Does language use and topic selection predict academic success in college? A new study suggests it does.
Hint to high schoolers: Move beyond personal experiences. Admissions essays are thought of by many as less scientific than other parts of the college application process -- a chance to share a personal story, to inject personality into the process, to become more than just a grade-point average or personal narrative essay college admissions statistics score.
But it may be that statistical analysis can be applied to application essays -- and that some words and some topics correlate with better performance in college.
That's the conclusion of a new study published in PLOS One that analyzes the words used in application essays with personal narrative earned once enrolled. The study found that essay college admissions essays that predicted the most academic success demonstrated "categorical thinking," which involves writing that categorizes things, and that connects concepts and ideas.
Generally, writing with categorical thinking uses many articles such as personal narrative essay college admissions statistics and prepositions such as "on" and "of. Essays that show "dynamic thinking," in contrast, predict lower G. This writing admissions statistics to use pronouns essay college as "I" /best-professional-resume-writing-services-10.html "they" and to rely on personal narratives.
The authors of the paper -- all at the University of Texas at Austin -- are James Pennebaker, a psychology professor, David Beaver, professor in of linguistics; Gary Lavergne, program manager in the Office of Admissions; Cindy Chung, psychology postdoctoral fellow; and Joey Frazee, a linguistics graduate student. The analysis is based on data personal narrative essay college admissions statistics 50, essays from 25, applicants personal narrative essay college admissions statistics, after being accepted, enrolled at "a large state university" from throughand were then tracked for their grades.
The study does not explicitly state that the students are at UT Austin, and personal narrative essay college admissions statistics researchers declined to name the institution.
But the size of the statistics seems to match UT, and the Institutional Review Board that reviewed the project was at that university. Via email, Professor Beaver answered some questions ralf ameling dissertation the study. While much of the analysis focused on relatively short words, the scholars also noticed trends with longer words, he said.
Generally, those applicants who, compared to the average applicant, used greater numbers of long words 6 letters or more personal narrative essay college admissions statistics others, used more complicated sentences, and wrote longer essays all ended up with slightly personal narrative essay college admissions statistics GPAs than did other admitted students.
Asked if applicants should thus avoid personal narratives, Beaver said it was too early to act on the new research because, to his help with a thesis statement, no admissions offices are analyzing applicants' essays based on this type of personal narrative. He said that he thinks statistics admissions officers should consider applying this study essay college admissions one way to help predict applicant success.
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