Sara Harberson-essay editing

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

^^^ Me again We were advised to "always report 4s" to Georgetown, UVA, BC, etc. HYPSM is not on my kid's list, so I don't know if we would be advised to report 4s there. (And yeah, I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway.)

[Anonymous]

I kind of get why she says to avoid being Jewish in essays. It’s the one group that’s wildly ORM at the Ivies. It’s just not broken out in demographic reports.

I’d probably write the essay anyway. But just know that you’re not bringing diversity to campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

^^^ Me again We were advised to "always report 4s" to Georgetown, UVA, BC, etc. HYPSM is not on my kid's list, so I don't know if we would be advised to report 4s there. (And yeah, I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway.)

Georgetown REQUIRES that you report ALL the scores. So if you did some shenanigans to avoid that... at least don't pretend to other parents on DCUM that they can do the same easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

^^^ Me again We were advised to "always report 4s" to Georgetown, UVA, BC, etc. HYPSM is not on my kid's list, so I don't know if we would be advised to report 4s there. (And yeah, I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway.)

Georgetown REQUIRES that you report ALL the scores. So if you did some shenanigans to avoid that... at least don't pretend to other parents on DCUM that they can do the same easily.

???? What am I pretending? I literally said " I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway." My child will report all their score there.

[Anonymous]

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

That is your perception.

But it is no justification for cheating.

Most of us have tried to raise kids with integrity.

[Anonymous]

Everyone can prepare for standardized tests for free (Khan Academy, library books) but somehow they are out of favor while essays that rich people pay for are still allowed. It’s a crazy system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

^^^ Me again We were advised to "always report 4s" to Georgetown, UVA, BC, etc. HYPSM is not on my kid's list, so I don't know if we would be advised to report 4s there. (And yeah, I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway.)

Question - should you report 4s if you also have 3s? My DC wasn’t planning on reporting any because they have 3s and 4s. I would report a couple 4s if this rest were 5s.

[Anonymous]

Admissions staff can tell a professionally edited essay within 2-3 sentences. It's a tough call, the kid can't submit a mess of an essay but I imagine that a little too much polish can be even worse.

[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.

That's an ad. (PR hit.) NYTimes is not a college.

[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.

That is the crux of the essay! Not the editing. Spellcheck, Quillbot and grammarly can do the editing/cleanup automatically. To me the editing is not the cheating part, it's the idea behind the essay and the help provided to get there.

[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.

Why do AOs pay attention to essays? You know they are bullshit affirmative action for the rich and connected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Dean J basically said that this advice was ridiculous and not to listen to it. Sara H suggests admissions folks are anti semitic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Dean J basically said that this advice was ridiculous and not to listen to it. Sara H suggests admissions folks are anti semitic.

To clarify, Dean J suggested Sara H’s take was ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised to read that her peers haven't heard of her. I feel like she's everywhere. I first heard of her on the YCBK podcast, saw her book everywhere, and caught her in that documentary that came out a couple of weeks ago. I forget the name of it, but it also had Dr. Kat Cohen.

She seems to give good advice -- the only way in which I differ is she says not to report AP scores of 4 in the application process to a very wide range of schools -- not just HYPSM, but even UVA. My feeling, and the local private counselor we are using (who is locally known, well-regarded, and familiar with our high school and what its graduates need to do/have/show for particular colleges), says to always report 4s. If they see on the transcript that you took the class and you *don't* report your score, they may infer that you did very poorly. Otherwise, I generally think her advice is good. (We are not doing the whole "soundbite" thing. I did read the book, though.)

^^^ Me again We were advised to "always report 4s" to Georgetown, UVA, BC, etc. HYPSM is not on my kid's list, so I don't know if we would be advised to report 4s there. (And yeah, I know you have to report all scores to Georgetown anyway.)

Georgetown REQUIRES that you report ALL the scores. So if you did some shenanigans to avoid that... at least don't pretend to other parents on DCUM that they can do the same easily.

Georgetown does not require students to report their AP scores. However, Georgetown regularly says at their info sessions that they like to see AP scores. As students cannot self-report AP scores to Georgetown, the only way to have AP scores considered by Georgetown is to order an official report which automatically includes all of them unless the student had their AP score removed from their account.