My son doesn’t want my opinion on any of them. I got to read them when I review them and pay the fees.
I learned a few things of him.
First he wants to convey that he likes to have fun.
Secondly, he appreciates good will and give back… contrary to him not doing chores at home.
Thirdly, a bit philosophical as how one should live a life.
Finally, he is a risk taker…a few risky topics I don’t know what to think.
I don’t know how adcom can tell the kind of person from these essays. Some things may not be him.
I learned one thing from one of his essays: How he fell in love (it is somewhat funny but it is true – one of his essays is about how he falls in love. I think he dares to make this seemingly risky move because 1) he has some confidence in getting into some college. 2) He truly did not mind which school he would get in and attend. The same thing (especially item 2) happens to him 4 years later.
That my perception of how some things impacted him in middle school was correct, even though we have not discussed it. Also, that his writing skills have come a long way.
My son wrote about how he thinks political correctness is anti-intellectual and how it stymies the search for truth. How he ended up at the most-PC campus in history (Oberlin) is a mystery to me.
I didn’t learn a ton from reading my kids essays, but I learned a ton by going through the college selection process with them – primarily visiting different schools. It was fascinating to watch how they processed information, went through their decision process etc. Interestingly both of my kids were very different in this regard. My S was open to many types of schools, visited and considered many colleges, did not apply anywhere ED , narrowed the schools down to a few he liked the most, re-visited the top schools he was accepted to and then came to a decision. My D on the other hand had a strong idea of what she wanted from the start, immediately dismissed any schools that didn’t fit her specifications, immediately dismissed any school we visited that did not “feel” right for any reason, came up with a top choice by early senior year, applied ED and got in by December. Interestingly, even with their very different approaches, both kids ended up at a school that was a fantastic fit.
My DD wrote her CA essay about being tall (she’s just under 6’1"). Obviously I knew she is tall but I had no idea that girls at her school tell her that they wish they were tall “but not as tall as you.” It completely broke my heart.
I learned that my pups be much better at writers than I is.
D knew I wanted to read her draft essay before she submitted it. I had told her I haven’t read much of her writing since 3rd grade, when we went on a vacation during the school year, and I had to help her keep a journal since she would be missing a week of school. So she wrote one of her essays about loving to write ever since her third grade journal. How it mostly consisted of where we went, what we saw/did, and what we ate. She wrote about looking through them the week before, and while she thought the worst was going to be her penmanship, what surprised her the most was how bad her diet was - chicken fingers and macNcheese - that was how she spelled it.
Just more proof that essays can be about anything, if you have the ability to tell a good story, that makes the reader want to read more.
We had macNcheese tonight - a New Year’s tradition in our house.
I learned that my kid was a lot more frustrated growing up in a Mormon community than she’d let on. I had expected as much, and offered to find a new job before she entered high school.
But no, she was cool. Or said so. Fear of starting over? Turned out she was not so cool. She hated the last two years.
I think that she knows she contributed to the family choice and doesn’t say much about it today.
But gosh. I wanted to move. It was a good time to move. Now I’m too old to get the same job without a huge frickin salary cut. Academia. Oy.
So what I learned is that what I thought about my kid’s life was very different from her reality.
I learned from my daughter’s essay that she really loves coffee. She wrote about it on one of the Carleton’s essays for what empowers them. All she wrote about was coffee with milk, cream or without… no discrimination on whether it’s strong or weak… consume it in the morning, in the afternoon or at night. I thought it was funny but also very risky too . It would be a good application for applying a job at Starbucks… Well but she got in. I guess that’s what the school was looking for - A quirky kid who is not afraid of being themselves. :))
@LordBendtner, I read my daughter’s CA essay after she hit the Submit button to all her colleges. Actually, that’s when she offered to let me read it. I didn’t read it until after a couple acceptance letters mentioned (I think last year was the year of quoting or referencing the essay in the letter).
I learned that my daughter knew herself very well and wasn’t afraid to show it.
Every kid should have someone read their essays for typos. It doesn’t have to be the parent, but my kids weren’t telling any deep dark secrets and I think they were confident that we wouldn’t object to the subjects or ask for major changes.
I edited my daughter’s essays. I learned that she knows what a dangling participle is, she’s learned to love museums and she has thoughtful opinions about education policy.
D had my H read most of her essays because he’s a writer/editor/communications manager, not for content, but grammar/spelling, etc. She let me read most of them after they were sent. Her short essays she wrote and sent without anyone previewing them. I thought those were the most interesting, especially learning that what most people would consider an amazing achievement for a 15 yo: planning, recruiting, advertising, writing curriculum, engaging guest speakers and more for her own education event she considered both her greatest failure and greatest success. I also learned that even in a very diverse school she is still sometimes faced with some kids thinking that she is neither white nor black and that she often feels like she can’t fit in anywhere. The essay she wrote about that-as part of the prompt involving how she relates to a piece of writing was very revealing to me.
(it is somewhat funny but it is true – one of his essays is about how he falls in love. I think he dares to make this seemingly risky move because 1) he has some confidence in getting into some college. 2) He truly did not mind which school he would get in and attend. The same thing (especially item 2) happens to him 4 years later.