Whose advice to take?

Applying to College
1

<p>So I'm using (or bought) a package from one of those college-counseling services. The people in that counseling service all graduated from ivy league schools and scored 2350+ on the SAT. And currently, they are giving me advice on my essay.</p>

<p>I've also shown my AP English teacher my common app essay (he's a really good teacher), and his advice is almost antithetical to the advice the counseling service gives me.</p>

<p>With a deadline approaching, I'm really lost.</p>

<p>For example, my English teacher says it's good to use SAT words (like chimerical) and to never begin my sentences in the essay with the word "BUT"
my essay counselor (who went to Yale) tells me to write like how I would talk, to sound conversational and not formal-formal, and to avoid SAT words if a simpler word can replace it. </p>

<p>Also, both my AP English teachers and several classmates said that one aspect of my essay made me sound really "naive," even though that "naive-ness" was how the people in that environment actually were. It's not like I'm making it up and intentionally sounding "naive" (I don't want to go into detail about that aspect)</p>

<p>Two of the application-counselors however, never mentioned the word "naive" to me. They said my essay really allowed them to "know" my personality. and didn't mention any change with that "naive" aspect. Were they accepting "naive" as part of me? Or were they able to see beyond that "naive" thing.</p>

<p>It's not even me that was being naive in the essay, it's an observation I made, that apparently, by acknowledging what I observed, made me naive. I have no idea.</p>

<p>Also, there are others things that they differ on.
Please don't tell me to decide for myself. Of course my final essay will be in my own voice, but I'd also like to make some progress by taking advice from someone.</p>

<p>------->But I do not want the admission officer to think of me as "naive".</p>

<p>so my questions are:</p>

<p>1) If you were me whose advice would you take?</p>

<p>2) Should I, as a precaution, explain that I am aware of this part that makes me sound "naive," but I wish to still mention it because it was true.</p>

<p>Ok, I know, I wrote a lot. but thank you!</p>

2

<p>You are asking for advice on what advice to take ? People will give you all kinds of opinions, and this trend will continue. You need to learn to weigh those and decide, thats just a life skill. </p>

<p>What follows is my advice, and I have no reason why you should take it instead of obviously qualified people you know, but …</p>

<ul>
<li>Use vocabulary you are comfortable with </li>
<li>Write at least 2 essays and choose the best one</li>
<li>Use complete grammatical sentences</li>
<li>don’t explain or apologize for yourself. Do cast yourself in a positive light. </li>
<li>above all, tell a story. Essays are stories that reveal something about you. They should entertain and enlighten. </li>
</ul>

3

<p>sorry, I meant to say, between my AP English teacher and my application-counselor, whose advice is more reliable?</p>

4

<p>As is often the case, you’re getting a mixture of good and bad advice from both sides. As mitchklong points out, you will ultimately have to learn to weigh the criticism you are given.</p>

<p>My own best tip: on the subject of vocabulary, both sets of advice you have received are correct. Use the SAT words, but use them sparingly. Trim away any that are unnecessary. The best use of big words is to introduce big ideas, or to say something so specific there is no other word. There’s no pithy Anglo-Saxon monosyllable for “existentialism”, and there’s no simpler way than the word itself to refer to the specific color “cerulean”. A blue sky is boring, a cerulean sky is evocative.</p>