<p>Essays are probally the most important part of the application...</p>
<p>Essays are important because you have 15,000-20,000 people applying to the school and just about all of them have the exact same stats, GPA, SAT and EC's so the essay is really the only way to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack</p>
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Essays are probally the most important part of the application...obviously this guy just didn't know how to write or was just more boring than a sack of sundried potatoes...</p>
<p>Essays are important because you have 15,000-20,000 people applying to the school and just about all of them have the exact same stats, GPA, SAT and EC's so the essay is really the only way to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack
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<p>I'd just like to note that some admissions offices are placing LESS weight on the essay these days, because of the fact it often is more of a "community" effort than an individual one. Christoph Guttentag, Dean of Admissions at Duke, was interviewed on this subject in US News and World Report. He made several comments to the effect that an outstanding essay needed to be substantiated by the rest of the application for it to have a positive effect; he also noted that it is increasingly difficult to tell whether or not an essay is really a student's own work.</p>
<p>The essay is important, but it cannot be taken in isolation. It must be viewed in the context of an entire application. The essay is a way to distinguish oneself, but it is definitely not the only way.</p>
<p>Also, from living in a school district that sends lots and lots of kids to Ivy League and other top colleges this year, I can tell you that many extremely boring kids get in. Just about all of 15,000-20,000 kids do NOT have the same stats. Only a small fraction have the right stats, combined with superior academic curiosity and extracurricular achievement. Not every kid that gets admitted based on academics has an interesting and multi-faceted personality. </p>
<p>And when I say admitted based on academics, I mean more than just based on grades and scores. Kids that are admitted just on academics generally have amazing recommendations that praise their intellectual curiosity and talent, and have research or special summer activities that substantiate their interests. I don't just mean the standard 1500+/4.0. I mean something above and beyond that, at least academically.</p>
<p>Some kids WILL get admitted because of personality and amazing writing ability, but without grades and scores (or a really nice hook), it's very hard to get into a highly selective college.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>Well I suppose that an essay is a "collective effort" in the same way that speaking with a teacher after class, getting help with homework, or going through connections to get into Extra Curriculars are "collective efforts"....nothing exists in isolation. We cant learn in a vacuum</p>
<p>I'd agree...you need great grades and great SAT's...thats the criteria for CONSIDERATION</p>
<p>What pushes you over the top from just being CONSIDERED to being ACCEPTED is the essay</p>
<p>There are literally thousands upon thousands of students who get that 1500 on the SAT...and tens of thousands who have that 4.0 GPA +....how many high schools are there in the country? Well I live in Maine (pop. 1 Million) and there are over 100 here...so if theres 100 high schools per every 1 Million residents on average thats somewhere in the range of 30,000 High Schools in America...I'll be fair and lets just say there are half that many 15,000.</p>
<p>Thats 15,000 Valadictorians right there. Competition is tough, the essay is your best chance to seperate yourself from the rest of the crowd.</p>
<p>I would have to say that I probably wouldn't have a shot at any of my schools if I didn't have an essay.</p>
<p>I look uber average when it comes to grades, but the essay is where I stand out.</p>
<p>I HATE the SAT's. They were invented by the eugenics movement and, most of you don't know this, SAT STANDS FOR NOTHING...it litteraly stands for S...A...T. ha!</p>
<p>but, I recognize that it's a necessary evil and is often times very representational of a students academic accomplishments. That's why I think that the SAT II Writing is probably the most important sat. It will corroborate whether or not you really needed a community effort to make your essay.</p>
<p>Personally, though I have NO IDEA how it happened, I got a 790 on the writing and I had absolutely no help writing my essay. I couldn't even have anyone look it over because of the subject matter - so that essay was all me. I didn't look up other peoples essays to compare or to copy style. I wrote like myself and it worked very well.</p>
<p>I have to agree that the essay has to come as a package deal. your rec's, e.c.'s and everything has to add to the effect.</p>
<p>The one good thing about the SAT II Writing is that it judges your writing STYLE, rather than your content. It shows that you can write about anything, not just the personal sob-type story. People will decry the college essay sob story as a useless cry for attention; but I guarantee you that if it is about a serious event, the admissions officer WILL feel bad. Only a callous, indifferent moron would say, "oh, boo hoo, she was sexually assaulted." Of course you are going to feel pity for the girl that discusses such a tragedy in her college essay.</p>
<p>A major hook inherent in the college essay is WHAT you write about. If you have a dramatic, monumental, flooring event to discuss in your college essay, it will have a ton of natural appeal. So the college essay has a major flaw - if a student's topic is not dramatically important, other strong elements of the essay CAN be ignored. Strong elements of the essay will sometimes be noticed, but that essay will probably not get as much close attention as it may warrant. A more dramatic essay will probably get a closer reading; significant time may be spent discussing it.</p>
<p>That's why the SAT II Writing is necessary in many senses. It shows the clarity and style of your writing in its essence. It separates style from content. You can express your thoughts if you can get an 800 on the SAT II Writing. I've met unoriginal writers who have gotten 800's on the SAT II Writing (and I'm in that number), but I've never met someone who got an 800 on the SAT II Writing who just couldn't write clearly. </p>
<p>In many senses, like test scores, it can be a significant equalizer. Does that A in English really mean anything? Well, the Writing SAT II can help you see.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>Clarity is an important element of the SAT II Writing essay but style definitely is not. I deliberately followed the basic 3rd-grader formula for essay writing (1 intro paragraph, 3 body, 1 conclusion) in the most hackneyed and deriviate way possible. I believe that I am able to express what I mean to, but style is definitely out of the picture.</p>
<p>(I got a 790, by the way, with an 11 on the essay. Maybe if I had been stylish that would be an 800 and 12.)</p>
<p>I used style in a very loose sense. I more meant adherence to the rules of standard prose writing more than anything else. </p>
<p>I wasn't talking about re-creating James Joyce, lol - in fact, I doubt the rubric used to score the essay favors that sort of writing.</p>
<p>Joey</p>