In fact, some say a poor essay could stop anotherwise college-bound student in his or her tracks.
MichaelO’Leary, senior associate director of undergraduate admissions atGeorge Washington University, calls these essays “the student’svoice in the application.”
Admissions officials stare down astack of transcripts and recommendation letters, but the essay letsthe student state his or her case directly. Sometimes that case isirreparably damaged with a misspelled word or clunky set ofsentences.
“You could have a student with terrific gradeswith a very poor essay,” Mr. O’Leary says. “It factors into thedecision-making process.”
Mr. O’Leary says the morecompetitive the school — George Washington receives more than20,000 applications these days and admits around 38 percent —“everything takes on more significance.”
Terry Wilfong,creator of The Complete Guide to College Financing and AdmissionsCD-rom series, says the college essay can sink a student’s hopesmore than save them.
“You’ve already done everything toget you in or not,” Mr. Wilfong says of the application process. Apoor essay can damage all that solid work, he says.
Should anapplication counselor see a 4.0 student with remarkably poor grammar,it means a disconnect exists, he says.
An equally troublingtrend is students not following the basic guidelines set out by thecollege or university.
Some students simply recycle aneffective essay but never quite address the questions laid out forthem.
“If you’ve reworked a good paper from your Englishclass, we’ll know it,” he says.
Simply sending one’sessay in a clear binder can rattle admissions officials if theyspecifically asked students to avoid trappings like that.
Thebinders add bulk to the already large stack of essays on anoverwhelmed admissions expert’s desk, he says.
Karen Felton,associate director of undergraduate admissions at GeorgetownUniversity, says the admissions essays aren’t a “make or break”component of the application process.
What the missives dohelp Mrs. Felton’s department come to grips with is what kind offit the student would be at Georgetown.
“I think at a highlyselective school like Georgetown, the essay is important,” Mrs.Felton says. “It identifies students for whom Georgetown would bethe best fit and who would contribute the most.”
She suggestsstudents avoid gimmicks and just be themselves.
A student oncewrote, “I’m sending a shoe so I can get one foot in the door,”she recalls. “That doesn’t give me a sense of the student.”
Otherapplications sound a bit familiar to Mrs. Felton and her colleagues.Plagiarism, often due to students plucking sample essays from theInternet, isn’t rampant, but it is something admissions officialsroutinely see, she says.
Some wannabe students might assumethey know what a college wants to hear and tailor their essaysaccordingly.
Kelly Tanabe, co-author of “Accepted! 50Successful College Admissions Essays,” says a competent admissionsofficial can spot phony sentiment at 50 paces.
Ms. Tanabe saysthe essays “are your best opportunity to show who you are and whatyou’re about.”
Yet too few take them seriously.
“Ahandful of students write 20 drafts of their essays, but the averagestudent starts it the week before it’s due,” Ms. Tanabe says.
Acollege essay isn’t like solving a proof or showing one’s work ina long math equation. There are few definitive right or wronganswers. So why are there so many application-breaking essaysflooding the scene?
Ms. Tanabe says some students hurt themselvesbefore the second paragraph begins.
“The easiest and biggestmistake … is they put the wrong name of the college,” she says.“They get it at every college every year. It’s fine you recycleyour essays, but get the name right.”
Other potentialstudents misspell their own major, she adds.
One of the mostcommon traps students fall into is what Ms. Tanabe calls the “MissAmerica” essay.
“You talk about your dream of endingworldwide hunger. It’s great to be positive, but to sound like MissAmerica is a big mistake,” she says.
“In general, mostcolleges appreciate creativity,” she says.
Her key advice isto follow one’s muse.
“There’s no subject you must writeabout. What you’re naturally passionate about will come through inyour essay,” she says.
Mr. O’Leary advises students to avoidinflammatory subjects, “especially if they come across with theirvery strong personal stand. You never know who will be reading theessay and how it will rub the reader.”
“One student madereference to No Child Left Behind. I told him to strike it. It struckme as having a political overtone,” he says. “Better safe thansorry.”
The essay is often a chance to put falling grades orother transcript worries into context.
“If we see fallinggrades midway through junior year on the transcript and no referenceis made to it [in the essay], we’re forced to make anassumption.”
The college entrance essay may take on lessimportance down the short road as the revamped SATs require a writtensample as part of the overall testing. Universities may deem thatsample enough to gauge a student’s writing chops.
For now,the essay is still a part of the process, and Mr. O’Leary suggestsstudents do their best with it and then give it space.
“Itell students to write the essay and put it away for a few days andthen take a fresh look at it,” he says.
