Does anyone know of any colleges with essay help seminars? We got an email from Bucknell the other day, after we visited, with a virtual “Nail your Common App essay” session. I immediately clicked the link and it was full. I’ve tried googling but not much luck. Not even sure what they’d be all about, but figured it any help is welcome! Only local counselor I’ve found gets about $250/hr and we can’t swing that.
@mm5678 My advice for UCF is to complete their application as soon as it opens and make sure you have everything in by the end of August. Also write the why UCF essay. D18 just went back today and read me the one she wrote when she applied. We got a good laugh. She says her nose is still brown because of that essay!
My S is working on his common app essay but has not shared with me. We have an essay consultant who will work a little with him, but I’m capping hours. Once he gets the idea and focus, his sister or I can help with editing suggestions. It’s possible his AP Lit teacher will review it, when school starts, as a class assignment. This is what she did when my D18 was a senior, but we’re not entirely sure she’s coming back to teach this fall. (Aside: If she doesn’t, it’s a shame. She’s an excellent teacher whom my D credits for really preparing her to do well in a writing-intensive LAC environment.)
I don’t think my S has started any supplementals. And it’s not like he’s busy. He’s procrastinating and it’s driving me nuts, but it feels like the more I push the more he delays. Alas, I was just like him as a teen!
My D18 was so much more open to my advice and input during this process. He’s keeping me at arm’s distance, and I feel like it’s possible he’ll drop some balls and miss some deadlines, but ultimately, it’s up to him. Serenity now!!
A friend recommended an essay consultant, and because D is a strong writer, and writing is a huge part of my job (and life!), I was initially reluctant to spend the money. Then I realized that I’d be too close to any topic to offer anything productive beyond proofreading. Besides, we figured someone who has read thousands of these could offer much better guidance than I could. After only a couple of hours D and I both feel that her support has been invaluable! My favorite thing is that after each draft (D just finished her third and apparently pretty much final one), she has said – unprompted! – that she felt really good about what she’d written. She feels like each draft has been different, and she thinks the most recent is the by far the best. I love that she feels like it really represents her. Priceless. Taking the stress out of this one piece of the application (and NOT being the one to set deadlines for her!) has been so nice. Of course I haven’t read it yet… 
S21 sat in on a Dickinson essay webinar - from the notes he took (I didn’t watch the webinar), it seemed to be the same advice as we got from Write Your Way In and On Writing the College Application Essay (and a few podcast episodes). Here were the things he wrote down from that session -
*Tell your story, highlight your strength
*Use detail
*Use essay to highlight something about you that isn’t on resume
*Show, not tell
*Proofread
*Don’t just tell a story
*Don’t draw simple conclusions
*Don’t rush
*Don’t overuse a thesaurus
*Read it out loud
*Ask someone to proofread and ask them “What did you learn about me?”
*Make first sentence unique and captivating
@nichols51 – great list of tips!
I heard an AO say once that if you dropped your essay on the floor in your HS and someone picked it up, ideally they’d know who wrote it or at least be able to narrow it down. It’s personal.
I love the tip about the first sentence being captivating. AOs read soooooo many essays – you gotta grab attention quickly.
Btw, it occurred to me that one benefit for our kids this Fall is that with AOs not really traveling to schools maybe they’ll have more time to review apps?
D21 has had her first sentence ready for 18 months. Lol
A good list above and a few things I noted when researching essay tips for D last year:
- Likability. Adcoms are humans and they want to accept students that they like. After reading the essay, they should say “I like this kid” and will go to bat for you in the committee meetings.
- Don’t lose your teenage voice by having adults do too much review and editing.
- How will YOU make college “x” a better place by attending and participating for 4 years?
- Try to have one narrative or theme that ties the rest of your application together. Some call this “packaging”.
To you, and all the parents on here concerned about not having seen their kids’ essay…just wanted to offer some encouragement that this is really OK. I commented about 100 pages back that I did not read my D19’s common app statement until right before she hit send on the ED app. She did ask her HS IB EE advisor to read her common app statement, and knowing that another set of eyes reviewed it to make sure it was somewhat cohesive was enough reassurance for me…I knew that would be better than my looking at it from a parental lens because how could I not want it to be uber perfect, when all I want is for my daughter to get into a school of her dreams? So…No, it wasn’t perfect, and I would have worded some sentences differently, but after I read it, I thought '“this reflects what is important to my kid at this point in her life, and she related it to who/what she aspires her future self to be”. So it was exactly what it should have been.
The one thing I told D19 and now D21 is that they should be expect to edit, re-edit, re-edit (and then re-edit more!) their essays far more than they may be used to, to truly get their best work. They are just not used to editing their written work to the extent we did in the good old days (there was no going back to make the paper ‘read better’ when you are typing on an actual typewriter!). My kids usually edit on the fly by reading on the screen instead of printing out a draft to double check ‘how it reads’ and putting their handwritten notes on it…but when they do take that extra step, they admit they get a better final product.
No judgement of the different approaches families use, but I want to allay fears that parents personally reviewing all of the essays and/or paying a professional is absolutely necessary for your child’s college acceptance into a highly selective school (if that is his/her goal), because that is not true. If your student is applying to highly selective schools, it’s probably because s/he is a highly capable learner, has a very strong academic record, and probably does his/her own writing in high school at a more than proficient level. Good writing luck to all!
My D submitted three of her apps this week. She finished the other two in the common app and will submit on 8/1 when it rolls over. They are all TO but said they require test scores for merit aid. She is scheduled for the 8/29 SAT, hopefully she’ll be able to take it. She is going to apply to the honors colleges but she can’t submit those until she is accepted. These are all pretty much safety schools for her so we’re sure she’ll get in.
Yes! S21 has never edited his written work as much as this in his life. Also, he wrote his first draft on his phone…I have no idea how/why he prefers typing on his phone, but I shut my mouth. 
Our private school just pushed back the opening date for two weeks in case the county can lower its numbers (I’m not optimistic). Happy that he will have more time for apps work since he is in session right now at city college online. Also might provide time to study for the ACT if we can get a spot.
Fordham, Marist, Manhattan, Quinnipiac, Ithaca, Fairfield, UConn, Sacred Heart
List is narrowed down, Some reaches, some fits, some safety’s
Pretty much 2 hours except for Ithaca, have seen 7 of the 8
@BmacNJ sign me up for any of those schools. Awesome. Any.
Oh how I wish we had schools near us that appealed to D. We are in the middle of the country and her schools range from MA to NC to CA!
I would appreciate any thoughts on Fairfield, if you visited that one. The core classes seem a bit onerous!
We did see Fairfield and this was my review back in early 2019
Went on tour of Fairfield University this past week and will share my thoughts and opinions. Thought the school presented itself as a competitive school discussing importance of AP classes and honor programs. They pushed the Study Abroad program hard. Seemed many students were able to double major or major/minor. 2019 Tuition/Room and Board is $64,000. Merit aid is between $9k and 25k renewable each year. (it remains same amount for 4 years)
The campus was nice. Very clean, well manicured. Buildings are all newer and a new business school is being built. No where to walk to off campus as it is located in a suburban neighborhood. Shuttle bus runs all day to downtown Fairfield and Metro. The school is convenient to major cities for internships, entertainment as its about 1 hour from NYC via train ($18 each way). New business school building is under construction. Freshman dorms were small, upper classman live in on campus apartments and townhouses. No cars allowed on campus for freshman or sophs (exception for nursing majors.)
Disappointed that there was only 1 dining hall. There is no football team. There is no hockey team. The Basketball team plays off campus. The lack of athletic events is a huge turn-off.
Missing college vibe
With D18 I never saw one of her essays and I expect the same will be true with D21. Also we did not hire someone to review the essays. I understood why it may make sense and folks do it… However, I believe if what the schools want to hear is the true voice of the applicant that is best done by the student themselves. Not saying that editing, proof reading etc. doesn’t make sense. However, everyone’s situation is different.
I know as a lawyer I tend to use way too many wordS when I first write anything. I always have to go back and eliminate a bunch of useless word and phrases.
I always find the word count function a great help for making my thoughts and sentences more direct and concise. I have no doubt that a student who writes an first draft of a 650 word essay in 800 or even 900 words can make the essay much better and tighter with editing down to 650.
@BmacNJ did you get to see UConn? On our list for D21; was hoping for a November visit but who knows the way the world is going?!?!
Thanks for the essay tips! We do have the Write Your Way in Book. Hot weekend on tap so I will pack it as we spend the weekend poolside at the in-laws!
@burghdad – the woman my S is working with is a parent of a classmate of my older D’s who teaches in a writing lab at a nearby university and does this on the side. She was recommended to us because as a non-parent she can help kids sift through their ideas for the essay and figure out the personal angle they want to share. I think as a parent I’m waayyy to close to the subject. 
After that, the kids take it from there with parents and teachers helping editing/proofing. She doesn’t charge much – I think she enjoys working with these kids, and it’s just a word of mouth business.
I very much agree about not over-editing – AOs can tell if it’s not a young person’s voice. I remember a couple slightly clunky phrases and word choices in my older D’s main essay that I would have not used – but I also knew it very much sounded like her and as though a then 17 year old wrote it.