reapplying for next year: should I change my essay?

[Guest waitinghurts]

Many of the schools require a written personal statement of some form. So if I'm reaplpying...should I re-write a completely new written statement (e.g. wording, perspective), or should I insert and fill in some of the activities I've done in the past year. My application had gotten me to the interview stage in the past application cycle. So I was wondering do I have to make drastic changes to my application essay? If not will the sample admissions committee recognize a recycled essay and be biased towards it?

[Guest scooter]

Hey,

Good luck next year, a lot of us didn't get in the first round- but 2 times a charm

 

I would have several people look over your essay (if your at uni the writing help center) and give you some good feed-back.

 

I'm not on an admissions committee but this is just my take on (so basically no value but something to think about). The essay, for many schools is one of the things the interviewees get before your interview. Basically this has the potential to set the mood and their attitudes toward you before you walk in the door.

 

I don't think the recycled essay is a real concern as they have read thousands. However, you want to make it stand out! I reckon a lot of the essays start to sound a like "I am a good leader, as demonstrated by..." ect.

 

Last, to get to the interview I don't believe the essay has a lot of weight (depends where you are applying, however, if you have extraordinary circumstances then it does play more crucial of a role). They receive thousands of essays and probably need a fast and efficient objective system for weeding down to the interviews. However, when the post-interview numbers get crunched, and "life" and "School" get added up- then I think the essay plays more of a role in figuring out your "life" score.... Just my opinion so take it as just that.

[Guest Jochi1543]

I suggest you talk to the adcom of the school(s) that rejected you to see what was the reason for your rejection. If they tell you your essay was less than stellar, then you know you have to rewrite it. If they say it's something else, I would just leave your essay as is as long as you don't think you can make it better. Though I think that if you hadn't already had it edited and read by a few different people, you should do it now to tweak it.

[Guest waitinghurts]

You are not allowed to ask the admissions committee for the Ontario Schools of why your application was not successful. But, my essay was fine enough to get me interviews at all the schools I applied. It was the interview part of the application cycle which I royally messed up on, I bet. My only concern was that the admissions committee may recognize the same essay being recycled.

[Guest GundamDX]

For UBC the advisor will let you know what the weakness(es) of your application is... but I don't think the essay has ever come up as a "flag" for anyone. Having said that I personally think that it serves as a vital connection between your application on paper and the interview. If it has already gotten you to the interview stage I wouldn't worry too much about it. As said before let different people read it and see if there's any major problems with it (probably not).

 

For UBC, the interview panel does have your essay and list of ECs as references, so I do think the essay play a role in your interview. Just my 2 cents.

[Guest krismd]

Just as an FYI, NOSM is an Ontario School that provides application feedback. From what I hear, the insight that they provide has been extremely valuable to many other second time applicants.

 

As a second time applicant, myself, I can also give you my 2 cents. I totally understand your not wanting to rewrite all of your essays. Personally, I modified mine from the previous year only slightly. I had a few additional people read them over and make very minor changes and simply removed dated activities and replaced them with more recent ones. I would think that if you already made it to the interview, then you will likely be ok with making only minor changes/additions.

 

best of luck!