<p>Which would you choose and lets say that your gpa is just fine and the other parts of your application are pretty good too. Now which would you want the perfect standardized tests or a outstanding essay and by outstanding I mean it made the admission selectors cry with jooy because it was so good. Which do most CCers find more important?</p>
<p>I meant an in the title lol</p>
<p>um… If the essay is THAT good, then probably the essay. but I doubt that’d ever happen</p>
<p>^^^one college rep said there does exist an essay like that, i can’t remember which though.</p>
<p>probably the amazing essay, provided the SAT score was decent</p>
<p>It depends what my other stats were and the school to which I would be applying.</p>
<p>yeah…an imperfect SAT score would be like a 2350. if that were the case, then definitely the outstanding essay ;)</p>
<p>Perfect scores. Every year admissions officers are saddened by the fact that some of their favorite essay writers didn’t have the stats to be admitted. Not even close…</p>
<p>Going from a really good essay to a perfect essay will have more effect than going from a really good test score to a perfect test score. But going from a crappy essay to a perfect essay won’t matter much at all if you don’t have a good test score to back it up.</p>
<p>perfect scores no doubt. essays have different effects on different people, but standardized test scores are universal.</p>
<p>Perfect scores: factual. Perfect essay: an opinion. Of course you should have both. But I’m not really sure there is such a thing as a ‘perfect essay’.</p>
<p>perfect scores =)
i have to agree with limabeans</p>
<p>If it were a 1900 vs. 2400, and a crappy essay vs. an outstanding essay, i’d choose the 2400 and crappy essay, because you’ve got lots of other areas to show off your writing skills (go supplements!) and you have to have the test scores in order to have a chance.</p>
<p>If it were the difference between a typical essay vs. a perfect essay, and a 2100 vs. a 2400, I’d go with the 2100 and perfect essay, because my test scores at that point are pretty much good enough.</p>
<p>I’ve wondered about this. What if you could write like Virginia Woolf? Or Vladimir Nabokov? Of course, none of us can… It’s extremely doubtful, anyway. But surely right now or in a few generations there will be a kid savant who’s destined to be a legend of literature. If his essay was ridiculously exceptional, would colleges be falling over themselves to admit him? What if all he really had was this mind-blowingly good piece of writing (his grades/test scores being very poor)? I’ve actually been reading Nabokov’s “Speak, Memory” and a lot of it could easily be fashioned into a couple of great, great college essays. I know I’d accept a student with such an essay, no matter what. But maybe admissions wouldn’t find it fair.</p>
<p>Anyway, for myself I’d want a perfect SAT! Because then I wouldn’t be prepping for a re-take…</p>
<p>While there are brilliant writers among the applicant pool, adcom will not be able to identify them with a couple of short essays. Having sat on an admissions committee, I can tell you that there were many kids who we came to like and admire who through essays, emails and recs who would could not let in due to stats. The book ‘Gatekeepers’ captures this well.</p>
<p>Kinda working off what chsowlflax17 and mammalian posted, is it better to have one factor (either test or essay) be on the extremely good end of the spectrum while the other one on the low/dull/cliche end? Or is it better to have both test and essay somewhere in the middle (test scores not outstanding, mediocre in terms of the relevant colleges, and essays not exactly cliche/dull, but don’t really stand out)? </p>
<p>I’d imagine that if you at least had an outstanding test score or an outstanding essay, you might leave a more memorable impression on the adcoms as opposed to having median stats and a mediocre essay. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I agree ^ leaving an impression is worth it.</p>
<p>Hmm… I think Hmom has a really good point, but after a certain point I doubt test scores make that big a difference. Sure, you need some minimum test scores to get in, but after that, I’d think making an impact would be more important. So, at Harvard the first quartile is an ACT of 31, and it looks like an SAT of probably 2150 (it says on collegeboard 690, 700 and 690, but likely the 1st quartile isn’t 2080, because few people would score the lowest and still get in). So, do you choose to have a “perfect” essay (top 5% of admitted students… which knowing those who apply to Harvard would be amazing) and a 2150/31, or do you choose to have a 2400 and an essay that, in quality, is about 1st quartile of accepted students? And if you knew how that would affect your in, you could adjust them either way to figure out likeliness of admission (too bad we can’t :P). Personally, I’d choose the essay.</p>
<p>I really agree w/ chsowlflax17. I honestly think that a person w/ a 2100-2150 SAT with a perfect essay would stand a better chance than someone w/ a 2400 SAT with mediocre essays. Just my two cents though!</p>
<p>I think it depends on the school. Based on what I have heard from several LAC admissions officers, an “outstanding” essay is far rarer than perfect scores, so the essay will make your application stand out far more than the scores will. If the choice is between acceptable scores and fabulous essay or fabulous scores and acceptable essay, I’d pick the first.</p>
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<p>This is incorrect as any common data set reveals. It’s a myth. As your scores go up, so do your chances.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned Harvard where the 75th percentile SAT scores are 790 per section. Over a quarter of the class has these scores. When you back out the 40% who are hooked, you quickly see how high the scores of the vast majority of the unhooked really are.</p>
<p>Scores matter a lot. Your essay can be phenomenal, but you’re not getting in without the stats. As I’ve written on other threads, every year every adcom has their favorites based on essays and recs that they are sad to not be able to admit because the stats need to be there first.</p>