The Rise of the Trauma Essay in College Applications

[becca]

The only thing is if we are taking about a top tier school student C would probably have the easier transition then student A academically

 

[becca]

Because the purpose of the essay is to tell the school something about the student as a student.

I'm glad people think this is all so easy. Just as a very basic example, let's say I have one opening for one student but four applicants.

Student A has straight As and good but not stellar ACT/SAT scores. She established a successful buddy system in her school to provide peer help to struggling students. She participated in a lot of other high school programs and had two part-time jobs for her junior and senior years of high school. She comes from a very poor school district where few students go on to college and would herself be the first in her family to go. English is not her first language.

Student B was a pretty terrible student for most of his school years until his junior year, when he took a biology class that sparked his interest. He became fascinated with blood analysis; this interest led to him working harder in school. In his senior year, he won a prestigious national science award and patented a method for testing blood for a specific disease. His overall grades are not good; he continued to blow off classes he didn't think were useful to him on top of his past record. His ACT/SAT scores were excellent. He did not participate in any school programs. He comes from a middle class family. He worked in his family's business throughout high school.

Student C has excellent grades, very good SAT/ACT scores, participated in multiple school activities and took several mission trips to other countries. He comes from a wealthy family. He worked during the summers of his junior and senior years. He speaks French, plays piano very well, and is a top tennis player in the state.

Student D is, by all accounts, brilliant. He has perfect ACT/SAT scores, but his grades are not quite as good. He published some poetry and three short stories when he was in middle school. He took a year off high school to be unschooled so he could write a book, but that didn't work out. He taught himself to write code and got a job with a tech company when he was a sophomore. He was fired when he was a senior. He designed three apps that sell pretty well. He tested into and enrolled in a graduate school level math class at a local university, but he failed because he missed too many classes. He comes from an upper middle class family.

Which one do you accept as your one student? How do you decide? These are all actual students of mine from the past couple of years, three of whom who were taking college classes for credit while in high school and one who had a different story. I know where all four of them ended up, if anyone is curious.

Now multiply that by thousands and make your decision.

The personal essay may or may not make a difference here. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. But it's one more thing for colleges to look at.

I am curious how they ended up

 

[Japanfan]

I think part of it also is which program the student is interested in, as well as the college/university they're applying to. A good essay IMHO would link to specific characteristics of a program and show how the student's experience relates to why they want to study that particular subject.

But demonstrating that they've done some research on the institution and its offerings - research beyond "it has a good reputation" - would probably strengthen the application.

Most of the statements I've worked on say something to the effect of: "I'd like to study at ___ because . . . . ". Pretty generic stuff. But often, not particularly persuasive.

 

[Prancer]

Therefore, A seems like a slam dunk to me, then C>>B>>D. Actually, A's is the only application that would even make it past the first round reading

It's interesting that Student A is everyone's first choice, because Student A ended up at a big state school--a good one, but the lowest ranked of all the schools to follow. It never occurred to her to reach for anything else; she was thrilled that the state school accepted her because she wasn't sure she would get in.

This is a consistent issue with students from small, poor, rural schools. It never occurs to them that they could go to school out of state because they think they can't afford it or they can't get in, and there's no one to advise them any differently. When I told her that she could go somewhere else and probably get most if not all of her tuition paid, she thought I was crazy. She also didn't want to be far away from her family and her church, which is also often true of students with this background. She wanted to be able to go home on weekends.

I just read The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America, which discusses this problem at some length, and I nodded right along (although the problem seems much worse in Arkansas), as I can relate to a lot of it. I've known several Student As over the years. Only one ever went to college out of state and that one is also the only one who went to a private college, where she really struggled to adapt both socially and academically.

I hear about Student A from time to time because she made a friend in my class who is still on my campus. She's doing okay on school and I expect she will be a great success after she graduates, as she is both a very hard worker and a delightful human being. Could she have done better? I dunno. She was not the best student academically I've ever had by any means--another issue with the top kids from small rural schools. Big fish, little ponds, limited opportunities, not much competition. I've got one right now who has never gotten any grade other than an A until now and I find her work borderline unreadable. A great work ethic can overcome a lot, but it can't overcome everything.

Student C went to an Ivy (not Harvard); a legacy student through his stepmother, I believe. Also self-paying, which certainly never hurts. I am sure he is doing well and will go on to great things; he's genuinely smart, very personable, and a hard worker--and he has great connections.

Student B realized that he was a risky proposition, so he stayed in town for a year, took a full load of hard classes, got straight As, and did some other medical thing (he explained it all to me in great detail one day and I understood about two words). He transferred to a very good college and plans to get a PhD, which I think will work out well for him, as he has the personality of someone who can and should spend long hours alone in a lab. I think he just needed to find a challenge he wanted to rise to, but many students like him never live up to their potential.

Which brings us to Student D . Y'all surely have him pegged. His mother is an academic dean at a university; she's well-known in academia and she really flexed her muscle to get him into a near-Ivy. Everyone could see his great potential! He just needed the right environment to shine like the sun he was meant to be! In his case, I expect that his personal essay and interview did make a difference; that boy could sell himself like nobody's business. He just had to have someone get him in position for the sale.

He flamed out after one semester, then was admitted to another near-Ivy, flamed out after one semester, was admitted to a very good but not near-Ivy, flamed out after two semesters (because they gave him a second chance), and then ended up in my class after his parents told him they were done. His uncle offered to pay for one class at my school; if he got an A, his uncle would pay for him to go to college as long as he continued to pass.

He didn't submit a single assignment but made terrific contributions to class discussions until the day he was forced to withdraw. I diagnosed him as a case of Gifted Child Syndrome on the first day of class and never changed my mind, but I liked him and could see why people wanted to help him in spite of him. I don't know what happened to him after class, but I will bet that someone, somewhere is still trying to get him to fulfill his potential. Or maybe not. I was kind of a low-rent Student D; not brilliant, but smart enough to do well if I had chosen to do so. I eventually decided to try and just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make that work out for me, largely because a couple of people never gave up on me and not because I knew what I was doing.

Admissions is complex. Anything that helps helps.

 

[Vagabond]

Student C went to an Ivy (not Harvard); a legacy student through his stepmother, I believe. Also self-paying, which certainly never hurts.

But it doesn't help, either. All of the Ivies have need-blind undergraduate admissions for students applying from the United States. (Four also have need-blind admissions for students from other countries.)

Incidentally, the days of legacy admissions may be coming to an end soon.

Harvard’s Admissions Is Challenged for Favoring Children of Alumni

After the Supreme Court banned race-conscious affirmative action, activists filed a complaint, saying legacy admissions helped students who are overwhelmingly rich and white.

www.nytimes.com

I am making a gift of this article. The link will be valid for two weeks.

 

[becca]

It's interesting that Student A is everyone's first choice, because Student A ended up at a big state school--a good one, but the lowest ranked of all the schools to follow. It never occurred to her to reach for anything else; she was thrilled that the state school accepted her because she wasn't sure she would get in.

This is a consistent issue with students from small, poor, rural schools. It never occurs to them that they could go to school out of state because they think they can't afford it or they can't get in, and there's no one to advise them any differently. When I told her that she could go somewhere else and probably get most if not all of her tuition paid, she thought I was crazy. She also didn't want to be far away from her family and her church, which is also often true of students with this background. She wanted to be able to go home on weekends.

I just read The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America, which discusses this problem at some length, and I nodded right along (although the problem seems much worse in Arkansas), as I can relate to a lot of it. I've known several Student As over the years. Only one ever went to college out of state and that one is also the only one who went to a private college, where she really struggled to adapt both socially and academically.

I hear about Student A from time to time because she made a friend in my class who is still on my campus. She's doing okay on school and I expect she will be a great success after she graduates, as she is both a very hard worker and a delightful human being. Could she have done better? I dunno. She was not the best student academically I've ever had by any means--another issue with the top kids from small rural schools. Big fish, little ponds, limited opportunities, not much competition. I've got one right now who has never gotten any grade other than an A until now and I find her work borderline unreadable. A great work ethic can overcome a lot, but it can't overcome everything.

Student C went to an Ivy (not Harvard); a legacy student through his stepmother, I believe. Also self-paying, which certainly never hurts. I am sure he is doing well and will go on to great things; he's genuinely smart, very personable, and a hard worker--and he has great connections.

Student B realized that he was a risky proposition, so he stayed in town for a year, took a full load of hard classes, got straight As, and did some other medical thing (he explained it all to me in great detail one day and I understood about two words). He transferred to a very good college and plans to get a PhD, which I think will work out well for him, as he has the personality of someone who can and should spend long hours alone in a lab. I think he just needed to find a challenge he wanted to rise to, but many students like him never live up to their potential.

Which brings us to Student D . Y'all surely have him pegged. His mother is an academic dean at a university; she's well-known in academia and she really flexed her muscle to get him into a near-Ivy. Everyone could see his great potential! He just needed the right environment to shine like the sun he was meant to be! In his case, I expect that his personal essay and interview did make a difference; that boy could sell himself like nobody's business. He just had to have someone get him in position for the sale.

He flamed out after one semester, then was admitted to another near-Ivy, flamed out after one semester, was admitted to a very good but not near-Ivy, flamed out after two semesters (because they gave him a second chance), and then ended up in my class after his parents told him they were done. His uncle offered to pay for one class at my school; if he got an A, his uncle would pay for him to go to college as long as he continued to pass.

He didn't submit a single assignment but made terrific contributions to class discussions until the day he was forced to withdraw. I diagnosed him as a case of Gifted Child Syndrome on the first day of class and never changed my mind, but I liked him and could see why people wanted to help him in spite of him. I don't know what happened to him after class, but I will bet that someone, somewhere is still trying to get him to fulfill his potential. Or maybe not. I was kind of a low-rent Student D; not brilliant, but smart enough to do well if I had chosen to do so. I eventually decided to try and just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make that work out for me, largely because a couple of people never gave up on me and not because I knew what I was doing.

Admissions is complex. Anything that helps helps.

Student C was my first choice in terms of best bet on who would be most likely to do well at any Ivy. Because while it would be wonderful to give student As all the opportunities in the world if they didn’t have access to the best education before hand it may be difficult to compete at any Ivy.

I read somewhere that the students from underprivileged backgrounds are the ones who got private school scholarships.

Poor, but Privileged

New faculty member Tony Jack knows first hand what his research revealed: some low-income kids come to college more prepared than others.

www.gse.harvard.edu

We in this country need to do better and getting kids access to better education younger

Great grades AND great test scores means hard worker and competitive academically with top students in the country.

 

[Prancer]

Great grades AND great test scores means hard worker and competitive academically with top students in the country.

One of the things no one commented on with Student A was that she had great grades but "good but not stellar ACT/SAT scores."

While test scores are not good at predicting college success, which is their purpose, one thing they can do is reveal educational deficiencies in a particular school. That would be a red flag for me in admissions.

Student C, meanwhile, went to a private school where the student to teacher ratio is 8:1 and roughly 92% of the graduates get into Ivies. It costs $50K a year and runs from preschool through 12th grade. My son was nominated for this school; I wish he could have done it, because I think it would have been great for him, but $50K a year?

In the past decade or so, universities have been stepping up to help students like Student A adapt to college culture, but there are still a lot of gaps in access.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

But it doesn't help, either. All of the Ivies have need-blind undergraduate admissions for students applying from the United States. (Four also have need-blind admissions for students from other countries.)

That's true: all the Ivys are need-blind, so a person's ability to pay is immaterial. Even schools that tend to be "need-aware" usually only call that into play if a student is borderline for admission.

 

[alexikeguchi]

It's interesting that Student A is everyone's first choice, because Student A ended up at a big state school--a good one, but the lowest ranked of all the schools to follow. It never occurred to her to reach for anything else; she was thrilled that the state school accepted her because she wasn't sure she would get in.

This is a consistent issue with students from small, poor, rural schools. It never occurs to them that they could go to school out of state because they think they can't afford it or they can't get in, and there's no one to advise them any differently. When I told her that she could go somewhere else and probably get most if not all of her tuition paid, she thought I was crazy. She also didn't want to be far away from her family and her church, which is also often true of students with this background.

Yes, it was my observation that the highly desired first gen/high achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds often would choose the flagship state school to remain closer to family and a familiar culture. However, a talented and motivated student will succeed in life with a state school education as well, so there is really nothing wrong with that. I am the only Ivy educated physician in my department at a world class cancer center, and I don't in any way flatter myself that I am the most accomplished.

In the past decade or so, universities have been stepping up to help students like Student A adapt to college culture, but there are still a lot of gaps in access.

Yes. Jeremiah Quinlan, who is now the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale, was the first regional rep I met when I started interviewing. He covered several primarily rural states and communicated that Yale and their main competitor schools were really trying to find and support students with profiles similar to A's in the hope that they would return to their communities and have a huge impact (though I don't know that the likes of Josh Hawley JD and Ron DeSantis BA are what he had in mind).

 

[Prancer]

However, a talented and motivated student will succeed in life with a state school education as well, so there is really nothing wrong with that.

I don't disagree with that at all. But I do think that Student A should have had the knowledge and advice that would have allowed her an informed choice.

I went to a school at one time that was so rural that it was K-12 in one building, in spite of drawing from two counties . It was and still is one of the highest-ranked public schools in the state, but there are no counselors or advisors. Students who want to know about going to college have to educate themselves.

 

[Allskate]

One of the things no one commented on with Student A was that she had great grades but "good but not stellar ACT/SAT scores."

While test scores are not good at predicting college success, which is their purpose, one thing they can do is reveal educational deficiencies in a particular school. That would be a red flag for me in admissions.

I agree. And I understand why Student C will be the one who gets admitted in those circumstances. Getting As at a school that isn't really competitive and demanding (or isn't known to the college admissions folks) does not provide the same information as getting As at highly competitive and demanding high schools.

But, IMO, this is likely to give someone like student C an advantage even if student A is just as smart as student C. If student C goes to a better and more demanding high school, that is likely to lead to better test scores. Plus, student C's parents are going to pay for the classes and tutoring that help him get good test scores. When I went to college, I was very surprised by how many of my classmates had gone to SAT preparation classes.

I don't disagree with that at all. But I do think that Student A should have had the knowledge and advice that would have allowed her an informed choice.

I totally agree that advice and counseling is crucial. When I began applying to colleges, I applied only to state colleges because I assumed that was, at most, what I could afford. (Some of them were out of state. Unlike Student A, I wanted out! I didn't realize when I applied, but there was no way I could afford those state colleges. It turned out that they weren't even an option for me if I maxed out the available loans. My parents weren't paying for me to go to college.) Nobody at my high school suggested that I should try to apply to private colleges and get financial aid even though my grades and test scores should have been a clear sign that it would be a viable option. By sheer chance, shortly before application deadlines, someone came into the store where I was working and suggested that I apply to the private college she was attending. There was financial aid. That's where I ended up, with financial aid. None of the other colleges would have been more affordable and I would have had the same amount of debt. I later learned that my test scores were more important in the admissions process than the grades I got from my mediocre high school.

Student A might still decide to go to the same state university after being counseled, and that might be the best choice for her, but at least that would be an informed decision.

It's interesting that Student A is everyone's first choice, because Student A ended up at a big state school--a good one, but the lowest ranked of all the schools to follow. It never occurred to her to reach for anything else; she was thrilled that the state school accepted her because she wasn't sure she would get in.

I think it's probably common for students like this to believe they might not be able to get in or might not be able to succeed if they did. (However, there are people who just believe that most colleges are comparable and there is no benefit to going to an Ivy League school.) I have a friend who, after leaving her hometown and state for years, went back to her childhood home and raised her daughter in a town of less than 2000 people in a rural area. When it came time to go to college, the daughter really wanted to leave her conservative small town (where she had been bullied in high school) and was not afraid of the culture shock of going somewhere quite different. She applied to and was accepted by an Ivy League school. But, she was afraid to go to the Ivy League college because she thought she might not have what it took to succeed. I talked to the daughter and explained that the college would not have admitted her if they did not think she was capable of succeeding and that I was confident she would succeed. Fast forward. She thrived and is now in grad school at a top university.

I don't want to suggest that all private colleges are better than state colleges. They are not. (I have had a discussion with someone when I thought they were about to make a bad decision and go into huge debt attending a private school that was not very good.) There are plenty of great public colleges and poor private ones. What is best for a particular student depends on a variety of factors. But, they should be given the advice that would help them make a good decision.

 

[Prancer]

(I have had a discussion with someone when I thought they were about to make a bad decision and go into huge debt attending a private school that was not very good.)

One of my nephews is going to be in debt the rest of his life because he insisted on attending a private school, and it was not very good. But it was private and he was sure that his degree would be more valuable for it. Nope.

But really, kids don't know any of this unless someone tells them and a lot of them have no one to tell them.

 

[Allskate]

One of my nephews is going to be in debt the rest of his life because he insisted on attending a private school, and it was not very good. But it was private and he was sure that his degree would be more valuable for it. Nope.

But really, kids don't know any of this unless someone tells them and a lot of them have no one to tell them.

A lot of them have nobody to tell them. Or, even worse, they have people telling them they should go to the bad private school because those people don't know any better. IMO, this is part of the reason for the student loan crisis.

 

[VGThuy]

I knew nothing about the college admissions process. Hell, I didn’t even know they sold commercial study aids for the ACT/SAT before taking those tests. I didn’t even know you had to pay for your own textbooks in college. I had a rude awakening.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

My guidance counselor friend and I spend a lot of time convincing our first Gen kids not to go to the nearby private school that gave them a $23,000 scholarship because, even with that much scholarship, it still costs more than the local state school and isn’t better.

The private school sends out admissions decisions early and offers the scholarship at the time so the kids get attached before they hear from other schools and they think the scholarship is super flattering and don’t really understand the total money.

Upside, we’ve been decently successful at explaining why this is a bad idea.

 

[barbk]

Having edited many personal statements, I find passion to be an overused word. I wonder how the admissions people feel about it, given that they read so many of those statements.

They despise it. They are not fond of students who want to get out of the XYZ Bubble, or those who feel the need to be pushed by other students or professors. I roll my eyes at the number of students longing for admission to highly selective universities who want an environment where they will be pushed out of their comfort zone. That's often followed by a Why-This-College essay that mentions how much they're looking forward to going to college with like-minded students.

One of our students is writing about the never-ending challenges of building and sustaining friendships when his white friends casually and unexpectedly use the N-word. Do you keep cutting people out of your life? Do you continue with the Sisyphean task of engaging with friends to try and help them understand why this is not ok, even when each time you do this, it makes you feel sick, and each time you don't, it eats away just a little more at your soul? His essay isn't finished yet, but he's made me think harder about issues I thought I understood.

 

[Prancer]

One of our students is writing about the never-ending challenges of building and sustaining friendships when his white friends casually and unexpectedly use the N-word. Do you keep cutting people out of your life? Do you continue with the Sisyphean task of engaging with friends to try and help them understand why this is not ok, even when each time you do this, it makes you feel sick, and each time you don't, it eats away just a little more at your soul? His essay isn't finished yet, but he's made me think harder about issues I thought I understood.

Sometimes you just look at one of them and think, "Who is this amazing person?"

 

[Vagabond]

One of our students is writing about the never-ending challenges of building and sustaining friendships when his white friends casually and unexpectedly use the N-word. Do you keep cutting people out of your life? Do you continue with the Sisyphean task of engaging with friends to try and help them understand why this is not ok, even when each time you do this, it makes you feel sick, and each time you don't, it eats away just a little more at your soul? His essay isn't finished yet, but he's made me think harder about issues I thought I understood.

Thread drift:

Overt racism in America is far more pervasive than many people might imagine. I work in Oakland, a very liberal city with a substantial Black population.

A few weeks ago, some young people were making a ruckus in the subway station near my office. One of the onlookers, a white man, caught my eye and said to me, using the "N" word twice, that Blacks were "the biggest problem in America." I still haven't gotten over my disbelief and disgust at what he said out of my system. I can't imagine what it would have to be on the receiving end of such people's racism on a constant basis.

 

[Prancer]

Thread drift:

Overt racism in America is far more pervasive than many people might imagine. I work in Oakland, a very liberal city with a substantial Black population.

I'm guessing it must be if you found this hard to believe.

A few weeks ago, some young people were making a ruckus in the subway station near my office. One of the onlookers, a white man, caught my eye and said to me, using the "N" word twice, that Blacks were "the biggest problem in America." I still haven't gotten over my disbelief and disgust at what he said out of my system. I can't imagine what it would have to be on the receiving end of such people's racism on a constant basis.

I wouldn't say this is common in my experience, but it certainly isn't rare.

It used to be that students would say things like to me. That doesn't happen any more. But when I first started teaching? Fairly frequent.

 

[Vagabond]

I'm guessing it must be if you found this hard to believe.

I wouldn't say this is common in my experience, but it certainly isn't rare.

It used to be that students would say things like to me. That doesn't happen any more. But when I first started teaching? Fairly frequent.

I didn't find it hard to believe. I hear a lot of racist remarks, not all directed at Blacks. I do not, however, hear non-Black people use the "N" word very often.

My point, though, is that the man's remarks are only the tip of the iceberg of overt racism. Overt racism doesn't need to involve the use of the "N" word for it to be constant, pernicious, commonplace, and draining.

 

[morqet]

@Prancer Your post about weighing up different student's reminded me of this collection of blogs, by the former president of LMH at Oxford, about their admissions process: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/alan-rusbridger-lifting-lid-oxford-admissions.

Similar challenges everywhere, although the UK system really doesn't care about extra-curriculars & because undergraduate courses are more specialised from the start than in the US, there is a bigger focus on subject specific testing and interviews for Oxbridge (and increasingly other top tier universities). Your student B would probably have got lots of offers to study biology/biochemistry in the UK!

 

[becca]

One of the things no one commented on with Student A was that she had great grades but "good but not stellar ACT/SAT scores."

While test scores are not good at predicting college success, which is their purpose, one thing they can do is reveal educational deficiencies in a particular school. That would be a red flag for me in admissions.

Student C, meanwhile, went to a private school where the student to teacher ratio is 8:1 and roughly 92% of the graduates get into Ivies. It costs $50K a year and runs from preschool through 12th grade. My son was nominated for this school; I wish he could have done it, because I think it would have been great for him, but $50K a year?

In the past decade or so, universities have been stepping up to help students like Student A adapt to college culture, but there are still a lot of gaps in access.

Yes I agree we need to make access to highly quality education for all.

BUT I must say all of the other students you mentioned had more opportunities than Student A.

Student C is the only one besides student A who fully capitalized on his opportunities and worked hard and not just on his interests.

Not every rich kid is like student C.

Of course there are plenty of Student b it’s normal to not know what you want right away. I was a student but life isn’t just about what interests you.

There is never going to be a fully even playing field but we can all make the most of the opportunities we are given.

But we as a nation need to do more to
Help student As.

 

[VGThuy]

Student A was like me in high school, although my ACT/SAT scores were high enough for me to get into my first choice private university (that I was ill-prepared for due to costs and culture shock of private education and those who go there despite doing well in my classes), but I think Student D is my spirit animal.

 

[kwanfan1818]

They are not fond of students who want to get out of the XYZ Bubble, or those who feel the need to be pushed by other students or professors. I roll my eyes at the number of students longing for admission to highly selective universities who want an environment where they will be pushed out of their comfort zone

That there's this much distain would be good to know for kids who excel at in underfunded or weak schools and know it, who might have been among the few interested in books, science, theater in their schools and home towns, who may have been ostracized and/or bullied because of it, sometimes in their own families, and who do long to have peers in physical proximity, not just on special interest message boards, that are interested in the same thing and will push them. Or, heaven forbid, they think that they'll find other people like them who are intellectually curious at that school.

They could then take another approach and not be put in that pile.

 

[once_upon]

EDITED I didnt read Prancer's discussion on who did what. My comments.

I'm glad people think this is all so easy. Just as a very basic example, let's say I have one opening for one student but four applicants.

Openings because of class size. Or scholarships.

Student A has straight As and good but not stellar ACT/SAT scores. She established a successful buddy system in her school to provide peer help to struggling students. She participated in a lot of other high school programs and had two part-time jobs for her junior and senior years of high school. She comes from a very poor school district where few students go on to college and would herself be the first in her family to go. English is not her first language.

While most pick her as their top pick - I'm not so sure. If this is a legacy/prestige university and despite her success in finding peer support in her community, it will be difficult for her to find someone who will to support her outside her community. Unless someone buddy's with her ' she has some serious obstacles to overcome

Student B was a pretty terrible student for most of his school years until his junior year, when he took a biology class that sparked his interest. He became fascinated with blood analysis; this interest led to him working harder in school. In his senior year, he won a prestigious national science award and patented a method for testing blood for a specific disease. His overall grades are not good; he continued to blow off classes he didn't think were useful to him on top of his past record. His ACT/SAT scores were excellent. He did not participate in any school programs. He comes from a middle class family. He worked in his family's business throughout high school.

The big thing this student will need to overcome are those pesky pre reqs. The general courses are where universities get things wrong. This a student who needs to be engaged ASAP in their degree path. If he doesn't get engaged early, gets involved with extracurricular activities like fraternity/parties, he is likely to leave with no degree. After all the family business is his fall back plan.

Student C has excellent grades, very good SAT/ACT scores, participated in multiple school activities and took several mission trips to other countries. He comes from a wealthy family. He worked during the summers of his junior and senior years. He speaks French, plays piano very well, and is a top tennis player in the state.

He might be the most successful-not because of wealth, but the work ethic despite his wealth. He seems focused on working for his successes rather than expecting them to fall into his path

Student D is, by all accounts, brilliant. He has perfect ACT/SAT scores, but his grades are not quite as good. He published some poetry and three short stories when he was in middle school. He took a year off high school to be unschooled so he could write a book, but that didn't work out. He taught himself to write code and got a job with a tech company when he was a sophomore. He was fired when he was a senior. He designed three apps that sell pretty well. He tested into and enrolled in a graduate school level math class at a local university, but he failed because he missed too many classes. He comes from an upper middle class family.

Do we know why he was fired from tech company as a senior? Do we know his age? Other than the writing/school year off - I know at least two people who fit part of this profile.

Which one do you accept as your one student? How do you decide? These are all actual students of mine from the past couple of years, three of whom who were taking college classes for credit while in high school and one who had a different story. I know where all four of them ended up, if anyone is curious.

Now multiply that by thousands and make your decision.

The personal essay may or may not make a difference here. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. But it's one more thing for colleges to look at.

I would need that essay - but focused questions. Yes, challenges they faced and what they learned from them, what would be a measure of success, what would be the best kind of support they need to succeed

Student D or A for scholarship with caveat that the have a good support system.

In this order if just placement: Student C, A, D, B

But I definitely need an essay and interview.

 

[becca]

I kind of wish I could set up student A and student c (if they both like the opposite sex and are single) they both seem like good people with good work ethics. Lol.

 

[becca]

That there's this much distain would be good to know for kids who excel at in underfunded or weak schools and know it, who might have been among the few interested in books, science, theater in their schools and home towns, who may have been ostracized and/or bullied because of it, sometimes in their own families, and who do long to have peers in physical proximity, not just on special interest message boards, that are interested in the same thing and will push them. Or, heaven forbid, they think that they'll find other people like them who are intellectually curious at that school.

They could then take another approach and not be put in that pile.

Yeah I don’t like the disdain for wanting to be challenged I don’t see anything wrong with any student wanting to be challenged

 

[barbk]

Yeah I don’t like the disdain for wanting to be challenged I don’t see anything wrong with any student wanting to be challenged

For me, no disdain for wanting challenge. The disdain comes from the ubiquitous mentions of wanting to be "pushed." In the same vein, I see many smart, high-achieving students from well-off families who used Covid as the excuse for why they sat on their asses and did virtually nothing other than schoolwork during their freshman and sophomore years. Meanwhile, other kids got jobs, provided childcare for their families, worked on a self-initiated project, learned to play guitar, or found opportunities to volunteer despite Covid restrictions.

 

[kwanfan1818]

The disdain comes from the ubiquitous mentions of wanting to be "pushed."

And how is this different from figure skaters who move rinks to be with other talented skaters who will push them? People who will show them techniques and work ethic that they can emulate and be inspired by?

What is so horrific about being "pushed"?

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I believe the disdain is for the boring generic sentences in the essay. Not disdain for any real desire to be pushed. But again not all of us are great writers and it is painful to write essays that convey what we really want to say.