PSA: Don't write your essay about building huts in Africa!

[Anonymous]

Mundane topics written very well with a bit of humor are better than the tired trope of traumas, sports injuries and a grandparent death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Topic doesn’t matter for college essays. The content of the essay is what matters. A kid could write a very compelling essay about a very mundane topic.

I just posted about this. This is what I have heard.

The Costco essay that got that one girl into the Ivies is an example of that.

[Anonymous]

I truly think the essay is more untrustworthy than test scores or GPAs.

You have ZERO idea who actually wrote the essay. Our neighbor paid two college girls who attended the same university to write his. His parents joked about it.

[/b]With ChatGPT it is even crazier now!!! [b] Then you have the wealthy kids with private essay coaches that are giving coaching and doing endless draft revisions.

Add in the kids that use their 'fake traumas' to try to garner sympathy.

Let's do away with all this sh*t. Standardized test scores + GPA, and some confidential letters of rec from teachers. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I truly think the essay is more untrustworthy than test scores or GPAs.

You have ZERO idea who actually wrote the essay. Our neighbor paid two college girls who attended the same university to write his. His parents joked about it.

[/b]With ChatGPT it is even crazier now!!! [b] Then you have the wealthy kids with private essay coaches that are giving coaching and doing endless draft revisions.

Add in the kids that use their 'fake traumas' to try to garner sympathy.

Let's do away with all this sh*t. Standardized test scores + GPA, and some confidential letters of rec from teachers. Period.

+100

My kids' private now is doing most of the writing IN-CLASS to prevent cheating with ChatGPT and other tools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Ignore the essays at your peril unless you're absolutely sure to get in based on other criteria and you're not looking for merit aid.

I know my son was picked for a very selective program based on his essay. The instructions for that program actually said the essay of 1500 words was a very important consideration. If the college or uni tells you this, believe them. This was for the William & Mary International Relations joint degree programme with St Andrews. Only a handful of candidates are taken into this programme option every year.

I am also convinced that his other essays helped him get merit aid at other schools who might merely have given him an acceptance otherwise. One school specifically mentioned a point he'd made in his essay in the offer letter, so I know they not only read his essay, but that they appreciated it. They both gave him merit aid for all 4 years of undergrad (one tacked on an extra year, just in case).

Don't forget that you can tweak the personal statement even on the Common App. You copy and paste a version customized to one school, hit submit, then copy and paste another version customized to another school, and hit submit, etc. The Common App doesn't let you send off the same application to multiple colleges all at once (since they all ask for little extras that are different from each other)... so you might as well take advantage of that opportunity, if you believe you might need to stave off yield protection, or it's for a school that wants demonstrated interest, or you just want to express your deep motivation.

So what did he write about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I truly think the essay is more untrustworthy than test scores or GPAs.

You have ZERO idea who actually wrote the essay. Our neighbor paid two college girls who attended the same university to write his. His parents joked about it.

[/b]With ChatGPT it is even crazier now!!! Then you have the wealthy kids with private essay coaches that are giving coaching and doing endless draft revisions.

Add in the kids that use their 'fake traumas' to try to garner sympathy.

[b]Let's do away with all this sh*t. Standardized test scores + GPA, and some confidential letters of rec from teachers. Period.

+100 essays are irrelevant know with technology. They are the most subjective item/prone to manipulation/cheating in the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These private counselors often offer terrible advice.

Also, "how the pandemic affected me" can be a great topic if it's sincere, interesting, and sounds authentically like an 18yo.

99% likely aren’t that interesting…the pandemic literally affected everyone so I doubt the kid is writing anything that hasn’t been written about a 1000 times.

You know, it may seem that way until you meet a kid who isn't in the "1000 times" category. DC's college room mate had a single parent who was an essential worker. So this kid had to handle their online schooling as well as manage that of their much younger siblings while the parent was out risking their life at least 5x/week. Then the room mate, who attended a private school, had to continue with online schooling in fall 2020 as their younger siblings attended public and their schooling was virtual.

Yes, there are many kids in that category, but at top schools, they are not really that many and my guess is that essay stands out, especially when the academic record aligns with the writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Topic doesn’t matter for college essays. The content of the essay is what matters. A kid could write a very compelling essay about a very mundane topic.

I just posted about this. This is what I have heard.

The Costco essay that got that one girl into the Ivies is an example of that.

read the essay---yeah my really smart kid, who is more STEM than humanities focused, does not write like that naturally, I doubt many people do write like that, but if it comes across as natural (not written by a paid person), then it's amazing and is exactly the type of person the elite schools are looking for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These private counselors often offer terrible advice.

Also, "how the pandemic affected me" can be a great topic if it's sincere, interesting, and sounds authentically like an 18yo.

99% likely aren’t that interesting…the pandemic literally affected everyone so I doubt the kid is writing anything that hasn’t been written about a 1000 times.

You know, it may seem that way until you meet a kid who isn't in the "1000 times" category. DC's college room mate had a single parent who was an essential worker. So this kid had to handle their online schooling as well as manage that of their much younger siblings while the parent was out risking their life at least 5x/week. Then the room mate, who attended a private school, had to continue with online schooling in fall 2020 as their younger siblings attended public and their schooling was virtual.

Yes, there are many kids in that category, but at top schools, they are not really that many and my guess is that essay stands out, especially when the academic record aligns with the writing.

YUP! If the roommate personalize it and was genuine, that is an amazing topic to write about---they had to be a parent in a challenging time, all while managing online school themselves. That is unusual for a T25 applicant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mundane topics written very well with a bit of humor are better than the tired trope of traumas, sports injuries and a grandparent death.

I agree. My son is excellent at writing exactly that mundane topics with subtle humor or sarcasm.

I can’t imagine writing about a sports injury. Boring. It’s like writing about your strep throat in the 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These private counselors often offer terrible advice.

Also, "how the pandemic affected me" can be a great topic if it's sincere, interesting, and sounds authentically like an 18yo.

99% likely aren’t that interesting…the pandemic literally affected everyone so I doubt the kid is writing anything that hasn’t been written about a 1000 times.

You know, it may seem that way until you meet a kid who isn't in the "1000 times" category. DC's college room mate had a single parent who was an essential worker. So this kid had to handle their online schooling as well as manage that of their much younger siblings while the parent was out risking their life at least 5x/week. Then the room mate, who attended a private school, had to continue with online schooling in fall 2020 as their younger siblings attended public and their schooling was virtual.

Yes, there are many kids in that category, but at top schools, they are not really that many and my guess is that essay stands out, especially when the academic record aligns with the writing.

YUP! If the roommate personalize it and was genuine, that is an amazing topic to write about---they had to be a parent in a challenging time, all while managing online school themselves. That is unusual for a T25 applicant

PP never mentioned a T25 school. Hey, have your kid write about Covid…but even the essays by kids with real trauma number in the thousands. There is value to your essay reflecting a unique topic. Like others said, it can be mundane…however if you are the only kid writing about the joys of watching paint dry or a kettle boil, then it makes an AO want to pay attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be so quick to blame his rejections on his essay. Give us GPA and SAT scores and what schools he applied to.

+1. Give us the stats OP. Then we'll decide if the essay topic is a bad choice.

[Anonymous]

I do agree with OP that poverty tourism is a particularly bad topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These private counselors often offer terrible advice.

Also, "how the pandemic affected me" can be a great topic if it's sincere, interesting, and sounds authentically like an 18yo.

99% likely aren’t that interesting…the pandemic literally affected everyone so I doubt the kid is writing anything that hasn’t been written about a 1000 times.

You know, it may seem that way until you meet a kid who isn't in the "1000 times" category. DC's college room mate had a single parent who was an essential worker. So this kid had to handle their online schooling as well as manage that of their much younger siblings while the parent was out risking their life at least 5x/week. Then the room mate, who attended a private school, had to continue with online schooling in fall 2020 as their younger siblings attended public and their schooling was virtual.

Yes, there are many kids in that category, but at top schools, they are not really that many and my guess is that essay stands out, especially when the academic record aligns with the writing.

YUP! If the roommate personalize it and was genuine, that is an amazing topic to write about---they had to be a parent in a challenging time, all while managing online school themselves. That is unusual for a T25 applicant

PP never mentioned a T25 school. Hey, have your kid write about Covid…but even the essays by kids with real trauma number in the thousands. There is value to your essay reflecting a unique topic. Like others said, it can be mundane…however if you are the only kid writing about the joys of watching paint dry or a kettle boil, then it makes an AO want to pay attention.

I didn’t mention but yes it is. IDK what the kid wrote about for their essay. My point was that the kids with parents who were essential workers and the older kids having to parent all day b/c the publics were on line while their school was in person is really a much smaller subset of applicants at competitive schools.

[Anonymous]

My niece is applying and won’t be writing about a significant and involved medical problem she faced the last two years of hs (which has had huge impact on her life and record) because it’s one of the no-go topics but it does seem sort of messed up. It’s much more relevant to understanding her than “the story of how I became a more confident quiz bowl team member” or whatever.