<p>My son is another of those procrastinators--always has been. He also finished his online Northwestern application on January 1st. He still has two applications to finish that are due the 15th. Those essays are what slow him down...</p>
<p>Since he is a homeschooler, I am his guidance counselor, and I had all the school reports and transcripts sent out by mid-December. He also had all teacher recommendations (from teachers in outside courses) sent by then. But his part takes the longest...</p>
<p>I guess he does have some decent reasons. He has many music activities going on--his youth orchestra performed Dec. 26th--and he has been working hard on audition materials, as his first live audition is Wednesday. (trumpet) He works part-time and has other time commitments. Still, he COULD fit in applications if he wanted to. I think procrastination has just become too much of a habit. :-(</p>
<p>Oh OHio_Mom, I hear what your are saying about copy editing - having gone through it with my daughter and a couple of friends, I don't think these kids are taught anything about writing! When I was helping my daughter, I circled all the redundant phrases, and said replace them with 1 or 2 words - She said, There's no way! So I showed her what I meant, At a party, I would much rather be alone, vs At parties, I prefer anonymity. Then I told her to take out every form of "to be" - She's saying This is great! I said that's the point of the "BIG" vocabulary.</p>
<p>cangel,
maybe we could collaborate - I like to get TheDad in on it, too. I asked my son if they ever taught him how to cut words - the answer was no. Maybe kids that take journalism learn how to - certainly doesn't seem to be widely taught in the AP courses.</p>
<p>Great idea. What we need are example paragraphs "Before" and "After" some good editing.</p>
<p>We could probably get some good examples of "before" from early drafts of essays.</p>
<p>I think I got a much better writing education in HS than my D has gotten. PLUS my dad gave me Strunk & White's "Elements of Style" in 12th grade; a lifesaver. Since my D has usually gotten As in english & humanities, I did not look over her shoulder much till essay time. Egads! Same sorts of wordiness errors mentioned above. Great ideas and usually well-ordered, just too much filler.</p>
<p>My advice to her was take every non-essential word in each sentence OUT.</p>
<p>Having edited a number of profession-related pubs in a past life, I learned quickly that just because a person has a number of degrees, (s)he does not necessarily know how to write. I was appalled with the number of grammatical errors (misplaced modifiers were the worst) that I had to correct (and the number of red pencils that were worn to the nub). Strunk & White (in high school and college) and diagramming sentences (in elementary school) have proven to be great resources. Even though both of my kids were good writers, their essays still had superfluous words.</p>
<p>Also, does anybody else wince when folks use adjectives instead of adverbs, i.e., omitting the -ly or using "good" instead of "well"? If kids can write well, I believe that will transfer to being able to speak well, too.</p>
<p>You gotta remember too that these kids are used to padding essays for classes to make sure they reach their word limit: "And so, in closing, I would like to summarize by reiterating the points made thus far: ...."</p>
<p>ohio_mom, I'd be interested in pow-wowwing with you other copy editors: I spent Sat. giving essay feedback to wayward last-minute writers on CC and would be happy to help with a handy guide we could post here somewhere.</p>
<p>My sister is an editor by profession. She has edited a number of college app. essays for family and children of friends and she is appalled at how bad the kids write. And for the most part they are the top students in their classes.
Editing one of my D's essays she pointed out that D philosophy seemed to be why use one sentence when you can use 3. Needless to say D was shocked at how much can be cut and still say the same thing and actually say it better.</p>
<p>I agree with digmedia; also, I've seen far too many English teachers who actively encourage verbose essays, especially when they're packed with lots of impressive-sounding--even if not quite idiomatic--vocabulary. (Sometimes I think the road to hell is paved with SAT words.)</p>
<p>Like SBmom, I can't say enough good things about Strunk & White's Elements of Style; the world would be a better place if everyone read this amazing guide to clear, active, concise language. I also think Harry Bauld's lively book, On Writing the College Application Essay, can help kids both with essays and with writing in general.</p>
<p>Probably we should each get a bad PP or two, edit "after" versions, and PM them to each other. Once we had a decent assortment of examples, we could post them, along with a list of basic writer "do's" and "don'ts" and a list of resources, like Strunk & White.</p>
<p>There is a good thread, tips on writing the college essay, but this could be more focused on writing mechanics, not topics. </p>
<p>For several years now I've proofread a small journal and have been driven crazy with bad writing (and I admit I have no writing talent myself). Sometimes I've thrown up my hands and wanted to just scream. How could I fix something unfixable? As for English teachers, a very dear friend of mine teaches AP English and is absolutely appalled at the quality of the college essays she's asked to review.</p>
<p>Even in one of my son's 500-word essays, I pointed out to him 31 "problems." These ranged from tense changes to misuse of puntuation to misspellings to just awkward wordings. He hates to give me something to proofread, but I can't help it.</p>
<p>Your essay collaboration is a great idea. I actually still have Strunk & White from my high school days also....better dust it off.</p>
<p>About the procrastination-- I'd like your opinions. My son is a good writer WHEN he gets the writing done. Like susantm's son, he has a lot of music activities which require many hours of practice and also a lot of honors courses. Yes, he does tend to start his writing assignments too late (whether for apps or school) but even so, he should be able to finish with time to spare. However, he spends waaaaay too much time trying to get the words down on the paper. My h says this is a way of procrastinating but I disagree. I usually cut him some slack because I see how hard he works and how little he goofs off. I don't know how to help him become more efficient.... so is he procrastinating or does he have writer's block?</p>
<p>I got your PM before I came back to this thread. I like the before and after examples to go along with the list of "rules". My copy editing dates back to college, so my grammar skills are quite rusty. But, word choice and connotations are still my strong points; verbosity is my enemy, and prepositional phrases fear me.</p>
<p>I bought Strunk and White for my daughter, they use the MLA now in school, but S&W is much better, IMHO, for this type of writing.</p>
<p>Yet another procrastinating college applicant here. As nice as it sounds to get tasks done and out of the way weeks in advance, it's just not in my nature, and it's something that I really have to fight against.</p>
<p>That being said, I do have a big favor to ask of you extremely helpful parents, particularly those who have commented on this thread about copy editing.</p>
<p>I wrote my personal statement essay for college apps several days ago and have since been trying to whittle it down and craft it into a good essay in the moments of spare time that I've had. I still am not satisfied with my essay, and I'm slightly over the word limit.</p>
<p>I'm involved with the journalism program at my school and have discovered during my experience with copy editing just how much of a stickler I am for correct grammar and spelling (to the point of annoying others, even). Sadly, though, it doesn't always extend to my <em>own</em> writing. Plus, I often fall victim to that "must...be...verbose" thing that has been mentioned on this thread. I would feel much better if one or two objective parents here could skim my essay, and I would gladly PM it. I have an application due midnight tonight, and if it's too little notice, I absolutely understand.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone's willingness to help during this frantic time of the year.</p>