Excessive college essay requirements decrease access and diversity

I saw a post from a well-regarded veteran admissions counselor on a secret Facebook group for college admissions professionals. They wanted to talk about the merits of essay examples, but their question explicitly said “I don’t want to talk about the merits of essay requirements.”

I’ve found that asking critical questions to admissions counselors and university representatives doesn’t do any good, so I watched as members rehashed the same tired debates about how to write the best essays. Why is it seemingly off limits to discuss one of the only college application questions that truly matters? Why do so many universities require ever increasing numbers of essays? Do essay requirements increase diversity and college access?

Consider the non-selective Houston Baptist University. They acknowledge the intuition that “more essays means fewer applicants.” Their marketing materials advertise in bold print “a special advantage” of applying: They have no essay requirements.

I used to conduct application workshops in low-income schools as a UT counselor—schools that were our highest priority to recruit “students from diverse backgrounds.” Time after time, I watched students deliberately not apply to UT as soon as they saw the essay requirement, even though their class rank guaranteed them automatic admission by state law. I even suggested submitting a blank essay—they would get in regardless—but that didn’t sit right with them or me. I can’t say I blamed them for applying at less-selective universities.

A critic might counter, “If they’re too lazy or unwilling or unable to write college essays, maybe they’re not UT material.” That point may be misguided psychologically if valid rationally. After all, universities want to recruit students who can communicate. But why should the willingness to submit an essay be a front-end filter to a university where they’re guaranteed admission by law based on their class rank? College essays signal little to admissions committees other than students’ ability and fortitude to overcome pages and pages of paperwork.

Twenty years ago, less-selective universities admitted applicants based exclusively on their grades and SAT/ACT scores. Essays infiltrate application processes to an ever-increasing number of schools, adding to the overburdened student’s workload and sources of stress. Safety schools don’t necessarily imply less work, as they did a generation ago. When parents share, “I don’t ever remember me or anyone I knew having to write a single college essay, let alone three dozen,” they’re probably recalling their generation’s admissions landscape accurately. I’m confident that the amount of essays required directly correlates to fewer first-generation applicants and students in underserved universities from applying. The easiest way to increase diversity is to require few or zero essays.