PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!

[Anonymous]

I agree that essay hurt his chances, OP, considering he's a private school kid. That just screams "I bought this experience". If he'd been in public school, and said that he visited his country of origin to give back to the community his parents were from, and that doing so helped him connect with his roots and solidify his sense of belonging... then that might have been a very interesting essay! So it's not the topic per se, it's the way the topic is treated.

My son, who has an Asian last name, wrote his essay on his multi-national origins, talked about the world wars that triggered his forebears' migrations, touched on the conflict in loyalties that this brought about, and explained that interest in his own family's history led to his desire to major in international relations. It was a thoughtful, introspective essay, and the question of privilege, traveling to our countries of origin, etc, was neatly sidestepped.

The parents should write very bad reviews about this private counselor...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but if you believe that one's college essay topic has any effect on admissions, you are misinformed.

So much misinformation in this thread !

Private schools love "rich and privileged"--that is why they have development offices/officers. (Not sure about the status after the admissions scandal involving celebrity parents.)

I don't think you get it. Yeah, they love the rich and privileged, but when their names are on a building. Don't want folks screaming it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but if you believe that one's college essay topic has any effect on admissions, you are misinformed.

So much misinformation in this thread !

Private schools love "rich and privileged"--that is why they have development offices/officers. (Not sure about the status after the admissions scandal involving celebrity parents.)

+1 Just look at the thread about which schools have the highest percentage of students going to top schools -- dripping with wealth and privilege. They could write about toenail fungus ruining their choice of prom shoes and get in.

You don't get it at all. Schools don't mind wealthy applicants. But they do mind applicants who seem to have learned nothing from their life experience, or applicants who seem to write a canned response that looks as though it didn't come from them. The writing needs to be very personal. If you read thousands of essays during college admissions season, you develop a knack for identifying canned essays. The voice of the student has to be apparent. And if they write without self-awareness or maturity, then that's a ding on their profile.

The topic can be very minor (the prom shoes). But if that hook of prom shoes leads the reader to a discussion on inclusion or self-acceptance, or some deep realization of the author about themselves and society, than that's GREAT, and absolutely what the admission officer wants to see.
The kids don't need wealthy parents to pay for special experiences. Not at all. But the essay needs to have an original treatment of a possibly unoriginal theme. So a kid who has never traveled anywhere or done any special activity can still pick something from their life and present it under a particular lens just to highlight a deep reflection that is associated with that event or object.

It's Proust's madeleine, if you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but if you believe that one's college essay topic has any effect on admissions, you are misinformed.

So much misinformation in this thread !

Private schools love "rich and privileged"--that is why they have development offices/officers. (Not sure about the status after the admissions scandal involving celebrity parents.)

+1 Just look at the thread about which schools have the highest percentage of students going to top schools -- dripping with wealth and privilege. They could write about toenail fungus ruining their choice of prom shoes and get in.

You don't get it at all. Schools don't mind wealthy applicants. But they do mind applicants who seem to have learned nothing from their life experience, or applicants who seem to write a canned response that looks as though it didn't come from them. The writing needs to be very personal. If you read thousands of essays during college admissions season, you develop a knack for identifying canned essays. The voice of the student has to be apparent. And if they write without self-awareness or maturity, then that's a ding on their profile.

The topic can be very minor (the prom shoes). But if that hook of prom shoes leads the reader to a discussion on inclusion or self-acceptance, or some deep realization of the author about themselves and society, than that's GREAT, and absolutely what the admission officer wants to see.
The kids don't need wealthy parents to pay for special experiences. Not at all. But the essay needs to have an original treatment of a possibly unoriginal theme. So a kid who has never traveled anywhere or done any special activity can still pick something from their life and present it under a particular lens just to highlight a deep reflection that is associated with that event or object.

It's Proust's madeleine, if you will.

My kid wrote a deeply personal essay about completing all the Zelda video games. He's now at a T10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re all placing way too much of an emphasis on the essay.

This. Most essays never get read. The contract readers do the first cull based on GPA, estimated rank, test scores if submitted, race, URM status, legcy,, unique skill or instrument, etc. Only the actual AOs of the region read the essays if the application makes it that far. The average application gets less than a 5 minute read, total

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They're not going to notice anything that's not a URM "overcoming tremendous obstacles" essay.

Name a Top 40 school that's 60% URM? Despite all the hand wringing and racists comments on this board, these schools continue to be overwhelmingly white and wealthy. Of course kids of all races face obstacles and when I hear their stories, I'm far more impressed by their success than the pampered, uber prepped kids claiming they were "shut out" and that someone undeserving "took their spot."

The top schools are not 60% URM because URMs are not 60% of the applicants or enrollees by academic merit.

URMs are undoubtedly overrepresented in terms of their academic merit. But the top schools have decided that being an URM is a form of merit.

Idiotic post. They are URMs because they are underrepresented in these top schools. 🙄

That's not what URM means

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These essays are such a joke. My BIL wrote his daughter's (he won't admit it but it's obvious) and she got into a school she had no business going to. I have to assume this happens all the time. How do you expect a 17 year old to write anything meaningful? They're all told what "good" beliefs are, and haven't had the experiences that will lead them to anything authentic. And then they're told to avoid writing about genuinely meaningful experiences because they show privilege. For all the people saying "don't write about this"--well, that's probably what their experience is. So we're asking them to lie and second guess themselves. It's just nasty, like everything else in higher ed. Burn it all down and go back to admits on quantifiable, non-cheatable ability only.

+1.

My spouse was at one point reviewing the application essays for a big state school.
Their flowchart was roughly this:
1. Did they write anything? If no, 0.
2. Check if this person needs a wellness/mental health visit (danger to themselves or others). If so, flag it.
3. Do they say in the essay that they're a URM that overcame obstacles? If so, 3 points.
4. Else, give 2 points and move on.

So perhaps people are overthinking the importance of essays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These essays are such a joke. My BIL wrote his daughter's (he won't admit it but it's obvious) and she got into a school she had no business going to. I have to assume this happens all the time. How do you expect a 17 year old to write anything meaningful? They're all told what "good" beliefs are, and haven't had the experiences that will lead them to anything authentic. And then they're told to avoid writing about genuinely meaningful experiences because they show privilege. For all the people saying "don't write about this"--well, that's probably what their experience is. So we're asking them to lie and second guess themselves. It's just nasty, like everything else in higher ed. Burn it all down and go back to admits on quantifiable, non-cheatable ability only.

+1.

My spouse was at one point reviewing the application essays for a big state school.
Their flowchart was roughly this:
1. Did they write anything? If no, 0.
2. Check if this person needs a wellness/mental health visit (danger to themselves or others). If so, flag it.
3. Do they say in the essay that they're a URM that overcame obstacles? If so, 3 points.
4. Else, give 2 points and move on.

So perhaps people are overthinking the importance of essays?

If it's a big state school with 50%+ acceptance rate, then yes I believe that. But I do think essays get reviewed at the private institutions, especially the highly selective ones. I know at several in the 30-60 range my kid got accepted and had "comments about their essay" in the acceptance letter, so yes the essays were actually read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re all placing way too much of an emphasis on the essay.

This. Most essays never get read. The contract readers do the first cull based on GPA, estimated rank, test scores if submitted, race, URM status, legcy,, unique skill or instrument, etc. Only the actual AOs of the region read the essays if the application makes it that far. The average application gets less than a 5 minute read, total

So just wing it?

[Anonymous]

My spouse was at one point reviewing the application essays for a big state school.
Their flowchart was roughly this:
1. Did they write anything? If no, 0.
2. Check if this person needs a wellness/mental health visit (danger to themselves or others). If so, flag it.
3. Do they say in the essay that they're a URM that overcame obstacles? If so, 3 points.
4. Else, give 2 points and move on.

So perhaps people are overthinking the importance of essays?

Can you provide any evidence to support your theory in the current environment? It goes against everything we've been told by several private counselors. Course work and results in rigorous classes and test scores, if submitted, are the first assessments. Essays and recommendations are read for applications that move to the next round. If a school uses dual readers, all the info is read at the same time. For example, Yale adopted a new review process to address the surge in applications. The new process provides a quick review to remove applications that wouldn't be competitive in the next round (incomplete application, no rigor, low GPA, insufficient English skills etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These essays are such a joke. My BIL wrote his daughter's (he won't admit it but it's obvious) and she got into a school she had no business going to. I have to assume this happens all the time. How do you expect a 17 year old to write anything meaningful? They're all told what "good" beliefs are, and haven't had the experiences that will lead them to anything authentic. And then they're told to avoid writing about genuinely meaningful experiences because they show privilege. For all the people saying "don't write about this"--well, that's probably what their experience is. So we're asking them to lie and second guess themselves. It's just nasty, like everything else in higher ed. Burn it all down and go back to admits on quantifiable, non-cheatable ability only.

+1.

My spouse was at one point reviewing the application essays for a big state school.
Their flowchart was roughly this:
1. Did they write anything? If no, 0.
2. Check if this person needs a wellness/mental health visit (danger to themselves or others). If so, flag it.
3. Do they say in the essay that they're a URM that overcame obstacles? If so, 3 points.
4. Else, give 2 points and move on.

So perhaps people are overthinking the importance of essays?

If it's a big state school with 50%+ acceptance rate, then yes I believe that. But I do think essays get reviewed at the private institutions, especially the highly selective ones. I know at several in the 30-60 range my kid got accepted and had "comments about their essay" in the acceptance letter, so yes the essays were actually read.

Same with my DD.

Also, DS is at Virginia Tech where the only things they look at are transcript, test scores if submitted, and their own short-answer questions. No recommendations, no common app essay. They were clear in info sessions that they read and strongly consider the short-answer questions. Given the huge number of apps, I would assume the file has to clear some minimum GPA/test score first to make it to readers but after that it's really the only other info they have.

It also seems to me that if a college puts the thought into creating supplemental essay questions, then they care about those and I'd expect them to be a lot more important than the more generic common app essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These essays are such a joke. My BIL wrote his daughter's (he won't admit it but it's obvious) and she got into a school she had no business going to. I have to assume this happens all the time. How do you expect a 17 year old to write anything meaningful? They're all told what "good" beliefs are, and haven't had the experiences that will lead them to anything authentic. And then they're told to avoid writing about genuinely meaningful experiences because they show privilege. For all the people saying "don't write about this"--well, that's probably what their experience is. So we're asking them to lie and second guess themselves. It's just nasty, like everything else in higher ed. Burn it all down and go back to admits on quantifiable, non-cheatable ability only.

+1.

My spouse was at one point reviewing the application essays for a big state school.
Their flowchart was roughly this:
1. Did they write anything? If no, 0.
2. Check if this person needs a wellness/mental health visit (danger to themselves or others). If so, flag it.
3. Do they say in the essay that they're a URM that overcame obstacles? If so, 3 points.
4. Else, give 2 points and move on.

So perhaps people are overthinking the importance of essays?

If it's a big state school with 50%+ acceptance rate, then yes I believe that. But I do think essays get reviewed at the private institutions, especially the highly selective ones. I know at several in the 30-60 range my kid got accepted and had "comments about their essay" in the acceptance letter, so yes the essays were actually read.

Same with my DD.

Also, DS is at Virginia Tech where the only things they look at are transcript, test scores if submitted, and their own short-answer questions. No recommendations, no common app essay. They were clear in info sessions that they read and strongly consider the short-answer questions. Given the huge number of apps, I would assume the file has to clear some minimum GPA/test score first to make it to readers but after that it's really the only other info they have.

It also seems to me that if a college puts the thought into creating supplemental essay questions, then they care about those and I'd expect them to be a lot more important than the more generic common app essay.

+1

I'm sure they don't spend long on the essays, but if you make the first round cut (gpa/sat/academic rigor) then someone defiantly "reads" the essays or at least peruses them. I suspect if the first paragraph captures their attention it all gets read, if it looks like a canned/not so exciting essay then they skim. Hence why everyone knows the first few sentences is important in the essays---you gotta make them want to complete reading it.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't it be funny if essays never get read but college AOs and the admissions counselor industry (which a lot of AO's 'graduate' into) got together and decided to create this myth about college essays? We are spinning our wheels thinking it matters and they just laugh about it! They could admit anyone and say they wrote an excellent essay. You and I have no way of knowing if that's the truth. What a great system!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These essays are such a joke. My BIL wrote his daughter's (he won't admit it but it's obvious) and she got into a school she had no business going to. I have to assume this happens all the time. How do you expect a 17 year old to write anything meaningful? They're all told what "good" beliefs are, and haven't had the experiences that will lead them to anything authentic. And then they're told to avoid writing about genuinely meaningful experiences because they show privilege. For all the people saying "don't write about this"--well, that's probably what their experience is. So we're asking them to lie and second guess themselves. It's just nasty, like everything else in higher ed. Burn it all down and go back to admits on quantifiable, non-cheatable ability only.

So agree with this. One popular college counselor strongly advocates NOT writing about any extra curriculars or activities, food, exotic travel, COVID. My 17 year old has mostly studied and done ECs for the past few years (and count in the pandemic). What else can he write about? Esp. as part of immigrant family with no 'grandparent' story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't it be funny if essays never get read but college AOs and the admissions counselor industry (which a lot of AO's 'graduate' into) got together and decided to create this myth about college essays? We are spinning our wheels thinking it matters and they just laugh about it! They could admit anyone and say they wrote an excellent essay. You and I have no way of knowing if that's the truth. What a great system!

Rich people can easily buy consultants and writers for the dumb essays.