| puzzledad, you may be correct that an Asian kid has to work harder to demonstrate a passion and love of learning to adcoms, since there is a prejudiced assumption that Asian kids are working hard because their parents and culture dictate they must do so and because deviation from that path is a serious matter for your culture.
I was thinking about the essay as a distinguishing factor for admissions. On one hand, to the extent that a creative, well-thought out and well-written essay is indicative of a superior mind, I have no issues with it being a tipping factor in admissions. But one concern I have is that the essay is a big part of "packaging" which might reflect less on the student and more on how aware the student's GC or parents are about how the game is played. I was more informed than most parents I knew, but found CC kind of late in the game. I mostly used it as a resource for experiential information about specific colleges and for financial aid information. Later on, I read more threads like this on which discussed essay-writing. Had I known then what I know now about the criteria under which adcoms judge it, my S's common app essay would have been better and different. It was fine, but did nothing to distinguish him. So, I guess I still feel it's a shame that a day's work in writing an essay could potentially outweigh the daily grind of 4+ years of involvement and hard work. |