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<p>I felt the same way. Especially in holistic admissions. Since when is an applicant expected to be admitted to a tippy-top holistic college without a stellar EC and/or unique personal story? This applicant did not appear to have either. 2 sounds right.</p>
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<p>Good point. I think admissions officers are overconfident in their ability to make this and other judgements.</p>
<p>After admissions decisions have been made, colleges should survey applicants and ask them how much help they received with their applications. For example, </p>
<p>(1) Did you employ a paid admissions consultant?
(2) Did your consultant help you revise your essay?</p>
<p>If students who got substantial help were more likely to be admitted, controlling for grades and test scores, schools should reconsider the complexity of their applications.</p>
<p>Questions about help received could even be placed on the Common App, if there were a way to keep this info from colleges until after decisions were made. Many students would not answer honestly if the data were released before that.</p>
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<p>The biggest variable ought to be the degree of professionalism of the expert. In this arena, anyone be anointed an expert, including minimum wages workers hired by paper mills and well-meaning but ineffective high school teachers and counselors.</p>
<p>Considering the typical essay that has been shared at CC, I’d say that the biggest surprise for readers and adcoms must be to read a compellingly simple and effective application essay. As far as I know, the cloying and pompous style comes quite naturally to teenagers (and parents) who are trying to impress through thesauritis. </p>
<p>Fwiw, my take on that “confession” is that the reader does not seem willing (or able) to understand the expectations of her mercenary position. She seems to have problems with the objectives and mission of the “reading exercise” and, probably resent how minimal the impact of one reader truly is, especially when the individual position differs from the institutional guidelines. In a way, she also seems to be advocating for an even more designed “paint-by-the-numbers” scorecard – something that is a bit surprising in her case. </p>
<p>Lastly, I am not sure anyone needs more accounts of how dysfunctional the admission process at the UC is. All that is needed is to look at the results and how well they match the stated objectives to be representative of the California diversified demographics.</p>
<p>PS Speaking about surprises, the confessor states that the Level 2 student submitted a nice tribute to his immigrant parents. It should be nice to remember that essays should be about the applicants … and not about parents, uncles, or grandparents!</p>
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<p>This is interesting to me, because I think I remember reading that AdCom’s don’t like essays that are “all about me,” and prefer that they are written about someone else! (Glad to be done with that)</p>
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<p>Indeed.</p>
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<p>My D’s essays (for summer programs, she is only 15) are brimming with superlatives. I guess that’s her personality to a degree but I find myself, as a reader, telling her to turn it down a bit.</p>
<p>My reaction to the article is to be struck yet again by how difficult the task of admissions is. </p>
<p>But I REALLY do not think that they can spot packaged essays, especially not by pomposity. To the contrary: pomposity is typical of teens who are attempting to write to impress.</p>
<p>Please note that 1 is the high score and 5 is the low as it stated in the article.</p>
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<p>It probably is at private colleges, but UC is rather predictable, once one understands the ‘rules’. :)</p>
<p>Am I to understand that there are really & truly companies that fill out applications, supplements and write essays for prospective college students?</p>
<p>I suppose College Counselors, of which there are zillions (that’s a technical term) may generally ADVISE on and EDIT essays, I’m sure there are many that write, or basically write, essays.</p>
<p>The UC application has two essay prompts. In one, a student is asked to describe how his or her background has influenced him or her - they may write about their community, school, family, et al. The second one is meant to be about the student, and what he or she feels are defining characteristics. Accounts about the striving immigrant parents or grandparents are appropriate for the first essay, but not the second. When my son & I visited Berkeley in June, an admissions officer specifically alluded to an essay about an inspiring grandmother that they disregarded, saying “it would have been fine, if only the grandmother was applying to Berkeley.”</p>
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<p>Bay, there exists a distinction between “all about me” essay and one that is about how others might have influenced (or motivated) the applicant. The key is balance and subtility in presenting the influence. An ode to a grandparent who spent hours on a boat or survived great odds does not help much if it does not have a direct influence on the applicant. I am afraid that this is harder to explain, but rather easy to spot when you see an essay that is “all about” about a third party. </p>
<p>This does not mean that students should not discuss the context of their upbringing or family’s postive influences. As long as the common denominator remains clearly the applicant, it can work very well.</p>
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<p>No, the problem is that the policies of the admissions office and literal instructions to these external readers weren’t in line with the unspoken policies. Basically, they expected everyone to read between the lines.</p>
<p>I know of applicants whose admission essays are far above their writing ability, thanks to inputs from various sources. It would be fair if our colleges use a timed writing & submission of online essays with prompts that are randomly assigned, instead of undue advantages enjoyed by some students whose applications are packaged/marketed by expensive admissions consultants. Barring strict proctoring, workarounds are possible with external inputs.</p>
<p>Perhaps Univ. of Toronto uses such a timed (online) submission. </p>
<p>Very few students or their parents, including this writer, have an understanding of how the capabilities of applicants are coded in their computer system. The appendix A on page 66 of Hout report, Coding Variables and Instructions is quite informative. </p>
<p><a href=“http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/aepe/hout_report_0.pdf[/url]”>http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/committees/aepe/hout_report_0.pdf</a></p>
<p>And the myths and misunderstandings roll on.</p>
<p>Agent99:
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<p>I don’t know about that, but I’m sending DD1 to a “college application day camp” in a couple of weeks. This is a for-profit side gig run by a counselor at her school. $200 for the week. Limited to 10 kids. Helps them with their target lists, tips, tricks, and traps in filling out applications, gets them organized, “help” with essays, etc. Was encouraged by a parent whose kid attended last year and said it was well worth the investment.</p>
<p>The more you pay, the more assistance. It shouldn’t be necessary for a 4.0 kid with rigor to need excessive help. He should have some smarts. </p>
<p>I don’t have an issue with kids getting some help, as DGDzDad describes. Or someone savvy to the process who assists without such formality. After all, kids have never been through a process like this, have never had to self-present for something of this magnitude- AND, it’s not a high school assignment. </p>
<p>But the expensive guys are mere mortals.</p>
<p>Can a fake essay be detected? Maybe. But are you all accepting that most kids don’t do such a stellar job on their writing, in the first place?</p>
<p>So, does this mean there’s now more significance to applicants’ personal statements? I mean it is supposed to be holistic after all.</p>
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<p>Doesn’t this basically describe the ACT and SAT essays?</p>
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<p>True, to some extent, but not always. Not all colleges require results from ACT/SAT writing; general essays found on common application serves their admission purpose. Sure these can be randomized & timed.</p>
<p>More selective colleges have their own college specific essays, which may be in addition to the (ACT/SAT) writing requirement. These can also be timed to weed out excessive outside inputs.</p>