mylady wrote:
Hi All,
I had a couple of questions about the essays:
1) Does the same person read all of a candidate's essays?
2) Does it make sense to refer another essay for details within an essay?
3) Admission consultants --- are they preferable over close friends for essay reviews?
Thanks all..
-roli
(1) Multiple people will read your essays, and all of them. In the case of Chicago, for instance, just to even get an interview, THREE people will read your essay.
(2) It can, but I think it just makes for poor writing. That is, who wants to read, "I am really passionate about clown sex. (See Essay #2)" ?
(3) Largely depends on who you ask. I think that friends can be invaluable from one perspective - that is, they know your story and may say "hey why dont you talk about X? Thats really interesting" - maybe something you never thought of. The downside to friends is that they know your story well, so they may be able to read an essay and "fill in the blanks" subconciously, while someone unfamiliar with your background may read the same essay and have questions or have trouble following. The downside of an adcom is that they dont know you - so they can't say "hey what about X!!". The upside, as you might have guessed, is that they can tell if you your story makes sense to someone who doesn't know you.