Should I send my college essay

I finished my college essay, but I am not certain about send it to colleges. Even though I got good feedback from two readers, I am still suspicious about it. What should I do to be sure?

Show it to your school guidance counselor or your English teacher if you want more feedback. But know that sometimes more opinions muddy the water. At some point, you need to have confidence that you’ve done your best work.

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Good suggestions from momofboiler.

You can also get free feedback from CC readers by following these steps.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/follow-these-steps-to-get-free-essay-feedback/3645578

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I believe they already did.

Thanks. I missed that the “readers” were CC readers. Oops. :woman_facepalming:t3:

This is perhaps going to seem like an odd suggestion.

Record yourself reading the essay aloud at the pace and inflection you intend it to be heard/read. It may take some practice.

Once done take a break and close your eyes, play it back, listen and absorb the story. Then decide does the essay capture your writers voice and reflect the desired narrative.

In a good essay you can hear the author. Hopefully this can give you a final check and sense of confidence.

Good luck.

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I think you should go ahead and send it. Two readers should be enough.

The suggestion to record yourself is always a good one. I would go further and write down what you say in the recording, when you write additional essays.

But if you have finished one, gotten reviews from two readers, the only other option is to show it to teachers.

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This sounds very much as though you are looking for reasons to second guess the essay and maybe even self-sabotage a good thing. Good feedback from two people is plenty. Why would you be suspicious of their motives? The people who gave you feedback want to see you succeed.

In my extensive experience of helping students with essays, the ones who start fretting about every little nuance and who start overthinking things are the ones who end up ruining a perfectly good essay. Please send the app in and don’t stress.

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Press send!

Your overthinking it.

Move on to more of your college apps.

Many students don’t think their done. Your done.

Good luck.

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Just think, it’s likely in most cases, the essay will not play a significant role. Some will be fantastic and of course help. Some may be terrible, loaded with spelling and grammatical errors, and could hurt.

The heavy majority likely don’t move the needle one way or another. The people that read them are reading one after another after another. In most cases, they’re likely pounding through and onto the next.

The other thing is - the reviews are subjective. Your essay may stand out to one as awesome. Another may see it as ok or ehhhh. The same person might love it if they read it first thing and paying attention. But barely pay attention if it’s end day as they’ve read ten or twenty and just slide it through. It’s not a gpa, an exact #. There’s really no way to know how it will be seen.

Put in through a final spelling and grammar check and then be done.

Time to get some apps in. It’s time.

Given the competitive nature of the schools you are applying to your essays will be thoroughly read and considered. Essays, LORs, etc at these elite holistic schools are what serves to differentiate amongst students, many of whom have near perfect academic credentials.

You are being prudent in taking the time to make sure the essays represent your candidacy well. You have not wasted your time but it sounds like you are very close (if not at the point) where you have to accept you have done your best work and move on.

Once again good luck.

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@Dilara I was one of your readers and helped you with some issues in the writing. However, I was also honest in saying that although I admire you for switching schools in order to learn English, I believe you will need more time to achieve the English writing skills needed for the tippy top schools on your list, or for other schools for that matter. I don’t mean to be harsh. I am trying to help you avoid problems.

You may be able to get in with your essays as they are (and I assure you the fan fic one is as good as it is going to get), and with other aspects of your application. But I think you need to think about the actual experience of being in classes that may be writing-intensive.

Many of your schools are not need-blind and I know you have schools in your home country. Perhaps you could continue your study of English and attend grad school in the US.

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