I was like that with my kids too! Lol. I tried to get D21 to write about her “stupid pet trick.” D21 would make a police sketch artist’s dream eye witness. Her descriptions go way beyond “brown hair and medium height” and are often oddly entertaining. I thought, if I were an AO, I’d probably love to read something dumb and entertaining like that, a break from all the serious essays kids write. But no, D21 wanted to be taken seriously.
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My D20 was an all-region diver and track sprinter. Due to travel to the pools we cut the diving club team in sophomore year. She was falling asleep on the way to practice.
The college AOs appeared to be more impressed with her GS Gold award than all the time spent with athletics or band (4 years).
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But how do you know that?
I was curious and asked a professional college admissions counseling service (whose name I won’t mention here but whose name has been tossed around on CC before) how much it would cost for someone to look over D21’s already completed essay and just check for grammar issues etc. They quoted me close to $6000, and the reason was that “most kids don’t understand what college admissions wants to see in the essay.” I somehow managed to suppress my laughter and told them thanks but no thanks. I then asked two of my writing friends to look over D21’s essay and only make suggestions on grammar if there were any issues. They happily obliged for free. One suggested no changes and one suggested two slight changes, one of which D21 made and one of which she chose to ignore.
There are probably kids out there who have not yet finished their essay whose parents shell out $6000, and I am guessing those kids get a lot more than grammar checks…
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Omg. I have no words. $6k.
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@bestmom888 S21 thought he had to dig so deep and sat staring at the Common App prompts for weeks. As a family, we made a list of top 5 strengths we liked about him and we gave him the list. The examples we listed led to him writing about his love for building a two-story treehouse and building things. It was fun, it wasn’t boring, and if the AO ever asked, he would have a fun picture to show! We ran it by my cousin who reads for Berkeley and a couple of the Ivies just to make sure we weren’t veering off a cliff. I actually learned a lot about my son through what he finally got down on paper. However, I also wonder how on earth he survived honors and AP Lang all these years with his affinity for run-on sentences.
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It actually makes me angry now (back then I was shocked and amused that they would think anyone would pay that). I just watched The documentary on Varsity Blues, and so yes, apparently some parents WILL pay that. And I am sure the essay gets “tweaked”. A LOT.
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$6k! Well, I saved us and other families some money then!
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Exactly!
That is obscene! It’s like the ones that say pay us $xxxxxx and we’ll get you in an Ivy League or whatever. We didn’t use a college counselor and my kid that year got into an Ivy League and my other one who didn’t apply ED got into a top Honors Business Program which was her first choice, Michigan Engineering and CS at UIUC. The only place she didn’t get in was USC. So I think we did pretty well!
If I had gone to a college counselor this year and spent $20k which is pretty much what people spend around here, they would’ve been wrong in the advice they would’ve given me since most of them were wrong from what I’m hearing. My son so far has some decent acceptances, a few deferrals and waitlists. Can’t really complain in his case even if he doesn’t end up being accepted at his first choice. Especially if I didn’t have to shell out $20k and have the same results.
Wow 6k to review an essay.
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I think it was 6K to “review” (wink wink) an essay…I think maybe they get mostly kids who are in the process and the service shapes the direction and then probably the entire essay. That’s the feeling I got. Though the charge was the same whether or not the essay was already written or not.
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This is how segregation occurs between rich and poor (even mid-class).
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I love that your family made a top 5 for your son. We will be doing this for D23 and D26!
This year has been so crazy, I would be heartbroken if we had spent money for advice and/or essay ‘proofing.’ A favorite teacher brainstormed over zoom with D21. After she had drafts, a couple of my friends proofread and made comments for her. My husband and I weren’t allowed to read them until final. Seriously, what could lawyer mom and lawyer dad know about writing…
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My husband is a lawyer and what my kids noticed is whenever he would edit any essays in the past, or change a word, they were words they didn’t commonly use, so they weren’t necessarily words coming from them per se. He is a great writer but a very formal writer being a lawyer, which many lawyers are. So it may have been better that your daughter didn’t seek your input until later. I have always had to tell my husband in any general (non legal) writing he does to soften things up. So with the college essay stuff he would come in most handy when something needed to be shortened or just for simple ideas to include something that may have been forgotten, or grammar, but otherwise he was not who any of them went to for input.
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With our results, I’m thinking I should have spent $6K on reviewing essay. 
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LMAO but at least she got her #1 with SLO. More than thousands upon thousands can say!!
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GS Gold was mentioned in some acceptance letters, but not sports, despite the latter being emphasized in essays. Unfortunately, she wasn’t a captain in either sport so maybe the emphasis is on leadership.
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So, I just saw on the UVA FB page that they’re already planning for in person parents weekend for October and that hotels might already be booked. Not something I need to be thinking of now when my son can’t even decide on which college yet and hasn’t heard from schools yet.
Who needs that extra stress?
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That’s what is so frustrating when the decision dates for acceptances across schools vary so greatly.
The pressure to register for housing, parents weekends, etc is just too much when all the decision from schools aren’t even out yet!!
I really don’t need nor want to start pulling my hair out.
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@rarz69 good luck to your daughter! My daughter has no regrets either that she spent so much time on ballet… she also managed to squeeze in other school ECs (school newspaper editor, math club president) and a bit of science research (with recommendation from advisor) so I am hoping she doesn’t have too many “holes”. Her high stats should help too (1570 SAT, 800 SAT Bio, 4.76 GPA). Looking forward to April 6 and having this behind us…
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