<p>TexasTaximom, I agree that there is shock value of D arriving with liberal politics and substantial travel and cultural experiences. I'm hoping the "I love Broadway " and "swimming with dolphins in the Yucatan" or some other bizarre experience or taste pops out in an interview. Funny, I thought exposing the kid to an incredible variety of interests and experiences rather than allowing her to retreat to a closet with her tuba or calculator would be a good thing for college admissions (not to mention for her life outside school).</p>
<p>It wasn't until this site that I realized that at the "lottery schools" that "well rounded" was a perjorative. Aaah, I still wouldn't change anything. Even if I could. In the long run, I still think I helped her choose the right things. And the choices weren't made for college adcom's anyway. They were made for her. They were made so she had a connect to the land. So she knew what it meant to work manually. So she understood the "small grain" of life. If she doesn't get in because of choices I made in not packaging her for the HYPS's or AWS's of the world-so be it. I've scre-ewed up plenty of things more important than this. There are lots of schools she can be happy attending and I have to believe they will be happy to get her. I'm not complaining or sad. I'm confidant that the right choices were made even if the results end up unfavorable. Sometimes it's really not in the winning, sometimes it's in the trying.</p>
<p>I don't think the adcoms will see the writing. I think they'll see the scores in three parts instead of two, as they do now. (they don't see writing samples from the SATII, just the score.)
Has anyone heard differently?</p>
<p>Make sure your D sends a photo of herself in dusty overalls with one tooth blacked out, jaw clenched around a corncob pipe, & holding the dead rattlesnake in one hand and the gun in the other.</p>
<p>Q. " Will colleges see my essay? How will they use the new writing score?</p>
<pre><code>A. A college will be able to view and print a copy of your essay only if you send that college your test scores.
</code></pre>
<p>Different colleges will use your writing score in different ways. Writing scores may be used for admissions decisions and possibly for placement in English Composition or related courses. However, for the first few years, some schools may choose to use writing scores for research purposes only, and not for decisions about admissions or placement."</p>
<p>I somehow can't imagine a large university printing up all these essays and wanting to add that to their list of things to read. Maybe for the borderline admits? It will be interesting to see what they do.</p>
<p>Well, the difference is there's no time to <em>edit</em> on the SAT writing. Lots of legitimate essays will improve dramatically with a little time & perspective, even if nobody helps the kid on the editing. </p>
<p>D had been advised by friends how long the essays can take to write. So my D wrote hers in June, shelved them for a month, edited in July, shelved them, edited again... probably went through 5-6 drafts in all and they REALLY improved, mostly by being cut, cut, cut to get under the word limits.</p>
<p>Her SAT 2 writing could not possibly have been as good, dashing off a quick essay on a subject selected by someone else...</p>
<p>But the adcoms will know she wrote it. And it will be compared to other kids' writing samples written under the same constraints, and the adcoms again will know that they wrote them. Right now, we don't know who is writing these essays. Yes, it will be unfair for those who meticulously write, and rewrite and whose strengths are not in writing quick essays on the spot, but the great equalizer is that the essays are all written by the kids. No spell checks, no editing, no professional writers, no plaguerism. I think the benefits will outweigh the downsides.</p>
<p>Wait--there will still be app essays, won't there? So the adcomms will still be able to see what the student cares about? Only, they'll have the SAT writing as well?</p>
<p>Who doesn't think there is going to be a new industry in SAT prep in which kids learn to memorize well polished, widely applicable, essays to come into the exam and "write spontaneously?" </p>
<p>Geometrically speaking, I think the kids who are ovals or diamonds (in the rough) or duodecahedrons (multifaceted) have it all over circles...</p>
<p>Look, this is formulaic and it is entropic at the same time...all the most interesting things are, and as long as it is you can't go wrong raising a decent, interesting, interested, optimistic person!</p>
<p>Curmudgeon, about the ability to "self-describe" for a kid who does not brag, I know what you mean. How will anyone see how wonderful your daughter is when she's not going to tell them? I had that concern, and I think a lot of parents do. We hope that others will recognize what we see so clearly. Well here's a little anecdote:</p>
<p>I thought there was just a tiny chance of admission at the favorite school. I guess I was encouraging, or at least not discouraging, but you know, what was the chance? So there were other good options, and nobody stressed. But--and this is the part that applies to your daughter--when I looked over a copy of those essays, I thought, "Oh my goodness, there is a chance here." Nothing earth shattering was written, there weren't even any snakes. There were mostly little episodes, just bits of a BWR seventeen-year-old's life. To me it seemed that personality and distinct qualities were evident everywhere, but they weren't stated. They came through in the small stories that were related. So, I guess I would recommend this sort of thing--anecdotal writing, I think it is--especially for an understated person like your daughter. After all, you can tell a lot about a person by the things that he does, and what is important to him and so on. Maybe the adcomms appreciate a little subtlety. Hope that helps a bit.</p>
<p>Robrym--I'm glad that we can't go wrong trying to raise those kinds of kids! Not that it isn't at times a challenge in this world. But somehow the scoring of this SAT II writing still seems a little scary.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon wrote: "It wasn't until this site that I realized that at the "lottery schools" that "well rounded" was a perjorative. Aaah, I still wouldn't change anything. Even if I could."</p>
<p>I was in the same boat junior year with my oldest. It was not until I read admissions literature and came on CC that I was aware of this so called need for a "unique hook" and that being well rounded was "out". But as soon as I learned of that admissions "trend", I said to myself, so what....she is who she is and I would not change a thing. I like the choices she has made because they are HER. If it is not in vogue with college admissions, oh well. And ya know, it all worked out. She is as happy as I have ever seen her at Brown. Don't ya worry 'bout a thing.</p>
<p>By the way, I could see your D writing about her upbringing on the ranch and some of the vignettes you have shared because that shows who she is and where she came from and in many ways, that itself is different from the typical applicant. Of course ,she should write about what she wants. But I could see this topic really setting her profile as a bit out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>Thanks Soozie--I think "vignettes" is probably the term I should have used.
I'm glad that your daughter is so happy, and I hope your other daughter's auditions are going well!</p>
<p>Curmudge, this is another one of those chill things. I thought DD's essays were only OK, and this from a child who can write, and not that "stuff" you see here as essays. But, she had never been taught how to write an essay like that, and it is difficult, there are only a few masters of that craft. Someone thought they were acceptable. I was concerned because Eng, writing etc is one of her strengths, but it didn't seem to be coming out in these essays.
For what its worth, I think Jamimom is right, I think they wll find these essays useful, but I'm not sure they wll put a lot of weight on them next year, I think there will be some data gathering.</p>
<p>Eons ago I took the "new MCAT" the first year it was given. This was before there was a "test-preparation" industry- so there was really no chance that we could scam the new tests. </p>
<p>We were told then that there would be at least one year of calibration...how could there not be?</p>
<p>Cangel, in the first paragraph of your last post, are you talking about app essays or the new SAT writing? If app essays, yes they certainly are not the type of writing kids generally do. Not here, anyway. But if personalities come across, and what's important to them, and the essays support the rest of the app, then it seems like it's mission accomplished.
I guess I didn't judge writing quality per se, even though it seemed better to me than my cliched and oh-so-emotional efforts would be. Thank goodness for that, I guess!</p>