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If you submit a very bold and somewhat witty statement, can it have any positive impact for a school at which you would not normally have a chance? I'm thinking about the whole "nothing to lose" mentality here...

All I know is that this is something some people suggest: writing a riskier statement for your reach schools, in the hope that a particular adcomm member will buy your risky statement, take a liking to you, and "fight" for your admission.

I haven't ever met anyone online who has actually had this work (subpar numbers + risky statement = admission). But maybe they can reveal themselves?

I do know one person who had 3.4 + 168, wrote a very good essay, had great recommendations, and got WL'd at Columbia and NYU and took $$ at Michigan...

bedefan wrote:All I know is that this is something some people suggest: writing a riskier statement for your reach schools, in the hope that a particular adcomm member will buy your risky statement, take a liking to you, and "fight" for your admission.

I haven't ever met anyone online who has actually had this work (subpar numbers + risky statement = admission). But maybe they can reveal themselves?

I do know one person who had 3.4 + 168, wrote a very good essay, had great recommendations, and got WL'd at Columbia and NYU and took $$ at Michigan...

I can only hope to have half the success of your friend... 3.88/168, so I'm banking on 4 great LORS and a good PS to hopefully WL/In at some places.

How was the Michigan person's statement risky?

Sorry, it wasn't risky. It was just very well written.

She's a very thoughtful person (the kind of person whom you meet for ten minutes and come away thinking, "Wow, that person was really deep") who had been working for a major international NGO based in NYC. I'm guessing the work experience also helped, tho I don't think it was anything impressive enough to warrant her very good cycle. 4 years out of UG when she applied.

If bold means offensive, then it is probably not a good idea; but if bold means creative & opinionated, then it may be worthwhile for reaches.

CanadianWolf wrote:If bold means offensive, then it is probably not a good idea; but if bold means creative & opinionated, then it may be worthwhile for reaches.

+1

Boldness as in "unafraid to present eloquently your well-developed thoughts on a topic," whether the topic is controversial or not, I think can be very good.

If boldness means "aggressively open about personal details" I think it usually just indicates a lack of discretion, which can only hurt you.

I mean a spoofy, humorous essay.

Ildeuce wrote:

bedefan wrote:All I know is that this is something some people suggest: writing a riskier statement for your reach schools, in the hope that a particular adcomm member will buy your risky statement, take a liking to you, and "fight" for your admission.

I haven't ever met anyone online who has actually had this work (subpar numbers + risky statement = admission). But maybe they can reveal themselves?

I do know one person who had 3.4 + 168, wrote a very good essay, had great recommendations, and got WL'd at Columbia and NYU and took $$ at Michigan...

I can only hope to have half the success of your friend... 3.88/168, so I'm banking on 4 great LORS and a good PS to hopefully WL/In at some places.

I had numbers similar to yours (actually, a little lower) and got into Chicago, Michigan, Penn, etc. I definitely owe it to my personal statement. It was risky in the sense that I talked about a controversial subject and was very opinionated. However, I had the work experience to back it up: I worked in the field of the controversial subject, and was an advocate for the opinion I espoused. I think that was important.

username99 wrote:I mean a spoofy, humorous essay.

I would be willing to bet that rarely, if ever, works.

is it risky to write a personal statement that talks about openly liberal topics like homosexuality for schools like George mason that are known to be conservative or would they like the added diversity to their class?

In 2010, is homosexuality a liberal topic? If they don't want you because you are gay, why go there?

username99 wrote:In 2010, is homosexuality a liberal topic? If they don't want you because you are gay, why go there?

its hard to tell if they are accepting of gay's since they seem to be one of the most conservative schools, or at least I think so.

Just be yourself. If they don't want you there because of your sexual preference, then I'd venture to say you wouldn't have been comfortable there in the first place.