Yep, we are a Bay Area family and my son, a Stanford grad, was being paid $200/hr to tutor AP Chemistry.
He really didn’t like it as most of the students were far from eager.
To be honest, the Asian population here in Silicon Valley has turned the whole GPA/AP/National Merit/College admissions scene into a freakish pressure cooker for all the kids.
I don’t know the answer either.
A lot depends on the skill of the parent who is helping. A decent writer can have a significant impact without righting any of the essay, by making comments: “Show don’t tell,” “Expand with details”, “Rambling”, “Paragraph transitions”, “Off topic”, “Redundant”, “cliche”, “Kill the adverbs”, “Inconsistent verb tense”, “Be specific”, “Subject/verb agreement”, “Sequence is disorganized”, “Vary sentence structure”, “Active voice” or “Conclusion is weak.”
Just wondering if the parent/consultant also edits the students classwork and school essays is that ok?
This is a real question.
I want my kids to do their own work but maybe that puts them at a disadvantage?
That is ridiculous. I know someone hired a coach for their daughter’s essays. I think that is too much already before I read this.
Unless you put each applicant in a room and give a certain amount of time (like the ACT/SATs) to write the college essay, there will always be essays that are written or edited to an unhealthy extent by others. Many slide right through and make a big difference in the outcome. Some parents write their kids entire essay, or pay to have someone do it. It happens, no question, each person can choose what they are comfortable with - financially, morally, ethically - in the competitive process that it is. The system as it stands is set up to allow many ways for essays to be written. T’is life.
Our HS has the kids turn in a college application essay as an English class assignment. The teacher’s red pen remarks and corrections ensure that there are no glaring grammatical or punctuation errors.
For our kids, the things that make them sound 17 years old are often the most engaging. Not always, mind you, but often. On the other hand sometimes I have suggested that they cut a sentence or two. I would never add because it interrupts the flow of the voice. Also I see that the basic structure or pattern should be left alone, because the thought process has its own logic which is all theirs.
My big thing with our kids is do a draft, then another draft and then another and another until you have ironed it out.
I think there ends up being a certain karmic balance to the entire thing, though. Parents who are good writers, and who are interested in literature, tend to raise kids who are also interested in those things. So while they can lend an educated eyeball to an essay if needed, there exists a confidence in the kid’s writing ability already. The parents who write their kid’s essays for them-I’ve seen a few (judging competitions in middle and high school), and they’re almost always poor or obvious. The ones who have professionals do their work for them-at some point in your life that’s going to feel pretty hollow and unsupportable, and those kids have to deal with that burden sooner or later.
Editing is oftentimes a family affair at our house. I’m a compulsive editor by nature, as is are my husband and my daughter. My daughter and I edit my husband’s academic papers for peer-reviewed journals. We all bounce emails off each other for tone and content. And we all have talked about and brainstormed ideas for essays. The essays themselves, however, are most assuredly my daughter’s writing, just as my husband’s articles are his, and my writing is mine.
My daughter’s essays are clearly written in her voice and are her ideas. We do help with transitions and overall phrasing at times. She has a vast body of work to draw from, including several 1500 word essays she did for a summer program and 17 pages worth of scholarship essays. She has raw material ranging from from 25 word versions to 1,000+ word versions of each of several major topics and oft-repeated questions (e.g., talk about an EC; talk about diversity, leadership, favorite subject, what you did last summer, etc., etc). She has cut-and-pasted no shortage of versions of ideas together to create new material depending on the task at hand and keeps refining her ideas and tweaking her essays as she goes.
Her essays generally tend to be much more creative than anything my husband or I could write, and she has had the benefit of studying with a few masterful teachers of English and rhetoric that have helped her hone her writing and critical thinking skills. Moreover, she probably has a very mature voice for a high schooler. My husband is very good at creating good transitions between ideas and overall structure. I am good with turns of phrases. We all have our strong suits and we all complement (and occasionally compliment) one another’s contributions. Also, we all learn from one another, and, most importantly, we generally have fun doing it.
I have also – almost obsessively of late – helped a number of CCers with their essays both in terms of grammar and content. I try not to have too heavy a hand in doing so, and I trust – and have seen – that suggestions that I (and perhaps others) have made have been internalized, as I can see kids’ writing improving over time. It’s gratifying to hear about’ successes of those CCers that I have helped along the way. They are truly THEIR successes – and I’m delighted to have been able to be a helpful sounding board and editor to those that might not otherwise have access to either.
It truly takes a village.
^^ @LoveTheBard is a good example of writers/readers raising writers/readers. I have no doubt her kid’s prose is as vibrant as hers.
Two years ago I attended a panel discussion (Q&A) with 10 or college admissions reps sponsored by our kids school. The schools participating represented the state flagship, several private schools and two top 10 schools. One of the first questions asked of the panel regarded application essays and parent/ and or professional college counselors editing or helping with essays and whether the admission reps could tell the difference and what they thought of the whole process. One rep answered for the panel saying she thought it was “very important” that students have at least two people edit or look at their essays to offer constructive advice and definitely check for errors, grammar, syntax etc. She went on to say that most of the time they have no idea if an essay is written by a professional or not (extreme cases I am sure) but they do know when a kid did not bother to take the time to have someone proof their work. For admissions readers it is difficult to read poorly developed/written essays and in life no one who works in the real world should ever submit written work that is not checked or proofed by another person.
Whether it is a child’s parents, English teacher or someone hired to help I think it is a disservice not to have someone look at your kids work. Additionally, once students get to college, most schools offer writing centers to help proof and edit… so obviously even the colleges recognize having another set of eyes is a good thing.
Even in this thread there seems to be a variety of opinions over what is acceptable assistance and editing, but the general consensus is that a certain amount is the norm and even encouraged. Where is the line in the sand?
Sadly, yes. Again, where is the line in the sand? Kids with educated parents that edit and advise are at an advantage . Kids at good high schools are at an advantage. Kids with college counselors are at an advantage. Kids with essay coaches are at an advantage. And that just covers the range of so called acceptable assistance that kids get!
I am quite brutal when I work with kids on their essays. If I think the essay doesn’t cut the mustard, I am pretty blunt about it. And I never suggest anything I don’t think a student isn’t capable of writing themselves. It’s imperative that the student’s own ability and voice is reflected in his or her writing. I love to figure out how an essay can be “fixed,” and my goal is to also get them to figure out how to fix it. There’s always something that can be improved. I will on occasion suggest a better way to phrase something, but my rephrasing is rudimentary and only serves to illustrate how rephrasing can make something clearer.
I also always make it clear that they shouldn’t feel obliged to use my suggestions, and that I am not an admissions officer. I often find that students are using their essays as a justification for why the college should accept them, rather than an opportunity to shed more light on the kind of person they are.
Regarding the comment by @planner03 above, you have a valid point. But if your parent might be helpful, why not ask for help? I don’t see a problem asking for advice or ideas to make things better. I definitely think it’s wrong to write, or rewrite, anyone’s essay. It’s interesting to note that it isn’t just kids with money who ask for help. I have helped a ton of students for free, who contact me by pm. Often these students say their parents don’t have good English, they can’t afford to pay anyone, their school has no extra help avaiable, etc… Most students want to get advice and help, not just those from wealthy families.
I helped my son brainstorm ideas for the common app and proofread it. We talked about some word choices and “voice”.’ It was definitely not work I would have submitted but it did sound like something a 17 year old boy would submit. He did write some completely on his own and let me read one. The essay prompt was “take a risk” so he wrote a limerick. I never in a million years would have done that but he did a beautiful job!
Yeah, I think we could talk about this forever. Someone asked upthread about looking at/editing actual schoolwork and is that okay, so I’m going to be honest here and hopefully won’t be shredded: my college freshman asked for editing help on a couple of papers this semester, and I obliged. Again: copyediting, not writing. The paper was shared in Google Docs and I used “suggest” mode to correct true errors (mostly grammar), meaning she’d still have to see the correction and accept it, and left comments in places where I had questions about things like “show don’t tell” or flow, etc. Do you consider that cheating? Because, again, I write for a living, and I get to use an editor, too. I think as time goes on, students can use each other for these once-overs (I happen to know said freshman turned around and offered editing help to several friends), but as long as I’m not being asked to write the paper, I don’t see this as problematic. Many faculty (especially in lower level classes) offer a similar editing once-over if you go to their office hours.
Also (boy, I am just spoiling for someone to tell me what a terrible parent I am today, clearly 
), with my younger kid, who has dysgraphia, I often give more help – though our system is crafted through years of professional guidance on how to best address his disability. For my oldest, I will edit. For my younger kid, sometimes he will write the entire piece and come to me for editing, and sometimes his brain-to-hands connection is overwhelmed and even typing is very difficult (this is pretty common with dysgraphia). In those instances, I sit down with him and ask him to “just talk,” while I transcribe everything he says. He then goes through the resultant text on his own, and then again with me. Is this cheating? I don’t think so, because he was basically offered a similar service by the Disability department of the university where he’s dual-enrolled.
tl;dr: Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and not everyone is a great writer. There’s a difference between appropriate help and abdicating the work to someone else.
@yankeeinGA - I don’t think editing is cheating at all. I went back to college for a 2nd BA about 10 years ago and my professors suggested doing exactly what you describe above. In fact, several profs had a peer editing day in class where we were told to bring copies of our papers, hand them out to peers and have them make suggestions to us. She went on to tell us that we should never submit an important piece of writing without getting suggestions from at least 2 other people on our work.
I helped my kids with all of their essays. I did not write any essays for anyone. My older kids preferred for me to make my suggestions on a paper copy. My youngest invited me to comment on the google drive.
BTW-my husband is a lawyer and lawyers in our office frequently ask each other for help with writing. If one lawyer is charged with writing a brief another will proofread and make suggestions. I don’t think helping is the same as writing it for them. Nearly everyone’s writing improves with another set of eyes.
If the personal statement isn’t anywhere close to the style of all the other essays, then yes, I think it raises a red flag. If the student performed poorly on SAT Writing or ACT English, then a home-run essay will seem inconsistent. Still, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t need an 800 or a 36 to deliver a really compelling, beautifully written essay.
As for feedback/edits from a parent, I see no harm. What IS bad is a parent physically writing words for the student.
@yankeeinGA we also use Google Docs for commenting on essays. D is a college sophomore and she periodically solicits feedback, mostly from her dad. He definitely doesn’t re-write stuff for her. He may correct a typo or grammatical error, but mostly he uses the comment features to call attention to what he sees as writing weaknesses or weaknesses in logic or lack of evidence to support an argument. Her college has a writing center and she also goes there from time to time for feedback, but I think she values her dad’s feedback more. Just before break she asked for his comments on her final paper for one of her politics classes, but only after she first had a classmate peer review it.
Keep in mind that just because a parent writes it, it doesn’t necessarily make it better. I once heard a parent complain that an English teacher must not like not her child, because they never got a grade higher than a B+ on a paper, even the one the parent wrote! Maybe the parent wasn’t a great writer. Lol
Another time, I heard a parent comment that she really liked her D’s essay, except for the fact that it didn’t sound like her. But that’s because the parent wrote it! There can be real drawbacks to parental help.
Many teachers just don’t have the time to thoughtfully edit every student’s essays…ever. Without thoughtful edits, at a higher level than the student’s own, it is very difficult to improve.
High stakes writing samples, however, should probably be proctored exams like the SAT, in my opinion.
That would surely even the playing field.
Otherwise it’s just as nonsensical as the parents taking or “thoughtfully editing” final exams or hiring someone to take the actual SAT.
I think that you can call it editing or “helping” all day but ultimately, unless you are simply pointing out grammar or spelling mistakes, it actually is cheating to have your kid put their name to an essay where someone else has composed even a single phrase. I’m sure many parents do this and I’m sure that in many cases the admissions people don’t catch it but it is still unethical.
I know that many very bright students (particularly STEM types) can be rather poor writers but that is no justification for parental intervention in terms of writing/re-writing college essays. If these concerned parents are only noticing their kids subpar writing skills at college essay time, then they really aren’t all that interested in helping their kids learn anything other than it’s ok to fudge the truth. The fact that people in professional situations edit each others work is utterly irrelevant. If there’s any time that a student’s output should be 100% their own, it should be on final exams, SAT/ACTs and college essays. Anything else is dishonest.