<p>I think the reason some students have problems with personal essays is because of they are afraid they will seem contrived. I've spoken to parents of students who have been told by GC's (and books!), don't write about this, don't write about that, adcoms are tired of these kind of essays, that kind of experience is too negative, that anecdote can be misconstrued, that essay has the potential to make you look this way... By the time you eliminate all the verboten topics, the poor kid's head is spinning.</p>
<p>My son spent four years in high school playing varsity football/baseball, holding offices in student government, and playing in the band. At the same time, we went through an extremely trying and life altering three years when his grandfather (and "second dad") was diagnosed with terminal cancer. According to his advisors, writing an essay about football, illness of grandparent, being the class president, musical performances, overcoming academic challenges, were all hackneyed subjects. :eek: I guess my son was just a hackneyed person, because those experiences truly epitomized his high school years. So he ended up writing some, IMO, rather random personal experience essays, which were ultimately "designed" to give the adcoms something unique to read about. If truth be told, his "football was my life" idea would have painted a more accurate picture of my son.</p>
<p>Maybe we/he were just getting poor advice. What ended up as a result of it was in some cases, more of a carefully contrived "hook" essay rather than a sincere picture of my middle class student-athlete totally non-quirky son.</p>
<p>Thank goodness they don't use the SAT essay, my son stared at the prompt for half the time unable to come up with any examples to support a thesis. He's fine at normal exam essay writing - such as the sort that appeared on the AP US history exam. He can write a decent research paper. He recycled his essays for everyone accept he had to write an extra essay for Stanford.</p>
<p>mathmom,
My sons have an easier time expounding on another subject rather than themselves. I guess they just find introspection difficult. (Maybe it's in the genes- H's yankee tight lipped stoicism shining through loud and clear ;)) Ask them to talk about history, science, even a book they've recently read, and they're good to go. Ask them to talk about the most compelling thing about themselves, and they'll go into a tailspin.</p>
<p>
[quote]
So if a student takes the ACT, and/or SAT twice, or even three times why don't the colleges read those essays?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Aside from the different types of writing, those essays don't tend to provide the info that a college is actually looking for. That's like asking why, when applying for jobs, I couldn't submit an essay that I wrote for a class exam instead of writing a cover letter. </p>
<p>The college asks those questions because they are interested in what the applicant has to say on that particular topic. Something about that topic is important to that school. MIT, for instance, always has an essay question meant to find out how the applicant will react to setbacks and failure. This is because, for reasons that are probably self-evident, MIT puts a lot of stock in the emotional resilience of its undergrads. Not every school cares to select for this in admissions. So they use essays that reflect what THEY need.</p>
<p>The worst problem with the application essays is ghost writing, of course. My D says a number of students are literally coercing their english teachers into all but writing their essays for them. And then there's the hired consultants, not to speak of over-involved parents and friends. How on earth can colleges trust that the essays they get are really the work of the applicant? Sure, they say they can spot the "voice" of the true 17-year-old, but that's ridiculous. High school seniors have a multitude of voices. My own writes in the voice of Charles Dickens. Her sister sounds more like Carl Hiasson. There is no typical 17-year-old voice and I fear that there are darn few college application essays that are truly the work of the applicant. So much for holisitic admissions.</p>
<p>Mammall - I agree. I don't buy for one second they can "spot the voice" of a true 17 year old. If the person doing the ghost writing is good, they can sound like a 17 year old. What I hope is that maybe that is how the Writing scores on the SAT are used. If they receive a magnificent piece of writing from an applicant and notice that the writing scores were only marginal or adequate, maybe they rely less on that essay. But that is probably only wishful thinking. </p>
<p>As to the Charles Dickens - my D loves Russian novels, Charles Dickens, and other works from earlier eras. I always thought it contributed to an aversion for punctuation and an inclination towards wordy, windy sentences - but a nice vocabulary. Oh, well.</p>
<p>"Because you might give me 50% off my tuition and a girl in the class before me loves that little bar on the corner."</p>
<p>I am sick of watching my kids stuggling with these essays, when if they'd just scored 100 points higher on their SATs or been in a revenue sport (even with lower SATs), many of these colleges waive the essay, the app. fee - anything!</p>
<p>I'd wager than any kid with 1400+ CR and M can write a decent essay, do math, and will likely attend the Speaker's Forum at whatever college s/he attends. </p>
<p>What do I wish colleges would ask: have you been arrested in the past year? Are you patriotic; if so, how do you demonstrate your patriotism? If not, why not? Where does your best friend want to go to college? Why don't you play an instrument or participate in a sport? Why don't you have a job? Why do you think low-slung jeans and spaghetti straps look nice on YOUR figure? (oK, that one is mean)</p>
<p>I was thinking about that today when I dropped my sons off at the local U and spied a young gal in (I swear) shrink-wrapped camo pants and a black "tiny top." This young lady, who obviously was not shopping in the "5-7-9" shop, had all the swagger of an "I'm too sexy for my shirt" kid. I can't wait till tomorrow's frost when the girls will put clothes on again.</p>
<p>Actually, factoring in the student's answer to "tell us about yourself" allows colleges to use subjectivity and personal preference while still maintaining that there is objectivity in the selection process. It allows them to select a student with lower stats by assigning more weight to his "more compelling" personal essay. I believe that holistic admissions do not help but can hurt students who are in the highest percentiles test-wise and academically, and don't hurt but can help those who are in the lowest percentiles. Basically, using the personal essay diffuses the arguments and protests that high-stat students might have against a rejection.</p>
<p>Ha, fencersmom,
Living in Florida we get a lot of that. Instead of "eye candy" I call it "eye ipecac". People around here dress skimpy at all ages. :eek:</p>
<p>My son is quirky...Is very bright, has Asperger's Syndrome, is very ADD, is musically talented, totally unathletic, totally disorganized, loves Dante, loves to read just about anything, is kind and sweet....I guess I'm naive enough (oldest child; first time going through the process) to think that someone at some school will read whatever quirky, high vocab. thing he writes and say, "We want this kid." I may be proven wrong, but I think that with my son, the more opportunity for writing, the better.</p>
<p>Mathson didn't like writing about himself any better than SAT philosophy, now if they'd asked him to write about the virtue of open source software, he'd have been in his element. ;)</p>
<p>No missypie, I think you're right. pm me if you want the list of quirky-sounding schools my son looked at. A student at the one he selected told me, "Most of the students here are socially awkward in one way or another, so we get along really well." Another student there worried during orientation that the other students might not be as weird as she'd hoped. She needn't have worried.</p>
<p>missypie,
And hopefully your son's uniqueness will come through in his essays!
In my son's case, he was anything but quirky- in fact he was downright stereotypical! In the world of college applications, he was the epitome of "bland"- fairly good student, athlete (yawn), band member, student council (eyelids drooping), minimum wage summer job (snoring), volunteer coach/umpire, (REM cycle has begun...)...Honestly, it was as though his normalness was a liability! :D He really struggled with personality essays, to make himself look "different". What he really needed was some edginess!</p>
<p>edad-You have no idea where my daughter applied or what effort she expended. Sounds like "whining" when you compare how difficult it is for YOU vs. someone you know nothing about. I try not to attack posters here by calling them "whiners" or "pathetic"</p>
<p>You're the one who sounds frustrated..... I would have expected better from a "Senior" member.</p>
<p>Doubleplay, my freshman daughter is as firmly in the box as my junior son is out of the box. In three years, I'll be posting to complain about the essays my daughter will have to write!</p>
<p>Nightingale, Sorry. I guess my comments were a bit harsh, but if your biggest complaint about the process is a few extra short essays, that does sound like whining.</p>
<p>We suggested it, but he rolled his eyes at us. No metaphors for him! It was very frustrating. We all had suggestions for essays that might have ... uh exuded a little more personality or been more interesting. It wasn't in him. I am not kidding when I call him Mr. Left Brain. In the end I tend to think he is who he is. A more touchy-feely essay wouldn't have been him. He'd be most at home at schools that didn't mind.</p>