Hiring outside help for admissions essays?

[kokotg]

It might be time for me to do this. DS is a good writer, but he has a hard time getting started even with academic writing; writing about himself is torture. Apparently. I bring it up periodically and he spends the next hour moping around and sighing deeply. And not writing an essay. So. Who's hired someone to help their kid through the process?  And how did it go? I'm hopeful he'd do better for someone else than me--if it were more like a thing he had to do as if for a class instead of his mother nagging him. And if you found someone and it was successful, I'd love recommendations. 

[8filltheheart]

I can't answer your question, but has your ds read the JHU Essays That Worked?  Essays That Worked | Undergraduate Admissions | Johns Hopkins University (jhu.edu)  It is the site that I recommend to the parents that attend my workshops.  

[kokotg]

4 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

I can't answer your question, but has your ds read the JHU Essays That Worked?  Essays That Worked | Undergraduate Admissions | Johns Hopkins University (jhu.edu)  It is the site that I recommend to the parents that attend my workshops.  

He hasn't looked at that one specifically, I don't think, but he has looked at similar websites. I keep hoping something will inspire him, but so far no 😞

[daijobu]

You might ask your student to look at How to Prepare a Standout College Application by Chisolm and Ivey.  I especially liked chapter 3, which has some nice exercises to prompt some introspection and give the student ideas about what they would like to communicate about themselves.  It's probably similar to what a consultant might do.  Maybe think about what he will write on the rest of his Common App (short answer questions) and consider what else about him remains that he wants colleges to understand about him.  

And to take the pressure off, remind your student that the essay is just one part of his application, not the whole part. 

[Lecka]

Maybe you could look for a class that focuses on personal narratives?  Or includes personal narratives?

I think there are English classes intended for Junior or early 1st semester Senior that have assignments/units that can be used or reworked for college essays?

If that is available with good feedback it could be a middle ground.

I don’t know of one specifically but I think they exist since — it’s something a lot of students are working on.  

[Clarita]

You can hire a college admissions counsellor too. They will help you do college selections, guide you as to what you need to complete to get into a particular college, etc. My parents were immigrants and didn't know the getting into college system from high school very well. They outsourced this for me. They helped me do everything from choosing the college, to studying for the admission tests, to selecting classes in high school, to informing me of summer opportunities and filling out and sending in admissions paperwork. I don't know how much my parents paid for this service, but they did not regret it.

[Farrar]

I know we're all very DIY here, but please get at least an outside read for your kid on their admissions essays. Examples and advice only goes so far. There are classes for this. You can hire a tutor. They can get an English teacher from the past to help. You can hire an admissions consultant. You can ask auntie or family friend who is great with this sort of thing. 

And, of course, you can also hire someone to do more than just read and support but who can help with the brainstorming and getting started part.

[Lori D.]

Tania Runyan has tutored / coached many students through college admission essays -- her tips are in her very accessible step-by-stem book How To Write a College Application Essay.

[kokotg]

13 hours ago, Lecka said:

Maybe you could look for a class that focuses on personal narratives?  Or includes personal narratives?

I think there are English classes intended for Junior or early 1st semester Senior that have assignments/units that can be used or reworked for college essays?

If that is available with good feedback it could be a middle ground.

I don’t know of one specifically but I think they exist since — it’s something a lot of students are working on.  

Bravewriter offers one that sounds perfect...only I'm a month too late, apparently, and they don't have any upcoming dates listed 😞

13 hours ago, Clarita said:

You can hire a college admissions counsellor too. They will help you do college selections, guide you as to what you need to complete to get into a particular college, etc. My parents were immigrants and didn't know the getting into college system from high school very well. They outsourced this for me. They helped me do everything from choosing the college, to studying for the admission tests, to selecting classes in high school, to informing me of summer opportunities and filling out and sending in admissions paperwork. I don't know how much my parents paid for this service, but they did not regret it.

I feel like we have a good handle on everything except the essay (I did it before with my oldest a couple of years ago). Also the music school thing means it's super specialized; we're not even looking at music schools as a whole but at clarinet studios in particular--so we really just have to rely on our own research and the advice of his clarinet teacher. 

13 hours ago, Farrar said:

I know we're all very DIY here, but please get at least an outside read for your kid on their admissions essays. Examples and advice only goes so far. There are classes for this. You can hire a tutor. They can get an English teacher from the past to help. You can hire an admissions consultant. You can ask auntie or family friend who is great with this sort of thing. 

And, of course, you can also hire someone to do more than just read and support but who can help with the brainstorming and getting started part.

With my oldest he wrote a draft over the summer and handed it off to my aunt who's a retired high school counselor to read and then made some edits based on her feedback. In retrospect, it was SO EASY. Relatively. The supplementals were more painful. But, yeah, it's the getting started that has him stuck. My oldest is not a particularly confessional sort, either, but he is a sort of basically good natured smart-ass and was able to hit on a nice tone of funny and slightly self-deprecating but still earnest in his essay that worked well and got his personality across. I think it's really tough for kids who spend their whole lives dreading being in the spotlight to have to write a "look at me!" sort of essay. Kid #3 should have an easier go of it. 

[8filltheheart]

I think it helps if they can just have something spark their imagination on how to wrap their ideas into their story of themselves.   Does he have a story about how he became fascintated with music, particularly the clarinet?  If they can weave their essay as a story that they want to share that tells something about who they are, it is so much easier than thinking that they just need to write to a prompt.

FWIW, I would not approach the essay as some sort of confessional sort of topic/paper.  They don't have "reveal" their inner selves.  My kids essays (which have been quite successful in terms of sifting to the top for scholarship selection committees) have focused on their academic side of themselves but written in story-type form to show who they are in terms of motivated student and how they set out to accomplish their goals.  The biggest hurdle should be showing vs telling, not confessing/revealing.

[bibiche]

A good friend has a child who works with, and very highly recommends, https://www.stephenjordan.net

This particular student is aiming for HYP-MIT type schools, but the tutor accepts students with more modest goals as well. We will definitely sign up once our kids reach that stage. 👍🏼 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

When I'm working with students on essays, we talk about what they want the college to know about them that doesn't come through in the more quantitative parts of the application. Who are they apart from grades, courses, and test scores? What traits and characteristics will they add to the campus community?

The essay can add a lot of detail to the application and give admissions an idea of who the student is as an individual. That doesn't mean they have to write about something no one else has ever written about. But it does mean that the essay should be very much about who they are as a person, rather than general statements that might apply to most students.