Brother wants to pay $1000 for Harvard Essay revisions. Should he do it?

College Essays
1

<p>My brother will be applying to Harvard College for Freshman this Fall. I've already gotten in and I told him that I'd help him with his paper, but he insists on paying an online service $1000 to revise/write his essay. Well, not gonna lie, the online service does have Ivy League writers and their sample essays they sent us were really good. (Don't ask me which website because I'm not going to post it here or else CC will think I'm just advertising).</p>

<p>But should he do it? My parents said it would be okay as long as it was a legit service and if they could really contribute. (and mom said she'd just take it off his cell phone bill for 3 months haha)</p>

<p>Anyways, would you do it?</p>

2

<p>No. If he’s Ivy League caliber he can write a great essay himself. You don’t even have to tell him how to write a good one; he’ll find the necessary resources and take care of himself. There are many books in stores about college app essays. Those should be enough for him. He’s got the ability; he just needs to know the hows and whats.</p>

3

<p>no, i would not plagiarise. not even if i got to pay 1000 dollars for it.</p>

4

<p>He should definitely do it. They don’t write your essays. They talk to you about your life and help you identify topics that would make interesting essays. You then write the essays and they critique them. At no point do they write for you. Most people think they write well but they really don’t. It’s nice to have someone who is familiar with what colleges look for in an essay to read over your work.</p>

5

<p>Please PM me that website. I’d greatly appreciate it.</p>

6

<p><<< It’s nice to have someone who is familiar with what colleges look for in an essay to read over your work.>>></p>

<p>It’s a lot nicER to save over $900 by buying books on college admissions instead.</p>

7

<p>Let’s face it; the number of admits who would have been rejected but for their awesome essays is close to none. Is a slight increase in his chances worth $1000 to him?</p>

8

<p>Haha, no. How about you read it for him instead :p?</p>

9

<p>Don’t waste the money. Even SAT-prep courses are usually a waste for Ivy applicants.</p>

10

<p>Absolutely, most don’t get what a good college essay is. At schools like Harvard that reject 95% of qualified applicants, a great essay will make a big difference.</p>

11

<p>And which of the thousands of people who are convinced they know what a good college essay really is are you going to believe? Just because someone’s making you pay a lot for essay revisions doesn’t mean they must be good.</p>

12

<p>You got into Harvard. Did you use this kind of service?</p>

13

<p>I will be attending an Ivy next fall and here’s how I think the admissions process works for the unhooked. </p>

<p>First, a screening committee examines the applicants’ raw numbers – SAT scores, GPA, class rank, etc. They eliminate those applicants who do not have good scores across the board. In other words, if you have a 2200 SAT and are ranked in the top 10% of your school, you move on. If, however, you have a 1900 SAT and are ranked in the top one-third, you do not. </p>

<p>Second, the screening committee passes the applications to the regional advisors. These advisors receive only those applications from their regions. Because they are familiar with the schools in their regions, they examine the applications for strength of the school and curriculum. They want to see if the applicant had challenged himself/herself in school. They also evaluate the applicant’s ECs. Again, the purpose of this process is to eliminate those applicants who should be eliminated. </p>

<p>Third, after the first two elimination cycles, the regional people are left with a stack of applicants who are worthy of being accepted into their Ivy. All applicants have great scores, good ECs, and have taken the most difficult course load offered by their schools. The regional people now read each applicant’s evaluations and essays. They score the applications and put them into a couple of groups (must-haves, very strong, strong). They then make recommendations to the admissions committee as to who should be admitted and who should be wait listed. For the most part, the committee accepts these recommendations. However, if the number of applicants recommended by all regional people exceeds the school’s targeted number for that year, the regional people are asked to trim their recommended list, which is pretty easy for them to do (they start with the lowest ranked group). Once the number of recommended acceptances meets that year’s target number, notifications are sent out.</p>

<p>If I am correct (or even close), the essays are important, but so is everything else. An applicant with strong numbers, ECs, and recommendations can lose a spot if their essays are subpar. So although great essays alone won’t be enough to get an otherwise mediocre applicant into an Ivy, a subpar essay could prevent an otherwise strong candidate from getting in. This is why each year we read that a kid with a 2400 SAT was rejected. They had good numbers but their essays or evaluations sucked. </p>

<p>The bottom line is that an Ivy applicant must be strong in all areas, including the essays. As such, essays are very important. They need to be well done. Last November and December I read hundreds of essays for my friends. Generally speaking, the vast majority were poorly written, even though the writer was absolutely convinced that their essays were excellent. About half were absolutely horrible. We are poor judges of whether or not our essays are well written. </p>

<p>If you can afford $1,000, I think it is worthwhile to get a professional’s opinion of your essay. In fact, I think you should get the opinions of several people, including your English teachers, parents, etc. But if you can afford it, a nice final voice would be these essay professionals (be sure to go with a good company, however).</p>

14

<p>It is very, very, very, very important to find people who will proof-read your essays for typos, and people who can encourage you to re-write for the umpteenth time to make YOUR OWN essay stronger. This should be your OWN work. Not theirs.</p>

<p>I’ve worked in college placement and I know how easy it is for proof-reading to become editorial suggestions to become editing for style/content to become ghostwriting to become outright forgery. $1000 is a lot of money to pay for someone who is staying on the good end of this scale. A Harvard sibling and his/her roommates, a HS English Lit. teacher, and a HS guidance counselor should be able to make up a solid team of free readers and advisors, and the chance of staying clean through this process would be a lot more likely.</p>

15

<p>The people I would believe on what makes a good essay are people who have worked in admissions at the type of school you want to attend. The better college counselors who work with students on essays have.</p>

16

<p>I can’t imagine why anyone who truly is Harvard caliber who’d pay for such a service instead of wanting to use their own work. I got into Harvard without showing anyone my essay. I have gotten other great opportunities without showing anyone my essay. To me, risking a few typos (which aren’t something that will keep anyone out of Harvard. Admissions officers are looking for good writers and thinkers and people who seem like interesting people, not copy editors) than risk having someone erase my voice from my essay.</p>

<p>If a college, etc. doesn’t like who I am as reflected by my essay, I wouldn’t need to go to that college . I felt that way when I was applying to college, and I still feel that way as I apply for opportunities as an adult.</p>

17

<p>^I read a very interesting article a few months ago about writing. The article stated my generation has extremely poor writing skills due to the influence of technology (cell phones, texting, etc.). Northstarmom, you probably were a better writer than most of today’s Harvard students because you were probably raised at a time when you still wrote essays long hand. You probably took essay-based tests using pencils. It’s a different world today, and you can’t make the jump that a “qualified” Ivy applicant writes well. You’re also wrong when you conclude that hiring someone to help you with your essays essentially takes away your voice. I went through this process last year, and the opposite was true. The person I hired helped me find my voice. It always remained my work, but their input improved my essays a great deal. I am also a tennis player. My coach doesn’t play for me, but he does help improve my game. The essay coach did the exact same thing for me.</p>

18

<p>There is a thin line between an essay coach and a proxy essay writer. Your tennis coach is just a coach, in an actual game there are hundreds of witnesses who ensure that the coach sits on the sidelines and let you play the game. On the other hand, there is no check on what these services do. </p>

<p>A service with integrity will do exactly what you are saying: coach the student, provoke their thought processes, provide candid feedback, make suggestions. All these could be provided by many others: parents, other students, teachers, GC etc. but some students may prefer a professional who has some experience in this area.</p>

<p>There is no doubt that there are a few students who want someone else to do all the heavy lifting and there unscrupulous services that will do it for them. I do not know how much it helps in the end, but these services will point to their success stories, ignoring the failures. </p>

<p>In this case where OP says the service wants $1000, the price seems a little high for just coaching services. Assuming that the coach spends 10 hours in reviewing your essays and providing feedback, it is almost $100 an hour. If they spend more time, then it is more than just providing feedback, they are actually writing pieces for you.</p>

19

<p>Those who critcize essay coaches seem to have one thing in common: Their arguments are based on pure speculation. They dislike coaches because of what they imagine occurs. But I actually experienced this process last year. No lines were crossed. I wrote every word of my essays. My coach’s input was invaluable, however. Would I have been accepted to good schools without an essay coach? I would like to think so, but who knows? What I do know is that my essays and short answers were excellent, and I was accepted to every school to which I applied. For me, my coach was well worth the fee I paid.</p>

20

<p>". Northstarmom, you probably were a better writer than most of today’s Harvard students because you were probably raised at a time when you still wrote essays long hand. You probably took essay-based tests using pencils. It’s a different world today, and you can’t make the jump that a “qualified” Ivy applicant writes well. You’re also wrong when you conclude that hiring someone to help you with your essays essentially takes away your voice. I went through this process last year, and the opposite was true. "</p>

<p>I still was competing against the best of the best.</p>

<p>I typed my essays and high school written assignments even as a high school student. </p>

<p>In this age of word processing, it’s easier for people to write excellent essays (because of the ease of revision) than it was when I was young.</p>

<p>I continue to write essays for various opportunities – fellowships, etc. and I still don’t let other people see those essays.</p>

<p>If i were writing a grant application or a thesis or dissertation, though, I’d have others proofread and make suggestions. I don’t want that, though, in more personal writing because I may not feel comfortable sharing with others what I write for those kind of essays.</p>

<p>For example, when I applied for a Washington Post internship when I was a college junior, I wrote about having participated in student protests. I felt like it was a risky topic that others may have discouraged me from writing about. I feared that if they discouraged me, I’d pick something safe, but wouldn’t be so honestly revealing myself.</p>

<p>I got the internship. :)</p>

<p>Sometimes I’ve gotten opportunities this way. Sometimes I haven’t, but I’ve always felt good that I presented myself honestly and in a way that I felt was important.</p>