@Mom2aphysicsgeek Excellent essay. Thanks for sharing.
After reading the Compass Point articles, thank you @Mom2aphysicsgeek, I can only conclude Holy Cluster Batman. What were they thinking? What. A. Mess. Canât wait to see the final conversion tables. Itâs going to be difficult for colleges and students to accurately assess their standing.
Spykid was dropped into our reality from somewhere in the 1800s. Heâs a good writer but heâs stiff. And proper. And sounds like someone from the turn of the century when he writes about himself. Gah.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, thanks for the link.
I agree this is a great essay. On another thread there is the (now) famous Costco essay. That one, I didnât get. This one shines brightly.
Instead of colleges asking multiple essays, I think they should get the SAT or ACT essay and use that (instead of score) or have separate essay testing date. Any takers? 
@srk2017 Ugh!! No way. Writing under timed pressure is not representative of most kids actual abilities.
@Dave_N âŠI totally agree. I read the Hopkins essay three times. It was so warm and flowed so well. Just a great story about a kid who realizes how his family dynamics will help in the future.
The Costco essay didnât impress me at all.
@srk2017 No way! My D hates timed writing. Sheâs a good writer when she gets unlimited time to work on her essay/paper as she really agonizes on each word, sentence, paragraph. It needs to be just right.
@srk2017 I think it would be great to have an essay that isnât edited 300 times or maybe not even written by the kid. Sometimes itâs frustrating that there are parents who will write the essays for the kids, but such is life I guess.
BTW I made it to member status! Just 700 to go to the next level
@Carachel2 I loved it bc it was so real. I can picture that household (like I said, some of the comments like pure chaos meaning that their house was functioning normally strike close to home.) It wasnât pretentious. I think he did a great job of showing who he is and why his background has a lot to offer.
I thought the Costco essay was difficult to slog through b/c it seemed so âcreatedâ for the topic.
essay writing became an industry with lot of people going for paid consultants to help with essays. Most people I know who are applying for top schools are taking help. So instead of that, why not have a separate test and give more time, like 4 hours. I understand some kids donât do well with time constraints, but we all have do deal with time @ work. I would rather have that than kids loosing to kids with paid help. I help my S with his speech topics. So debating this vs fixing US elections
Congratulations on promotion to a member @greeny8 !
Donât become a senior too soon!
I became a senior member on the PSAT thread⊠CB cause my seniority! :-S
@greeny8 I was promoted this week too. LOL!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek enjoyed the hopkins essays. A lot can be said with a word count of 500-650, I worry more about ones with shorter limits. For better or worse, this is Sâs style of writing. Doesnât always play well in school but may be very helpful for this process.
@payn4ward â I hope you are not a sad âseniorâ member bc of the PSAT thread I started â your contributions have been terrific and much appreciated â but I hear ya - I donât want to be a senior bc of that thread either!!! It is CBâs fault.
I am working on the senior moment, ah, membership. But I got a lot of it in in the 2015 thread. (See, even I have to edit!)
S would not do well in a timed essay. He is not a natural concise writer. He tends to be stream of consciousness writer and goes on and on. Edits and rewrites work in his favor. That said, he does his own writing with editing by a teacher or two. No paid staff here.
I hope to be an actual 'member" by the time my Dâs college application journey is over. Meanwhile, I will just bow down to your magnificent post counts!
The only schools we found that required the SAT2s were the very competitive Ivy League and similar schools. A few of the competitive schools but a notch below Ivy League that required them for my son last year arenât requiring them this year which is nice. Those that did want them wanted specific ones for engineering/math/science type majors. Typically Math level 2 and Chem or Physics.
@srk2017 While a lot of people are paying to professionally package their kids, there are still a lot of kids out there doing it on their own. (I know several families whose kids attend top schools and none of them had professional assistance.) If professional influence is a problem, the issue encompasses more than just essays.
@2muchquan There are a pretty good number on the CC16 parentâs list whose kids are going to UDel over some other acceptances one might consider âbetterâ schools. It sounds like the merit aid has been nice too. I personally know 3 kids there who love the school. They were high achievers in HS but wanted to pursue more activities in college and UDel has provided them with a very balanced life with enough challenge in class but also enough time to seriously pursue sports, research, etc.
For SAT2s, be sure to check for any special college-specific (like College of Engineering) and major-specific requirements. For example, the UC system lists all such requirements for their programs here: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination-requirement/SAT-subject-tests/
@mtrosemom We thought about it but did not opt for the rescore. A huge number of schools have already announced that they arenât even requiring writing for next yearâs class and Iâm sure even more will once they switch their admissions pages over to 17. The essay is totally separate and would not change the composite score or any of the other test sections.