uprightcitizen wrote:
How are you supposed to decide whether your own essays, resume, etc. are "Strong," "Medium," or "Weak"? Would anyone here submit a "Weak" essay? I would put absolutely no weight into this tool... read through past "Applicant" posts on candidates for the schools you're interested in. And compare.
Exactly right.
Vocaz Marketing Indicator wrote:
Essay Quality
Strong 10.5
Medium 6.5
Weak 1.5
* If you do a full, intensive process with Vocaz (or with a different high-quality service) on essays, choose strong.
Recommendations
Strong 10
Medium 7.5
Weak 4
* If you work intensively with Vocaz (or with a different high-quality service) on recommendations, choose either medium or strong.
Application Forms/Resume Quality
Strong 9
Medium 7
Weak 3
* If you work intensively with Vocaz (or with a different high-quality service) on PDM, resume and application forms, choose strong.
And then:
Vocaz Marketing Indicator wrote:
What is the gap between your total points and the school points below?
-7 or less = Stretch
...
+2 or more = Strong with potential for a significant scholarship
Which is interpreted as follows:
Vocaz Marketing Indicator wrote:
Strong with potential for a significant scholarship:
There is a good chance that you will be accepted, possibly with a significant scholarship. Estimated admission chances are somewhere around 75-80%.
Stretch:
Candidates with similar profiles rarely get accepted to this program. Estimated admission chances are somewhere around 10%.
So, the difference between having a 10% chance of admission to a particular school vs 75-80% chance of admission, possibly with a significant scholarship, is 9 points on their scale, but there is a potential 21 point swing on your score depending on how you rate your application on the subjective scale of Strong, Medium, Weak? Yet the difference between Non-existant and Strong community service is 3.2 points? And they can predict the impact of starting a company that employs 5 people to the 0.3 point level of granularity? Not to mention, there's a potential 8 point swing depending on your GPA, which they give in %age terms when every major US school I know of asks for (and uses) a 4.0 scale?
Oh and by the way, if you use their service, all 3 sections of your application are guaranteed to be "Strong" by their own measure.
I repeat my earlier statement:
brainhurt wrote:
What a piece of garbage.