The Common App Essay

The Common App Essay They are okay with thoughts and phrasing that sounds like it’s come from a teenager; they understand that not all of the ideas will be fully formed. But the main idea behind any essay is that it should reveal something of the writer’s (in this case, the student’s) character and parents can easily hinder that process if they edit too much. This is your time to shine, so highlight your accomplishments and strengths. Review your essay to make sure that you’re keeping the tone informative and that you’re still on topic. (Brag while answering the essay prompt; don’t just mention random, unrelated but impressive facts about yourself!)You can use this brag sheet where you can brainstorm your accomplishments. It is certainly okay for parents to help edit their child’s essay â€" with the key word in that sentence being EDIT. They can help catch spelling or punctuation mistakes or help a student better clarify an idea that isn’t fully fleshed out in the early draft. Too many words had been added that just did not reflect the student’s vocabulary or mode of writing. College admissions readers are bright and intuitive and can tell when an essay has been “helped” too much. I see no problem with parents doing a grammar/spelling check as well as offering suggestions on how an essay could be improved. Do you seem like someone who will fit in at the school? Our team personally vets every college scholarship listed on our website as your one-stop shop for scholarships. We’re not just one of the best scholarship search engines, but we’re also the only scholarship application platformâ€"all offered to students for free. Most students worry about bragging in their essay, but we say go for it! But what makes yours stellar is words you use to convince readers. Words are your powerful weapon to prove critical thinking and knowledge of the topic. Words help you stand out in a crowd of other students writing about the same topics. And then they are pleasantly surprised when admissions officers write acceptance letters with personal notes about their child’s fabulous essays. If possible, mom and dad should stay out of the essay writing business. However, some parents are able to understand that over-editing essays is not a good thing. Everything should be spelled correctly, with correct grammar and punctuation, but the essay should sound like a high school student wrote it. Most of the time I see that parents get into an essay and take away the student voice…they make it too polished for a high school student. Colleges get suspicious when they receive an essay that sounds like a PhD wrote it. I have seen too many essays where parents “helped” and as result, the essay lost the student’s voice. If you’re a renegade, then you probably won’t be happy at a more conservative campus. If you spend your essay writing about how much you love city life, you might not enjoy the slower pace of a college town. It’s difficult, time- and energy consuming, and challenging to complete them. A thesis, arguments, references, and conclusion are fundamental to every essay. It is NOT okay for parents to WRITE their child’s essay or influence it unduly, however. He or she isn’t a full-fledged literary genius and the admission officers who read the essays are well aware of this. Parents can help their child brainstorm topics, encourage them to write multiple drafts, and help him or her meet deadlines. Some parents should not even read their kid’s essays as they want to change too many elements that make the essays lose their unique adolescent voice. I know this is the touchiest of topics, but I always beg parents to believe in their child.