<p>Hello CC,</p>
<p>1) Can amazing teacher and counselor recommendations make up for weaker parts of an application? In other words, can the recommendations perform some magic for an applicant?</p>
<p>2) Would you discourage an applicant from writing an essay about personal weaknesses like procrastination and perfectionism? Of course, the personal weaknesses would be presented in a positive light by elaborating on how they have changed the applicant for the better.</p>
<p>Thanks in Advance :)</p>
<p>2) Yes, yes you should avoid that. The only possible semi-OK thesis to come out of one of those is, “I used to have this flaw, and now I don’t!” Absence of a flaw isn’t a strength, and you should focus on your strengths. If you now have ___ strength that came out of conquering ___ flaw, feel free to write your essay demonstrating how you are that ___ strength, and feel free to mention that you came to it the hard way. The strength should be in the first and last paragraphs, though, making the essay about that strength, not a narrative about weakness into strength. I don’t like to give universal advice, usually, but I think in this case it’s going to be a bad idea 99% of the time.</p>
<p>1) I’m not sure what you mean by “weaker parts of an application.” Less than top-notch grades? Likely not. So-so standardized test scores? Again, I doubt it. The sad fact is, there isn’t room at Harvard or Princeton or Amherst or Stanford to accommodate all the applicants they get whose applications don’t have “weaker parts.” I am routinely amazed by the qualifications and accomplishments of the applicants who don’t get into these highly selective colleges and universities.</p>
<p>2) ITA with exultationsy.</p>
<p>Thank you very much guys, I am not going to write about such a topic.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I respectfully disagree with exul that writing about weakness is inherently flawed. In admissions essays, the content isn’t as important as the subtext. In other words, what you write about isn’t as important as the impression that your writing makes upon the reader. That is why writing about a service trip to Ecuador can be hackneyed and dull, or it can be powerful. But in neither case is the point of the essay to inform the admissions officer that you went to Ecuador.</p>
<p>Similarly, the essay is not a place to talk about how great you are. For that reason, I don’t think you would be harmed by talking about times at which you were not so great. I would much rather read an essay about failure that shows an applicant has maturity and keeps perspective than read an essay that talks about great success in a way that seems narrow-minded. Of course this is kind of a straw-man, but that’s the point really; there can be good and bad treatments of any topic.</p>
<p>However, I agree with exul that care must be taken to make sure a negative essay leaves a positive impression, be it focusing on a strength or something else. And the key to every essay is writing it well, and some topics, like this one, I believe are harder to write well than others.</p>
<p>As a (potentially meaningless) anecdote, I wrote a very self-critical essay that did in fact follow exul’s advice of beginning and ending on the positive upshot. The Yale admissions officer who accepted me told me that she especially liked the theme of my essay. Maybe I got lucky.</p>
<p>Okay Dwight, I will put some further thought into what you said…
If you don’t mind, I will write a draft of this essay and PM it to you. I will
also PM my common app essay to you. I would like you to critique the draft and tell me if
you think the common app essay would be enough on its own. Thank you very much for your assistance.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Credible recommendations can mitigate (at least somewhat) any holes in your transcript. </p></li>
<li><p>Without knowing the prompt, my instinct is to say that there’s nothing wrong with these subjects, but you need to accentuate that you are NO LONGER like this. I like the part about “how they have changed the applicant for the better.”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t include words like “better.”</p>