
Don't make your college essays too good - pg
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/02/12/college_applications_can_be_too_good/?page=full
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byteCoder
I suspect that parental assistance on college admission essays has happened
for decades. However, with the hyper-competitiveness to get one of a very
limited number of admission slots, some parents (wanting to give their kids
what they want, not what they need) are doing anything to help them. The
modern "helicopter parent" is the stereotype of this type of parent.

The current application process is a bit archaic. Clearly, with the advent of
the Internet and the quick and easy exchange of information, colleges should
ask for portfolios of sample, graded school work. These portfolios should
supplement applications and may be referenced when there's a need to compare
the relative quality of two seemingly equal candidates or any question about
the authenticity of the a student's application (including essay).

(On a side note, I'm surprised that more software developers don't keep and
share their own portfolios of sample work for prospective clients/employers. A
representative body of a person's work is clearly more of an indicator of the
quality and skill of a person than any statements/certifications on a C.V. or
résumé could possibly be.)

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willarson
I think that portfolio's of software get messy in exactly the same way that
joint research papers get messy: how do you figure out who did the work?

That said, I think you're right that in a large body of work you see the
little eddies in the programmers mind, and thats an evaluative tool without
comparison.

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willarson
This is a topic that used to bother me before I graduated and left academia
behind. When I attended a private middle and lower school, parents would call
my mother and ask her how she completed the current project. The level of
penetration of this practice was such that it was assumed that the parents
would do their children's work. And this was for students younger than 14.

Did any of that work actually matter? Probably not, but the parents felt
strongly enough about it to spend hours writing 4th grade reports on
Gettysburg or the Cherokee Indian tribe.

With parents willing to go that far, I don't think its surprising that they're
shelling out so much money for admissions editors or are writing the essays
for their children.

Really, though, I think its just symbolic of how far the American education
system has strayed from its imagined mandate to educate. Children don't learn
how to write or research when they are thusly coddled, and they don't learn
how to deal with new and challenging situations when their parents go along
for their first job interviews and browbeat the interviewers.

I think that these misguided parents are elongating childhood in a society
where childhood already lasts longer than it ever has before, and are stunting
their children in their efforts to give them a foothold above their peers.
These parents won't be thwarted by reason, and will find some other mechanism
to 'help' their kids advance. I don't think trying to neutralize them will
ever be a good investment of one's time.

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DaniFong
My brother was threatened with expulsion were he to not stop 'having his
parents write his essays'. But they were entirely his own. It took until
eleventh grade before teachers started to appreciate this.

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Hexstream
"Essays with some rough edges are not only authentic, they are better reads."

Next strategic refinement for advisers: sabotage the perfect essay a little
bit to make it more credible.

~~~
falsestprophet
or write both your essay and your SAT writing sample well

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aneesh
"colleges should ask for portfolios of sample, graded school work."

There is some merit to this suggestion. It would make the counselor's job
easier, the admissions officer's job easier, and the student's job much
easier! But one concern is that this would tend to advantage students in
private or top-tier public high schools even more than the current system
does.

~~~
wallflower
Google "helicopter parents" Some parents feel that it is within their rights
to write their children's high school papers.

