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<p>UNCgal has a great point; do the math…20,000 plus applicants and every application is read twice…40,000 reads. Two or three essays…80,000 at a minimum essays read…admissions staff is certainly under 20 people…a minimum of 4,000 essays per person!</p>
<p>Now do you understand why it is SO important to make your essays special and make them stand out?</p>
<p>When my son was in his Morehead interviews, one of the interviewers actually referred to him by calling him by something he said in one of his short essays and in every acceptance letter he received, even from Yale, the admissions rep hand wrote comments about how much they liked his essays.</p>
<p>Essays are really the ONLY thing an admissions rep has to see who you really are and they are able to humanize the person behind the numbers with your essays. When they have multiple apps that look exactly alike on paper, they are looking for differentiators and the essays are what fills that role.</p>
<p>PS; If appropriate to the essay, don’t be afraid to use humor or make them laugh…seriously it does make the essay stand out.</p>