Essay editors/coaches
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Anonymous
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How many did you end up hiring? Were any of them good?
Did they get rid of your kids voice? How involved were you? Time to be honest… |
Anonymous
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Why? Did you hire too many?
I hired 2. The cheaper one who is younger and recently out of an Ivy is much much better than the expensive brand-name one. After mid-October, I became very, very very very involved. |
Anonymous
| None. Kid had help from his English teacher and allowed us to edit for grammer. The rest was 100% his voice. |
Anonymous
That actually sounds like a lot wasn’t his voice. |
Anonymous
NP. No it doesn't. |
Anonymous
| Just one - from Prep Matters in Bethesda- She kept my kids voice and helped them stay organized. Met weekly and finished essays by mid august. Highly recommend. I wasn't involved other than hiring the essay coach. |
Anonymous
| One and she was awesome. Mostly to help think about ideas and keep them on a timeline. It was absolutely their voice. |
Anonymous
| None, DD was able to write her own essay. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
His ideas, his thoughts, his experiences. Those who provided help did so from the perspective of did he spell words correctly? Is the grammar as it should be? Spelling and grammar are NOT related to voice, they are related to "language laws" and are a uniform experience for written words. |
Anonymous
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I did not hire any consultants. I watched advice videos and DH did not. I made DC watch the best part of the best video and made him read online advice articles. And I had DC read a fiction book that had a college consultant and essay as key to the plot (though DC didn't finish it so wasted that effort). DC also reads some of my magazines so I encouraged DC to reflect on how writers for those magazines create hooks and show their voice.
Going through the process as a parent, I realized that my child's writing is much less proficient than his public speaking. It took him way too long to complete his essays. DH and I did read them and explained our reactions to the material and the points made. My husband and I disagreed over style (should DC "tell a story" or "get to the point"). My DC agreed with me because he had watched the advice videos. DH got grumpy and opted out of further reviewing. DH and I gave comments on punctuation (hyphens, dashes, commas) and capitalization. Obviously, at times there can be differences of opinion. So we left it to DC to decide. We struck through lines that were redundant or weren't value added without offering any rewrites. I think this is less than a consultant would do but don't know personally. In the end, it was clearly DC's voice. I could visualize how an adult would pull out the stops on similar subject matter to self-promote. It wasn't there. The essays were low stakes for all schools except most desired school where I expect they would have some impact positive or negative. DC hasn't written essays for his "Hey, why not, 5% chance Ivy". He may not end up applying there because it's too much of a reach and is $200K more. He never developed any amazing hook or insight that would make his essays extremely memorable. But I think they reflect he is a good, solid, caring club member who is a contributor. Looking back, what I would do different... I will insist that DC2 creates essay drafts in August instead of October. I had considered spending $300 for an asynchronous online college admissions essay writing class (not 1:1 consulting) targeted at home schoolers with course notes, videos, and evaluated assignments moderated by an English teacher. I may do this next time, just to avoid kid procrastination getting on my nerves. I don't like the idea of using essay consultants but somehow just getting extra teaching and impartial commentary from a teacher type sounds to me like it could help my kid learn to write better while avoiding familial controversy over choice of topic, whether to tell a story, etc. I have read that some high schools include college admissions essay writing as a unit in English class . To my mind an external class would be similar. If this came across as too rambling for your interest, then let me say that DC takes after me....and that is part of what he needed to overcome... |
Anonymous
| Just me and English teacher. Neither interfered with voice. Mostly gave feedback on what didn't work: expand here, be more specific there, finish that thought, what's with the 1 sentence paragraphs? Also, to say "this sounds cheesy " or "this is really generic." I also helped with brainstorming. |
Anonymous
| No wonder we get posts on here from college professors saying that their students don't know how to write. |
Anonymous
| I wrote my older son’s essays with the results being admission into an engineering program with a ton of merit aid. I am purposely not even editing my younger son’s essays because I don’t want him getting into a private school far away. I’d rather he attend a public university close to home what with the unrest that is sure to happen next election year. I guess you could say I’m sabotaging his chances, but he hasn’t even asked me for help. That’s how clueless some boys are about the college process. Their gender also suffers from a surfeit of confidence. |
Anonymous
I work in an area that is writing-dominated. We have an entire team that helps with editing. We are all good writers, but our end product needs to be error-free. My son's college classes include peer reviews and edits. It's a natural part of the writing process. Same for college essays. Having someone provide feed does not hinder the ability to write. |