<p>"One admissions officer told me, 'If I read another essay about kids building houses in Costa Rica, I'm going to scream.'" "</p>
<p>-- This amused me. I can't tell you how many upper-middle class (and up) kids volunteer for pseudo philanthropic projects that are in fact money-making undertakings that require major investment on part of the participants. Kid's parents shell our a few thousand dollars for the kid to fly to Costa Rica, pound a few nails, and then spend the rest of the day surfing. At the end of the vacation, they call it EC. The debutante daughter of some friends went to Africa to deliver aid supplies. Then the whole family reconvened for a luxury safari. Naturally, the experience is being touted as her humanitarian EC. :roll eyes</p>
<p>MilwDad:</p>
<p>If your son is applying to very selective schools, he should spend a lot of time and effort on the essay and make it a personal statement about himself beyond the grades and scores and list of activities. Also, absolutely someone else should read this before it is sent. It does not have to be a parent....in fact it's probably best if it's not a parent. My son, for example, would not allow us to read his essay as it was too personal (it was about friendship and the loss of a close friend) and he would not show it to teachers at his school for the same reason. We decided as parents that the college application process was too important to leave entirely in the hands of a 17-year-old male who believes deeply in the virtue of brevity (or minimalism) when undertaking a task.</p>
<p>We hired a private counselor (hourly rate) to oversee the assembly of the application and to read the essay and make suggestions. She did not pad or package or do the work for him. When I saw his first attempt at the process, before he went to see the counselor, I was glad that we took this step. First, because S did not want to listen to any advice that came from anyone involved in his upbringing. Any suggestion from a parent would result in huge sighs and eye rolling, that kind of thing. Second, because far from attempting to pad his application "resume," he wanted to leave things out. </p>
<p>For example: Had he sent off his application without anyone looking at it first, and without taking my advice, he would not have mentioned any jazz solo performance awards he had won. Why? Because they were from minor festivals, not statewide or national. Counselor told him to put them down anyway. He would not have mentioned the jazz combo he and his friends put together to earn a little money in lieu of a part-time job. Why? It's not a real job and "we really didn't make much." Counselor said put it down. He wasn't going to mention the two years he worked as a teacher's aide for the temple Sunday school class. Why? Because it was only for two years instead of four and he thought it "wouldn't count." Counselor told him to put it down for the two years anyway. He wasn't going to put down video games or paintball as activities even though spending time with his friends was practically an EC for him. She told him to put it down under hobbies. </p>
<p>I could have told him all of the above but he was far more willing to take advice from this third party than from me and she was able to guide him to give a much more detailed and full picture of himself in the application than he would have done on his own. As for the essay, she made suggestions and he rewrote it twice. Later, after the applications were all sent, I saw the essay and I could tell he had written it; it did not have the organization or word choice of a more sophisticated writer. It was his writing, his voice. Hiring someone to look over the essay does not mean you are buying an essay or paying anyone to write it. </p>
<p>DS attended a large public high school where the GC do not have time to shepherd seniors through the application process. IMO, the private counselor was worth every penny of her fee.</p>