Oh I see. Thanks 
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D24 is in a similar situation for a couple of the LACs sheās going to apply to. Has to be a graded paper in english or history from 11th grade. In her AP US History class last year, they didnāt do any research papers. She had AP English Lit last year. But literally ALL of the essays they wrote in that class were 2-pagers that were written in classā¦timed essays, all done as prep for writing essays for the AP exam.
D24ās plan right now is to pick the best of those essays and submit it. And if thereās an essay prompt along the lines of āif thereās anything else you want to tell us, say so hereā, then sheāll mention it briefly in such a section of the application.
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SO just to clarify they wrote a ton of papers, but they were all 1-2 page long persuasive essays on a point. He wrote a few longer papers on the books they wrote but nothing that would be a highly critical thought paper that he would be proud to send to a school like Williams. He remembered that they did write one analysis of the great gatsby that he could edit and would probably work. His APUSH class was 100% geared to the test, maybe that is why he got a 5 on the test
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My S has a music spike, that is part of what draws him to Williams and he will apply ED
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In the case of my kid, the 1 LAC sheās applying to that requires submission of an 11th grade paper stated that it needs to have the teacherās grade and any commentary from the teacher written on the paper. So taking an existing paper and editing it now to submit wouldnāt work for that situation.
But not every college handles that the same way. Thereās so much variation from 1 place to another!
This is obviously not your fault (nor hers), and obviously these are not the only classes she took. But as someone who takes long-form writing development very seriously, this is killing me inside. I guess if the class is supposed to be AP test prep, this makes sense for that purpose. But these kids are going to be facing very different challenges once they are taking writing-intensive college classes.
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Totally agree. For my S it is only an issue for submission of a paper since he is an excellent writer and has no issues with writing longer papers. This year they hopefully do more long form with AP lit. In 10th grade they wrote many, many 3-6 page papers but Iwould not submit that
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That is annoying, I agree with others that submitting what she has is all you can do, and maybe have the counselor write in their letter that this is all that was offered in class.
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Yeah, not to get sidetracked, but I am sure some kids will be fine because they will have developed as good writers through other channels. I just get worried about āteaching to the testā issues like this when that might not always be true for some kids.
But I am sure if they didnāt teach to the test and kids were not doing as well as possible on their AP scores, that would cause a lot of other problems. Not an easy situation.
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Agreed, my S21 had a teacher that did not teach to the test for AP Lang and they all got 2-4s on the test. Many, many 3s when in our school the average for that class is a 4.5. The school and the kids were not pleased.
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True. Absolutely nothing I can do about it. She has had extensive classwork in a few english classes on writing in MLA format, using sources, etcā¦but a bulk of that was in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade, while all of the essay writing in 11th grade English class was in the in-class method I mentioned. My kid will have to figure it out when she gets to college.
** edited to add **
in 10th grade AP English Language, they had a huge year-long research project which finished with a big presentation & long essay with sources cited in MLA format and all that jazz. But D24 canāt use that essay for the submission to LACs because of their request that it be in 10th grade.
Since itās out of my hands, itās something that I am choosing to not stress over. However, my kid isnāt applying to schools like Williams.
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D24 just finished a 4 hour college application workshop and submitted her first 2 college applications. Trying to finish with the rest and get them out of the way in the next couple of weeks, and then turn to honors applications for the schools that donāt require admission before application.
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Agree with all of this (we are in MA as well). I am trying to get S24 to consider UNH so he has ONE school close to home. He is refusing UMass and no way he is getting into BCā¦
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Why UMass Amherst?
Why your major?
Explain how you would enrich our campus.
Personally, I think those essays are great topics. He may end up modifying them and use them in other applications.
This post is from another thread about Harvard. However, the advice applies to all colleges. Some schools have really obscure essays. In this case, the UMass essays are giving students three opportunities to tell why they will be a good fit at that school.
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For the Why Us / and How will you enrich the campus type essays include specific things the college offers that you are interested in and why.
- Major. Minor. Ability to double major, etc.
- Research on a specific topic with a specific professor (obviously need to look on the website and find something that is interesting)
- A specific class/classes you will take
- A specific study abroad program you want to do
- Other specific programs of interestā¦coops, Wash DC semester, etc.
- Clubs and organizations you will join
Show the AOs you did research on their school. These essays should not be interchangeable with other schools (format can be similar, but the specifics will be different).
Things to avoid: āthe campus is beautifulā, āI felt at home the minute I stepped on the campusā, āCollege Xās mission speaks to meā, āCollege X is known for its study abroad programsā, basically anything that one can say about many other campuses.
Also avoid things like āI have a hard time speaking up in class/advocating for myself/meeting other peopleā.
For why this majorā¦connect your experiences/activities/goals to the major. Show the AO, donāt tell.
ETA: college essay guy why us guidance and free brainstorming exercises: Why This College Essay Guide + Examples | College Essay Guy
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Totally agree! Our school doesnāt technically teach AP lit or language: the basic components of what is on Language is taught in 9&10th with 3page papers more common in 10 than 9th. English11&12 are all intensive analytical reading& writing on various literature genres, with the honors kids encouraged to take the AP lit /language in 11th and 12th, whichever order they prefer. All or almost all get 4&5s. My kids both explained the language part for the test is covered in 9/10th so no study other than quick review the week before is necessary, and the literature part doesnt need outside study because of all the writing in 11th(or 12th). 5-9 page papers every few weeks are the norm. APUSH switched teachers between D21&23 due to retirement: the former didnt cover the full curriculum of AP and did longer writing/papers, the latter was more test-focused with shorter DBQ writing, other than once a semester longer papers. They both got 5s (as did many peers) but D21 had to do more on her own prep of the topics not covered.
D21 has some college peers that have never written papers more than 3-4 pages and they are at a disadvantage.
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Just here to whine for a moment. Northwestern finally posted its supplemental essays. What had previously been a simple Why Us for years is now three essays, one required identity essay plus two āoptional.ā
I know schools are adding identity essays to deal with the Supreme Court ruling. But I wonder if they are also expanding the number of essays to try to trim down the volume of applications they have been getting the past few years.
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That would make sense. Something tells me that the additional two āoptionalā essays arenāt as optional as, say, test scores.
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Agreed. Test scores are optional but āoptionalā essays really arenāt.
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