I'm Sorry. Your English Class College App Essay Won't Cut It and Here's Why.

1,879 Views | 3 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Picadillo
AvantGarde_CollegePrep
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one MEEN Ag
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AG
I'm going to say the market your trying to advertise their kids aren't going to be judged by their essays. College applications are a game.

-If you're in top ten percent essays don't matter.
-If you're outside of top ten percent, but not fitting the right demographic, essays don't matter. Those 11-15% kids at a super competitive schools and way more prepared for college are squeezed because of top ten percent applicants at lesser competitive schools.
-A&M has to play games to fill their demographic needs with the remainder of the seats not taken up by top 10%.
-If you're outside of the the top quarter, essays can matter to figure out if you're getting blind team/gateway vs no-admit.

A&M receives 50,000 applicants a year. They rank and yank based upon gpa/class rank/ACT&SAT/demographic. Financial need scholarships are balanced against money for scholarships and amount of non-need based kids coming in.

If you're writing an essay, it better be to show how you're actually an underrepresented demographic on campus. Or you better have actually done something way outside the standard school progression.

Friend in high school was a slacker, but did really well on SAT. Not great, but good enough to be a marginal case against his poor class rank. Kid wrote his essay about the struggles of being gay and coming out. Dude was straight as the day is long. Got admitted in tu and given a small scholarship. This was early 2000s. They aren't looking for perfect spelling and sentence structure.

If a parent were to take the money you charge and put it towards SAT prep it would greatly increase their enrollment chances. As the SAT and ACT are known to coachable and are directly measured.
AvantGarde_CollegePrep
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Thank you for your comments. However, I think it's kind of unfair to paint the use of our services in a very narrow light. There are many reasons why a family chooses to use our services, which Application and Essay prep, is just one of the many services we offer.

For some families, they understand that their student's writing skills are weak and need polishing. Writing a college application essay is an excellent exercise for their student to receive a few hours of individual coaching and lots of feedback to improve their writing. For others, they use our services to maximize the student's review in the admissions or scholarship review process. Many schools use a holistic review. Our services are not only for those applying to Texas A&M. If anything, the vast majority of our clients apply elsewhere.

We've helped students apply/accepted to small regional universities or liberal arts schools, Ivy League schools, and everything in between. Just the past two years, we have had students accepted to Vanderbilt, Rice, Georgetown University, University of Southern California, Georgia Tech, UC - Berkely, UCLA, and so many more. Here are just a handful of successful examples to share from this past year alone where a student's essay has made an impact on either their admission or scholarship decision.

  • College Station HS, top 15% - Accepted to Cornell University
  • College Station HS, top 45% - Accepted into CAP program at UT - Austin
  • Local Private School Student - Accepted to Rice, USC, UT - Austin Engineering Honors ($65k scholarship) and TAMU Brockman Scholarship ($150K scholarship)
  • College Station HS, outside top 25% - Accepted to UT - Austin

I think to suggest a blanket statement such as essays don't matter for a student in the top 10% is reckless. Each student's situation is different, and we council each prospective client according to their individual circumstances.

For instance, I had a student three years ago who is in the top 5% at College Station high school. Clearly, Texas A&M accepted them, but because of their essays, this student received a $20,000 Honors Business scholarship. You may ask, how do you know their essay made an impact? Well, I know because on their scholarship letter, the Dean of the Business school had written a short personal note praising their essay. We have many more examples to share where are services have made a positive impact on the students who we aim to help.

Lastly, we offer plenty of test prep options for those who seek it. Regardless of your needs, we strive to provide accurate, professional guidance to enhance a family's college preparation efforts with the appropriate amount of support. This is the sole reason why we offer a variety of services at different levels. This helps us to meet the needs of our clients at a price point that best suits them.
one MEEN Ag
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AG
I will admit, my original post was harsh. You beared the brunt of a criticism for college admissions as a whole. So I apologize for that.

By the way, your follow up post is a better sales pitch than your original post. My original post is in the same vein as what most people are thinking about college essays. Your reply was basically your value proposition.

I wish y'all the best.
Picadillo
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I'd take the Costanza approach. Lesbian trapped in a male body and a victim for coming out. Seeks to eliminate the term "humping it".
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