Confidentiality Crisis

Applying to College
1

<p>As with most senior year English classes (I think), my AP Eng class will be kicking off the year with a "College Application Essays" unit, where students must turn in an essay they intend to submit to college and participate in peer editing. The essay will be read aloud anonymously for the entire class to judge, discuss, etc. </p>

<p>I have a problem with it.</p>

<p>I, like most people, have slaved over my essays all summer long. It is unique (not to be arrogant) and I love it. I have no problem letting a trusted adult read it, but I am repulsed by the idea of letting peers read it because</p>

<p>--I go to an ultra-competitive school. Kids will do anything to get an advantage. Scruples mean nothing. Two-faced backstabbers are everywhere. I have the right to be wary of my peers and keep my distance. </p>

<p>--Possible plagiarism, whether deliberate or unintentional. Taking advice on CC, I made my topic and approach completely original. While I understand not everything is on the internet, I have not found any college essay that comes close to writing about the same topic as me. It would be foolish to run the risk of letting someone else steal my idea and make colleges think I'm the one who has cheated.</p>

<p>--This is going to turn into a "Chance Me" situation. Again, I have no problem with getting feedback from a teacher or adult, but people my age? I'm not saying that they are bad writers. A large number of them are much better than me. However, these are a group of people who are competing to get into the same schools as me, obviously not inclined to help their competition, and, more importantly, don't have any more of a clue as to what colleges want than I do. Yes, they can correct my grammar. No, these teenagers are not qualified to say, "No, I don't like it. This won't get you into X University." Get real. </p>

<p>Right now, I am furious, but I do not believe I am overreacting either. What should I do?</p>

<p>I can't opt out, because I need a grade.</p>

<p>I can't give a fake/bad essay either, because (even if students won't automatically find out it's mine) the teacher will assume I am a terrible writer.</p>

<p>Help :(</p>

2

<p>Are you sure you’re not overreacting? I’m sure not everybody else at your school are “two-faced backstabbers”. Are you sure it’s not some sort of superiority complex? Even in college, the essence of writing is to be read and peers do some of the best editing. My own peers have critiqued my work and made me a better writer - better than any instructor did. If you’re truly worried about plagiarism, you could always talk to your teacher about your concerns.</p>

3

<p>Not every single person, but they are out there, and my AP class has the bulk of the competitive people. I am not saying it is wrong to be competitive, but I think it is okay for me to be cautious around/avoid people I don’t trust 100%.</p>

4

<p>Just write another essay. end drama.</p>

5

<p>

Wow. Not only did this never occur in my kids’ high school, but I think it’s entirely inappropriate on many levels beyond the issue of plagiarism (which I think is a real one). First, there’s so much material that needs to be covered in an AP English class to properly prepare for the AP exam that taking time away from instruction to dilly dally with essays is just a poor idea. Second, the essay is supposed to be the student’s work–it’s one thing for a teacher or trusted adult to offer an opinion or do some basic editing, quite another for it to be worked over by a roomful of students so it ends up being a collaboration. Finally, despite the attempt at anonymity, surely some of the essay topics will make it easy to identify the writer–everyone knows which student suffered the grievous soccer injury or has a disabled sibling, etc. As for the idea of writing a fake essay for purposes of the class–why should a student have to take the time and effort to produce a second essay that won’t ever be used but nonetheless has to be good enough to not adversely impact the teacher’s view of the student’s writing skills? I see no reason for one’s college application to be part of the high school curriculum, and as a parent would fight this one to the death.</p>

6

<p>@ MommaJ</p>

<p>That is exactly what I am trying to express here. I focused my essay on something very close to home. Like other people’s essays, it shows my voice, personality, and gives an adcom an idea of who I am, which is the fundamental purpose of a personal statement, based on what people say on CC. </p>

<p>As a result, I don’t feel very comfortable with letting my peers knowing that personal story about me.</p>

7

<p>talk to the teacher, you aren’t ready to share your essay with just anyone. it is for you,the admissions council, and anyone you choose to see and read. im sure the teacher will understand, if not slave away an all nighter with a decoy essay. if you absolutely have to, as in no fighting this will make it go away, like parents wont help, talking to the teacher won’t help, then go ahead and turn it in but obviously be very critical of what people say about it. you don’t even have one person in the class that you trust? maybe you’d be ok if the teacher thinks you’re a bad writer at the beginning of the school year. I doubt the decoy essay would be very bad though, just make it decent, it isn’t after all, the piece you will be using for your application.</p>

8

<p>I think sharing with other students is inappropriate. The school is out of line doing this. Yes, there can be plagiarism, and kids can sometimes figure out whose essay is whose. </p>

<p>For those who don’t think that some kids might take advantage of this and steal an interesting story or angle, get real. Every student doesn’t have to be cheater, but all it takes is ONE student to steal this kid’s story and if they apply to the same schools, then it will be a problem. </p>

<p>You should tell the teacher that your essay cannot be shared with the class. If she doesn’t agree, then have a parent tell her. If she still doesn’t agree, then submit another essay.</p>

9

<p>My son had the same situation. His college essay dealt with a very personal situation ( the death of his brother and how it drove him to succeed realizing that life can be short…or so he told me I never read it) that he did not want to share with the class. He simply wrote another essay and pretending that the second one was his college essay.</p>

10

<p>Honestly I think your best option is a fake essay. Recycle some work from previous years if you have to.</p>

11

<p>

So write a good fake essay. Just choose a different, generic topic ("What I learned from . . . "), write it as well as you are able, usually in the normal 5-paragraph format, and submit that to your teacher. Treat it as any other assignment.</p>

<p>Then submit whatever you want in your applications.</p>

12

<p>Write the second essay. If it’s so bad, then you’ll at least show a lot of improvement over the marking period. If the school is as cutthroat as you describe, the other students will also be handing in decoy essays.</p>

<p>What a waste of time, going over fake college essays.</p>

13

<p>It doesn’t have to be a waste of time if people learn something about how to write a good essay. OP, I agree with the posters here who suggest submitting a good essay that you don’t intend to use for applications. It’s a class, you have a writing assignment to fulfill, so fulfill it. You probably aren’t the only student concerned about confidentiality.</p>

<p>After you’ve got your grade, you might want to take this up with the teacher privately in a respectful way; if he/she doesn’t agree with your concerns, then with your guidance counselor. I agree that this is a big problem waiting to happen.</p>

<p>But I also think that many students can profit from writing college application-type essays in English class. This was a late junior-year assignment in our high school, and essays weren’t shared with other students, even anonymously. There was no pressure to submit the actual essay - as I recall, the suggestion was that it might be developed into the essay that went to colleges, or that it could just serve as a springboard or a practice assignment.</p>

14

<p>Yes, your choices are:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Talk with the teacher about privacy issues. Tell them you are happy for them to read your work, but even with anonymity you are not comfortable with classroom sharing. I wouldn’t mention the backstabbing part (although I completely know where you are coming from). </p></li>
<li><p>Get to work now and write another essay. You may not have “slaved” over it, but I assume the grade is mostly on the final product after editing/review. You might surprise yourself and end up with something you can use later in a supplemental or scholarship essay. Don’t worry about what your teacher thinks about whether you are a great writer, either. Just write another essay on one of the prompts. Now… that doesn’t keep someone else from stealing THAT work and benefitting from your efforts again. But at least it would not be a dup of what you are turning in to colleges.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>When the semester/year is over, I would probably email (very politely) the teacher and the guidance counselor and suggest that while review of an essay by an English teacher might be okay, that college essays are very personal and not good fodder for classroom discussion even with anonymity. It adds stress to an already stressful process, and raises privacy issues.</p>

15

<p>I agree with the idea of writing a generic essay using one of the prompts. And perhaps you could organize some of your classmates to writing your concerns about the essay assignment to the teacher, department chair and maybe even the school board. AP level students don’t really need all that much coaching to write entrance exams, and the time could be better spent. Surely there are enough current events that could be selected for a beginning of the year “how to write an essay” type of assignment.</p>

16

<p>I’ve decided to skip talking to the teacher and just write the generic essay. This unit is tradition to senior year English, and my teacher has already done the “If it ain’t your best work, don’t bother sharing!” spiel. LOL</p>

<p>generic essay it is!</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone who answered <3 :)</p>

17

<p>Yeah… but it would be great for students in the following year if you would bring this up after your final grade is in. Our kids school has a junior year assignment to do an essay on the common app prompts, but it is NOT shared except with the teacher. My D ended up using her essay with some modifications from that assignment with excellent success the next year – but it would not have been appropriate to share with other students.</p>

18

<p>this is exactly my current dilemma. my class is just a senior writing class, and the teacher wants us to give an “oral presentation” on our college essays, whatever that means. i want to answer the first common app prompt about the background story because i feel like it can show who i am better than any of the other prompts, but it’s a story i really wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with the class. unfortunately, i may have to write a decoy essay, too…</p>

19

<p>Let’s face it. I have same problem. my essays will tie together the whole application. As a result I am fearing that I can’t give out my essays. Last time I trusted someone in this issue, he made me cry for it. and of course I had terrible time. if one of my essays gets plagiarized, I am doomed.</p>

20

<p>Look, you guys, schminke’s solution is a bit extreme. Each of you should start by speaking to your English teacher and asking not to be required to share your essay with the class. In the meantime, show MommaJ’s post above to your parents, and see if they’d be willing to intervene on your behalf if necessary . . . in other words, if you don’t get anywhere just speaking to your teacher yourself.</p>

<p>But keep the drama out of it. Don’t accuse your classmates of plagiarism. Don’t say (as schminke did) that you’re “repulsed” by the idea of reading your essay out loud. Just tell your teacher that you don’t feel comfortable sharing your essay with the class, and would prefer not to.</p>

<p>Some kids feel comfortable sharing their work, and appreciate getting feedback from their classmates. Others don’t. Explain to your teacher that it should be a personal decision.</p>