Musicmom Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Hi all! I’m new to posting questions here, although I’ve been reading the WTM forums for a few months now. I have a ds16 and dd14, and we’re getting ready for a big trip to visit colleges (for ds) in June. I’m now looking closely at all the pieces of the application process for these places and it all seems very daunting! My question: how much can (or did) you help your dc with application essays, and in what ways? Certainly it has to be the student’s own writing, but just wondering where the line would be in terms of helping with ideas, organization, development, etc? Any other words of wisdom for doing well on the application essays? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 For the application essays, I helped my son brainstorm some ideas, and I gave him some feedback during the writing process. Here are some general things we found/heard in our process of looking at colleges: 1. An admissions officer at our state U said not to write the essay about being on a sports team or being the captain, etc. He said they get loads of essays like that and they all tend to blend together. Now -- my own opinion -- if your child is active in sports and has a unique experience, etc. to share, it might be OK to use this topic. 2. This same person also suggested not to write about how you were inspired by an overseas trip. He sees a lot of those as well. He said that the problem here was that the students spent so much time describing the trip and where they went that they didn't write much about their own feelings and observations and how the trip effected them. Again -- IMHO -- if your child has had a truly unique overseas trip experience, they might use this topic but make sure the essay talks about them and not just the trip. In a lot of cases, the essay(s) is the only part of the application where the student has his/her own voice. Knowing this, the admissions officers hope to find out through the essay who the child really is. What makes him/her tick? What are his/her interests, insights, etc? What is really important to him/her? How is he/she unique? What might he/she add to their campus? 3. He also mentioned that not a lot of kids write about their experiences at a job. So I would suggest that when you are helping your child to think about an essay topic, stop and think with them about who they really are. What are their strengths/weaknesses? What special traits do you want the admissions folks to see about your child from reading the essay? Think about situations/experiences that will highlight those areas. Also think about the entire application and the message you wish to convey. If the student has a particular area of expertise that will be highlighted in the application through letters of recommendation and/or a list of awards, etc., you might suggest that they pick an essay topic on an important, but totally unrelated topic so the admissions folks will get a "bigger" picture of the student. HTH, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-FL Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Cafi Cohen's Homeschoolers' College Admissions book is a great help on the essays. As Brenda said, dare to be different. For dd#1 the essay question for the honors program had to be a letter to your future self. I think they (adm. offices) want to know about "you"-- not the Hollywood version, but how you really are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My favorite help is On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld. It's a beautiful little volume about how to take any kind of subject near & dear to the heart of the applicant and how to write about it in a way that allows the student's voice to shine through. At the end of the book, he includes a chapter of actual essays and the reactions to them of a group of admissions officers. Another quick help is the advice posted online by the University of Virginia: Writing the Essay , where their admission department describes typical pitfalls to avoid. ~Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 My favorite help is On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld. This is the book that I was going to recommend. I heartily second it. I did some brainstorming with my daughter, told her some of my own ideas, and proofread her output. Beyond that, it was all her work. Regards and good luck with the whole college application process! Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted May 9, 2009 Author Share Posted May 9, 2009 Thanks everyone for your responses--this is very helpful! I'll check into these resources. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon in MD Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 Our ds is going off to college this coming fall. He applied to 4 colleges and wrote several essays during the process. One thing that we did that I believe was helpful for him, in addition to the other great resources mentioned here already, was that we looked over all the application essays for those schools as soon as we could this fall and found a few common questions among them. Although he had to write several different essays and paragraphs, he was able to save some effort by cutting and pasting. He found that in some cases he was able to take an essay he had already written for one school and tweak it for another school or scholarship or honors college app. He definitely got to the point where he didn't want to write another essay! So, just from the been there done that side of things....unless your child loves to write, I'd look for ways to combine the effort so to speak. As for how involved I was....he brainstormed with me, showed me how he thought he should organize it etc. He would write a rough draft and I would look at it an offer suggestions for how he could make it stronger. But, I tried to be really careful not to take it over. My policy also is that I won't read anything that he has written unless he has read it over at least once himself;) He is very bad about writing off the cuff and then handing it to me when it is still garbage, KWIM? I also proofread the finals. We found it helpful also to let the final draft sit a day and then go back and look it over again before sending it off. It was easy for us to over analyze it if we looked at them too many times in one day. My theory is writing can always be improved, but at some point you have to say "good enough" or you'll tweak it to death. My only long term advice to you is to start those essays early in the fall or even in the late summer of your child's senior year. Make a time line for when the rough drafts and finals need to be done for each application....it is very easy to loose track of which essay has to be at which school on which date. And...you will be doing all this while trying to keep up the senior school schedule as well. Plan ahead....really makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 My only long term advice to you is to start those essays early in the fall or even in the late summer of your child's senior year. Make a time line for when the rough drafts and finals need to be done for each application....it is very easy to loose track of which essay has to be at which school on which date. And...you will be doing all this while trying to keep up the senior school schedule as well. Plan ahead....really makes a difference. I agree with all of this! As I recall, the Common Application is posted in July, so I asked my daughter to begin working on her essays then. I also made up a spreadsheet with all the due dates for applications, etc. (I also did a fair amount of nagging reminding her to keep at it.) Another suggestion, not related to essays but rather to the entire application process, is to have your child take as many of the necessary tests as possible before senior year. If your child is applying to multiple schools, he/she will be glad not to have the added pressure of test taking on top of the application requirements. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted May 14, 2009 Author Share Posted May 14, 2009 Thanks Sharon and Kareni! I really appreciate this advice. We're planning to have ds start working on his essays this summer. Thanks for the insight about cutting, pasting and tweaking. My ds does not like writing, especially about the kinds of topics these essays will ask for! This will be helpful. I already have a big spreadsheet of college information and another one for all the application pieces, essay requirements, etc. for each college we're looking at--so I like the idea of doing a spreadsheet to keep track of all the deadlines too. And, thankfully, ds finished his testing with the SAT last December. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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