writing sample importance

[KieBelle]

I'm applying to several MA programs and only 2 of them require writing samples. I've been out of school for over 4 years but fortunately I've saved much of my undergrad work. Problem is, I'm feeling quite insecure about submitting any of my old papers. I've been editing one of them to make it as good as possible, but I'm still nervous that it's not good enough. So my question is, how much weight is given to the writing sample during the admissions process for taught MA programs?

And in case anyone was going to suggest it, I can't write a new paper. I don't have the resources, time, or desire to do so.

[pea-jay]

I would imagine it depends on the program. For my first Grad school, I recycled a 2.5 year old undergrad paper and submitted it. Of the new batch of grad schools, only one has a writing requirement (beyond the SOP) and requires a new essay to be written based on their question.

[JerryLandis]

One of my MA applications only requires a writing sample for those applying for funding, whereas the other 3 require a writing sample as part of the standard application. Not sure how important it is though.

[modernity]

I'm applying to several MA programs and only 2 of them require writing samples. I've been out of school for over 4 years but fortunately I've saved much of my undergrad work. Problem is, I'm feeling quite insecure about submitting any of my old papers. I've been editing one of them to make it as good as possible, but I'm still nervous that it's not good enough. So my question is, how much weight is given to the writing sample during the admissions process for taught MA programs?

And in case anyone was going to suggest it, I can't write a new paper. I don't have the resources, time, or desire to do so.

I'm in the same boat right now. I feel very insecure about the writing sample, I didn't have a thesis or anything of that nature to take excerpts out of. I hope its not too important, especially if the SOP is on track with my writing abilities now. I'm going the route of editing the heck out of it and hoping that is sufficient. I've been considering writing a whole new paper even though I also don't really have the resources/time, but I fear because of that, it may not be much better than the original.

[Mocha001]

Same here. I was out of school for almost 3 years and then last year I went back to community college and took two philosophy classes.

My class had 10 pages final paper. It was like a research paper, but not like super traditional one. My professor asked us to pick up one

philosopher and analyze his/her theory based on lectures and journals. And then, I took one statistic class at local university in this summer

and we did some papers, but those were only 4 pages writing and the rest of pages were just statistical data.

I have one paper which I wrote at undergraduate, but I thought that submitting the most recent paper with better writing would be better even though

it was from community college.

What do you think?