receive more time, preparation, and coaching for them, but people really need to consider that while SATs are really really important, there have been so many shenanigans with the CollegeBoard lately that it seems to me that a lot of skepticism is growing between its relationships with most adcoms. Whatever, Penn_Dreamer, hopefully your wish will come true and that shouldn't even have to bother you in the future :)</p>
<p>please. don't equivocate. i wasn't referring to the person's potential. if a non-penn school looks at the Writing SAT sample and reads how much the person loves penn... how does that look? the writing itself may reek of beautiful prose and potential but that's not what i'm referring to. i don't think any top school would want to be the consolation prize... and i'm assuming this person's applying to top schools because s/he's applying to penn so s/he's probably applying to similar-caliber schools. if this person's SAT essay talks about how much s/he likes penn, then it's going to be harder to make a case about why they should be accepted to another top school when that other school can see her/his dedication to penn and willingness to write about it in their essay. top schools have enough applicants to be able to pick and choose... that's why penn's early action policy is so strong, because it loves people who dedicate themselves to going to penn as their first choice. a stronger applicant in the regular decision pool could be rejected while a weaker applicant in the early action is accepted. i think most top schools are similar in that they don't want to be the consolation prize.</p>
<p>(this is just assuming the essay talks about how much s/he loves/wants to go to penn...) that's why an essay that's going to be sent to all schools you apply to shouldn't rub in the fact that you're obsessed with your top choice. it will be inferred (correctly) that their own school is not as desirable to be applicant... it's a disadvantage.</p>
<p>you've also "never ... ever heard of colleges looking at your writing sample on your SAT and even remotely consider using that for your application" because the writing sample has only recently been added to the SATs... i definitely have. it won't be as important as the other essays, but my prof has sat on the adcoms for the College and Wharton at Penn for decades and he says that these recent writing samples fresh from the student's mind have become very very helpful in the process. all you can do is inductively put the pieces together, and i don't care if you believe me or not since i'm already a student here, but i definitely take his word over a kid without direct, participatory insight over years in the adcom process of a top school.</p>
<p>yeah, ive read that many schools use ur writing sample thing to compare with your essay - just to make sure, ya know. </p>
<p>and dude, i know what you mean by being OBSESSED. ppl ask for a pen in class at school and i go into convulsions.... lol</p>
<p>rohan you're very close-minded. i have heard many times that some schools, like northwestern, use the writing sample on the SAT to validate the essays written for that college.</p>
<p>Rohan is correct. Before the 2005-2006 admission year, no college looked at your SAT essay in admissions. They would have never considered looking at it ever. It would just sound crazy. Then last year they decided to read the essay if the writing score and essay scores were bellow 600 when the personal statement essay was phenominal. Why they made this change, noone knows.</p>
<p>b/c they suspected kids of using professionals to write their essays. duh.</p>
<p>going back to the ORIGINAL topic - obsession? check out this thread from the rappers of penn CC 2010: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=119336%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=119336</a></p>
<p>I would never ever have the guts to pay someone to write my college essay, especially when it has so much weight in admissions.</p>
<p>not that i could afford it or anything</p>
<p>true. i've always wondered why kids could spend thousands for "college application help" agencies or whatever you call them... oh well. i'd just take that money and run. but then again, i don't come from a wealthy family with generations of ivy-league legacies so i don't have that perspective.</p>
<p>Do you have a Penn shield tattoo? If not, you could stand to be more obsessed with the bestest school ever.</p>