Essay?

H

HSClassof15

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How many points and how much does the USNA look at the personal statement (essay). I mean how much do they "rely" on it. I can't really think of the word.
 
Personal statement is pretty important because A) They want to see that you have writing skills and that you can relay your thoughts efficiently B) The essay is the only time that you can "present" yourself in a personal way C) They want to see why you want to attend a SA. Not because it'll make you learn "honor, integrity, etc" - those are really generic words. Make your essay personal and unique.

I know since I'm a MechE major, my BGO said it was really important that I show that I have writing skills and can relay my thoughts. The stereotype is that engineers are socially awkward (somewhat true :rolleyes:) and cannot relay their thoughts.

Maybe that doesn't answer your question. I don't know how many WCS points that it is "worth". I think the biggest thing is to not hand in a generic essay but make it personable and precise.
 
I have a bit of an add-on question to this one that might be answerable by possibly BGOs or others who are near to the application process. I sent in a hastily written essay right when I was beginning my application, only to realize that I could have done much better on it. It wasn't awful, but I must admit it was full of the cliche "honor, integrity, etc" that mdn18 spoke of above. I told this to my BGO and he recommended that, since you can add information to your application at any time, I explain honestly that I wrote the essay hastily and did not give a good representation of my writing abilities and desire for attending USNA and then proceed to give them an additional personal essay. I wrote an excellent second essay and sent it to my regional admissions director explaining to her my situation and asking her to add it to my application. How do you think that the admissions board views me doing this? Would they like the fact that I saw where I could do better work and improve on it, or would they dislike the fact that I acted hastily and with poor results and felt confident enough in it to have it represent me? Additionally, do you think that they would essentially throw out the first essay and give much more of the weight to my additional essay that I sent in or not?
 
Autoexec, I would think that they would see it favorably. You acknowledged that you didn't do the job right, so you corrected it. I doubt that could harm you in anything you do.
 
The essay really serves two purposes, but is relatively minor in weight, in comparison with other areas. I think even the BGO interview might have more "weight" than the essay (as far as helping to aid the board, not necessarily in the Whole Person multiple).
(1) The candidate can write and express their thoughts.
(2) See if there is a unique reason why they want USNA and/or to serve/lead.

The assumption is that all candidates can compose a thoughtful and grammatically correct essay, unless they prove otherwise. While English professors do sit on the board from time-to-time, they aren't going to critique to the point where someone used "passive" vs. "active" voice. Bottom line is if you write decent content, can spell and check for proper grammar...you just put a check in the box. A great "unique" essay COULD earn some "wow" points.

IMHO, I don't think that the fact you re-submitted the essay changes any thing. If your file had not gone to the Admissions Board when you re-submitted, your Admissions Counselor might have just copied and pasted the new one in (provided your reason was legitimate).
 
Going off what usnabgo08 said the essay can give you some wow points if it's unique or good in some way, which i can confidently say mine put me over the edge. As for submitting a new essay altogether as long as the old one was still written well I don't think it would really make a difference to try and resubmit. From my experience with the summer seminar application a year ago I asked if I could resubmit my essay and they said you couldn't so you may not even be able to.
 
Perhaps someone could shed some light on how detrimental a typo is in regards to the essay. DS wrote a thoughtful and excellent essay, but one word is missing one letter. It is not a grammatical or content error- not a misuse of a word like your and you're.
 
One typo is probably not a big deal. If the theme of the essay is spelling and grammatical errors, that is where one might run into problems.
 
Is there a different essay once you become an official candidate than the personal statement on the NASS app?
 
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