<p>Quite a number of people have told me that the UC essays don't really matter; that they only care about your numbers. Is this true?</p>
<p>That is not true. At least I hope not. I gotta get my brother into a UC, and essays are his only shot!</p>
<p>Not true at all. Numbers matter a <em>lot</em> but there's enough competition at the top UC's that bad essays will sink you. Take a look at past year's results when you see people with 1560 SAT's and commensurate grades being rejected...and tell me what <em>you</em> think the story is.</p>
<p>Essays DONT matter. They first look at your academic stats then your essays. I know an admissions officer at Berkeley and they only spend about a minute per applicant. Do you think they have a chance to read your essays in that short amount of time. OF COURSE NOT. They skim over it briefly.</p>
<p>Tell you what: write a deliberately crappy essay and see if you get in. Whups...have to wait until next year.</p>
<p>I read in one of my college essay books that essays help you 3% of the time, hurt you 2% of the time, and have no effect 95% of the time. Lesson: numbers talk, BS walks. You can't realistically get into a school unless you have the credentials. If you have a decent essay, it probably wont help or hurt you because they do spend a minuscule amount of time reading your essays. If you write something that stands out greatly, you might fall into that 3% If you write a horrible essay you will probably fall into that 2%.</p>
<p>sempitern555, I hope you're right because I spent barely any time on my UC essays, but at least my stats are decent.</p>
<p>They probably skim the essays anyway. But I'm sure they are very good at skimming and sensing BS.</p>
<p>Verista949,</p>
<p>That's probably true for most colleges but certainly not for top private colleges esp. HPSYM. I also know Chicago/Northwestern put a lot of weight on that and they have their own essay questions which look almost impossible to tackle initially.</p>
<p>Are you willing to take that chance?</p>
<p>Caltech, MIT Yes. HPYS I don't know .</p>
<p>Anyone who doesn't think the essay matters is either a liar or a fool..either way, they're wrong.</p>
<p>A good essay is what separates over-achiever A and over-achiever B.</p>
<p>Essays do count. Period. End of discussion.</p>
<p>But most likely, I doubt the UCs with lots of applicants (i.e. Cal and UCLA) actually read all of the essays. Most likely, if you don't meet UC eligibility and/or there is no way possible for you to be admitted, they won't read it. But, if you have a shot at getting in then most likely it does count.</p>
<p>Of course, I'm not an admissions officer so I can't say for sure. Interestingly, however, an admissions officer from UCLA says it does count, whild an admissions officer from UCSD says it doens't.</p>
<p>i watched the video on a link from another thread about insiders perspective on amherst and berkeley admissions. it seemed as though the berkeley admissions officers DID make reference to the essays, although it seemed to be of lesser weight than the usual (gpa, etc.)</p>
<p>It's a filtering process. First are the items that are easy to rule candidates out...ie GPA. GPA < 2.8 put them on hold. Etc. After sifting through the important numbers and are left with a high number of possibles they move onto reading essay's.</p>
<p>YouTube</a> - Applying to UC: The Personal Statement</p>
<p>watch this. she talks about this one girl writing her personal statement about feeding her brothers toilet paper. but her grades consisted of D's and F's so they didn't admit her because the essay didn't complete the application. </p>
<p>it doesnt seem like they just look at numbers</p>
<p>Why would you risk admission? Just write to the best of your ability</p>
<p>Uh, if the essays didn't really matter, why do we have to write it?
You know what doesn't really matter? Your high school's P.E. grade. That's why it's taken out!</p>
<p>the thing is, with 55,000 applications, a couple stinkers will get by. Doesnt mean your essay will.</p>
<p>way to bump a four-year-old thread!!! :rolleyes:</p>