<p>Results suggest that while they have little overlap with other predictors, personal statements also have small predictive relationships with grades and faculty performance ratings. In addition, once standardized test scores and prior grades are taken into account, they provide no incremental validity.</p>
<p>I don’t think that the point of personal statements is to predict grades. The value of the personal statement is that it allows students to show something personal, which either has a value to the college in assessing fit, or a value to the student by suggesting that they are more than the sum of their data. :-)</p>
<p>I agree that personal statements are not used as academic performance indicators. Personal statements are important to predict some types of diversity as well as to determine fit.</p>
<p>Wish I could state the studies but I only remember the bottom line…when reviewing job resumes, the greatest indicator of success is grades and test scores. Not much else.</p>
<p>I read through the linked study. It is a meta-study, that is an analysis of other studies. They eliminated from consideration any study that reported only statistically significant results (!?). It is also a study of personal statements for graduate school admission, not for undergraduate admission. They are looking at the “score” given to personal statements and the extent that the numerical score given to personal statements contains predictive information not present in college GPA and GRE test results. I’m not aware of a database any researcher could access that has numerical scores given to undergraduate admissions essays, especially essays across a number of colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Even if this meta-study is an accurate reflection that personal statements in graduate school admission do not add any predictive power to graduate school outcomes, it is not at all clear to me that the same can be said about undergraduate admissions. So I think this study is virtually irrelevant for thinking about undergraduate admissions.</p>
<p>Most college students are likely attending colleges that admitted them without considering personal statements or essays (e.g. California State Universities’ admissions are purely GPA and test score based, and Texas public universities admit most of the freshmen on class rank, or class rank and test scores).</p>
<p>Personal statements or essays may be more popular at the colleges where they get a lot of applicants with “near maximum” grades and test scores that are not really that distinguishable based on just those criteria, and which have various institutional goals for what their freshman class should consist of (whether you agree with such goals or not).</p>
<p>@dadx3: I doubt that undergraduate application personal statements are even considered as predictors of academic success. Probably used to predict yield more than anything else at most selective colleges & universities.</p>
<p>Well, there’s a big duh. They aren’t there to predict eventual academic success. They’re there to provide a complete, rounded picture of who the person is.</p>
<p>Guess what? Job interviews have a very low correlation to ultimate success at work. In many disciplines and in many companies, they’d do just as well by screening by GPA, SAT scores, and by administering a reading comprehension/writing test plus a standard personality test.</p>
<p>But there is a natural human bias to want to kick the tires on the person you’ll be working with for 10 hours a day. Hence the boon-doggle known as the interview.</p>
<p>My guess is that adcom’s feel the same about the essay. It doesn’t predict who will do well at your college, but it sure helps you screen out the occasional lunatic, crashing bore, or self-absorbed narcissist.</p>
<p>For what, entry-level jobs? I have never heard this, and it certainly doesn’t fit with my experience or that of most of my friends and colleagues. What is your source for this information?</p>
<p>Job interviews have a very low correlation to ultimate success at work. In many disciplines and in many companies, they’d do just as well by screening by GPA, SAT scores, and by administering a reading comprehension/writing test plus a standard personality test</p>
<p>YIKES - This may be a bit true for the first job off campus but I guarantee you with the exception of a few disciplines when you go to interview for your second job out of school - no one is going to care what your test scores were! Maybe GPA in a few disciplines. I have been interviewing for 18 years and have NEVER asked anyone what their standardized tests scores were!</p>
<p>It’s very important for elite schools to measure character through things like the interview and personal statement. Wall Street might be greedy if not for this.</p>
<p>Neither 1 nor 2 used personal statements, but 3 has a very good GPA and decent test scores except for reading…well, he’s dyslexic and even with time and a half he will NEVER read fast ever. Clearly he manages his time well, and studies 2x the amount of time as 1 and 2, but his personal statement explains why his reading scores are so much lower than all the others.Personal statements are optional so use if it needed and don’t use if not. Whether or not my S3’s personal statement helps his college acceptance or not doesn’t bother me in the least because it is just one more piece of the jigsaw puzzle that will lead him to the best school FOR HIM and that is all that is important in college admissions. Rejections are for a reason. Acceptances are for a reason. </p>
<p>As far as test scores, etc. and hiring practices for newbies grads, there are several threads on this. I have worked for a Fortune 50 and Fortune 100 company in the HR group and neither asked nor expected test scores or undergrad GPAs. GPAs and test scores give zero indication or how kids will function in teams, how they will react to being low person on the totem pole and no insight into their interpersonal skills and very little relevance to what functonal area might fit them best. Many kids “offered them up.” My advice, don’t give unless or until asked. I work in the healthcare industry now and all employees - clinical and non-clinical - are required to have transcripts on file…but NOT until after they are hired.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is success at college or in the workforce is not predicated on a person’s GPA or test scores…and if I’m wrong, I’d love to see the study.</p>
<p>That’s irrelevant to the main point. Because elite schools are feeders to Wall Street, we are assured that the people who run Wall Street are of excellent character.</p>
<p>Isn’t it obvious that personal statements don’t predict academic performance? That is not the purpose of them. They are used to help shape a class of interesting and diverse students. (Or, in general, to reveal an individual’s characteristics that can not be determined by objective statistics.) I don’t think any admission officers use them as an indication of academic aptitude. That’s what tests scores, GPA, and other numbers are for.</p>