Should I write a new commonapp/personal statement essay during a gap year?
I’m an international student who applied to last year’s application cycle and got rejected or waitlisted from every school. I want to take a gap year and try applying to the United States one more time.
My question is: should I write a new personal statement for the next application cycle? I think my last year’s personal statement was fine. It may not have been the best, but it probably wasn’t the reason I got rejected. Some of my friends and my English teacher reviewed it, and they liked it. Also, I asked for a review here, and @compmom reviewed it and said it was good.
My concern is, even if it was the best essay ever written, wouldn’t it still look bad to not change it during the gap year? Let’s say if the admissions officer reads it and thinks, “Huh, I’ve read it somewhere,” checks my last year’s essay, and it is exactly the same. Wouldn’t that be a red flag? On top of that, I am not that good of a writer, so I don’t think if I write a new essay it will be any better than my last year’s.
So right now, I think I have three options:
1.Leave my essay as it is (maybe make slight changes). 2.Leave the topic and structure the same but try to rewrite and make it better. 3.Write a completely new essay.
What should I do?
I would recommend writing a completely new essay. Many schools will have your previous app.
What are your gap year plans?
I think it is unlikely that your essay is the reason for not getting in. If you take a gap year and your new experiences move you to write something, fine, but otherwise I think your essays were fine.
I have heard from several international students whose applications and essays seemed stellar to me, many with challenges due to violence and war- who did not get in to desired schools. It is important to know that most schools are non need-blind and financial need may affect admissions. Not always of course.
Need blind schools are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Amherst and in 2025 Brown- to the best of my knowledge. Of course international students get into other schools and receive aid. it’s just more competitive.
Did you apply to safety schools? You might also research scholarship programs that fit your situation, some of which are offered by universities.
IMO that’s a different issue than OP re-applying to a school that denied them the previous year with the same essay.
I do think as OP referenced that some AOs would see using the same essay as lazy and/or not see any meaningful difference between the new app and the app that led to the denial.
Are you saying that they would compare the applications from this year and next? You could be right. I had assumed not.
I do think that a gap year should result in some new experiences and insights to share in an essay …
I just want to say, again, that I don’t think essays, in this case, were a reason for rejection.
Some schools will definitely look at the previous app.
Well that answers that. Write new essays!
I agree that it probably wasn’t the essay. But yes, write a new one.
Unless you do something pretty substantial and meaningful in your gap year, reapplying to the same colleges is unlikely to lead to admission. They will know you applied before. They may or may not look at the previous application, but you’re going to want something new to add because the old app was not compelling enough to admit you.
As a gap year applicant, you will have plenty of free time on your hands. Obviously a job is always good, but if you applied to highly selective schools, a job alone probably isn’t going to move the needle without involvement in something that is important to you. It should make you stand out in a notable way.
And finances probably won’t change. I do think that is a factor in many of these situations.
Yes, if OP need significant aid that makes affordable US admissions difficult…and means there would be no safety schools in the US.
Are you planning to apply to the same schools again? I would suggest that you revise your college application list. Sure, include some favorite from round one…but craft mostly a different set of colleges when you apply again. If you do this, the adcoms won’t have seen your first essay.
Still…hopefully you will be doing something worthwhile during you gap year…and this possibly could make a re-write a good thing!
Presumably you have gained new experience and grown a little during the gap year and will have new things to share, it absolutely be best for you to write about the gap year experience.
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Common App gap year essay (250 words)
Why i took gap year.
OP Sungbin Moon 2 / 3 Sep 18, 2020 #3 @Holt Thank you for your advice!
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