I thought my kids' essays were decent but not amazing. One wrote about why she loves a particular movie and how one of its messages has impacted her. The other wrote how working at her first (and current) job has made her more confident/less shy.

For LORs, we did see one the summer before college that was written for my older daughter. It was good, not spectacular.

I expect that one of the letters for my younger daughter was very positive because my daughter has had this teacher two years in a row, and the teacher seems to really like her. But who really knows?

Essays may or may not be a factor influencing an admissions' decision. It is important to be sincere as well as to be careful regarding punctuation & grammar. Don't let an essay be a reason that you received a rejection.

Many colleges & universities have admissions blogs where admissions officers share some things that they seek in admissions essays.

Anonymous wrote:I knew I shouldn’t have read this thread because it was going to nauseate me. And it has.

Your kids didn’t get into college because of or in spite of their essays, and none of you - even those of you who claim to write stuff that the rest of us are reading - in an admissions expert so you don’t know squat regardless of what your profession is.

My kids’ essays were very average and were still very average after I edited them - substantially, for one or two of the kids. It made no difference. They all got into top ranked colleges because they had the goods that really matter.

You are rude and also wrong. Poster aren't saying an essay can compensate for poor stats. But an excellent essay can make the difference when the admissions officer only has a few seats to fill among a slew of qualified candidates. Some large universities don't care as much about essays, since they have large freshmen classes and not enough time to parse thousands of essays. Small selective colleges do take the time to read them because they don't have a lot of spots to fill and want to make sure they have the incoming class they want in terms of diversity of outlook.

So... you're a moron.

Anonymous wrote:I rewrote my kids, heavily. We took it to an essay consultant who said it was "fantastic" and "incredibly impressive" (thank you!). Paired with near perfect quant. scores, we felt good going into the admission season. It made no difference - was denied at all the elites.

Ugh. Why are you rewriting work that is supposed to be your kids'?

Anonymous wrote:I knew I shouldn’t have read this thread because it was going to nauseate me. And it has.

Your kids didn’t get into college because of or in spite of their essays, and none of you - even those of you who claim to write stuff that the rest of us are reading - in an admissions expert so you don’t know squat regardless of what your profession is.

My kids’ essays were very average and were still very average after I edited them - substantially, for one or two of the kids. It made no difference. They all got into top ranked colleges because they had the goods that really matter.

So, why did you cheat by "editing substantially" (eg write for them) if it didn't matter? This is so frustrating. Just let the kids do their own submission. Is it so hard? Feedback fine. Writing not so much.

Anonymous wrote:I knew I shouldn’t have read this thread because it was going to nauseate me. And it has.

Your kids didn’t get into college because of or in spite of their essays, and none of you - even those of you who claim to write stuff that the rest of us are reading - in an admissions expert so you don’t know squat regardless of what your profession is.

My kids’ essays were very average and were still very average after I edited them - substantially, for one or two of the kids. It made no difference. They all got into top ranked colleges because they had the goods that really matter.

Frankly, if you go by your own comments you don't know squat about why your kids were accepted since you are not an admissions expert nor the AO where your kids were accepted. At the end of the day your comments are just as subjective. BTW, if the essays did not matter why did you waste the time editing your kids essays? All they needed were the "goods" right? You knew that going in right so why bother?

That said, if two kids have similar stats, you honestly don't think the essays matter at all in choosing between the two on who may get admitted? That's just naïve. There is plenty of guidance on what AOs are looking for in an college application essay and what they are not looking for. I did not read any essays until the applications were submitted and a couple my kid wrote were much better than others as more time and thought went into them based on the recent discussions we have had about the process. It's not just how well the essay is written, but also what the essay is about. Most kids applying to top schools can write well, what they are presenting in their essay is just as if not more important.

Anonymous wrote:I rewrote my kids, heavily. We took it to an essay consultant who said it was "fantastic" and "incredibly impressive" (thank you!). Paired with near perfect quant. scores, we felt good going into the admission season. It made no difference - was denied at all the elites.

Did the essay consultant explain what made the writing "fantastic" and "incredibly impressive" ?

If yes, are you willing to sharethe comments ?

If no, then the essay consultant probably doesn't know his job as well as he should.

Thank you in advance.

I do know that there is no one formula for writing an effective college admissions essay, but certain qualities--such as authenticity and specific interests related to the specific college, etc.--do help.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Objectively for my DD. She wrote about being there for the Arab spring in Egypt and about barricades, shootings, crowds breaking in.
My friend's son, who was there too, choose to write about his love for video games.

Did your DD go to college some time ago, because my current college applicant was only 6 yo during the Arab Spring and can barely remember anything about where we lived, despite the frequent tire fires, protests and tear gas.

She is graduating this May. She remembers all of it. Her heart was broken to leave I her school, her friends behind. She was young but she is not an idiot.

Anonymous wrote:I knew I shouldn’t have read this thread because it was going to nauseate me. And it has.

Your kids didn’t get into college because of or in spite of their essays, and none of you - even those of you who claim to write stuff that the rest of us are reading - in an admissions expert so you don’t know squat regardless of what your profession is.

My kids’ essays were very average and were still very average after I edited them - substantially, for one or two of the kids. It made no difference. They all got into top ranked colleges because they had the goods that really matter.

I was agreeing with you until I got to your equally nauseating statement about your kids having “the goods.”