<p>I am sorry if my response sounded vicious, it was meant to provide closure. In a sense 4 years of work should be valued at a greater value than a month of writing. I thought it was fairly obviously that colleges value GPA/grades/rank. The essay is important to distinguish applicants who have the grades + SAT.</p>
<p>Cadence, there has been book after book written by adcoms and reporters who have sat in through an admissions cycle. No one needs to guess how adcom look at things, it's well documented. Get a book!</p>
<p>the most impoartant thing in school (high school or college) is academia. when you talk about passion, as a student, you first need to have passion on your class room. If you have extra energy, you can do other things.</p>
<p>Many state universities only consider GPA and SAT/ACT scores, they don't even require any essay and recs. But for first tier schools, they will look at essays, recs, and ECs because too many applicants with high GPA and SAT scores. Only when your GPA and SAT reach some threshold for admission, your essays, recs, ECs become meaningful. otherwise, a super-essay cannot offset low GPA and SAT scores.</p>
<p>If you have good grades, the adcom gives you a pat on the back. If you have good essays AND good grades, the adcom gives you 2 pats on the back and an acceptance letter.</p>
<p>sorry, but CC kids are wrong.
Essay IS the strongest part of the application for CERTAIN schools. To schools like the Top 20 in USNWR, the essay is often MORE important than grades because everyone's grades are so similar, they are not just going to take a 3.8 over a 3.7 just because of 0.1 difference. THAT is where the Essay comes in to break the relative tie, and that is why it is the most important IF that is the situation.</p>
<p>However, if you have a 2.5 GPA, then..yea...ur grade should be your FIRST priority. If grades are fine, then ESSAY should be TOP priority. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise because most of those trying to convince you otherwise have been brainwashed into believing a 4.0 GPA and perfect SATs are the key to any school. haha.</p>
<p>essay is important, but will not make up for less than par grades or sats,
it can push your app to the yes pile when adcoms have 20 very similar apps in front of them</p>
<p>The thing with a GPA is that there IS a limit. You can only hit 4.0 or 100 or 5.0 or whatever your highest GPA can be. But an essay is subjective and can go beyond what any scale can measure. What I'm saying is that a GPA can only "wow" adcoms to a certain extent while the essays can have a more powerful effect.</p>
<p>In a way, your friend is right. The essay will give you personality, but you MUST have decent grades to back it up at elite colleges.</p>
<p>As everyone has said, GPA > essays ... up to a certain point. HYPS, the rest of the Ivies, the rest of the non-Ivies--they get hundreds and thousands of applicants with 4.0 GPAs, excellent SAT scores, and excellent ECs, so the essays are used to distinguish them. However, said essays aren't going to save you if you have a 3.2 GPA and average SAT scores (say, 1700-1900) as an unhooked applicant, even if you are passionate; that's just the truth of it. Even UChicago, where essays weigh in heavily, admits that they place GPA/classes/rigor over essays.</p>
<p>@ post 11: Honestly, when I first read that post, I didn't even know what point you were trying to make because I automatically picked person A as the clear choice. Well-rounded, good grades. Plus, majors change.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Essay IS the strongest part of the application for CERTAIN schools. To schools like the Top 20 in USNWR, the essay is often MORE important than grades because everyone's grades are so similar, they are not just going to take a 3.8 over a 3.7 just because of 0.1 difference.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yuppp! Altho a .1 difference might actually be a big difference in quality of work, coz of grade inflation and grades clustering at the top.</p>
<p>One way to think about it is that you've got to get in the door; you've got to get in with those who will get serious consideration for admission. It takes grades and test scores to get through the door, and what those must be varies depending on which door you get to go through ... the URM door, the recruited athlete door, the legacy door, the development donor door, the first-generation door, or the unfortunately-crowded unhooked door. </p>
<p>Once you're inside, what you've got to do is stand out, and the more people there are in the room relative to the spots available, the more you've got to stand out. There are only so many ways you can stand out of a crowd to a committee of people you don't know: the essay, the ECs, and possibly the interview.</p>
<p>But if you don't get through the door in the first place, chances are it won't matter how good your essay is.</p>
<p>The essay CAN BE the most important. Certain colleges attract certain kinds of students. By this I mean, very similar SAT scores, similar grades. How do you differentiate people with 4.0s, 2300+, etc?</p>
<p>ECs, essays, recs, etc...</p>
<p>hellojan--But even there, what is MOST important is that you have the grades/SATs to be in strong consideration in the first place. The OP's friend thinks that the essay is so important that all you need in a 3.3 in terms of grades to have a good shot at top colleges. Unless that 3.3 is from one of the best prep school in the country, I think that's just not true. I mean, yes, is there the occasional success story where an unhooked 3.3 gets into a top 10 college? Sure. But if you want a good shot, the most important things is to have grades in the right range.</p>
<p>The only thing that will ever trump grades/SATs if it you can hit 3 pointers all the time.</p>
<p>I asked my mom (a Yale admissions officer) this question and her answer was.... no. Grades come first on the application. If you have a 3.0 GPA but INCREDIBLE essays, you're not going to get into Yale.
If you have a 4.0 UW GPA but mediocre essays, your chances of getting into Yale are minimal, though better than in the aforementioned situation.</p>
<p>But to get into any Ivy/top school, you need a combination of good grades/essays/test scores/EC's/personality to have a good chance (to some degree).</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else, grades are most important.</p>
<p>the govt.-your mom could totally get you into yale. awesome : D</p>
<p>I think this is only true when the applicant has a gpa >3.85</p>