In perusing the 2015 Official Prep School Decisions and Applicant Stats thread, I noted that some applicants wrote and edited their essays entirely by themselves, while others received extensive help. I was particularly intrigued by Yoonicorn’s report:
“Who helped with essays? How much did they help? I had a tutor, but he was just terrible so I wrote all of the essays for Hotchkiss and Andover by myself (and coincidentally, those are the only schools I got accepted from Hmmmmmmmm.)”
So, I was wondering if schools specifically state that applicants are not to receive any help whatsoever on the essays? I have read comments that suggest that admissions people can spot an authentic essay in a second. Yet I see from the Decisions and Applicant Stats thread that some kids who received help were admitted nonetheless.
No they don’t state anything specific but of course depending on the age of the student and other variabilities the material submitted will be expected to have varying degrees of sophistication. I see no issue with getting help as long as it is in the form of editing and refining while retaining the voice and thoughts of the student. If it is okay to prepare for the SSAT exam why shouldn’t it be okay to get tutoring with essays?
Some of the day schools DS is applying to say something along the lines of no help - to be completed by the student. We have no problem reading our kids essays/responses and suggesting small things (sometimes saying read it again and find the typos!). Not changing what the kid is saying but asking some questions to make sure what he wants to say is coming across they way he intended. SSAT writing sample can always be used by schools for comparison.