Reply to When you say your child's essays were amazing - objectively, how do you know that?

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[quote=Anonymous]I worked at a top-20 university as a speechwriter and one Fall, we asked admissions for copies of their best essays to find some inspiration and possible quotes.

They sent a handful, including one I'd read verbatim. This was a gazillion years ago in the time of email forwards, and there had been one about a winning college essay that was full of embellished superlatives ("I've scaled walls," and "I've delivered babies in a tent in the frozen tundra,") and the last line is "But, I haven't yet gone to college." I was shocked, only because I think anyone would have forwarded that email to an admissions counselor, so how did they not know it was blatantly plagiarized. (But, I suppose this one didn't have any friends.) I located it online in 2 minutes, and my boss and I had a meeting to determine if we should report it. We eventually did because we were bound by the honor code, and later found out that the student started the school on probation.

I was 25 at the time and honestly the essays made me exhausted and a bit sad. The kids had done more than I had at that age.

My DC wrote a heartfelt one that was more about DC's personality and growth, which I found refreshing. It was quiet and got them admitted to top choice. [/quote]

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