<p>Just wondering if anyone here has used one of those online private parties you can hire to help you out with writing your personal essays. They are said to be harvard grads or if this sounds like some sort of scam?</p>
<p>It's really not worth the money, not to mention the morality of the issue. I feel pretty nice knowing I wrote the essays that got me in, and after seeing the quality of essays that have merited an acceptance (with regards to grammar) I think you're worrying too much. Do your best. There are people here on CC that are willing to review your essay as well, including myself.</p>
<p>I think the best essays producable would be from yourself. You can have a Harvard grad write your essay, but really, the admissions people want to know YOU, not how grammatically correct you can write an essay.</p>
<p>It is better to write it yourself. One of my frds got a private tutor to help her on her essay. I read it...it was..hmm... empty.</p>
<p>I think that no one can write an essay about you better than yourself. I wrote my own essay even though I had a C in my composition class. I had my friend help me proof-read it and correct some grammar error. Guess what? I got accepted to all of the schools I applied to including Cal. My point is that you might think that you suck at writing essay, in fact you are really good at telling story about yourself, and it's what they expect to see on the essay. Some writer who graduated from Harvard can't be any better than you in this situation.</p>
<p>These admissions people have seen everything. They will probably recognize it as not being your own work.</p>
<p>You must also take into account that by partaking in a less than ethical transaction, you leave yourself vulnerable to malfeasance on their end. Who is to tell if what they give you is a generic essay? </p>
<p>I equate this to someone purchasing illicit drugs and then being unable to have any ability to report a legal theft or quality assurance of the product.
Moral of the story: DUMB AND NOT WORTH IT!</p>
<p>I don't think there's anything wrong with someone editing and polishing your already written essay online. In most cases they have a decent idea of what admissions people are looking for moreso than the average joe.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't expect them to write it for me, it would be people who know what to expect from the the people who will be reading my essay and polishing it up. It would be like a proofreader who has more knowledge than your parents and friends.</p>
<p>Still, you're better off buying an essay-writing guidebook.</p>
<p>alright, I am just not the writing kind of person, which is why my major is biochemistry lol.. I was just wondering about all the resources out there because you gotta use what you can to get by.</p>
<p>Jello, just wondering why you think that buying an essay writing book would be better than having an actual person go over your essay? Any experiences with it or just your 2 cents?</p>
<p>That too, I used books and read other people's essays as well. That included the great essayists like E.B. White</p>
<p>Well, my experience is that writing my essays as a freshman applicant, I had my college counselor read over them but since I didn't really know what to do in the first place, there was only so much she could do to help me fix them up. Whereas as a transfer applicant, I read tons and tons of those "college essays that worked" books, and like renix I also read E.B. White's essays, so instead of going in to the writing process blindly and then having to fix my essays up, I had a feel for what the tone and subject matter of a good essay was before I even started brainstorming. My transfer essays were much better, they were infinitely easier to write, and have served me much better in the admissions process this time around.</p>
<p>In short, reading sample essays is like that saying about how you can give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day but teach him to fish and he'll eat forever, you know? It teaches you the fundamentals before you begin.</p>
<p>In the end it is up to you, but I honestly think those services are a waste of time and money. Not to say that you shouldn't have someone read over your essays- but that someone should know you personally and be there just to help you catch mistakes or work out awkward sentences- someone like a professor or a friend who is good at writing.</p>
<p>In my case, I wrote my essays (9 transfer apps!) and then worked with the teacher I had for my writing class the previous quarter. He would not write anything for me or even suggest so much as a sentence, but he really helped in clarifying grammar problems that I had no idea existed and loose ends that I mentioned but did not wrap up.</p>
<p>Ultimately, having someone write or contribute to your essays probably won't help, however, I would suggest having someone with a graduate degree in something like writing or linguistics look at your essays. They will definitely see things that most students would have no idea were even incorrect. As an added benefit, I think that my writing actually improved after the process.</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies! i'm definitely going to go take a look at those essay books and I am going to go to my English professor instead of doing one of the online services.</p>
<p>As brand said earlier, burgler, there are few people who know more about how to write a transfer essay than the members of the CC transfer board. Just start a thread asking for essay feedback and you'll have plenty to work with.</p>
<p>i don't think it's immoral, but you're probably better off getting free advice from teachers and experienced cc'ers than paying a fortune for a college coach.</p>
<p>I can review your essay for you, I work as an English tutor at my college helping immigrants and the dumber students. I wouldn't mind helping you out in my spare time.</p>