Meltzer’s “industry insider” experience is test prep and tutoring, no? Outside the gates.
Why would someone think that test prep is readily bought, when the student who was prepped still has to take the test alone, while essay prep can’t really be bought, when there is no real barrier between the tutor and the final product?
The essay survives, and in fact really hasn’t been tested, because it is in almost all stakeholders interests for it to survive. We desperately want to believe the whole process has a personal element, and the essays help us hold on to that belief.
Interesting read about essays
See the first topic" The biggest lie in college admissions" Totally agree with the writer.
Essays are nonsense, and schools know it, but none dares to get singled out…Its a Delusion to show “holistic” process.
I don’t think they put any more time and effort into it, except to get excerpts for a “feel good & special” response to applicants who they select (So the applicant feels a binding/loyalty to the college). None matter as far as the core of admission process is concerned, which purely by the logistics of it, needs to be numbers based.
- For several years after college graduation, and with a number of friends working in the college's admissions office, one of my kids got hired several years as a part-time, piece-work admissions essay reader/grader. There were always at least two readers for every essay, one of whom was always a full-time admissions staffer, but the other might be a seasonal worker like my kid.
There was training involved, of course, and a fair amount of mind-meld and common culture. My kid was best friends and housemates with one admissions staffer, and had longstanding friendships with two or three others. At various points, my kid was a full-time student adviser at another college in the area, a graduate student at the university where this was happening, and a researcher with a university affiliate working on campus.
Anyway, the point is: the university was coming out of pocket to pay extra people just to make certain there were enough people to read all of the essays. It wasn’t merely symbolic.
- My kids, too, wrote their own essays, 100%, even though others commented. And the essays were very good representations of who they were and how they thought -- something that was not completely in their favor, especially for one who came off as a little immature and self-centered because -- believe it or not! -- he was a little immature and self-centered. His best essay by far was his common app essay, in which he said almost nothing about himself but analyzed a current hot issue in his city's school system. That really showed him at his best, analytical and passionate. His biggest admissions success -- a fat merit scholarship offer -- came from a college that only got that essay.
- Re: adults are not better writers. I wrote my own essays. My parents never even saw them. I was a good enough writer to be called in for a plagiarism investigation a few months later, as a college freshman, the main evidence being that a five-page essay I wrote was too polished and too sophisticated for a freshman to have written. I got a prize out of it after they apologized.
I was a better writer then than I am now.
Humor me. How do you know this, @mannysan1?
Test prep and other types of college admissions assistance are an industry, and they pass referrals back and forth all the time. I believe her when she says she’s read essays (she is an English specialist after all) and that she’s seen the work of essay rewriters.
As far as her claim of a “revolving door” – that application readers frequently wind up in the private college preparation and counseling industry – that’s obvious. Go to almost any college counseling firm website and see how much they will brag about their staff being admissions industry veterans.
I think essays are like resumes. I have gotten hundreds of resumes and cover letters over the years - often hundreds for one position. You learn the art of skimming and some are rejected immediately for various reasons, including numerous typos or the cardinal mistake about having the name of the wrong company or position applied for. Others merit a full first read and then others a fuller second read and so on. Essays are no different. Some are sloppily done, others reference the wrong school due to carelessness or it is obvious that it is a cookie cutter one the applicant has done and just hit send for a lot of schools.
My D did get a personalized not from the Admissions Director referencing her essay. She still has it along with her acceptance letter.
re post #123. Never saw son’s essays. Agree about adults’ writing skills- some are gifted writers, others struggle to write (eg perfectionism- I hate to write) well and others don’t have the nuances of grammar down pat or other writing skills.
The posts about writing the essays oneself are similar to posts about doing well on SAT/ACT without tutors - happens all the time, but doesn’t mean there isn’t a test prep industry that many people complain about.
I more or less write all the time for my job. I wouldn’t be very good at writing college application essays and the experts at writing these essays wouldn’t be very good at writing my stuff without a fair amount of practice. Context and audience matter immensely.