How to safely use CC for essay advice without getting ripped off!

College Essays
41

<p>I would personally feel horrible about trusting someone else if I got ripped off and they were in it for their personal gain. For me, editing essays is a passion... I enjoy helping other students, whether I know them or not, on this streeful college process. Plus it's all about intergrity. I find it completely IRONIC that you are applying to a college-usually tier- wanting to be a "good" asset to their school with "good" and "honest" traits then you come to a great site (which, once again, ironically is call College Confidential) only to steal or use someone else's work. </p>

<p>Can't even fathom....</p>

42

<p>I don't know why someone would steal an essay and apply to the same school you're applying to, because wouldn't the university (presumeably) realize that you and the other person have the same paper, and screw you both?</p>

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<p>thx~ ^.^ totally agree with u~</p>

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<p>so scary. haha</p>

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<p>Hey just an idea I had for extra protection to deter any copiers. Why not just put the text of your essay into an image so it can't be copied? What do you think.</p>

46

<p>**A lot of it is frankly your guys' fault. If someone says
"if it's good, i'll read it" ahem...that's a red flag there...
they should be trying to HELP you...not read an
ALREADY good essay....</p>

<p>common sense.</p>

<p>Oh, and anyone who is ENTHUSIASTIC about reading
your essay without giving ANY REASONING whatsoever
is probably going to steal your essay. Trust me, among
the essay graders I know at CC and my own experiences,
they aren't fun to look at after awhile. Most essays are
plagued with a lot of faults, and it takes a long time to
grade (each essay for me is 45 minutes~2 hours). Soo...
we're not that enthusiastic anymore about it...people who
are enthusiastic are either essay grading noobs, or stealers.
There are exceptions, but very very few.</p>

<p>Oh, I love it when people send essays to 20+ people. At
that point, the critiques start to contradict each other and
you lose sight of what's quality and what's not. The "shotgun"
approach also leads to a lot of stealers sneaking in. If you
make a thread, by the time it hits page 2, stop reading responses.</p>

<p>ANYONE WHO SEES AN ESSAY CRITIQUE THREAD WITH THREE
PAGES AND STILL WANTS TO READ YOUR ESSAY KNOWS FULL
WELL THAT YOU HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH HELP ALREADY!!!!!!!
THEY ARE THERE JUST TO READ IT FOR THEIR OWN LEASURE OR
TO STEAL IT!!!</p>

<p>Again, this is common sense...which, apparently isn't so common.</p>

<p>Oh, and you **** us off a lot. But that deserves a thread of its own.
Which is why we decline many requests.</p>

<p>With that said, I start resuming essay grading in 2 days. Go to
the other stickied thread for my rules and requirements before
emailing me a request.</p>

<p>Just my .02**</p>

47

<p>very helpful</p>

48

<p>wow..as a new member, that helps a lot. thanks!</p>

49

<p>Thanks for this post! It's very helpful!</p>

50

<p>This is a great post. I am very iffy about having a complete stranger read an essay, but I would really like some feedback on mine. Thanks for the helpful info!</p>

51

<p>with that said, some things should be said to deter potential essay thieves. for one, a mismatched essay stinks like a dead body. the essay's purpose is to round out your application, providing a fuller picture of yourself and embodying your voice. only you can write your own "best" essay (not literally because there are obviously better writers out there than you, but in your own spirit)</p>

52

<p>ok I disagree. I think most people aren't dumb enough to steal essays (esp not cc'ers)
most of the time theyre too personal to even make sense for someone else to use it</p>

<p>for those people who reply and say they'll read it for you but never do.....I don't think they're looking to steal your essay most of the time...I think it has more to do with the fact that they want to see how their own essays stack up against others applying to the same school, or they've never written college essays before so maybe they want to see an example of one... (none of which I consider bad...people on the chicago forum posted theirs specifically for these purposes)</p>

53

<p>thanks~~~~</p>

54

<p>In response to your 12-16-2008 01:42 AM post, I have a few thoughts on the topic of essays on CC. </p>

<p>First of all, you are apparently a highly respected editor here on CC, so your words will have more clout here than mine. You have a relatively high post count, and have edited plenty of essays, with much satisfaction from others. </p>

<p>*Now, I must say first of all that I would never in my life post one of my essays to CC. I worked way too hard to have ideas taken from them or really anything else done to them. I got help from English teachers, my parents, trusted friends, and my brother. That is just the way I am, not someone to post something like that to the internet.</p>

<ul>
<li>I support the idea of NEVER posting the text of an essay into a thread. Just not a good idea for so many reasons. I always tell people to email me a copy of their essay in MS Word, so I can use the track changes feature. </li>
</ul>

<p>Now on to your post:</p>

<p>I sense a built in contradiction in your statement that </p>

<p>"if it's good, i'll read it" ahem...that's a red flag there...
they should be trying to HELP you...not read an
ALREADY good essay"</p>

<p>while you state in your own criteria for editing an essay is that is must be close to final draft. I don't think others asking the same is a problem. Personally if someone emails me a very rough draft, I will not correct all the grammar and spelling errors. I will just give basic comments on the direction and overall feeling of the essay. Then I encourage them to send me a more final draft and I'll give a full critique.</p>

<p>Next you state that enthusiasm is usually a bad thing. Well, after I critiqued my first CC'ers essay I felt enthusiastic in helping others. Therefore I try to help out people to the best of my abilities. {More on this in the "Debski's Dilemma" section of this post.}</p>

<p>People with 20 or more posts for editing their essay? Agreed Ridiculous. I still laugh every time I see another post in the "The most personal and powerful essay I have ever written" thread.</p>

<p>~~~
At any rate, I just have to say that I love editing essays from CC'ers. I usually check CC everyday, but don't post that often. I like reading others' essays but I feel I have a good enough mastery of the English language that I can offer pointers. NOBODY besides the admission committee people could actually tell the person how to exactly how to write their essay, but lots of people who need help have been getting some on CC.</p>

<p>Phew... "Debski Dilemma" will be another thread. I hope you will opine. </p>

<p>Sincerely,
I-ask-you-tell</p>

55

<p>^ good idea, but people can still retype the essay though...</p>

56

<p>**In response to i-ask-you-tell...</p>

<p>I appreciate the feedback, allow me to clarify a few things.</p>

<p>I demand final drafts because I want to see your absolute best,
because when I thrash it apart...well...people are more realistic
about their ego levels that way. I've had bad experiences in the
past with my 2+ hours of critiques simply being ignored because
the writer has built-in excuses.</p>

<p>I want no excuses when I get an essay from you. None. </p>

<p>And quite frankly, I'm here for help. That doesn't mean I can
guide every person that comes to me for every little bit. It's just
not humanly possible. I looked at around 140 peoples' essays
this year, which is ridiculous when you consider how much time
I spend on each essay. Imagine if I looked at rough drafts and
helped the same person multiple times. I will do as much as I can
but I will not sacrifice my own grades for the sake of helping others.
:( sorry.</p>

<p>Enthusiasm...kinda wanes away after your second year and/or your
100th essay. And that's after looking at maybe 100 bad essays. </p>

<p>And also note, that admission officers have conflicting views about
what they like in essays depending on their experience, bias, history,
criteria, personality, etc. That's why I focus a lot more on the
psychology of the essay than I have in the past when I'm critiquing,
because those are universal to humans in general. </p>

<p>Just my .02**</p>

57

<p>Hey Radron,</p>

<p>Sorry if my last post in this subforum seemed like a diatribe, I think I was just crabby that day. I think its great that you take the time to help people out. :)</p>

58

<p>I wouldn't post anything I wanted to use. </p>

<p>It's possible to get feedback from other sources that wouldn't want/need to plagiarize your work: teachers, professional tutors, older siblings, good friends, college students you already know. You can even ask your parents to take it to work and have their colleagues read it. If those people can read it and come away with a great impression of you (provided they don't already know you) and feel like they got insight into your personality, then it's probably fairly good. </p>

<p>Read Harry Bauld's book On Writing the College Application Essay for great advice too.</p>

59

<p>**^No offence, but why the bolded text? -curious-</p>

<p>And, personally, I wouldn't use CC.net for advice on my essay. It's just too risky. There are plenty of other people one can ask. **</p>

60

<p>100% agree</p>