Sara Harberson-essay editing

[Anonymous]

Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

Our college counselor thinks editing is unethical. He initially talks to DC about what DC thinks is a good subject for an essay. The College Counselor might say - what about this angle? They bounce ideas. The counselor never writes the essay or edit it.

[Anonymous]

So many people have others shape, write and edit their essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

Our college counselor thinks editing is unethical. He initially talks to DC about what DC thinks is a good subject for an essay. The College Counselor might say - what about this angle? They bounce ideas. The counselor never writes the essay or edit it.

I agree there is a line that should not be crossed in providing feedback and edits to a student on essays. Sara H strikes me as ethical and not willing to cross the line. I never saw her edits back to the students, but I don’t think she was rewriting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

Sorry, I'm another poster who HAS been paying attention and has never heard of her. Just read a compendium of successful essays, and you'll see that your kid needd a Proust's madeleine moment: an event (major or minor) that will trigger a thoughtful introspection and delineate who that student is and how well they can think. The best essays are personal and mature.

Are you the Sara in question, perhaps? You're doing a bad job of advertising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

Sorry, I'm another poster who HAS been paying attention and has never heard of her. Just read a compendium of successful essays, and you'll see that your kid needd a Proust's madeleine moment: an event (major or minor) that will trigger a thoughtful introspection and delineate who that student is and how well they can think. The best essays are personal and mature.

Are you the Sara in question, perhaps? You're doing a bad job of advertising.

Nope—just a parent that joined her Facebook group. My kid is going to an Ivy, so I guess their essays were adequate (although, not edited by Sara).

[Anonymous]

She does a lot of self-promotion on Facebook, so parents thinks she’s a big deal.

She is not well known by her peers.

[Anonymous]

I’m not on Facebook so that’s likely why I’ve not heard of her.

An essay alone won’t make it break a kid getting into school.

For Ivy parent above, their kid is probably an athlete or legacy. The essay alone only did so much. My friend’s kid attended a fancy boarding school that sent 4-5 to Princeton. All legacy or athletes.

If your kid is not ALDC and got into an Ivy, congratulations! 🎉

[Anonymous]

UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

[Anonymous]

^didn’t tell him not to write about being Jewish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^didn’t tell him not to write about being Jewish.

PP again. And honestly, they can F all the way off. Who are they to say a kid shouldn’t write about something that’s meaningful to them, like their religion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^didn’t tell him not to write about being Jewish.

PP again. And honestly, they can F all the way off. Who are they to say a kid shouldn’t write about something that’s meaningful to them, like their religion?

It didn’t make sense for Sara to tell kids not to talk about being Jewish. I can’t imagine a college taking issue with that.