Stop the Speculations :)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do essays often make or break a decision?

Rarely make.

But if kid is a braggart or comes across the wrong way, could break.

It’s true that essays won’t turn an unqualified applicant into an admission. But in a sea of highly qualified applicants, essays absolutely make a difference. Check out YouTube and Reddit for Ivy students who have read their admissions files; essays *always* figure prominently in the comments.

I agree with this. I have two kids currently attending top 20 colleges. And I'm quite certain their essays helped them considerably. With these schools, absolutely every applicant is going to have a stellar academic record and outstanding test scores.

The essay is the only part of the application where a student has a genuine voice. They should take advantage of it. They only need to impress one person. Its purpose is to get an admissions reader to advocate for you at the table. That's it. And as the OP noted, essays are scored just as highly as GPAs and ECs. I think they're quite important for the most selective colleges. As are the teacher recommendations.

This is true. And I was floored by the number of supplemental essays and short answer questions at some of the top 10 schools. However, I truly think they allow for a much better picture of an Applicant's personality as much as a struggle it was for my kid to get them all done. They really come at you at many different angles. And I think they can tell the voice of the common app essay in comparison to these other questions--whether its authentic or not.

My least favorite are the schools that only have 1 supplement that is the 'race box'. It's not clever and not a good prompt. They should have had a choice of 2 questions--1) if you wanted to talk about your race and background and 2) another on some other topic for those that don't want to answer that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does the admissions team organize the applications for review. Are all the applicants sorted first by which high school attend so that that group of applicants are considered together (assuming that the college doesn't intend to take too may students from the same high school)?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does the admissions team organize the applications for review. Are all the applicants sorted first by which high school attend so that that group of applicants are considered together (assuming that the college doesn't intend to take too may students from the same high school)?

See how many kids are admitted each year to that college from your kids’ school. That will give you an idea.

Your CCO should give you a clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do essays often make or break a decision?

Rarely make.

But if kid is a braggart or comes across the wrong way, could break.

It’s true that essays won’t turn an unqualified applicant into an admission. But in a sea of highly qualified applicants, essays absolutely make a difference. Check out YouTube and Reddit for Ivy students who have read their admissions files; essays *always* figure prominently in the comments.

I agree with this. I have two kids currently attending top 20 colleges. And I'm quite certain their essays helped them considerably. With these schools, absolutely every applicant is going to have a stellar academic record and outstanding test scores.

The essay is the only part of the application where a student has a genuine voice. They should take advantage of it. They only need to impress one person. Its purpose is to get an admissions reader to advocate for you at the table. That's it. And as the OP noted, essays are scored just as highly as GPAs and ECs. I think they're quite important for the most selective colleges. As are the teacher recommendations.

You may think this but it is contrary to what most former admissions officers say. 99 percent of essays neither help nor hurt.
Only the very bad and the extremely good may move a borderline candidate.

Also the essays are the easiest for applicants to get help with, so silly for admissions to put much stock in them, particularly if they want low income or first gen students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do essays often make or break a decision?

Rarely make.

But if kid is a braggart or comes across the wrong way, could break.

It’s true that essays won’t turn an unqualified applicant into an admission. But in a sea of highly qualified applicants, essays absolutely make a difference. Check out YouTube and Reddit for Ivy students who have read their admissions files; essays *always* figure prominently in the comments.

I agree with this. I have two kids currently attending top 20 colleges. And I'm quite certain their essays helped them considerably. With these schools, absolutely every applicant is going to have a stellar academic record and outstanding test scores.

The essay is the only part of the application where a student has a genuine voice. They should take advantage of it. They only need to impress one person. Its purpose is to get an admissions reader to advocate for you at the table. That's it. And as the OP noted, essays are scored just as highly as GPAs and ECs. I think they're quite important for the most selective colleges. As are the teacher recommendations.

You may think this but it is contrary to what most former admissions officers say. 99 percent of essays neither help nor hurt.
Only the very bad and the extremely good may move a borderline candidate.

Also the essays are the easiest for applicants to get help with, so silly for admissions to put much stock in them, particularly if they want low income or first gen students.

Agree

That’s the take on Reddit

[Neo]

Nowadays, majority are using AI-Based Plagiarism & AI Content Detection to screen the essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you tell this year which applicants were AA or Hispanic?

Np.

Yes bc they write about it in diversity essay or in extracurriculars (black student association; students of color conference) and often mentioned as an aside in the LOR.

Troll alert. This is absolute BS. Our HS is 85% black and there is no black student association. Also, there is no point in a an "aside" mentioning what is 85% likely to be the fact.

Since most HS are not 85 percent black, given AA people make up 15 percent of our whole population within this country, I think it is safe to assume that geographic readers of a college assigned to that region knows that school is predominantly black. (Or whatever the racial group may be in that unique situation) Again, not the norm…

NP. This is interesting. My (white) kid is at a public high school in which 83% of the students are Black. Are you saying the AO is likely to assume my kid is Black?

Depending on their last name, maybe?

lol what is a black last name?

[Anonymous]

I'm sure essays don't matter much when you're applying to State U. But if you're an unhooked kid applying to Princeton, Duke, Penn, MIT and similar schools, I am quite confident they matter a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you tell this year which applicants were AA or Hispanic?

Np.

Yes bc they write about it in diversity essay or in extracurriculars (black student association; students of color conference) and often mentioned as an aside in the LOR.

Troll alert. This is absolute BS. Our HS is 85% black and there is no black student association. Also, there is no point in a an "aside" mentioning what is 85% likely to be the fact.

You should ask the person writing the LOR to mention it. Our high school college counselor said she does this. Don’t assume readers and AO know your school is 85% black, don’t assume people will know anything about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

A student from a high achieving HS with 20 APs who takes 3 would get a lower score than a student from a rural school that only offered 6 APs.

Obviously. But, more commonly, what about the student who takes 8 or 10 APs at a school that offers 20? That should be enough, but how does that play out when the applicant from the nearby rural county took 3 of 6 offered?

Right, good question. I am sick of counselors, admissions officers, experts giving obvious advice and scenarios. I’m interested in more granular details, and since many of us live in affluentish suburbs or cities, how do these kids compare to each other? That is after all how students are picked- in school groups, yes?

At the end of the day, your kids are competing with the kids from their own school and maybe one or max 2 peer schools. That’s it.

A little more to it than that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A student from a high achieving HS with 20 APs who takes 3 would get a lower score than a student from a rural school that only offered 6 APs.

Obviously. But, more commonly, what about the student who takes 8 or 10 APs at a school that offers 20? That should be enough, but how does that play out when the applicant from the nearby rural county took 3 of 6 offered?

This should be in the school profile attached to the, transcript …that most students take at least X number of the Y APs offered.

our profile notes that students are not allowed to take AP classes as freshman; sophomores are only allowed to take 1; juniors are advised to only take 2, and seniors are advised to only take 3. So for my school, 6 or 7 out of the 20+ offered is considered competitive . It is Great if a student took more, but that likely wouldn’t be considered any more favorable. It’s likely that the student that took 6 has other things in their academic file - honors classes, art, foreign language, band, yoga, etc.

Progression is key, and that the student challenged themselves. And most importantly, received A’s in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you tell this year which applicants were AA or Hispanic?

Np.

Yes bc they write about it in diversity essay or in extracurriculars (black student association; students of color conference) and often mentioned as an aside in the LOR.

Troll alert. This is absolute BS. Our HS is 85% black and there is no black student association. Also, there is no point in a an "aside" mentioning what is 85% likely to be the fact.

You should ask the person writing the LOR to mention it. Our high school college counselor said she does this. Don’t assume readers and AO know your school is 85% black, don’t assume people will know anything about you.

💯

My kid bonded with a teacher about her mixed race identity. Teacher loved helping “pull” this out of her in writing/ class/ curriculum.
Said it was a great pleasure to watch student’s racial identity develop before her eyes and she wanted to write about it in LOR….
Can’t hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you tell this year which applicants were AA or Hispanic?

Np.

Yes bc they write about it in diversity essay or in extracurriculars (black student association; students of color conference) and often mentioned as an aside in the LOR.

Troll alert. This is absolute BS. Our HS is 85% black and there is no black student association. Also, there is no point in a an "aside" mentioning what is 85% likely to be the fact.

You should ask the person writing the LOR to mention it. Our high school college counselor said she does this. Don’t assume readers and AO know your school is 85% black, don’t assume people will know anything about you.

💯

My kid bonded with a teacher about her mixed race identity. Teacher loved helping “pull” this out of her in writing/ class/ curriculum.
Said it was a great pleasure to watch student’s racial identity develop before her eyes and she wanted to write about it in LOR….
Can’t hurt.

IMO it’s kids like this who end up as surprise admits to highly selective schools. Those LOR are important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

A student from a high achieving HS with 20 APs who takes 3 would get a lower score than a student from a rural school that only offered 6 APs.

Obviously. But, more commonly, what about the student who takes 8 or 10 APs at a school that offers 20? That should be enough, but how does that play out when the applicant from the nearby rural county took 3 of 6 offered?

This should be in the school profile attached to the, transcript …that most students take at least X number of the Y APs offered.

our profile notes that students are not allowed to take AP classes as freshman; sophomores are only allowed to take 1; juniors are advised to only take 2, and seniors are advised to only take 3. So for my school, 6 or 7 out of the 20+ offered is considered competitive . It is Great if a student took more, but that likely wouldn’t be considered any more favorable. It’s likely that the student that took 6 has other things in their academic file - honors classes, art, foreign language, band, yoga, etc.

Progression is key, and that the student challenged themselves. And most importantly, received A’s in the end.

Our school limits 9th and 10th graders as well, but I think it hurts student. The other high schools in our community allow more AP classes and get pretty good admissions. Also, our school is known to be tougher academically, and that’s not on the transcript. I don’t believe local AO know all these details about schools like they claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could you tell this year which applicants were AA or Hispanic?

Np.

Yes bc they write about it in diversity essay or in extracurriculars (black student association; students of color conference) and often mentioned as an aside in the LOR.

Troll alert. This is absolute BS. Our HS is 85% black and there is no black student association. Also, there is no point in a an "aside" mentioning what is 85% likely to be the fact.

You should ask the person writing the LOR to mention it. Our high school college counselor said she does this. Don’t assume readers and AO know your school is 85% black, don’t assume people will know anything about you.

💯

My kid bonded with a teacher about her mixed race identity. Teacher loved helping “pull” this out of her in writing/ class/ curriculum.
Said it was a great pleasure to watch student’s racial identity develop before her eyes and she wanted to write about it in LOR….
Can’t hurt.

IMO it’s kids like this who end up as surprise admits to highly selective schools. Those LOR are important.

No one is surprised when a talented urm kid is admitted to a highly selective school.