Could also be that your son’s essays were outstanding compared to many others. That doesn’t mean that everyone with moderate essays was rejected nor accepted. It just means that your sons stood out.
Many kids will have an outstanding recommendation or even EC that has the same effect.
I think you make a fair point and I honestly don’t know if that was the case.
I was however responding to posters marginalizing the importance of essays and or the claim that they couldn’t be decisive in the ultimate decision to admit.
Based upon our experience with an unhooked, high stats kid from an over represented state, the essays appeared to be pivotal given their specificity.
My comments are largely intended to dissuade future applicants of the popular CC notion that they are participating in a lottery over which they have no control. While many aspects are not in their control the results are not entirely random either.
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Just to add to this, in my Gtown acceptance letter they highlighted one of my main ECs, and never mentioned my test scores (1560 SAT). A few weeks later, I received an email from my AO encouraging me to look into ways of continuing the specific EC at Gtown.
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I believe, as you do, that they have an impact and in some cases could “seal the deal”
I think students need to think of every aspect of their application as being important.
And, yes, results are not entirely random.
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Sorry to have directed my response “at” you. I was pontificating not debating😀
No, none taken.
It doesn’t have to be an essay, as others have mentioned, it can be an EC, a recommendation that is pointed out when communicating with admits. Here’s the quote I referred to:
“Save for the few instances in which the candidates write essays were so completely lacking in taste as to make us marvel at the fact they even bothered to apply, in my experience no one is ever admitted solely on basis of a great essay and no one was denied admission on the basis of a poor essay”
Fred Hargadon, Former Dean of Admissions at Princeton and Stanford
Here’s another one, anonymous though:
“If your dream school still requires the SAT or ACT, those scores matter. Your essays don’t matter much, truthfully; it’s about proving you can write at a reasonable level more than anything.”
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You seem determined to debate me so I will concede…you win!