Writopia vs College Essay Guy

[Anonymous]

Looking ahead for my DD - I'd like her to do one of these classes over the summer. Any experience with either?

Is anyone familiar with Gaithersburg Book Festival? I know in years past, Writopia always had a workshop for college essays and I was hoping to have my DD do it as a way to test them out but I'm not seeing that on the master schedule this year. Am I missing it?

[Anonymous]

College essay guy is stronger.

[Anonymous]

Just have AI write it and then humanize it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just have AI write it and then humanize it.

not a helpful response

[Anonymous]

CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

This is true. A lot of these services actually have been commoditized.

Your best bet is to find an individual college essay writer - not one of these formulas. Which are boring.

Read all of the sample essays on college essay guys website. They suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

Of course. He's using AI. Which you can do on your own for free (or $20/month if you use GPT-4, which is recommended). The important part is editing what is produced to make it your voice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

This is true. A lot of these services actually have been commoditized.

Your best bet is to find an individual college essay writer - not one of these formulas. Which are boring.

Read all of the sample essays on college essay guys website. They suck.

Just read a few of them. They don’t “suck” at all; college app essays aren’t expected to be the kind of piece that will get published in the New Yorker. I might steer clear of some of the topics represented there (dead/dying grandparent is done a lot), but none of them sucked.

I’ve worked in this industry (editing app personal statements) and I’ll write more later about how you can DIY this with your own kid. Probably won’t get to it until tomorrow though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just have AI write it and then humanize it.

not a helpful response

Sure, don't leverage the latest technology to make the process easier and give yourself an advantage. While you're at it, you should type up your college essay on a manual typewriter like Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote.

[Anonymous]

I think your child can do a better job on her own, with the eyes of a couple of trusted friends or teachers.

I also work in this space and it breaks my heart to see people overpaying for this. It really needs to be their words. Not AI. Not the College Essay Guy. Their own ... just a little bit better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

This is true. A lot of these services actually have been commoditized.

Your best bet is to find an individual college essay writer - not one of these formulas. Which are boring.

Read all of the sample essays on college essay guys website. They suck.

Just read a few of them. They don’t “suck” at all; college app essays aren’t expected to be the kind of piece that will get published in the New Yorker. I might steer clear of some of the topics represented there (dead/dying grandparent is done a lot), but none of them sucked.

I’ve worked in this industry (editing app personal statements) and I’ll write more later about how you can DIY this with your own kid. Probably won’t get to it until tomorrow though.

Please do!! I’m interested.
Thx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

This is true. A lot of these services actually have been commoditized.

Your best bet is to find an individual college essay writer - not one of these formulas. Which are boring.

Read all of the sample essays on college essay guys website. They suck.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

Of course. He's using AI. Which you can do on your own for free (or $20/month if you use GPT-4, which is recommended). The important part is editing what is produced to make it your voice.

How about just writing it yourself? Editing AI is not your writing because you tweaked a few words. Some say to use AI for brainstorming. I say, use someone who knows you well and get them to brainstorm with you. Make it a dialogue. You'll find something. Then work on organizing those ideas.

Both my kids did this. Both at T10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CEG is producing formulaic essays. Listen to the YCBK podcast with Lee Coffin and his thinly veiled reference to this.

Of course. He's using AI. Which you can do on your own for free (or $20/month if you use GPT-4, which is recommended). The important part is editing what is produced to make it your voice.

How about just writing it yourself? Editing AI is not your writing because you tweaked a few words. Some say to use AI for brainstorming. I say, use someone who knows you well and get them to brainstorm with you. Make it a dialogue. You'll find something. Then work on organizing those ideas.

Both my kids did this. Both at T10.

AI can help with that too.

[Anonymous]

Writopia's college essay spring and summer schedule is up. You can see their sample essays in their book (E-reader on Amazon) and they are amazing!