Brian+Merino+comparative+essay

As an admissions officer of Wavy University, I ranked the TEARS in my order (from most important to least important). My acronym for TEARS is TREAS because I feel that the most important thing that college's look at is a transcript because grades are what get your foot in the door. Once you get your foot in the door the teacher recs help get your second leg in the door. What gets you in is your essay because it describes your personality and how you feel about your school and what you did when you were in school. To me, activities are just something that help you split from the pack. SATs are the least to me because I feel like they are a cherry on top of the icing to colleges. Although to some colleges, they feel that if your college has a high average SAT score, you will have more prestige.Transcripts determine how you work and how much worked during your high school year and if you took any challenging classes and pushed yourself. __**Roman Polanco**__ When reviewing Roman Polanco's application I saw that his grades were mostly 70s. He was late almost (if not over) 100 times, to me he has not been to school a lot, explaining his low grades. Roman didn't take any challenging classes which colleges don't like. Colleges like to see you push yourself and challenge yourself even if you get bad grades in your AP (Advanced Placement) classes. William's essay answered the real question because he was talking about how he prepared a breast cancer walk in Central Park. His hook wasn't so good, it seemed dull and generic. His epiphany was very clear, I could tell when he had that moment of realization. He described many things clearly, one of them being a rainy day, instead of saying it was just another normal day. I could imagine this, I think Roman used imagery very well in his essay. Before Roman had grown, he didn't know the kind of power he had, until he realized that people from his community started supporting him. Throughout the essay, Roman has had perfect grammar, and his essay doesn't seem as if he rushed at it in the last second. It seems like it was well thought out and he proofread it until the last day before turning it in.

Roman has been doing Innovation Cares, a program in which students from Innovation volunteer and do community service such as working at a soup kitchen, picking up garbage, and planting trees. Roman was also a student ambassador for 4 years, he became the leader of the program in his senior year of high school. This seems impressive because it shows he can stay committed to one program. Roman also did a club called Adjude Me?! which is a portugese club. He also participated in a debate club. Roman's college counselor described Roman as a strong leader, and eager to go to college. Not really good grades, and was described as a trustworthy person and a leader. It's also stated that he is a late bloomer on academics. I think the college counselors rec was a big deal because now I know he is a leader and can also be committed to a program for a long period of time. This also tells me that he isn't a good candidate because he is a late bloomer and had bad grades until he got to 12th. To me, it's too late if you try to fix your grades while you're in your last year of high school. His SATs aren't so great, the three sections are CR (Critical Reading) M (Math) W ( Writing) his Critical Reading and Writing scores are slightly below average. His math score is slightly above average. CR:480 M:510 W:490. Overall I think Roman is not college material and I would not accept him into my college. __**William Santos**__ When reviewing William Santos' application, I noticed that he has very low grades in every class (mostly 60s). He is barely passing, William is meeting the schools minimum requirements which seems as if he is not even trying to push himself in school. His regents scores were mostly in the 80s which are pretty average. William has had no upward trend, took no challenging classes, and he was late more than 50 times. I don't feel like I would take him just looking at his grades, it seems as if he doesn't want to go to college. I would understand an upward trend, but their isn't any upward trend all 4 years. William's essay was terrible. It had no hook and it didn't answer the real question. There was no before and after, doesn't show his growth, and he tells us his SAT scores in the essay even though we can already get that from the transcript. He has perfect spelling and grammar, it seems as if his essay was rushed and he did it in the last day before submitting it to colleges. William has been doing many activities, but not for much time. I am a believer of depth over breadth, because even though he went to many programs, he only went for at least one year. He founded Inno-Zine, did home chores, drama club, comic book club, was a ticket salesperson, film appreciation, walked his family's dog, and worked at Fanta's Hardware.

William's rec was bad, it looked as if the teacher had given him faint praise, and wasn't genuine praise. The rec says he is destined for success and he has excellent SAT scores. We could already tell the SAT scores from the transcript so that information in the rec was pretty useless. This seems like a rec that was written without thought, as if he didn't want the student to get into college. The three SAT score sections are CR (Critical Reading) M (Math) W (Writing). Williams scores are excellent. They are above average by a lot. CR:600(above average) M:620 (Above Average) W:650 (Above Average). Overall, I don't think William is college material. He may have goos SAT scores but the rest of his things are bad. I don't think I would take him in to my college just based on his SAT scores. His transcript as bad, he wasn't even trying. He was struggling throughout all 4 years, he is a bright student that has potential, but isn't using it. __**Jasmine Duke**__ When reviewing Jasmine Duke's application, I noticed she has mostly average grades in every class (80s-90s). I can tell she is serious about her education because she has been late once, and absent 12 times. She has a downward trend which isn't good, I would prefer an upward trend. Jasmine partakes in no challenging classes which means she isn't pushing herself. Most of her regents scores are B's and A's. Her essay has a hook but no epiphany, no before and after, perfect grammar and spelling, not rushed, seemed like she spent time writing and revising it. The thing that hurts her the most is that she didn't answer the real question. All she talked about was how her mother inspired her but didn't talk about herself. Jasmine seems like a committed person. She has been in the drama club for 4 years, Church Choirs for 3 years, Scripture Reader for 2 years, babysitter, and was a junior tour guide.

The rec seems legit. The counselor says how she perseveres, how she is able to juggle her personal life, how her mother is a single parent. Also, the counselor states she uses her disadvantages to motivate herself. The teacher says her strengths are Math and Science. Her SAT scores are not very good. The three sections are CR (Critical Reading) M (Math) W (Writing) Her scores are all below average, some of them are equivalent or near East Harlem average. CR:430 M:470 W:440. I think I would take Jasmine in to my college because of how her grades are average, her rec is good, and so are her activities. To me, the thing that ruins me taking her in is her essay, she didn't write about herself. Instead, she wrote about her mother, and how her mother motivates her to push herself in life. __**Kayla Serrano**__ When reviewing Kayla Serrano's application, I noticed that her grades were mostly 70s, she was absent once, there was no upward trend, and her grades make sense. Kayla's essay seems good to me. It answers the real question, has a good hook, and I can find the epiphany with ease. Only downside to Kayla's essay is that it is quite long, other than that, I think her essay is pretty strong. Kayla also has perfect spelling and grammar, and it especially doesn't seem as if it was rushed. I feel like she spent a long time writing and revising her essay to make sure it is perfect. She also spent time talking about her struggle of when she first came to America and didn't understand anyone and the hardships she went through to get to where she is today. Jasmine didn't do many activities, I would understand if she did them for 4 years, but the most she did a program for was 2 years. Kayla was in the Jamming Cares Club for 1 year, walked her younger brother to school for 2 years, and she was an employee at Dunkin' Donuts as a server for 20 hrs a week, and she started her job in her senior year until present.

Her rec seems like it explained a lot about her. It seems like the counselor had a really good relationship with Kayla and Kayla felt like she could tell her counselor many things. It also explained that Kayla had to work at Dunkin' Donuts to support her family because her mother is a single parent. Kayla's SAT scores were mostly below average except for math. The three sections are CR (Critical Reading) M (Math) W (Writing) I think she didn't do really well on her SATs. CR:400 M:520 W:450.

The most important TEARS to me is the transcript. The best candidate to me In my opinion is Kayla Serrano. She took challenging classes was absent once, did well in what didn't require english, and some of her regents scores weren't good. Her essay was phenomenal, only downside was its length. She had a good hook, it showed her growth into learning english, and only one grammatical error, I would understand because her first language isn't english so i will let that pass. Now i believe she is very fluent in english, this explains one reason of why I chose Kayla to be a good candidate. She worked at Dunkin' Donuts to support her family which represents how responsible she is for her family, she also had to walk her younger brother to school, this is a big responsibility, because she needed to make an agenda that didn't interfere with her taking her brother to school.Her rec described her determination, and explained why she struggled through school, and why she has to help support her family. She has low SAT score in writing and critical reading, but her math score is slightly above average. I would understand because she didn't really know english at the time and now she is probably proficient in it.