What Is The Purpose Of A College Essay?

What Is The Purpose Of A College Essay? I am so lucky to have worked with Mrs. Brandow throughout my college application and selection process. By assisting me in composing essays, creating résumés, and keeping my deadlines in check, the daunting jump from high school to college was seamless. So â€" yes â€" it’s fine to take a quick read to look for spelling errors, but it’s not fine to write your child’s essay for him or her. The SAT Essay and ACT Writing continue to pose a conundrum for students. While College Board and ACT have made these components optional, a small number of colleges continue to require or recommend them. Students typically must finalize testing decisions well before they finalize their lists of where they will apply to college, so a significant majority of students still take the essay exams each year. Duke provides “recommended” guidance and drops strong hints that the essay is still worth submitting in many cases. Mrs. Brandow went above and beyond for me by offering her time, advice, and reassurance whenever I needed her, including phone calls to talk me through a college rejection. I am confident that my experience would not have been the same without her, and I am so excited I will be attending the perfect school for myself and my major this fall. If I had to describe Laurie in a few words, I would describe her as brilliant, bold, creative, funny, kind, and knowledgable. Based on my experience, we read every essay at the institutions were I served. Typically, applications received two reads and a third if the decisions were split. If you send more than the one supplemental essay suggested, there’s no guarantee they’ll read themâ€"unless they don’t think they have enough to go on. That said, if they don’t think they have enough to go on after 2 essays, you’ve got a bigger problem. The list of holdouts, though, continues to decline. Claremont McKenna dropped the requirement as of November 2018, and Wellesley finally stopped asking for ACT Writing . Princeton has replaced the SAT or ACT essay requirement by deciding to require a graded essay from a high school class instead. when admissions season started, it is not easy to read hundreds of essay during a short period of time. in the mean time, between 5-10 min is actually reasonable for a good read. there are different stages for the admissions process. normally essay does not read more than one person unless the vote must proceed and admission counselors decided to work hard for the students they like the most. So yes, they are read by all the admissions officers, particularly the ones who oversee your county and region. The number of reads and the process for reviewing application essays vary from college to college. Among the top 250, I know my colleagues review essays because some are moved to “check” authenticity or to contact the school source to verify veracity of the context as provided by the student. We initially prepare three different reports for each student who testsâ€"the Student Report, the High School Report, and the College Report. If you took the ACT with writing, an image of the essay you write may be available to the high school and colleges that receive your score report. Those responses are both realistic and unsatisfying. There is no way that admission offices have the time or the ability to fact-check every part of every student's application. When parents get involved in the nitty gritty of a college application, some families find conflict arises. If your situation is one where parents can offer opinions that are helpful and if you are the kind of student who is open to listening to suggestions, then surely parents can be good editors. Further, if you have parents who know grammar and writing conventions and can recognize flaws, go ahead and ask parents to help. Please join us for a school counselor breakfast and information session at a local hotel in your area. Welcome to Collegiate Blueprint Consulting, an innovative independent college consulting firm. We are dedicated to providing individualized, knowledgeable, creative and thoughtful college planning for high school students. Here students will begin the college search and complete the application process in a smart and timely manner. For many students, finding an objective evaluator who is not a relative to help edit the essay is the best bet. Having a degree in English and being a published writer of college planning articles, and having edited hundreds of essays for students, I would be happy to help you too. Now parents â€" you all know the difference between fixing typographical errors and making massive substantive changes to your child’s essay, right? Remember â€" the admissions officers read thousands of essays every admissions season, and they can spot an overly polished essay a mile away.