99% of the country doesn’t have a single clue what the admissions rate for ANY college is. I think you are wildly exaggerating “impact on pedigree.”
It was a cute essay. Kids are full of $2 words, overdramatization and need editing. Overall it was good tho.
This student’s Facebook page is public, and she has shared links to all of the articles about her essay, along with photos of all her acceptances. She’d be well advised to dial it back a bit, IMO.
According to the article posted she’s a URM who is valdictorian with excellent EC’s ( not absolutely outstanding … as in came up with a cure for a disease …but still excellent) and an SAT score in the “high 90 th percentile” which means 99+ for a URM. I Believe that a URM with these stats has a very high chance of admittance to any Ivy. The essay just had to be good-ish. Nothing more. In other words I don’t think this essay got her in anywhere she wouldn’t have gotten in with a more average essay. But I did think it was very good.
I saw from her posts in the accepted students page on Facebook that her mom shopped it all to the media, but she is “loving” that she has made her mom so proud…
Or maybe someone was reading CC where past Chicago essay prompts were posted and saw the mustard prompt. (I remember it from when it first appear - a year or two before my kid applied to Chicago.) Both my kids thought the Chicago prompts were a lot more fun than the Common Application ones. In my experience what you write only has to be tangentially related to the prompt. Sadly the CA got rid of the “Make up your own prompt”, but I know at least one admissions officer told a crowd that those essays were always her favorites.
My younger son, who had somewhat iffy grades and scores was smart enough to figure out that a quirky essay was the most likely thing to make a difference.
I don’t think kids are ever going to stop applying to Harvard or Stanford just because they can’t figure out exactly what it takes.
Ok. We all know that HYPS reject a large percentage of Valdictorians and 2400 SAT kids but I’m curious. What do we think the admission rate for a kid like this ignoring the essay. So a URM who is a Valedictorian with a 2130 SAT ( the lowest I think she could have) and good to excellent ECs like competive athlete who did scientific research at a university.
Anybody hazard a guess on those rates? My guess admission rate of 60-75 percent.
Many students get admitted to elite colleges based on their stats and accomplishes, without their essays being factored in. On a scale of “what’s important to admission” --the essay ranks pretty low at most colleges.
Some very good students also write good essays, and a handful are admitted because of an essay-- but for the essay to bump a student from the reject/waitlist to admit column, it has to be very, very good. I’ve seen some essays like that, but they are rare.
Anything who thinks that an essay “won” admission to an Ivy clearly doesn’t know anything about Ivy admissions. (It’s the same as claiming that a cover letter landed someone a job)
I enjoyed reading her essay! I agree that her language was excessive at times and I feel that her introduction might be a bit too long/descriptive, but overall, this is pretty darn good.
College seniors can’t always write papers like this, so hats off to this young woman and her bright future. I learned in my creative writing class this past semester that some of the best writers are those that can make a story out of the mundane, and that’s exactly what she did. I think it was an interesting, unique framing device and a good way to tie in her experiences and extracurriculars.
I also admire that she took such a risk. I took a risk myself recently with my personal statements for grad school, and it was terrifying. It’s so tempting to just go with the grain and write a generic essay for things like this, but testing the waters and putting yourself out there helps you stand out and carve out your place in academia.
This quote is from an admissions officer at UNC
'The essay doesn’t have to be about something life-changing or confessional. Smaller topics, written well, almost always work best.”
Her essay seems to fit the bill here
I am not going to judge the essay but the topic is one of my family’s inside jokes. One of my kids writes for pleasure and regularly wins scholastic awards (sorry for the bragging). Her life is quite blah (according to her) and she claims she is running out of stuff to write. She is wondering if the only thing left is to write about shopping in the local supermarket. The “supermarket essay” has been the subjects of numerous family jokes. Ha ha! I have to tell her that is indeed a good idea.
The article also gives a bit of her background. Naturalized citizen from Brazil, I think. She had the stats to be considered and a background to get her to very interesting pile. Sounds like the essay linked it all together.
I agree with @garland , she worked the extended metaphor well and the humor was engaging. What was most instructive for me as a mom who’s a published writer (and editor), is that before reading this kid’s essay, I would have been tempted to dial back the overblown enthusiasm the writer employed. But now, I reconsider, because that same youthful enthusiasm that makes me cringe a little as I read it is exactly what the adcoms are looking for (evidently!).
My best friend is brazilian-born, and she says her daughter (american born) does not qualify for minority status for college applications, nor is she considered Hispanic.
I think this kid just has a good mix of serious chops and interesting data points. I’ve seen kids take amazing experiences and make them dull when they wrote about them; and some kids take mundane experiences, and create magic.
I bet admissions people see far more of the former than latter. That’s why even with the overly flowery prose, the essay is a hit.
So it needs editing - that’s true of everyone’s writing. All those kids who submitted polished essays probably had editors, be it mom, dad, English teacher or college consultant.
“My best friend is brazilian-born, and she says her daughter (american born) does not qualify for minority status for college applications, nor is she considered Hispanic.”
But the essay writers mother considers herself Black and the article says that the essay writer did report minority ( URM) status.
But if you are Brazilian or of Colombia descent and check the Hispanic box (which is truthful) how does the college know? The college in turn gets to report that kid as Hispanic so it works for them too.
In this article the student says that she is “the daughter of a Brazilian immigrant mother who identifies as black,” and that she declared her race and ethnicity in her applications. http://qz.com/657374/a-high-schooler-was-accepted-to-five-ivy-league-colleges-with-an-essay-about-costco/
“The “supermarket essay” has been the subjects of numerous family jokes. Ha ha! I have to tell her that is indeed a good idea.”
Again, it is not the topic itself. It is in how you approach the topic and what it reveals about you. Reading this article and concluding “wow, I should write about grocery shopping too” entirely misses the point.
Hi wjb!
I found myself thinking that this young lady found a new use for her old SAT vocab flashcards.
HI jym – haven’t been on CC in years! Yep, a little on the overwritten side for my taste, too. Still, the variety of reactions to this essay here probably mirrors the variety of reactions it would have had among a group of admissions people. And no kid gets into this roster of schools (or any roster of schools) solely on the strength of an essay. For all we know, this young woman got into some of these schools DESPITE the essay!