I also saw the suggestion for less polished and perfect essays (which may strategically lack of Oxford commas and semicolon use common with grammarly) suggestion by some college essay editors on the r/collegeessays subreddit.

It’s definitely out there.

Anonymous wrote:I think OP’s post is a psy-op to derail the competition ….

+1 Terrible advice.

Admittedly post today on IG and his recent podcast supports #1.

I think OP’s post is a psy-op to derail the competition ….

Anonymous wrote:I - and our college office at a tt nyc private - would disagree with pretty much everything in your OP. First off, full pay has ALWAYS mattered and no one wants to read about your privilege. Inserting errors in a person statement does not show you didn't use AI - it just means you didn't care enough to edit or proofread - what shows you didn't use AI is letting your individuality and voice come through. And pre-professional kids are a dime a dozen - every single elite school needs humanities or other majors who are not on a pre-professional path. They need the English and Philosophy majors, the Undecided, etc. Now more than ever, they need kids who are not Econ, Pre-Med, Engineering, or CS.

+1, Science majors are incredibly expensive. All it costs for a humanities classroom is the professors salary, occasionally replacing chalk, and if the college is very generous, books. The boom in Computer Scinece, Hard sciences, and engineering is costing these schools a ton of money.

Anonymous wrote:The things I’ve learned:

- full pay matters now. Show privilege in your EC, parent professions and hints in essays. Won’t hurt this year per counselor, if done tastefully.

Show, no tell.

Anonymous wrote:The things I’ve learned:
- a lot of essays have shifted from diversity/community, to future plans/ambitions (see Michigan). It is increasingly more important at top universities for kids to know what they want to study and have drive an ambition in a clear area. Make sure the career plan section states something aspirational that can provide a framework for the entire common app so they can understand your candidacy and trajectory.

Many are not prepared for this. Too late to develop ECs for a career plan.

Anonymous wrote:The things I’ve learned:
- with AI, admissions readers are wary of perfectly polished essays. Make sure there’s a few grammatical errors and it does not read too smoothly. Do not use Grammarly.

Just horrible advice.

Ridiculous advice about inserting grammatical errors on purpose 😆

Anonymous wrote:I - and our college office at a tt nyc private - would disagree with pretty much everything in your OP. First off, full pay has ALWAYS mattered and no one wants to read about your privilege. Inserting errors in a person statement does not show you didn't use AI - it just means you didn't care enough to edit or proofread - what shows you didn't use AI is letting your individuality and voice come through. And pre-professional kids are a dime a dozen - every single elite school needs humanities or other majors who are not on a pre-professional path. They need the English and Philosophy majors, the Undecided, etc. Now more than ever, they need kids who are not Econ, Pre-Med, Engineering, or CS.

Ya, I was pretty shocked that OP said don't use Grammarly, haha. Checking and editing your writing before submission is an absolute must. Spelling errors in a college essay will NOT do the student any favors. Would you judge someone with a resume with spelling errors? Of course you would.

Anonymous wrote:The things I’ve learned:

- full pay matters now. Show privilege in your EC, parent professions and hints in essays. Won’t hurt this year per counselor, if done tastefully.

- with AI, admissions readers are wary of perfectly polished essays. Make sure there’s a few grammatical errors and it does not read too smoothly. Do not use Grammarly.

- a lot of essays have shifted from diversity/community, to future plans/ambitions (see Michigan). It is increasingly more important at top universities for kids to know what they want to study and have drive an ambition in a clear area. Make sure the career plan section states something aspirational that can provide a framework for the entire common app so they can understand your candidacy and trajectory.

- Addtl Info: with the newly revised version there are new strategic ways to use this section. Have read on Reddit that some counselors are suggesting to customize that section for different colleges like UVA, which do not have a supplemental essay?

What have you read/heard?

Oh really. Show how clear it is.

- Not a single counselor this year would say test score is not important, even for TO schools.

I - and our college office at a tt nyc private - would disagree with pretty much everything in your OP. First off, full pay has ALWAYS mattered and no one wants to read about your privilege. Inserting errors in a person statement does not show you didn't use AI - it just means you didn't care enough to edit or proofread - what shows you didn't use AI is letting your individuality and voice come through. And pre-professional kids are a dime a dozen - every single elite school needs humanities or other majors who are not on a pre-professional path. They need the English and Philosophy majors, the Undecided, etc. Now more than ever, they need kids who are not Econ, Pre-Med, Engineering, or CS.

I’ll add that if you’re applying to top LACs, the first point is the opposite of what’s going on. LACs are back to tax exempt and will shell out the funds to improve campus diversity. DD is already reporting that the freshman class at her college is much more diverse than class of ‘28. Recruitment has increased a ton.

Things I've learned: There are half a dozen tips and lessons learned threads already, but someone will always think they have information that no one has ever seen before and start another.

We’re full pay, but neither our professions nor ECs nor zip code indicate. Should I have my kid replace all the S’s in her essay with $’s?

The things I’ve learned:

- full pay matters now. Show privilege in your EC, parent professions and hints in essays. Won’t hurt this year per counselor, if done tastefully.

- with AI, admissions readers are wary of perfectly polished essays. Make sure there’s a few grammatical errors and it does not read too smoothly. Do not use Grammarly.

- a lot of essays have shifted from diversity/community, to future plans/ambitions (see Michigan). It is increasingly more important at top universities for kids to know what they want to study and have drive an ambition in a clear area. Make sure the career plan section states something aspirational that can provide a framework for the entire common app so they can understand your candidacy and trajectory.

- Addtl Info: with the newly revised version there are new strategic ways to use this section. Have read on Reddit that some counselors are suggesting to customize that section for different colleges like UVA, which do not have a supplemental essay?

What have you read/heard?