so, after completing everything to do with my college applications (or so I thought) I’ve been living pretty carefreely/indulgingly and as of today hadn’t really checked the date for a few days. Today I just did and realized that I’d forgotten to send the “Why Grinnell?” essay I’d learned of about a week earlier.
I just want to make sure that I didn’t completely destroy my chances of being accepted at Grinnell. Just how much importance do they place in this essay? Should I send an email or something?
Go ahead and submit the essay now. There’s no downside to doing so.
The supplemental essay is only one part of the picture of you that Grinnell is evaluating so you haven’t completely destroyed your chances. It can help though so use this opportunity to let them know how you feel.
None of us can say for sure, but if you were to email it after the fact, I think your worst case scenario is that they’d ignore it. Best case is that they’d note it as an expression of interest. I think it’s highly unlikely that it would hurt your chances. (Note I said unlikely: I have no firsthand insight, that’s just my gut feeling.)