Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:55
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.
Silly tricks won't paper over her inability to write concisely as directed.
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:54
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Well, I’m a harvard law grad and a college consultant. Try again. It’s sloppy
How about missing end of sentence punctuation? How does that look 😆
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:54
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Well, I’m a harvard law grad and a college consultant. Try again. It’s sloppy
Not interested in an opinion from a sloppy writer like you.
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:53
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Well, I’m a harvard law grad and a college consultant. Try again. It’s sloppy
+1. Also my DD applied T Oxford successfully twice for an MOhil and DPhil. And then got into Harvard law. There were no hyphens in her essays. No, I wasn’t t involved. We hired a professional to coach
Who did you hire to get her through law school? And to coach her through her first job after law school?
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:52
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Em dashes are an affectation that make essay look bad, regardless of AI.
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:35
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Well, I’m a harvard law grad and a college consultant. Try again. It’s sloppy
+1. Also my DD applied T Oxford successfully twice for an MOhil and DPhil. And then got into Harvard law. There were no hyphens in her essays. No, I wasn’t t involved. We hired a professional to coach
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:32
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Well, I’m a harvard law grad and a college consultant. Try again. It’s sloppy
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:30
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Not sure where you get your info. People use em dashes in papers and in published scholarly writing all the time. I have absolutely no problem with them.
-college professor in the humanities
Anonymous
12/27/2025 21:12
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
to OP. You know the answer. It’s sloppy. Talk to your high school counselor. They will tell her to cut it out and use proper pronunciation. Do you think her future professors in college want to see that in a paper? No they do not
Anonymous
12/27/2025 20:58
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
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Disagree.
- Former president of Harvard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.
Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.
Contractions make an essay more casual - which is what AO want.
- Former T20 reader
Agreed.
- Former T50 reader
Ditto!
- Former T5 Reader
Definitely
- Former T1 reader
Disagree.
- Former president of Harvard
Anonymous
12/27/2025 19:53
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.
Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.
Contractions make an essay more casual - which is what AO want.
- Former T20 reader
Agreed.
- Former T50 reader
Ditto!
- Former T5 Reader
Definitely
- Former T1 reader
Anonymous
12/27/2025 19:52
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.
Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.
Contractions make an essay more casual - which is what AO want.
- Former T20 reader
Agreed.
- Former T50 reader
Ditto!
- Former T5 Reader
Anonymous
12/27/2025 19:42
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Lots of alleged professional writers chiming in to champion poor writing.
Another example of enshittification?
Another example of enshittification?
Anonymous
12/27/2025 19:09
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.
Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.
Contractions make an essay more casual - which is what AO want.
- Former T20 reader
Agreed.
- Former T50 reader
Anonymous
12/27/2025 19:05
Subject: Will em dashes doom my child's applications?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Is the comma necessary?Anonymous wrote:I am a professional writer and I like them, too.
Is it necessary? No. Does it work well there? Yes.
-- professional writer, but not the PP
It's now writer's choice when it comes to a comma before "too."