Why Write Essays?

Why Write Essays? If a school has a writing section in their supplement to the Common Application you can rest assured that ALL of that writing is evaluated by admissions officers. Do your best and assume that it WILL be read and that it WILL have a bearing on your admission chances. Again, the number of readers for each essay would depend upon individual institutional practices. Many large schools don’t require essays at all because they don’t have the personnel resources to process the huge number of admission essays which would be submitted. Schools which require essays, however, use the essay input to form a more complete picture of the applicant, over and above the numbers, grades, lists, and so on, which are entered onto the application form. The essays may form the most deciding part of the application after the student has met basic application criteria â€" grades, standardized test scores, etc. Again, the number of readers for each essay would depend on individual institutional practices. With all the competition trying to get into the good schools, your essay could make the difference. The majority of stress and work in the admissions process stems from the essay writing. These essays are a critical component of a student’s application, as it’s one of the only opportunities to inject personality into an application. Students should spend a lot of time crafting their essays and as as result, need to manage their time to be successful. In my experience, students love to write about how they have learned from their mistakes. It is very easy for a rep to recognize an essay that has been coached someone other than the student. Unfortunately, too many cooks spoil the pot, so to speak…and kids easily get confused when parents, English teachers, their counselor, and their friends all have different advice. Students should familiarize themselves with the campuses to which they are applying , understand the prompt, and answer from the heart. Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. They will go on and on about the time they did this illegal thing and broke the law, but it’s OK, because they learned from their mistake. The application process is competitive, and there are plenty of good applicants out there who have never broken the law. You are not required to incriminate yourself in your application essay, nor should you. Each of member of our professional writing team is a U.S.-based native English speaking professional. The essay is supposed to be reflective of the STUDENT, not the parent, and admissions reps are hoping to get a better picture of the applicant’s individuality and unique attributes. Different colleges have varying review processes. At almost all selective colleges however, every college essay will be read by multiple people. If a student is on the fence, not an early admit or deny, essays will probably be read multiple times by multiple people while an applicant is being discussed. If you were to take bets on the percentage of essays read by college admissions personnel, I’d guess that it would be in the high 90’s. An essay is an important part of sharing who you are with a school. If a school uses an admissions committee the number could jump to three or more. In any case, what YOU can control is how well your essay describes who you are and gives the admissions person a chance to see things in you that will be an asset to the school. It is my understanding that if essays are required by an institution, they are actually read. There are many different kinds of schools, however, so it would be impossible to know how each of them handles the essays which are submitted. I do know that some schools have a group of readers, each receiving one set of essays, with each individual essay being read by just one person. In other instances, each essay is distributed to several readers, who will then compare their impressions when the admissions committee meets to decide upon student admissions. In this instance, the essay would be read by several people. With increased competition for admission, the essay has become an important factor in consideration of your admissibility to a school. So if a school requires an essay it is VERY likely to be read. There is no way to determine a typical scenario regarding a college’s method for reviewing applications. In all cases at least one admissions officer will look at your essay.