Reply to PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Ignore the essays at your peril unless you're absolutely sure to get in based on other criteria and you're not looking for merit aid.

I know my son was picked for a very selective program based on his essay. The instructions for that program actually said the essay of 1500 words was a very important consideration. If the college or uni tells you this, believe them. This was for the William & Mary International Relations joint degree programme with St Andrews. Only a handful of candidates are taken into this programme option every year.

I am also convinced that his other essays helped him get merit aid at other schools who might merely have given him an acceptance otherwise. One school specifically mentioned a point he'd made in his essay in the offer letter, so I know they not only read his essay, but that they appreciated it. They both gave him merit aid for all 4 years of undergrad (one tacked on an extra year, just in case).

Don't forget that you can tweak the personal statement even on the Common App. You copy and paste a version customized to one school, hit submit, then copy and paste another version customized to another school, and hit submit, etc. The Common App doesn't let you send off the same application to multiple colleges all at once (since they all ask for little extras that are different from each other)... so you might as well take advantage of that opportunity, if you believe you might need to stave off yield protection, or it's for a school that wants demonstrated interest, or you just want to express your deep motivation.

[/quote]

So what did he write about?[/quote]

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