<p>I have been working on my two Harvard essays, and I would like CURRENT OR INCOMING HARVARD STUDENTS to take a look at them and tell me what they think. Any advice would be great!</p>
<p>So... any takers?</p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>Please... I really need some feedback!</p>
<p>..you have posted this exact request (with changed names) on basically every Ivy thread. I don't particularly approve..</p>
<p>I would be glad to, but since you only want to CURRENT OR INCOMING HARVARD/YALE/PRINCETON/... STUDENTS, I guess I don't qualify.</p>
<p>Well, I'll be using the same essays for all the schools (I don't see what's wrong with that unless they have different prompts) and I have to apply to more than one university, especially if I apply to some Ivy League schools. I'm also asking because many of the people who I sent my essay to haven't replied with their feedback and I want more than two people telling me what they think about it.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but I want to see if it's a good essay topic or if I should write another one. I'm just getting a bit impatient, so I wanted more feedback.</p>
<p>Olive_Tree, I apologize in advance for what may be unsolicited advice, but I've seen a lot of your threads and posts and I've really been thinking this: please calm down! </p>
<p>The essay is a medium through which you can give the admissions officers a good idea of who you are as a person. Trying to perfect it based on the arbitrary opinions of students who've been admitted to these universities will be both disingenuous and not very beneficial in the long run. These students have gotten into good schools, sure, but they're not experts on the admissions process, nor are they capable of truly discerning whether a piece of writing represents you in the best way. They can't duplicate the thought process of admissions officers. Most of them got in because of who THEY are, not because they know how to most slickly package themselves or write an essay most tailored to the school's desire. I would recommend you get friends of yours or adults to whom you are close to look over your essays. The most anyone on this website may be able to do is give you an ARBITRARY second opinion and possibly give you help in terms of clarity and grammar. But admissions officers won't be nitpicking your spelling or sentence structure. They'll be looking for an idea of Olive_Tree as a student and an individual. Speak from the heart, let them know what drives you, what you're passionate about, who you are. If ultimately that's not what they want, that's out of your control, but trying to polish your essay too much based on the advice of too many sources will very likely conflict with your own voice shining through.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with seeking advice from some of the brightest kids in the country, especially if they're willing to help you. But you've been posting a lot and you seem a bit frazzled... Don't worry, you're a good candidate, just be yourself. I wish you the best of luck. Please relax a bit and don't stress so much about getting into Yale or Harvard or Princeton... it's a beautiful summer!</p>
<p>It just seems to be almost...cheating(?) the system just from how you worded it. If you had just said "I had been working on my essays" rather than replacing the college name for each thread, it would have been much less of a "problem" for me. But that's just a personal peeve of course - nothing legit. ;) I'm not berating you for the fact that you are applying to multiple schools - I'm applying to 11 too - just that this appears almost desperate, if I may dare say so. </p>
<p>Also, on a more "helpful" note, have you thought of asking people you know in real life that may be more dependable in getting you feedback? Writer friends, relatives, Ivy friends, blahblah? They might be more helpful/sincere in their reviews of your essays. Though I too have sent essays to successful CCers, I'm planning on letting me teachers and "Ivy" friends read them too. Of course ask them first because if they are "qualified" enough to give you feedback, chances are that they are busy people too, but on the whole these "real life" helpers have been more ah, helpful :D</p>
<p>Ah..it seems like sartorialiste has beaten me to the post...and more eloquently too! heheh.</p>
<p>I apologize if I seem really frazzeled. I just wanted feedback from more experienced readers. I don't have any relatives close to me except my parents and they don't speak, write, or read in fluent English. Most of my friends are on vacation so I'm pretty much short of readers. Also, I don't have any friends in the Ivy League, otherwise I surely would have asked fot their advice. ;) Trust me, once school starts my essays will be read by teachers.</p>
<p>Once again, I'm sorry if it seems desperate. To tell you the truth I wouldn't have posted in Harvard's forum but nobody has been replying so I just hoped that somebody here would be a little quicker and give me some input. These are the reasons why I wanted CCers' advice; it's not because I'm so unsure of myself that I'm going to base my essays off of what others say. I do realize how I may have come off that way, though. It wasn't my intention.</p>
<p>Olive_Tree, I hate to suggest you post one more time, but you might actually do better asking on the parents forum. There are a number of parents there who regularly read student essays, and I hear they are quite helpful.</p>
<p>If your friends have email...you know.. ; )</p>
<p>You may want to just ask some adults you semi-know to read your essays and comment. Those kind of frank comments coming from people who don't know you personally (cough, admissions officers, cough) can help. For example, if a lot of people say "Hmmm..this is confusing. What are you trying to say, exactly" or "Ack, truthfully, I got a little bored after a little bit," it might raise some flags for you to work on. Even if these people are "less experienced" with the application process, everyone is biased and an admissions officer who has been reading for 8 hours and needs to take a potty break will probably half-skim, half-read your essay, which means that if it has some "serious" flaws like readability or uniqueness, you won't get a positive reivew. Wow. THAT sentence is the type of sentence you DON'T want in your essay, by the way. Extremely convoluted and excessivly long. I apologize ; )</p>
<p>Anyways. Good luck! I'm sure you'll get enough feedback that will make your essays amazing. </p>
<p>PS. What's so bad about fellow rising senior aiding the process? IMHO, it seems stupid to "steal" essays or ideas since it will be pretty obvious who's doing the stealing...are you worried that people applying to the same places won't give you good feedback to decrease competion? 'Cause I mean, in a few months, some of the rising seniors WILL be "INCOMING Harvard/Yale/etc STUDENTS." Hmm...just wondering. ;)</p>
<p>^ I've tried that before, but with little luck. No harm in trying again, though.</p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>Don't worry, I've been known to write excessively long sentences, as well! LOL. Well, I'm just a bit paranoid since it's an online forum where you often don't know people's intentions and with admissions time coming up, you just never know. I'm just guarded, that's all.</p>
<p>If you're really interested in reading my essays, I can send them to you.</p>
<p>As I said before, I'll be glad to read them..but I'll be harsh. </p>
<p>BTW I do understand your being guarded. The internet is soo helpful and soo fake at the same time. It gives too many people the opportunity to be fake, though, I do think that CCers are less likely to be - I mean we're all worried applicants waiting to see if the culmination of 18 years of dediction pays off with a fat envelope. But I think that's the greatest strength of this kind of forum. We all understand what each other is going through and can appropriately help (unlike some of the kids at school who are like "Well, you have a 2400 SAT, duh, you'll get in everywhere fo sho!") : )</p>