<p>Did anyone submit a supplemental graded essay? what did you send? The best, most polished piece? (it asks, I think, for something you are particularly proud of).
DD's AP senior English teacher is running the class through the wringer, she said "I think he may be the best teacher I've ever had because it is so hard" - I think he is demanding what they should be producing. Anyway, her essay grades have been creeping upward, from Cs to high Bs to maybe a low A on this last one. She's very proud of it, but because of the improvement it represents, not necessarily that it is the best she has ever done. She's gathering materials for a Winter ED - should she send it?
She's leaning toward not sending, because she feels they are looking for the very best, I'm not so sure - perhaps they are looking for the comments, expectations,etc, in addition to the quality. What do ya'll think?</p>
<p>I don't know if it matters. My son hated the fact that Swat wanted teacher's comments (why do they care what my teacher thinks?). And he had not saved any comments anyway...his room is a mess and he's not a keeper of things. Anyway, he sent some poetry he had written without the teacher's comments. He thought it was good work.</p>
<p>Like every other piece of the application, I think the question has to be: will submitting something increase the odds of admission? How?</p>
<p>In general, I can't really imagine a graded high school English or History essay accomplishing that. My hunch is that the extra submission probably is more effective for art, poetry, etc.</p>
<p>My daughter did not submit anything.</p>
<p>My daughter submitted a graded high school essay that showed a side of her that could not be otherwise seen from the application. (It was sort of an "opinion essay" that she liked). I don't know if it had any impact on the admission decision.</p>
<p>My son submittted an analytical paper he did for Honors English in the spring of junior year. It must've been on whatever novel they were reading at the time. Like everyone else, there's no way of knowing whether or not it made any difference in admission.</p>
<p>My daughter submitted a graded history essay for the opposite reason that nngmm's daughter did; she submitted it because it tied together two aspects of hers that she had emphasized in the application. Whether it will make a difference or not we will never know.</p>
<p>Maybe they just want to see the rigor of the teaching at the HS? My daughter gets next to no feedback from her teachers, & they do very few papers. In my opinion, her graded essays show that the teahcers are dropping the ball.</p>
<p>One reason she wanted me to ask about this was that ordinarily they don't get to keep very much of their graded work, particularly essays, tests, etc. Her teacher would have to give it directly to the GC, I think.</p>