Update: Thank you, Reader PG, Duke did not drop the essay rquirement but gave it a different weight in evaluating students. Because of AI, Duke will read essays for content but not assume the writing ability reflects that of the students.
The Common App essay is here to stay–for now, but this just in: Five universities drop supplemental essays for the upcoming cycle!
UVa, Tulane, Washington University (St. Louis), the University of Georgia, and TCU (Texas Christian) have upended the college application landscape and announced that students will have fewer application essay to write. They’re eliminating the everything from “Why Tulane?” to UGa’s “Please share a book (novel, non-fiction, etc.) that had a serious impact on you.”
How come? What happened to these staples of the college application? One answer is that students relying on AI have made these essays less meaningful as information about the student. Another reason, not usually stated, is dropping the supplementals makes it easier for students to submit applications–which raises the number of applicants. That lowers the acceptance rate, which makes the university’s more selective, which, in turn increases applications.
What do these changes mean for you and your application?
Your Common Application essay needs to do more work in presenting you. Essays that give off a whiff of AI influence (flatness, lack of personal detail) will be suspect.
Your academic profile–GPA, SAT/ACT, and recommendations–are more important than ever.
Your Extra Curricular Activities are more important too. They need to show initiative, investment (4-year activities, not many 1 or 2 year) and leadership.
With more selectivity, choosing the right colleges for you is more important than ever. Students tend to gravitate to reaches. Many applications are Reach-Heavy and light on targets and safeties.
Read the comments of students and parents who have worked with me. And contact me for help with essays, activities, and application choices–as soon as possible because of the changing landscape. As a coach for 17 years, I work with students around the corner and around the corner, applying to colleges, universities, conservatories, art schools, and schools of engineering, from Washington state to Washington D.C., from Maine to Hawaii.
Call 855-99-ESSAY or drop me an email: ElizabethBenedictOK@gmail.com.
