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

College Essays
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<p>The essay requirement sucks. I have a friend who submitted his brother’s essay from the year before just not to the same schools. I thought for sure that his dude was going to get slammed but he didn’t. He’s going to Berkeley. Another guy I know took some essays he found on line and changed them around a little bit. He showed me this short essay he submitted about how much he liked this artist from the 1600s and how when he went to NYC on a trip he happened to see one of the artist’s paintings and it moved him to tears. I asked him, “Dude when were you in NYC?” He told me “I’ve never been!” He’s going to UCLA. This rich chick I dated for a while hired one of those companies to “help” her write the essays but it cost alot more than $1000. She also had a private tutor for two years to help her with the SAT. She’s heading to Stanford where both of her parents went. Her dad is like this big deal of a surgeon and gives money to them too. Now compare these examples with this dude on my wrestling team who is poor but he has really good grades. All he had for the SAT was this library prep book. He wrote his own essays w/o any help. He got slammed by the top schools. He’s heading to a small school in Nebraska to wrestle. So whatever. </p>

<p>The whole college application process sucks. The richer you are the better schools you will get into. The only poor kids I know going to good schools are minorities. The next white poor kid I meet who is going to a top 10 school will be the first one I meet. So why get your panties in a bunch about essay coaches and crap like that. It’s no different from anything else that helps the rich get a leg up.</p>

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<p>I personally don’t believe in hiring coaches to “revise” college essays. I applied to UChicago, a school known for taking the essay portion of the application seriously, and I submitted all four essays without having a single person read or revise them. I just figured that if my raw, unadulterated writing wasn’t good enough to earn me acceptance into the school then I didn’t deserve to be admitted. I also think that it is a bit unfair to use all of these expensive college resources. It gives you an unfair advantage over poorer appliants who have to work harder to guide themselves through the admissions process.</p>

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<p>Takedown, I am a white student going to a top ten school. I don’t know if I am necessarily considered poor (I was awarded a $42,300 need-based grant, $2,200 in work study, and ~$7,000 in loans), but I definitely agree that the rich get unfair advantages. I had no one to offer me advice on the college application process, I was forced to do all college research on my own, I handled the essays by myself, and I had no SAT prep save for the PSAT and a few other practice exams. And I live in a pretty crappy town that is a dumping ground for sex offenders and has a bit of a drug problem, but my high school offers some really good programs.</p>

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<p>Good job Robes. You beat the odds. You’re pretty rare tho. Most kids like you don’t make it to places like Chicago. I hope you kill it while you’re there and become a millionaire or something.</p>

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<p>Though you can’t jump to the conclusion that any “qualified Ivy applicant” writes well, you may be just as wrong to assume that most “qualified Ivy applicants” cannot write well. (In fact, many happen to write extremely well. You should be able to write well.)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/924944-science-religion-wins-9.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/924944-science-religion-wins-9.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I agree with Northstarmom: I’ve only showed three people my Harvard essays - my dad, my best friend, and my junior year English teacher. It took my English teacher 15 minutes to read through the essay then give feedback, which were extremely helpful by the way, took my friend five minutes, and my dad only three minutes. I even had a typo on my essay that no one picked up on, but I was accepted just the same. I guess if you don’t mind hiring a service that requires a thousand dollar to do the same for you, then by all means go for it. It can’t hurt to have extra people reading over your essay, as long as you don’t change your writing too much that you lose your “voice” in the process.</p>

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<p>Undoubtedly you have access to more resources and opportunities if you come from a more affluent family, but it is definitely untrue that only the rich, white kids are able to attend good schools. I know many people (even on CC) who are low income, not minorities, but are going to great schools. In fact, I’m low income, Asian (minority but not underrepresented, so no advantage there), but was admitted to most of the schools to which I’ve applied.</p>

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<p>You’re right, most don’t, but only because they assume that they’re incapable and therefore give up before trying their hardest. There was a thread on CC in the Harvard forum the other day about financial aid, through which I found out that several of the CC posters who were admitted to Harvard were, like me, offered almost full ride financial aid packages, which means that they do not come from wealthy backgrounds. It’s about how you take advantage of the resources available to you.</p>

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<p>I completely agree.</p>

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<p>I never used any such service and was pretty much flying blind when it came to essays when I was applying.</p>

<p>However, I can see the value in having feedback from people who got into ivy league schools. Sometimes it is not about how good the essay is. Certain point-of-views and writing styles resonate more with one university or another. An outstanding application essay for U. of Chicago may seem too esoteric and abstract to Harvard and even moreso to Stanford. Seeming too driven may be a plus to Caltech, but may freak MIT out because they are trying to weed out potential suicides.</p>

<p>I think what would be most valuable is reading essays from successful candidates, not because you should steal their topics, but instead to glean what writing styles and theme of subject matter seem to permeate the successful essays. Since you already got writing samples free, you may not need to pay $1000.</p>

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<p>I’ve seen this pov a lot, and it generally is healthy. But you can portray yourself accurately in two different veins. For example, you could either write an essay about how you love to read and analyze abstract poetry and how you first started to love poetry when your grandmother read you poems. Or you could write in a way that demonstrates that you are able to take an experience and draw unique insights from it, something that is not obvious, trite, or cliche’–a skill that is essential in extracting meaning from abstract poetry. </p>

<p>Both would accurately portray someone interested in abstract poetry. However, I think the first approach would be more successful with Stanford and the second would resonate more with U. Chicago.</p>

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<p>The colleges that pay lots of attention to essays are reading them for the writing and content, not reading to measure the writers copy editing skills</p>

<p>In fact, typos may indicate that a student didn’t use an essay writing service.</p>

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<p>I never showed anyone my essays, and the admissions office of the (MASSIVE REACH) school that I am going to mentioned on my acceptance letter that my essays were one of the strongest parts of my application. I didn’t do anything particularly special or follow any advice. I just tried to convey exactly who I was. </p>

<p>The more your essay is changed, the less of your voice is still in it. Do people seriously have nothing better to do with one thousand dollars?</p>

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<p>If you can afford it, I’d definitely say go for it.</p>

<p>First off, it’s not like poorer applicants get absolutely NO advantages. The boosts from being a first generation or a URM are designed to offset the disadvantages these low-income applicants face. Moreover, it is much easier for someone like that to stand out in an applicant pool comprised mostly of middle to upper class ORM’s.</p>

<p>So, on the other hand, those who CAN afford essay services should do everything they can to stand out. </p>

<p>Secondly, the idea that if you’re good enough to get in, you would is somewhat unjustified. Yes, some wrote essays without help and got into good schools, but people like that are extremely rare. Moreover, adcoms readily concede that they could admit a completely different class on a different day, so your essays could very well have struck a sympathetic chord with some reader on some day. After all, most applicants to elite schools DESERVE to get in. Just because you never showed anyone your essays and got in doesn’t mean that’s the case for everyone else.</p>

<p>Moreover, there seems to be a misconception that you lose yourself when you have an essay coach – that’s not the case. My best friend used an essay coach and he said he originally wrote what he thought to be the best essay he could, but his coach told him it was too dark. The coach had him elaborate on a specific portion of his initial draft and he turned it into a full-blown essay. It was no less him than his initial draft, but the adcoms were much more likely to sympathize with him under the new essay topic.</p>

<p>After all, it is all about presentation. That’s the case no matter what you’re doing – applying for a job, a specific position, an internship. You want to present yourself in the best possible light. College admissions is no different. You can be you many different ways, but the way you choose to express that can drastically change the results.</p>

<p>I think that’s what makes essay services worthwhile. It’s hard for high school seniors to know how to present themselves favorably in a confusing and heavily guarded process. The coach is there to give you pointers, help you emphasize this aspect or de-emphasize that aspect. </p>

<p>As for my friend, he got into a number of top colleges and he sincerely believes he would not have had he not rewritten that essay.</p>

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<p>I think this says it better than I could.</p>

<p>I showed my Common App essay to one person–a classmate whose writing ability I respected. No one saw my Chicago essay except me. I was left to flounder on the shoals of College App Bay without a $1000 essay coach to steer me, and I didn’t die. The idea that no kids today can write well because we spend too much time texting is ridiculous. In my mind, if you go to a good school with good English teachers, you should be able to write a cogent essay–and the vast majority of kids who have $1000 to plunk on professional essay readers do go to good schools. </p>

<p>We are all free to choose to spend our money however we want, of course, but I’d save it. It’s a lot of money to burn on something that probably won’t improve your application that much.</p>

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<p>I am an upperclassman in an Ivy institution and I worked in our admissions office as part of my work study last year. In this role, I read several essays. First let me say that there were a surprising number of poorly written essays from applicants with 2300 plus SAT scores. Second an earlier post stated that typos simply show a committee that the applicant didn’t use a writing service. That statement is false. My school routinely rejects strong applicants based largely on the fact their their essays were sloppily written due to typos. </p>

<p>My opinion with respect to “coaching” iis that it depends on the applicant’s writing skills. Some strong candidates do not need coaching. Others do. Just as some students are naturally gifted in math, while many are not, some students are naturally gifted writers, but many are not. Consequently, the broad statements on this thread are doing a disservice. Those arguing that writing coaches are improper, do you feel the same way about SAT instructors? SAT II prep classes? extra help after school for Calc BC? What about immigrant students whose grasp of English is hindered by their circumstances? Should they go it alone? Painting in such broad strokes is nonsensical. </p>

<p>The answer to the OP is simple: When it comes to Ivy admissions, if a strong student is a weak writer, they would be wise to hire a writing coach. If a strong student is a strong writer, they would be wasting their money hiring a coach.</p>

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<p>"In this role, I read several essays. First let me say that there were a surprising number of poorly written essays from applicants with 2300 plus SAT scores. Second an earlier post stated that typos simply show a committee that the applicant didn’t use a writing service. That statement is false. My school routinely rejects strong applicants based largely on the fact their their essays were sloppily written due to typos. "</p>

<p>It does not surprise me that some high scorers have badly written essays. One can score high on the SAT, but still not know how to write well. The writing section of the SAT rewards formulaic writing.</p>

<p>I can imagine rejecting an applicant whose essay is rife with typos. That would reflect a level of disinterest that would be off putting. However, I think that most people who truly are Ivy quality could proofread their own essays and not have more than a couple of typos in the essays.</p>

<p>There’s a big difference between having an essay with a couple of typos and one that has a typo in every sentence, indicating that the applicant simply didn’t give a darn. Unless a typo is particularly egregious – such as misspelling “Havard” “Yale”, it’s unlikely that the admissions officers will notice one or two minor typos.</p>

<p>Surely, applicants should do their best to proofread carefully, but that doesn’t mean they would need to pay $1,000 to an essay writing consultant.</p>

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<p>I am pleased you mentioned the writing section of the SAT. My guess is that well over two-thirds of the students who score over 2300 received some sort of coaching for the SAT, including coaching for the writing section. Does that bother you? My sister recently asked my father for permission to pay $7,500 for an SAT course. He objected, due to financial constraints, but I’ve been told that this amount is not out of line for the best prep schools. Does the idea that students improve their scores dramatically by utilizing SAT prep classes bother you? </p>

<p>Perhaps you experience in an admissions office differed from mine, but a couple of typos can be the difference between acceptance and rejection for an applicant.</p>

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<p>Students paying big bucks for coaching doesn’t bother me. In my opinion, motivated students can get the same results by using practice books or free review sites or by following Xiggi’s system, which is posted here on CC in the SAT section. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t pay big bucks for coaching. Both sons scored in the 98th-99th percentile on the SAT. </p>

<p>The best predictor of scores is rigor of one’s classes and one’s socioeconomic status, and SES probably is a predictor because high SES students are likely to attend better schools and have educated parents who are involved in their education and expose them to enrichment activities.</p>

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<p>You guys honestly think 2/3 of the students received coaching to get above a 2300?</p>

<p>Does buying a $20 prep book count? Honestly, I find it extremely hard to believe that so many kids obsess about studying for the PSAT, SAT, and ACT in real life. I ended up with a 35 on the ACT and a 2280 on the SAT without hardly any prep on the SAT and doing two Science practice tests on the ACT to get the timing down (I always recommend that to people). I bought a SAT Writing book to see why I kept getting 7s and 8s on my essays, improved my score to a 10, and got a 2330.</p>

<p>No Kaplan, no expensive tutoring, and I don’t go to a really fancy school (although I spent a few months at a nicer school where the teacher taught grammar which really helped on the CR). To me, it almost seems scary what people do to get these good scores. If it takes a ridiculous amount of work to get your standardized tests on par with Ivy scores, are you sure that’s the place for you? Do you really want to spend your College career (which is going to be much harder than the SAT) working that much harder than everyone else just so you can say you went to Princeton as opposed to your local State school?</p>

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<p>If they’re not writing your essays for you, what could a coach possibly tell you that you couldn’t glean from advice books?</p>

<p>I’m not against college or test prep in general, but this isn’t a standardized test; there’s no formula to college essay writing, unlike on the SAT. IMO, the best prep is just to read the essays in advice books–lots and lots of them.</p>

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<p>To be fair, at Princeton the difference between “applicant able to do the work” and “applicant able to get in” is vast.</p>

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<p>My guess is that your guess is ludicrous.</p>

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<p>I attend a large public school in Southern California. My circle of friends includes most of the students who scored above 2100 on the SAT in our school. Every one of them took an SAT prep class. I can’t think of one who didn’t. Indeed, most of us carpooled to the prep school all last summer, which was about 25 miles from our school. I am a state officer in the FBLA and know students throughout California. I’ve yet to meet one who scored high on the SAT without first taking a prep class. My cousin attends a high school in San Gabriel Valley. I went to her house last week for a fundraiser. We solicited donations from prep schools for this event. Within a two mile radius of her high school we found 13 prep schools. Why so many if so few take these classes? Maybe the big cities in the nation differ from the middle areas, but in Southern California the number of students who score high on the SAT who take prep classes is at least two-thirds. I bet the same is true in New York.</p>

<p>MSauce, congratulations on being brilliant. Most of the rest of us have to work hard to keep up with people like you. Don’t hate us for our determination.</p>

<p>Haavain, if your a member of the Chicago class of 2014, how do you know about the “vast” difference between the applicants able to do the work and the applicants able to get into Princeton? Did you attend Princeton prior to graduating high school? But let me guess: You’re one of the naturally brilliant students who will show up in Chicago “able to the work”?</p>