The aggregation of evaluations from multiple application essays provides a holistic measure of a candidate’s writing proficiency and communication skills. Assembled from individual assessments across diverse essay prompts, this metric offers a comprehensive view of an applicant’s overall performance in the written components of a standardized application. For instance, an applicant might receive individual scores on essays addressing personal experiences, intellectual interests, and ethical dilemmas; the combined result of these individual scores yields a single, overall assessment.
This summative evaluation is significant because it reduces the reliance on any single piece of writing and aims to provide a more balanced appraisal of an applicant’s capabilities. It helps institutions gauge not only the quality of writing but also the applicant’s ability to adapt their writing style and content to different prompts and subject matter. Historically, the reliance on single essays could sometimes provide a skewed perspective; a consolidated valuation seeks to mitigate this by creating a more nuanced and reliable indicator.
