Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

That's an ad. (PR hit.) NYTimes is not a college.

But it's pretty gross that these essays are thought to be among the best, and it's like "you can talk to my 500$/hr editor and tell her she did a great job." I wish they would get rid of essays altogether or have them as timed writing samples where you log into the school's website and complete it.

Former user of AN/sara.

Had outstanding results in 24/25. Used the editing services.
Learned so much on her Facebook group. Seriously so valuable to someone new to the process...

Now, if you’ve already done this a few times, it’s probably not that useful to you.

Last year my kid talked about their Jewish identity in their “diversity” supplemental essays. Did not mention Oct 7 specifically, but talked about heated HS discourse in light of ME geopolitical events and my kid’s unique viewpoints and EC/school contributions discussions to the topic w/very pointed anecdotes.

Got into 4 T20, waitlisted at another.

Be true to yourself. Get essays reviewed by a professional for tone though. Note it can be a minefield.

Note: several top schools are actively looking for more Jewish studies majors. My kid didn’t use that angle but knows others who did have been successful.

Do you want to attend a school that is anti-semitic? What’s the best way to ensure you don’t? Apply and make sure you indicate that you are Jewish. If you get in, great. If you don’t, it wasn’t the place for you.

Why would you want to hide it and possibly end up in an anti-semitic school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^didn’t tell him not to write about being Jewish.

PP again. And honestly, they can F all the way off. Who are they to say a kid shouldn’t write about something that’s meaningful to them, like their religion?

It didn’t make sense for Sara to tell kids not to talk about being Jewish. I can’t imagine a college taking issue with that.

The discrimination against jews is about the same as the discrimination against asians in college admissions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

Dean J basically said that this advice was ridiculous and not to listen to it. Sara H suggests admissions folks are anti semitic.

Wondering if any other Jewish families have thoughts for this year’s seniors on where things in admissions stand with including activities related to Jewish identity and/or writing about this in essays. We have a Jewish last name so an AO can already make assumptions but are on the fence about how much to include otherwise. For what it’s worth my current college student had Jewish teen programs on her activities list and wrote about it in her supplementals and had a lots of acceptances but that was a few years ago…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

Jews are ORM like Asians.

My understanding is that Sara H. thinks that it’s too risky because admissions officers may be anti-Jews.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. Why is it ok to have essays edited? Why do colleges permit this?

You do realize that editing is not the issue, right? Plenty of tools for that - grammarly, chatgpt, spellcheck, etc. (at different levels of help, of course). It's the idea - what to write about - is where help is more valuable and should be considered 'blasphemy'.

Editing isn’t just grammar and spelling. It’s ideas and concepts and organizations. And it’s cheating but colleges don’t care.

Shh, it's supposed to be a secret. Let's not forget that tests are "biased" but people paying thousands to have someone to "edit" their kid's essays, EC lists and honors is perfectly fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

Jews are ORM like Asians.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

You’re reading it wrong, Sara said not to write about Jewish identity and Dean J disagreed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. Why is it ok to have essays edited? Why do colleges permit this?

Same way they permit private counselors who steer and package kids; test prep; tutoring; travel sports ...

I would not put travel sports in the same bucket. That is a hobby or an EC. Most kids are not recruited so if you are putting travel sports in that bucket, you need to put band, MUN, Science Olympiad, etc in there too.

And no, my kids did not do travel sports.

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

What???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. Why is it ok to have essays edited? Why do colleges permit this?

You do realize that editing is not the issue, right? Plenty of tools for that - grammarly, chatgpt, spellcheck, etc. (at different levels of help, of course). It's the idea - what to write about - is where help is more valuable and should be considered 'blasphemy'.

Editing isn’t just grammar and spelling. It’s ideas and concepts and organizations. And it’s cheating but colleges don’t care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One other thing about her FB group that I like: they are good about kindly correcting misinformation, inaccuracy, and hysteria -- a quality missing in other groups (Paying for College 101, etc.)

Perhaps the ways of the group change from month to month since it’s by subscription, but it can have a cliquey, pack mentality at times.

Definitely agree, and I am very tired of one contributor in particular, but I appreciate that the information is always accurate.

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. Why is it ok to have essays edited? Why do colleges permit this?

You do realize that editing is not the issue, right? Plenty of tools for that - grammarly, chatgpt, spellcheck, etc. (at different levels of help, of course). It's the idea - what to write about - is where help is more valuable and should be considered 'blasphemy'.