Hi guys,
I was wondering if any of you could help me out.<br>
Basically I have pretty average stats for people who are applying to schools like Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, etc.
You know, like 1430 SAT’s, over 700 on each SAT II, and around 4.0 GPA.
Not great, but not horrible.
So I realize that the essay and extracurricular is the only factor that will get me into college. It can make me or break me.
I have tons of community service experiences to choose from, and I wrote an essay about how living in a foreign country opened my mind to accept diversity, and then i talked about my communtiy service experiences there and meeting new people.
I showed it to my brother, who told me that it’s apparent that community service is not my passion, and i was only using it to look good to the college admissions. One of Stanford’s prompts are : write about something someone has said to you… and how it affected you… something along those lines. I wrote about how my sister told me to take risks, and so i took risks by exploring new cultures and trying to meet new people.
My brother told me to keep the same theme of taking risks, but he told me to be frank to the admissions people-- I initially used community service to look good for the college, but as I started doing it I truly enjoyed the experiences I had and I learned a lot about myself, etc. etc.<br>
And this is a risk because I’m fessing up about my alterior motives.
My sister told me it’s a nono, a bad idea.
Who should I listen to? Go with the “transparent” “oh i enjoy community service and learned so much from it. blah blah” or go with what my brother said?? HELP .
<p>You won't believe it,but I just got an idea for your essay..
"write about something someone has said to you.. and how it affected you... "</p>
<p>You can write how your brother said that community service is not right for your essay and you're just using it for the admissions people.</p>
<p>You can say how much community service actually means to you, and that you were disappointed that something you care deeply about is not taken 'seriously'. In the sense that most people don't believe it...and how people feel community service is just a tool to get to a college...and not a real life changing experience.</p>
<p>After all those hours of comm. service..I'm sure this topic will be so easy to write on.</p>
<p>How many words over the maximum essay length that a college is asking for is still acceptable? For example, if a college asks for an essay around 500 words, would they just throw one away and automatically reject an applicant that submitted an essay of around 700 words?</p>
<p>BreadPitt
I don't think you should write about community service. They read the essays in order to see a side of you that is not possible to see through ones statistics and hours of community service. Write about something that shows what kind of person you are, not something "transparent" and hackneyed. </p>
<p>ForeignGirl
If you are applying online it may not be a good idea to go that far over just because they cut your essay off at some point on the application. If it is that long they may end up not even seeing the whole thing. I'm not positive but I dont think it's worth the risk. Maybe try calling their admissions office to see if they cut the essays off?</p>
<p>Thank you soo much for your answers! I actually sent the application in already and it was 200 words over the max limit. So they have it on paper I guess that is better than online. I know I shouldn't have risked it but I really couldn't shorten it at all. I hope they won't just throw my app away, just because the essay got too long...</p>
<p>Breadpitt - listen to your sister, your brother is off base. And never say you were just doing it for college--don't play that card or that game. Write a sincere essay on how it impacted you, initial motivation is inconsequential.</p>