Essay editors/coaches

[Anonymous]

None. Kid was overseas senior year, wrote essays in google docs and asked for feedback, which I gave and she could consider. Essays were all hers, I questioned some of her choices but she generally stuck to her own plan. Currently junior at HYP.

[Anonymous]

My ds did his, and I edited it just for grammar, etc, but I also paid $99 for a college vine “expert” to give us feedback. I figured we could take it or leave it.

I was surprised at how good the feedback was. It was line by line of “ have you thought of this” as well as some overall tips. Ds then just incorporated the major suggestions, none of which were pre-written for him.

I was worth the $100 in my opinion but probably would have been fine without it too.

[Anonymous]

ChatGPT for content ideas and grammar/flow check (Ask kid to re-write to make sure their voice remains intact). Kids are good at rejecting changes that they think doesn't sound like them. Don't waste money on a coach. The one we tried was way less useful than us/ChatGPT.

[Anonymous]

ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

If you're letting your kid use ChatGPT to write for them you don't really need to bother with college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

Do you enter the whole essay and say “reword and simplify, thinking about word choice and varied sentence structure”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

Do you enter the whole essay and say “reword and simplify, thinking about word choice and varied sentence structure”?

"edit for grammar and flow"

[Anonymous]

"I had DC read a fiction book that had a college consultant and essay as key to the plot"

What's the novel called?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Wow. Your son is going to be a land mine for an unsuspecting young lady some day in the near future.

I would suggest counseling- for you and for him now to get at the root of your wish to be his master and his willingness to be your puppet (if this post is even real).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

Do you enter the whole essay and say “reword and simplify, thinking about word choice and varied sentence structure”?

"Create falsified representation of my student's writing ability and make sure that my student believes they will not be penalized if they attempt the same thing in a college writing course."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I had DC read a fiction book that had a college consultant and essay as key to the plot"

What's the novel called?

Not the previous poster, but perhaps "Early Decision" by Lacy Crawford.

[Anonymous]

Great writing is a very very difficult thing to do well. It's also subjective in terms of consideration. It truly is.

The basics are grammar and rules of writing but having a voice is really about your passion for the subject. That's always going to drive how well the piece is received. That has to do with someone's style, thinking, personality. You can't really teach that. You can make it clearer and I don't think there's anything wrong in that at all.

Somr people may write better than others and a tutor to help this process is no different than a coach offering personal training extra work.

To those who say they would never offer it to their kids means they either think their kids are perfect writers, so good they don't need help if they don't want to provide extra help. Both are totally cool. But to suggest another family who feels their kid needs help and shouldn't receive it is really unfair. Everyone may need help in something and writing essays for college entry is a pretty big deal.

How much help your kid needs is more important question and while all can benefit from help OP, your question can only be answered if you talk about what help you're looking for. A HS teacher can help a great deal as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

If you're letting your kid use ChatGPT to write for them you don't really need to bother with college.

At a Rice info session in Nov, the presenter said it was expected people would help with essays, and referenced teachers, parents and ChatGPT as all being expected and fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great writing is a very very difficult thing to do well. It's also subjective in terms of consideration. It truly is.

The basics are grammar and rules of writing but having a voice is really about your passion for the subject. That's always going to drive how well the piece is received. That has to do with someone's style, thinking, personality. You can't really teach that. You can make it clearer and I don't think there's anything wrong in that at all.

Somr people may write better than others and a tutor to help this process is no different than a coach offering personal training extra work.

To those who say they would never offer it to their kids means they either think their kids are perfect writers, so good they don't need help if they don't want to provide extra help. Both are totally cool. But to suggest another family who feels their kid needs help and shouldn't receive it is really unfair. Everyone may need help in something and writing essays for college entry is a pretty big deal.

How much help your kid needs is more important question and while all can benefit from help OP, your question can only be answered if you talk about what help you're looking for. A HS teacher can help a great deal as well.

Great response. I 💯 agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ChatGPT is perfect for this. I wouldn't spend a penny.

If you're letting your kid use ChatGPT to write for them you don't really need to bother with college.

At a Rice info session in Nov, the presenter said it was expected people would help with essays, and referenced teachers, parents and ChatGPT as all being expected and fine.

Really?!? Wow. Makes me rethink some RD essays