<p>Ok, a friend of mine is not a particularly good writer and he wants to know if there are any reliable services that will write your admissions essays for you....He's applying to top tier schools and he wants to make a good impression. Please don't give me the cliche of " Well if his grades are good enough it shouldn't matter...." This guy has helped me out a lot and I want to repay the favor.</p>
<p>How about the cliche of "This would be unethical"?</p>
<p>I honestly wouldn't recommend having someone write the essay for him. If he needs help improving his writing or having someone proofread his essays, there're always friends and English teachers. Also, not being a capable writer at a competitive, difficult school will NOT be a positive experience. It'd be better to work on that now than to get to college and flounder or feel inadequate. The best way you could repay him would to be to help him help himself, not have somebody do work for him and leave him crippled.</p>
<p>I tried helping, trust me. He wants a pro, says he's willing to pay any price. I don't know what to tell him. He doesn't think it's unethical and it's pretty difficult to argue with his logic: "It's my past. It's what I've been through. I'm not asking anyone to lie. I'm just asking for them to put my experiences together more eloquently than I can."</p>
<p>The ethical judgement of both you and your friend amazes me. I guess that's what you get from today's public secular education system. But, then again, I suppose your screenname says it all; OR, you are just pulling our leg with that question.</p>
<p>If you are not yanking our leg, then you need a reality check.</p>
<p>BTW, the admisisions essays are not merely biographies, they are mostly writing samples that exhibit some important aspect of one's life.</p>
<p>Good grief.</p>
<p>He may not be asking anyone to lie (just to engage in an unethical business). But he would be lying himself, since one certifies to colleges that the essays are one's own work. Having someone write an essay for you is no different than asking someone to take the SAT for you. Colleges aren't just interested in one's life experiences; they can get that in interviews. They want to see one's writing ability.</p>
<p>If he can't write well enough to get into a particular college, then he would have difficulty at that college. Or is he expecting to purchase his papers in college, too? There are colleges that do not require essays for admission BTW, and plenty of places that take kids that don't write very well (if one judges by the complaints of college professors).</p>
<p>Also, one reason for adding the writing tests to the SAT and the ACT is to have a comparison to admission's essays. If someone can't put two sentences together, a school will discount a brilliant essay -- particularly, if the recommendations for the applicant also fail to note much in the way of writing ability. So not only would this approach be wrong, it very well could backfire. Admissions committees try to be on the lookout for things that don't add up.</p>
<p>Asking someone to proofread a draft or make suggestions is perfectly fine. But to write it -- no.</p>
<p>One final note, even if he can put the ethical question to one side and can fool admissions committees (who have probably seen it all), imagine this individual in college the first time he has to write something. He will feel like a fraud. What may seem expedient now could end up causing him to doubt his ability forever, realizing that he will never know if he could have gotten into that college without passing someone else's work off as his own.</p>
<p>The admissions essay is mostly about HOW you write, not what you write. You can write about your fascination with cheese mold and still get into any school as long as it answers the question and is written well.</p>
<p>Besides the ethics and guilt of doing something equivalent to cheating on the SAT/ACT there are other reasons he/she shouldn't do it.</p>
<p>If your "friend" gets caught he will be very hot water. His admission will be rescinded from the school of his choice, and if other schools find out (they will), he will be rejected from there as well.</p>
<p>The college will find out. Especially if they check it against his/her SAT/ACT essay. If there is a huge difference between the essay score and the quality of the admissions essay, he will be busted.</p>
<p>If you want some top quality advice, check out "On writing the college admissions essay" (or something like that) by Harry Bauld. Its pretty helpful, and you can find it on Amazon.</p>
<p>But wait a sec, your screen name is Machiavelli so I guess you don't care. Talk to your "friend" and let them know that the risk outweighs the benefits. Besides, Why resort to crime when there are many legal ways to be dishonest? (Well this isn't technically a crime but you get my point.)</p>
<p>"it's pretty difficult to argue with his logic: "It's my past. It's what I've been through. I'm not asking anyone to lie. I'm just asking for them to put my experiences together more eloquently than I can.""</p>
<p>Actually... its pretty easy to argue with: It ISN'T his writing. Anyone applying to top tier schools should be able to write a coherent essay with decent flow when you have all the time in the world to do it. If your friend can't then maybe he shouldn't be applying to these schools... sorry. </p>
<p>This said... there is nothing wrong with him getting you or even an english teacher to help him with grammatical errors and such with an essay HE writes. They should not just be his ideas... they should also be his words.</p>
<p>omg. college essays are like one's most important writings. and handing the task to somebody else is not only unethical, but also absolutely irresponsible for one's own future. if your friend is a good writer, let him/her improve writing skills and write his/her own essay. there is no guarantee that such services will reflect your friend's unique talents and personality.
believe or not, they will find out, and if so, your friend's bright future is royally busted.</p>
<p>plus, what's the point of getting into a college your friend doesn't deserve?</p>
<p>exaclty what stevenlee87 said, if you're friend truly feels he deserves a top school he should do it himself.</p>
<p>He should write it himself and ask parents on CC for comments. There are people here who are willing to help in this way, but not do the writing for him. I hear that admissions people can tell that those "professional" essays aren't written by high school students. He really needs to have his unique voice shine through--no one else can do it for him. If he's that smart, he's probably not as bad of a writer as he thinks. I'd encourage him to try.</p>
<p>Don't forget you can't compare an essay written in 30 minutes to one written who knows how long. Admissions officers don't know whether he spent 2 hours on his essay or 20 days? Get the picture? It's like comparing apples to oranges.</p>
<p>Obviously colleges think they can compare apples and oranges because they are requiring both ...</p>