<p>Check the links at the side....there are profiles on that site of the students....I think at least...</p>
<p>I am also curious and want to know if there are any other videos of other schools available. An upcoming documentary, where you actually experience college from different schools and different people should be good. Coming in Spring 2005.</p>
<p>I read the essay of the student with a combined 800 or so SAT score who got into Berklely. I do not believe that he wrote that essay. I have had a lot of opportunities to see essays by students with those scores, and they simply are not that well organized or grammatical. I think that he got a lot of editing and organizational help, possibly from a caring teacher. From all of the info, he seems to be highly motivated, very smart, etc., but I would be very surprised if a person with such low SATs could be producing such a good piece of writing on a college essay without essentially submitting an essay that was totally rewritten by someone else.</p>
<p>I am not trying to suggest that he deliberately committed fraud. I honestly think that some caring faculty member provided a lot of help, but that help went beyond what would normally be considered appropriate help. It's the same kind of "help" that affluent students get when they pay thousands of dollars to have services and consultants basically write their essays for them. Neither type of "help" is appropriate.</p>
<p>I agree with northstarmom. That essay doesn't look like it was written by someone with a 1600, but it's certainly better than a lot of the work I have seen as my newspaper's editor, and that has been from students in the 1000-1400 range.</p>
<p>If northstarmom and anon311 are commenting about the fifth applicant on who got in?, I would disagree. </p>
<p>Just because a person has an 880 on their SAT, doesn't mean they aren't capable of producing quality essays. Comparing them to applicant 4 who had a combined SAT score of 1240, and produced a not so good essay on getting their driver's license, would this have to mean that in order to write an excellent essay you'd have to have 1300+?</p>
<p>One of my close friends, scored less than a 1000, which I broke by a big gap, does that automatically make me a better writer? It doesn't, and I'm the first to admit that she's better than me and a very talented writer, she's the best I know. </p>
<p>Do you personally think that the people who opt to have their SAT scores withheld from schools like Bowdoin where their acceptance rate is less than 25%, can't write a good enough essay to compete with students who probably have high SAT scores, and who submit them to the school?</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <blockquote> <p>I think that he got a lot of editing and organizational help, possibly from a caring teacher. </p> </blockquote> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Also, isn't one of the parts of writing an essay, reviewing? Regardless of SAT score, I'm pretty sure there's many parents here who have reviewed and helped their children edit their essays, as well as college counselors/teachers/friends. I mean just look at some of the threads in "college admissions" on CC where students ask for opinions on their essays.</p>
<p>I was actually referring to the first applicant who got in the 900s combined. I have to say that I disagree with you, like, and do think that one who scored a 1200 is most often a better writer than one who scored an 800. There really are few exceptions, in my experience as an editor.</p>
<p>As for the editing and organizational help, I agree that everyone receives it to a certain extent. I myeslf have asked for help on my Common App essay (anyone wanna read it? kidding) on these boards, and have gotten insightful comments from various parents. These comments, and those that my own parents made, were just that - comments. The writing is still obviously mine, (thankfully) with many of my own quirks. At the same time, obviously a student who got a 400 on the SAT can have an essay "commented" on to the point where it is just as good as mine (high SAT score). It's all a question of degree of help, and northstarmom and I seem to agree that this was a high degree in the case of these low-scoring-SAT students.</p>
<p>no way. It just seems too much of a reach to say that someone with an 880 would produce an essay of that caliber. I have to go with Northstarmom-- serious, serious revisions. A teacher's hand is visible throughout.</p>
<p>Those apps are all...mediocre. I thought Berkeley was more selective. But maybe I spend too much time here.</p>
<p>The Berkeley show is over 4 years old. Things have been tightening up every year since that show.</p>
<p>I think the UCB video must be part of a longer program aired in 2000. It has some very useful links. Although the program is four years old and things have become far more competitive in the UCs, the general comments about the specific candidates and about the SAT itself, about SAT prep and other aspects of admission are still extremely interesting and relevant.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, thanks for posting the link. I was wondering if anyone had any input about something from the "Best and Brightest" transcript:
[quote]
ADMISSIONS OFFICER: They live in a tiny studio apartment, and Victoria must wake up in the middle of the night sometimes to have any peace to do her homework. What an amazing girl.
[/quote]
How exactly do the admissions officers know that this applicant was forced to wake up in the middle of the night to do her homework? Would that be something that an applicant is responsible for mentioning in his/her essays, or is it likely that the GC mentioned it? Just wondering, because my GC doesn't really know a lot about my home life, but I'd feel like I was begging for sympathy if I mentioned stuff like that while writing my personal essay.</p>
<p>The guidance counsert wrote about Victoria's situation in his/her recommendation.</p>
<p>That is exactly the type of thing to put in one's personal essay. One doesn't do this in a way to look like one is whining, but to show how one is working hard to overcome adversity. This is true not just for college apps but also for scholarship applications, particularly those based on character such as the ones offered through Papa Johns Pizza.</p>
<p>Of course, if one has a very close relationship with one's GC, teachers, etc., those people might mention such details. However, don't count on it -- even if they know those kind of details about your life. This particularly is true if one is in a school where the GC and teachers have large workloads. They simply might not have the time to provide detailed recommendations or they may not know the importance of providing this kind of specifics.</p>
<p>If you are in a prep school, the GC, etc. are more likely to have the time to be able to write such specific recommendations and to know the importance of including such details. It's still a good idea to include those kind of telling details in your essays.</p>
<p>Guinvere -
if your GC has a written statement there is more of a chance that it will be included. Maybe a parent or clergyman could provide this? As NSM says, you should mention personal factors in the essay or at least in the additional information part.</p>
<p>I appreciate the quick responses. I certainly don't want to hijack this thread to talk about myself, but I feel a bit shaky on how much I should go into depth about the adversity I've faced. My background is that my dad died when I was younger, so my mom's had to support us by herself on a small income. My performance in school was never affected too much by my dad's death; it's been more of an emotional struggle that I've dealt with internally, and I'm not sure how much I should explore that in an essay when admissions officers want to know more of what I can contribute in the future to their university.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, I have tutored kids in SAT2 Writing for a number of years, and that includes writing the essay. I have seen many kids' attempts on those essays, and since I have them captive in a room with pencil and paper, no idea of the subject to be assigned, I can see their raw results. I then work with them on those results. Many want me to read their essays, and I can guarantee you that most of the time there is no correlation. No way in the world could I match them up with their essays that they have to write by themselves, given the finished college essays with all the editing that has been done. It is going to be an interesting situation when that essay will be included with the SAT1s starting next year as adcoms will have, in hand, an essay that is guaranteed to be written by the student as well as a polished, edited and even possibly bought essay.</p>
<p>You mean when the SATI essay version starts the school won't just be given the essay score? They will also get the actual essay?</p>
<p>"My background is that my dad died when I was younger, so my mom's had to support us by herself on a small income. My performance in school was never affected too much by my dad's death; it's been more of an emotional struggle that I've dealt with internally, and I'm not sure how much I should explore that in an essay when admissions officers want to know more of what I can contribute in the future to their university."</p>
<p>I don't suggest doing a, "My father died and I was shattered" type of essay. Instead, if appropriate, you could say how your mom's struggle has inspired you or you could say how you've managed to get good grade, work a job, do ECs, etc. despite having additional responsibilities or economic restrictions.</p>
<p>Perhaps this example might help. When I taught college, one of my students asked me to write a recommendation to her for law school. I put in it how one morning she came to me and asked to reschedule a test that was set for later that day. When I asked why, she said that she had just learned that her father had died that morning of lung cancer. She was the top student in the department, and until her dad died, no one had known that she was working under that kind of stress.</p>
<p>What I wrote about was how she had managed to perform so well despite having such a burden, and how responsibly she had handled the test situation. I don't know whether she talked about the situation in her essay. She had done many exceptional things, and she may have decided to concentrate on something else such as how one summer, she had served as the press aide for a congresswoman.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice and anecdote, Northstarmom. It helps to have an adult's perspective on something like this. I will most definitely keep your words in mind as I finalize my essays in the next several days.</p>