An admissions essay is written by a potential student as part of a some college admissions processes in order to get to know more about the student than what forms can provide. Usually it is about oneself although some colleges allow one to write about anything. The University of Chicago's essay options are particularly interesting; the very odd questions come from submissions by accepted students—ranging over topics such as Elvis and UFOs, the point of the essays being to see how thoughtfully and creatively an applicant can answer such a question. Generally, there is a maximum word limit on the essay to lighten the work load of the reviewers. The amount of importance that admission reviewers put on the essays vary greatly. Some schools place little or no importance on the essay and others place the greatest amount of importance on the essay. Generally, liberal arts colleges place a greater importance on the essay than major universities but this is not always the case.

College admissions