<p>so heres the situation. columbia only requires one and so i need to choose between my really creative essay (a play that reflects my personality) and a well-written but rather original essay(its about wrestling but its quite poetic in a way). my stats are a little below average (3.94 unweighted gpa, and 2150 sat). should i take my risk with the creative essay and hope that it will grab the officers attention since i dont have great stats??</p>
<p>I'd go witht he creative since it reveals your personality.</p>
<p>Think about it this way, the creative essay is high risk and the usual essay is low risk. To get into Columbia you're going to have to be in the top 10% of the applicants, at least. With the low risk essay, it's more likely you'll get into the top 20-30% , but where does that get you? With the high risk, you may end up in the bottom 10%, but you'll probably have a better chance of getting into the top 10% and accepted. Without talking about the math, what I'm saying is that in a situation where you have to come out on the very top or bust, it's better to go high risk, especially if you are an otherwise below average applicant. You don't want to play it safe. Wow, this ended up way longer than I meant it to be. Go with the creative one.</p>