I’d say have her talk to her English teacher and/or college counselor…
I think we all have our own stereotypes and/or biases. Those with excellent English teachers are pre-disposed to think that all English teachers are caring enough to take the time to read through kid’s essays, give constructive criticism, give just the right push in the right direction, etc. Those who were lucky to come across an essay counselor/editor who helped crystallize kid’s ideas and make them shine and sing in their own voice may think that all counselors are like that.
I recognize there are good and bad eggs everywhere, what works for some won’t work for others. I also believe people should be compensated reasonably for their time and effort. It doesn’t mean that a paid consultant will always do a better job and would be more thorough than a teacher. It just means that some caring teachers, maybe older empty-nesters, might have some extra time on their hands that they’d gladly donate to help out their students, and there are also equally-caring teachers with young children, extra responsibilities, and maybe even a second job who simply can’t afford the time and attention a student’s essay needs. I have respect and admiration for both.
“Those with excellent English teachers are pre-disposed to think that all English teachers are caring enough to take the time to read through kid’s essays, give constructive criticism, give just the right push in the right direction, etc.”
To be clear, we didn’t ask the English teacher to do several hours of outside work out of the goodness of his heart. DS asked him to read essays and give feedback and this was clearly outside class since it was a teacher he’d had in the past, not even a current teacher, so he offered to pay an hourly rate for the work. Because it is work. Unless your kid is in a class where one of the assignments is working on the college essays (for one private prep school in town the first quarter of Senior year’s English class is devoted to college essays), you’re asking the teacher to essentially volunteer to be an essay coach outside class. IMO, that should be paid in most cases.
I have helped students here on CC,on occasion, privately. I was trained in “non-directive” tutoring. I would have ethical concerns about hiring a consultant to “polish” an essay. The student herself needs to make changes in response to general comments about the writing. It is a very tricky thing to help but retain the student’s autonomy.
There are many essays I have read that I choose to leave alone and comment positively even when there are syntax, vocabulary or grammar issues, because they reflect a personal style that is charming because it is the kid’s own. Be careful of anyone who takes that away from your daughter.
Essays don’t matter as much as they used to because colleges know that so many are coached. Honestly I would relax about them.
The biggest problem in adolescent writing is trying too hard to be unique, or impressive. College essays should be more conversational than some of the formal essays they do in school. And tell her not to say her dream is to one day cure cancer!!! One of the best essays I read was about blueberry muffins.
@compmom, yes, you graciously agreed to read my daughter’s NSLI -Y essays, gave some positive feedback, and I am very grateful for that and appreciate your help very much. I am not sure the changes she made as a result were sufficient - I didn’t show you the next version because, again, you volunteered your time, and I didn’t want to take advantage of your help.
The end result - she was rejected. We may never know if it was her writing that rubbed the wrong way or she was simply the wrong fit for the program: she made it clear she will pursue the intended language study in college anyway and it’s possible the committee simply decided to give a spot to someone who wouldn’t get an opportunity to learn a new language otherwise.
I could take it a step further and wonder “what if…”. What if I hired an essay coach for those essays to spend more time with my daughter, doing several iterations, etc., would it have made a difference? I don’t overthink it because it doesn’t matter that much, it was just for one program, one summer, and while interesting and exciting, probably wouldn’t have been transformative or life-shattering (though I may never know, right?)
But when it comes to college, the impact on one’s life direction is much greater. Yes, the student herself and her drive will be a lot more instrumental in defining her future than the college she goes to, but the environment, especially in those impersonable years, will certainly shape significantly. So if she gets rejected from the college of her choice that seems like a perfect fit, i don’t want to think “would the outcome be different if I hired an essay coach”.
As to authenticity and “being herself in her essays”, sadly i’m quite cynical. I think universities routinely reject lots of students with authentic voices and accept those with polished voices because it matches their institutional goals. I draw the parallel with “recommended” subject tests that are really still required from higher SES students. I believe an AO will gladly overlook some roughness in a voice of a student from a one-parent, recent-immigrant, manual-job working household, but will hold to a higher standard a kid from relatively affluent area, with two educated white-collared parents, a kid who had the luxury of developing hobbies and devoting time to volunteering instead of working to support one’s family.
Those kids from obviously financially secure families are held to a higher standard. They are expected to have higher grades and test scores (and AO’s don’t care if the kid self-studied or got extensive help from multiple tutors), and they are expected to have higher-quality essays. And yes, well-edited essays are in most cases higher quality, I agree with @Hanna. The best essay coaches work with kids to preserve kids’ voices, and that’s why it’s important to choose the right one.
Again, for a kid with some exceptional accomplishments, whose national/international level awards or special talents already get him over the finish line, the difference between excellent (self-written) and exceptional (well-edited) essays won’t even matter. For an “average excellent” kid with top grades and non-exceptional EC’s, a better essay could be a decisive factor for those super-selective schools.
In the end, every family, every kid chooses their own path. I let my kid self-study for the ACT because I knew she could get a good score on her own. I now choose to find an essay coach for her because she doesn’t feel her writing will be good enough without extra help. I’ve got some excellent private leads through this thread, and I am grateful to everyone who responded. If moderators agree to keep this thread open, I think it might be useful to other parents who are still deciding for themselves whether an essay coach is worth it. Thanks!
I guess I’m cynical in a different direction. I think an essay consultant would have told D1 to not write about the effect on her life of her favorite (at the time) movie, “Titanic,” and I think a consultant would have told D2 to not write about her fear of singing along with the car radio. But I thought those essay topics and how my daughters wrote those essays captured them very well and definitely conveyed who they were and are to any readers of the essays.
D1 started college in 2009. She was a semisolid B to B+ student with a high ACT. Her acceptance results were what I expected. D2 started college in 2011. She was a solid A student with test scores to match. Her acceptance results also were what I expected. Both applied to approximately 18 schools (not my preference but I was relatively hands-off in the process). Both were accepted by about 13 schools and rejected or put on the waiting list by the rest. Both ended up at schools that they fit and that fit them.
Hi @typiCAmom I wanted to add my voice on the yes side for a pro expert essay consultant. I think that if your D wants to go to school where the English teacher went to school then it’s fine to use the teachers advice. If you are aiming for Berkeley or UCLA and the teacher was at Berkeley then definitely listen to what he/she says. If you are aiming for u of pacific and teacher went to u of pacific that should work! Otherwise I would be cautious. My older kid had to do a college essay as a class assignment (all honors English kids have to). She got a B on it and then was forced by the English teacher to change the ending (i think the comment was “wrap it up”.) this destroyed my daughters point in the essay which was about learning to write…that she wasn’t done learning yet! Luckily my kid asked me which way to turn I suggested the original essay which ended up helping kid get some nice AP comments and scholarships of 15-30k per year at some places… not what I would call B material.
TL DR: good idea to hire an essay consultant interview them carefully!
I meant admissions office comments not AP comments…
@rosered55, that’s why I was looking for a consultant who wouldn’t choose a topic for my daughter, nor write it for her, but work with already prepared drafts to make them maybe more cohesive, maybe more appealing to someone outside our bubble. My daughter is simply not interested in 9 of T10 schools, but has very specific and valid reasons for applying for that single one; all the people she knows who got accepted there got outside help. To me, it’s a correlation, to her - a causation. Either way, if I can afford to level the playing field for my daughter and willing to give her some peace of mind, it is my choice as a mom. Again, I am not imposing my choices on other families and agree there are plenty of families for which hiring an essay coach is totally redundant.
No. I don’t recommend paid or unpaid help from consultants, parents or anyone else. Just use your own writing skills and be genuine and creative.
@typiCAmom, if you hire a consultant and your daughter doesn’t get into that one school, do you think your daughter will feel better (“We gave it our all!”) or worse (“We gave it our all and I’m still not good enough and maybe I even made my essay worse”)? I don’t know the answer to this because I don’t know you and your daughter.
If you do decide to proceed with an essay consultant, perhaps going with a high-priced one would be a good idea.
I think your stand misses the point. Students not only should get in on their own merits (and writing ability) but too much coaching could land them in the wrong school. The extent of coaching prevalent almost everywhere (including English teachers is rendering essays a less important factor in admissions.
I don’t know if I ever communicated directly with your daughter- or just you- and it sounds like the conversation was never finished. Or maybe you wanted something more directive. Either way, you can certainly find someone for free to help here on CC. I just think that help should be limited so that the kid can be herself, warts and all.
I won’t post again (no debate).
@rosered55, I think even if she doesn’t get in, D would feel better after getting help from someone she trusts, with the thinking “I presented myself in the best possible light, if AO’s didn’t like that, then maybe it’s really not a match.” Otherwise, it’s more like “I could have invested more time/effort in presenting the best me, and I didn’t, and it could have maybe made a difference.”
She is mature enough to understand that price and quality are not always directly correlated, families that pay thousands of dollars don’t get advice ten times better than those who pay hundreds of dollars. In fact, I think those who pay more are probably the ones expecting their coach to totally re-write their kids essay rather than truly edit them.
@typiCAmom ,
I am with @Hanna , post #19. I believe a professional essay consultant matters. They don’t become a pro without extensive and relevant experience. You also have the means to hire one. I totally understand that you want to do your best to support your daughter so you don’t have to wonder what if? I know posters here mean well and do not want you to “ waste” your money on what they think unneccessary.
We hired a college consultant for our D, not specifically for an essay but for the whole application process. We were happy with his service (and recommended him to other parents). My D had a clear idea about what she wanted to write for her college eassay. She worked on it for a while. She had her college advisor looked it over. He gave her helpful advice and did not change her point, voice or style.
She got accepted to her top choice. We thought her essay was outstanding. We joked that her essay must have been a deciding factor why she was accepted, considering all her other stats were in the middle of the road. We were glad she had the right help. To us, it was the money well spent.
@rphcfb, thanks for your support. I respect every family’s decision to see the level of outside help that is right for them. Our friends too used a college consultant for their son, and we’re happy with the result though admitted they might not do it for their younger daughter. From what my friend tells me, the consultant acted more as a therapist and helped keep the process sane for the entire family. And for some families it is definitely worth their money more than an extra vacation or a new TV. I found it amusing that the consultant didn’t even give any feedback about the essays to the kid (as far as he shared with his parents), but only told him every time “I think you can do better,” and he went back and did another revision. If my friend suggested it herself, her son would probably ignore her and conclude the essay is “good enough.” They haven’t received all the decisions yet, but I have a feeling the admission outcomes might be the whether they used a consultant or not. But with the consultant, the kid was driving the process, not the parent, mom thinks her son matured tremendously, long story short for them it was worth it.
Congratulations to your daughter and to you for getting over the admissions hump!
Once my daughter goes through the process, I will have a few years respite before my son is old enough, and next time I might do everything differently in terms of tutors, consultants, etc., depending on his needs, his goals, his personality, etc.
“the consultant acted more as a therapist and helped keep the process sane for the entire family.”
Right. A good consultant should make the here and now better. You should see the improvement in the application yourself. Consultants cannot determine the outcome. They can only help you create your best possible work. You should be happy with the consultant’s work, or not, before admissions decisions come out.
Our consultant helped figure out appropriate match/safety schools and kept D19 (a terrible procrastinator) on track. She didn’t like D19’s “why us” essay for her ED school, saying it was “too dramatic “. D19 insisted it was authentically her, which I agreed with, so it went in as written … and must have been part of what got D an offer (her grades & scores are below average for the school, no hooks). So… I don’t know really know how I feel about consultants and essays necessarily, though we definitely found value elsewhere in what she did.
I spent countless hours helping DS to brainstorm and edit his essays. This was a stressful but enjoyable process. I don’t think his essays would have been nearly as good without this process, even after his English teacher looked at them carefully. Parents who don’t have time, skills or inclination to do this will likely reap the similar benefits from hiring a consultant. I don’t have the same credentials but I spent more time on this that a consultant normally would, and naturally I know my kid better.
We used an IEC for D19 and it was worth every penny, for a number of reasons. Truly one of the best decisions we have made.
Specifically with regard to essay writing, the consultant helped my D understand the point of the essays (can vary by school or program within a school…D ended up writing about 20 total), brainstorm subject matter, and edited them, but pretty minimally. My D would NEVER have allowed DH or I to be involved in this process…I did read several of the essays, but not most.
I get paid to work with students on their essays. I am, naturally, in favor of hiring a professional if the student needs one. I think it’s between the student and the parents to decide.
I love doing my job. When I work with a student, I listen. I take notes as we talk. They effectively write their essay with everything they say to me. Once we get it all down on paper, they start working on drafts. There’s more to it than that, but I firmly believe the reason I am successful is because I help students put on paper what they want to say about themselves. The Common App essay is a daunting task for many kids. Many of them simply think there is nothing interesting about themselves. I help every student realize that they are interesting and have something to say.
Some kids will be lucky and have a great English teacher to talk to. In my experience though, most kids don’t have a great English teacher who has time to read their common app essay thoroughly and give constructive feedback, and they definitely don’t have English teachers who understand what college admissions officers are looking for.
Case in point:
I worked with a girl who was totally stuck on a Common App topic. Her English teacher told her she should write about some kind of conflict. She had no conflict. The girl was super stressed. I told her she didn’t have to write about a conflict, and had a difficult time convincing her that it was fine not to do so. We talked about what was important to her. Well, this girl loves summer camp. She loves working with kids, nature, and the camaraderie of her fellow counselors. She wrote a sweet essay about her love of camp, but the whole time she was worried about what her teacher would say, because there was no conflict. Her teacher loved it and my student and her mom were very thankful for my help.
Some kids might need help from a professional. Others won’t. It’s a personal choice.