<p>Well, I wanted to Private Message this to the Original Poster, but his in-box is full. I am not insulting any of you great people who have expressed willingness to read this person’s essay. I’m sure you have great great ethical intentions and love to proofread. But I’m a parent who has lived a long time, and so I’m suggesting caution in my response, as follows, that I tried to PM but no dice:</p>
<p>Be sure to check out the ‘credentials’ of those willing to read your essay. As in, check out their previous posts. </p>
<p>The last thing you want to do is send it to an incoming senior, for 2 reasons: 1) they could steal your essay–pretty unlikely but the risk is always there, and 2) reading your essay so early on in the applicatioin process before they even think of what to say in their own essay will color their own essay when they finally write it. They will be subtly affected by what you write, and may even pick a similar topic without realizing it, which may negatively affect their own admission chances if they pick a topic like yours that they may not feel as passionately about and so won’t write about it as well. My friend emailed me her daughter’s wonderful essay, but I didn’t show it to my daughter, who was in her class, for that very reason. Sure enough, my daughter picked a completely different topic to write about, one that rang true for HER, and wrote just a wonderful essay.</p>
<p>I would send your essay to an intelligent-sounding parent who has written thoughtful and well-written posts in the past. </p>
<p>Such a problem. You don’t have anyone in your own environment that you could ask to critique? Like a teacher or a friend’s parent or your own parent? Less risk that way.</p>
<p>Whoops, I didn’t go to the back of the thread, and just now discovered the date of the original thread. Oh, well, still good advice even if not applicable to this person!</p>