Common App Essay Help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I agree.

But Sara Harberson is so against it. Trying to understand her take.

I would also appreciate any feedback from families who have used her essay editing services. So many families are posting their essay ideas on the Facebook page and they all read like AI (or very adult/formal), and the topics she has approved are kind of cringey --- just trying to understand all this as my DC is working through their drafts.

I am an IEC working with a student whose parents paid for a SH workup. I also thought the essay suggestions were a bit overstated and cringey. So much so, I asked the student if they had any part in it (because none of it sounded like them), and they were like I had nothing to do with that. I also thought that the "soundbite" was more of an abstract. It had a piece of all aspects of the student rather than cultivating an angle. Felt pretty AI or survey level writing class. I don't want to know what this family paid for that (especially since I am a fraction of the price). The whole big dollar elitism really gets to me. Top tier admissions are not just for the wealthy.

Maybe kid did use ai

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they change the prompts this year?

They very rarely do. The prompts don't matter -- they are so broadly written that a kid could truly make any topic fit. Plus, the last prompt gives them free rein to write about whatever they want!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I agree.

But Sara Harberson is so against it. Trying to understand her take.

I would also appreciate any feedback from families who have used her essay editing services. So many families are posting their essay ideas on the Facebook page and they all read like AI (or very adult/formal), and the topics she has approved are kind of cringey --- just trying to understand all this as my DC is working through their drafts.

I am an IEC working with a student whose parents paid for a SH workup. I also thought the essay suggestions were a bit overstated and cringey. So much so, I asked the student if they had any part in it (because none of it sounded like them), and they were like I had nothing to do with that. I also thought that the "soundbite" was more of an abstract. It had a piece of all aspects of the student rather than cultivating an angle. Felt pretty AI or survey level writing class. I don't want to know what this family paid for that (especially since I am a fraction of the price). The whole big dollar elitism really gets to me. Top tier admissions are not just for the wealthy.

How well do you know this student and do you have any direct experience working in college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I agree.

But Sara Harberson is so against it. Trying to understand her take.

I would also appreciate any feedback from families who have used her essay editing services. So many families are posting their essay ideas on the Facebook page and they all read like AI (or very adult/formal), and the topics she has approved are kind of cringey --- just trying to understand all this as my DC is working through their drafts.

I am an IEC working with a student whose parents paid for a SH workup. I also thought the essay suggestions were a bit overstated and cringey. So much so, I asked the student if they had any part in it (because none of it sounded like them), and they were like I had nothing to do with that. I also thought that the "soundbite" was more of an abstract. It had a piece of all aspects of the student rather than cultivating an angle. Felt pretty AI or survey level writing class. I don't want to know what this family paid for that (especially since I am a fraction of the price). The whole big dollar elitism really gets to me. Top tier admissions are not just for the wealthy.

Curious about the kid with the Soundbite. Was it a male? The Soundbite isn’t for actually writing anything….

I do think SH does use AI and has for some time in her 1-on-1 “summaries”. But I didn’t think her final edited essays sounded robotic. If anything they are almost too flowery for a male. Each AN product is $1000 ( the 1-on-1; the edited common app essay; a set of supplementals for a 1 school; etc).

However, the formula isn’t all bad. And can be mimicked easily. There’s a reason SH has had great success at places like UVA, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown….where character and kindness are important in the holistic review process. She stresses those types of traits in common app essays over intellectual vitality (like Admitium).