<p>I'm curious - my son is finishing up his essays - he spent hours and hours just getting through them since he's applying to 8 school (which I now realize is too many!)</p>
<p>But from what I'm reading - a lot of candidates are not just writing but writing and rewriting and editing and agonizing and rewriting essays over and over again. Is this what most people do? In many cases, while the number of essays is plentiful, the required length is just a page or two (if hand written). </p>
<p>There are also a bunch of parent questions that I'm working on - but I'm also just answering them as best I can. I'm trying to do the best I can- but I'm certainly not agonizing over it.</p>
<p>I'm not planning on changing our approach but are we in the minority? Are most candidates making themselves nuts over this?</p>
<p>well, I don't. i just reread over them and make small corrections. but it might be because i spend a lot of time on the first time writing it instead of making a rough draft and rewriting it.</p>
<p>My D has spent a lot of time writing her first draft. From there she is just making corrections. She will not allow us to look at them until they are finished. I think cc draws the most obsessive individuals, so most people are not re-writing ten times.</p>
<p>I gave my husband the assignment of responding to all of the parent's questions. I am managing the other parts of the process, teacher recs, mail documents, following up with schools etc. But I thought some of the schools had too many parent's questions, one had more essays for parents than for students. The process is exhausting and I can not wait until all the applications are finished.</p>
<p>that's definitely not what i'm doing. i did have a tutor look over my essays and stuff, but i still like to look over it at least once a day to check any grammatical errors i made and stuff. essays shouldn't be "perfected" because i think the admissions can tell... anyways, good luck!</p>
<p>Yes - that's also part of my concern. If a 14 year old writes an essay that looks like it was penned by George Will, don't the admissions people start to wonder? Or is that what's expected? It would seem to me that if a student is obsessed enough to rewrite his essay more than once (or perhaps twice) then why wouldn't the student just hand the essay to an adult who writes well and ask them to correct it for him/her? I guess I'm just responding to some of the desperation I see on this board. </p>
<p>I know it's certainly not everyone, but I read some of these posts and I can't help but feel sorry for some of the folks who feel that this is a make or break moment in their (or their child's) lives. Or perhaps I'm just naive and I've set my son up to fail by not having him rework his essays over and over.</p>
<p>I didn't even read my son's essays until they were submitted electronically. I didn't want to color it. The only thing that worries me is that I am the one who has given him most of his instruction in writing, so naturally, our writing styles are similar. Oh well, they have his ssat essay to compare.</p>
<p>frankly, as long as there are no spelling errors (spell check will fix that) and errors like this their is suppose to be there (you'll have to reread and look for words that that can happen to), your essay should be fine. as long as the essay shows some of your personality, your passions. that's what they want to see, you</p>
<p>I had a few teachers, friends, and my parents read the main essay I've written and critique it. My English teacher helped with grammar, but overall, what I put down on the page when I first picked up my pen back in October is what was on the essay form when I mailed it to Chaote last weekend.</p>
<p>As my parents' native tongue is not English and I really am not going bring 30 essays to my English teacher to edit, I just go throw with a fine-tooth comb and work out all the spelling and grammar myself. Its a hassle sometimes, because I personally can't stand editing. I know that if the rent's English was better, I would have found so much comfort in being able to bounce back ideas (like how to approach essays and stuff).</p>
<p>Question: How important are the essays? Well, obviously, they're important, but are they make-or-break potential? Are they more important than the recs?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if they're more important than the recs, but potentially anything could be make or break if you ended up coming up against someone very similarly qualified. That's the attitude I've used through the whole of the application process.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, though, that there's no set formula to interpreting parts of the application.</p>
<p>That's fair game, Saer, but it doesn't mean everyone has to do it. See this is one direction a forum like CC can go - it makes everyone feel if someone has done something I should do the same plus some more so I won't be in a disadvantageous position. Not true - some things are nice to have but not necessary/important, some are meant for only some people... don't worry TOO much!</p>
<p>There isn't anything wrong with that Saer, in my opinion at least, because it's not as though the teacher is really changing what your essay is about, and I think that essays are a little bit more about learning about you than judging your writing skills.</p>
<p>Haha, I stopped worrying after my second heart attack/stroke!! Seriously, though, I'm not worried. I've got the best safety school in the world- my home. :) And my essays? I've always written best off the top of my head, with little changes here and there. So that's how I wrote these. And I hope to God it's good enough, but really, even with a rejection letter in hand on March 10th, I'd still be happy. :)</p>
<p>I agree. As much as I would really really love to get to go to Exeter next year, I've realized that if I don't get in.. well, life goes on. It isn't the end of the world and I hope everyone tries not to think of it that way, or a rejection letter on March 10th will just seem so much worse than it is.</p>
<p>i'm in accord as well!! (heehee, sorry, i really felt like using that). i think that all this application process stuff will help me know what to do and what NOT to do when it comes time to apply for college...</p>