<p>Good idea. Now to have an actual conversation with my darling daughter! 
But, I understand what you’re saying.</p>
<p>Coureur wrote:</p>
<p>Part of the key to the success of the method in post #45 is that you don’t “offer” to brainstorm. You just start doing it in the course of a conversation. That way you don’t hand them the opportunity to refuse</p>
<p>Coureur – That is exactly the method I used with both my Ds! I have always thought that many posters here on CC would consider that too much parental involvement in the essay. But I have always believed that writing is a process, and bouncing around ideas gives the child a chance to articulate.</p>
<p>Does anyone even own a tape recorder anymore? When I was younger, I remember one of the things suggested for writer’s block was to just start talking about the topic into a tape recorder. Then mom or dad or sib could transcribe the ramblings onto paper, and the rest is editing which is far easier than composing – could even be taken to school to a favorite teacher or to a writing tutor.</p>
<p>It was my feeling that the sheer THOUGHT of all of those essays can feel a bit overwhelming. In reality, even in the course of nine applications there was a common thread among them. I took the time to write all essays out on one sheet of paper. in just a list form. then I grouped them to “like” categories or where they crossed over.</p>
<p>For some reason the brainstorming came easier when he tried to see where there were similarities. He found that if he wrote about one question, he was then able to tweak it to fit another and then another. Take away the overwhelming and turn it into the manageable.</p>
<p>Along the vein of post #45, there was a time very early on that he talked and I typed the bullets. While none of those ideas were comprehensive, again, it gave him a jumping off point. In the end, he combined a couple of idea and fashioned then into an essay. Once the common denominator ones were done he could easily tackle the outliers. </p>
<p>I think it is also key to give yourself enough time once finished to leave them be for a few days and come back to edit. It is the editing process that results in a solid and succinct essay.</p>
<p>2leashes: Just a little help here for you and D.- The only UC’s that actually READ the essay’s are CAL/UCLA - the "holistic campus’-the other uses various point systems. SO, have her bang out the 2 essays - 1000 words total-250/750 is a good split. The first prompt is to signal what social economic background she is coming from(did she maximize her opportunities? That’s what the are evaluating) This is the UC’s way of getting around affirmative action. The second one is to just let them know who she is beyond her stat’s and show she can write. </p>
<p>Maybe that info will help her bang these out and get them in before NOv 30- Good Luck! (BTW learned this after S1 AGONIZED over these 1000 words!)</p>
<p>If you think getting them to write application essays is hard, just wait until you tell them they have to write tons of new essays for scholarships! Like try to move a mountain! LOL!</p>
<p>agree svmom, more pressure with those imo!</p>
<p>Oh yes, now that the apps are done, the scholarship “stuff” begins! The $$ seems to be motivating my S2 along with teacher. He’s applying for mostly art scholarships, so “needs” his teacher to help him assess and put his portfolio. They are all due by around the first of the year so the next couple weeks should be interesting and I know once skiing begins he won’t “want” to deal with essays and portfolio assembly.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, OlympicLady. I’m curious–how did you find out that it’s just these two UCs who read the essays? Of the three she plans to apply to, those two are on her list, although she might not even apply to Cal. It’s not really one of her choices. It used to be that UCLA was right up there after we visited in August. Because neither one of them offer a major she likes, I don’t think she’s as enthusiastic anymore. But, the essay-advice is definitely something I’ll pass on to her. She will also have essays for private schools with later deadlines. This could be a good jumpstart, if nothing else. Thanks!.</p>
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<p>OlympicLady wrote:</p>
<p>2leashes: Just a little help here for you and D.- The only UC’s that actually READ the essay’s are CAL/UCLA - the "holistic campus’-the other uses various point systems. SO, have her bang out the 2 essays - 1000 words total-250/750 is a good split. The first prompt is to signal what social economic background she is coming from(did she maximize her opportunities? That’s what the are evaluating) This is the UC’s way of getting around affirmative action. The second one is to just let them know who she is beyond her stat’s and show she can write. </p>
<p>Maybe that info will help her bang these out and get them in before NOv 30- Good Luck! (BTW learned this after S1 AGONIZED over these 1000 words!)</p>
<p>I’d like to throw in the student perspective here…</p>
<p>I am a procrastinator. I will be the first to attest to that. I would also say that the majority of high school students are procrastinators. That is a very general statement, but I would put my life on it. My procrastination is propagated by the fact that I act. I spend my free time lying about who I am. My mother thought I had finished my essays in August. She found out, a week before Early Action apps were due, that I had yet to start them. Ultimately, I wish she had “nagged” me about them, or in some way forced me to get them done. It would have saved me a lot of stress and worry.</p>
<p>Why is it that kids can spend hours writing about themselves, their activities, and what they are thinking about on Facebook, but they freeze when they have to craft their thoughts into an essay?</p>
<p>Oh, if only Facebook had an essay-o-matic app!</p>
<p>Great idea! LOL</p>
<p>As to the facebook comment- If there was some way to consolidate all my status updates into an essay, it would be truly me. I would have no problem sending it to a college. Some of the most creative things I do happen on facebook!</p>
<p>^There is - at least on the Common App - one of the choices is always “Subject of your choice”. I know people whose Status Updates would make great essays. In fact one school (I think it was GW) said they wished more people would use this option because they get so bored of reading the standard Common App essays.</p>
<p>^ I think 6D probably meant, “if there were an effortless way to gather all those status updates, preferably by clicking a button on Facebook, and presto – my essay would be complete with no actual work on my part.” I’ve wished for buttons like that too. :D</p>
<p>OlympicLady:</p>
<p>Interesting observation about the UC essays. My son finally finished his this weekend. I think one of the bug a boos about the UC “personal statements” is that all applicants must write to the same prompts. Thus, there is that nagging but unvoiced pressure about how to make it stand out and sound unique when everyone is writing to the same prompts. Anyway, he’s done except for tweaks. He’s applying to Berkeley, LA, San Diego, and at the last minute he threw on Santa Barbara (he’s ELC so that’s a gimme but he’s looking at their College for Creative Studies, which as a seaprate app and is not a gimme for ELCs.)</p>
<p>Something that helped my S with his essays was to not feel tied down by the format. The Common App has a section where the student is asked to elaborate on an EC. S wanted to write about his piano playing. It’s something he’s done since 1st grade. He doesn’t play with an orchestra but keeps at it, does private recitals, a bit of composing, playing with his friends garage ban style. Since he decided to emot about it, he wrote it in poem format. He whipped it out in 30 minutes and it was well done and got his point across nicely about how it fits into his life.</p>
<p>Moving kids away from the “achievement and I need to blow my own horn” concept may help. One kid I know, now at an Ivy, wrote about a childhood love of cattle - this from a city kid. Another wrote about falling off a stage (no, not the “and then I got up and became a star!” variety, but about the embarrassment, the trip to the ER, etc.). A third wrote about hating feet. </p>
<p>One method that helped for a friend’s child was, “You’re meeting someone for the first time; someone who already knows what grade you’re in and what your GPA is. What would you like them to know about you?” That’s the primary purpose of the essay. If they focus on that, it may help.</p>
<p>2Leashes: Of course things could change this year- but in the past if you read each UC’s pages, deep in the info is the breakdown of what they weight the most.All are slightly different. The only Holistic campus’ are CAL/UCLA, which it seems your D. is interested in, so essay may be the tipping point. I agree with poster that these essays are deceptive and extremely difficult to make stand out with the 1000 words. I was just pointing this out to remove the pressure for her-the essays really aren’t the be all and end all, even for CAL/UCLA, which is very hard to predict your chances anyway.</p>
<p>URM: OK, this is very touchy as we all know. But if you read all of the UC’s press releases, a common area of concern is keeping the UC campus’ accessible to all in CA, not just the top performing students, rather the top performing students at EACH school. When affirmative action was voted as illegal, the UC’s started trying to find away around it- Thus came the essays with the “describe your life prompt”, and now makin SAT2 optional-certain minority groups did not qualify because they did not take the SAT2, so out with the SAT2. You will notice on every breakdown of stats at each campus, the racial % breakdown is always included. They are trying to keep it fair because of the disparity between public school performance. This is why the Asian are calling foul- they feel reverse discrimination is now happening against them, which seems what true.</p>
<p>But lets keep our eyes open, the UC’s are having a hard time keeping the male female ratio anywhere near 50/50 split- not one campus is 50/50. High school boys are as a group lagging and it seems the UC’s have to put a finger on the scale for this group too! </p>
<p>I will say all of this really pushes parents buttons (it did mine) when their student is applying, but once accepted the diversity of the campus is what keeps it vibrant IMO.</p>
<p>Isn’t procrastination often tied to perfectionism? Because the kid wants the essay to be perfect, he/she doesn’t start it until/unless the “perfect” inspiration strikes.</p>
<p>Our D got going right away on her essays, but her older brother procrastinated a lot. He also struggled with a writing class he took his junior year, despite the fact that he is an excellent writer. I think he had trouble being introspective/deep/open enough emotionally for the teacher/amateur psychologist in his essays for composition class, so that made him (wrongly) doubt his writing skills.</p>
<p>It can really help to bring in a third party (school dean, private counselor, big sibling, whoever). The teenager’s instinct to dig in his heels when his parents are telling him what to do stops being a factor, and all of a sudden he’s listening to advice that he ignored when it came from mom & dad.</p>