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What makes a "good" U of T essay?


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Hey! I was wondering if those successful in obtaining an interview this year could shed some light into what they believe makes a "good" U of T essay. I wouldn't consider myself a bad writer but when my writing is graded competitively against others, I obviously fell off the wagon here. I've a good GPA and met the MCAT cutoffs so I believe the essays are the only thing holding me back from an interview at U of T. Any help/advice is very much appreciated, thanks!

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1 hour ago, healthscireject said:

Hey! I was wondering if those successful in obtaining an interview this year could shed some light into what they believe makes a "good" U of T essay. I wouldn't consider myself a bad writer but when my writing is graded competitively against others, I obviously fell off the wagon here. I've a good GPA and met the MCAT cutoffs so I believe the essays are the only thing holding me back from an interview at U of T. Any help/advice is very much appreciated, thanks!

References are marked heavier than references, at least they were a few years ago I remember seeing a layout of percentages. But people have been denied interviews because one reference was lacklustre but the other tw were strong and everything else was strong. Something to think about as well.

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24 minutes ago, Captrex_501stlegion said:

If you don't mind me asking, what should we tell our referees to touch upon in the letters?

I always send mine the clusters, and ask for examples in the ones I know they can cover (highlight) I even mention an example or two. Two of mine I know are great, haven’t seen my profs though but I push the idea of needing examples that demonstrate them. They wanna makenit atrong too, with the language they use e.g  IMislove is very active in helping other volunteers learn and be effective in the program vs IMislove assists newer volunteers.

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1 hour ago, Vendar said:

Also, don't forget that they put the essays through TurnItIn (plagiarism software) - so if you havea friends who went to UT and edit your essays to make it sound like theirs, that could be a flag for a rejection as well! 

I hope they keep track of the sources for each essay because one of my essays was very similar to one I wrote in a previous cycle 

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1 hour ago, excelspreadsheet said:

So now that it has been submitted to turnitin, can we never use aspects of our essay when applying to other schools? Some of their topics this year were quite broad and would be applicable in our applications to other schools.

I don't believe other schools use turnitin, at least there was no disclaimer about it. Seems to be for UofT to check for plagiarism across its applicants, but I'm just worried my previous essay would cause alarm for my current one 

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I called them regarding the same concern back in September. They reassured me that you would not be flagged for copying your own essays. They did, however, suggest to change the essays, but only for the purpose of increasing your chances (if something didn't work the first time, probably won't work this time). Regardless, they said if you are worried about being red-flagged for that purpose you always have the option of opting out of turnitin, no questions asked. You just have to email them and let them know next time. 

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