Is It Okay For Parents To Help Edit Their Childs College Essay?

Is It Okay For Parents To Help Edit Their Child's College Essay? His words somehow become my words, his memories become my memories. Despite the high speed of the bullet train, my mind is perfectly still â€" trapped between the narrative of the book and the narrative of my own life. Because Rachel is still undecided about her major, she will also mention a few classes she’s excited about in subjects other than history. But first, she needs to brainstorm topics for the supplemental essays to make sure no topics overlap. Rachel, a devoted dog-lover, has volunteered at rescue organizations in three different countries, andâ€"surprise, surpriseâ€"the family has ended up adopting three dogs. In my hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, where normality was…well, the norm, I tried to be a typical student â€" absolutely, perfectly normal. I blended into crowds, the definition of typical. In about 10 days, Rachel is done with her main essay. Because she was enthusiastic about the topic and created a structure before starting to write, it wasn’t as difficult as she’d anticipated. She will start the essay with a snapshot of a children’s Halloween party that she and other embassy teens organized, then discuss being a volunteer monitor for an online local TCK community. She’ll end with her plan to forge new bonds with other international kids, mentioning specific clubs or houses at each university. Barnard wants 250 words, and she’ll expand the essay for Michigan. It’s Not a Book Report You may indeed think that Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the best book ever written, but there’s a point where your analysis of the book becomes more academic than personal . If you’re writing about your response to the book or how it influenced your life, the right writing ratio is a lot less about the book and way more about your lifeâ€"in this case, it really is all about you. If a school offers multiple prompt options for the essay, don’t choose too quickly â€" think about how you would answer each prompt and choose the strongest option. She casts her mind back to 2016, when her family ran out of toilet paper in a country with continual shortages, and how she and her sister giggled while gathering gingko leaves as a possible substitute. She laughs about stateside cousins freaking out over bathtub centipedes, when she has experienced a botfly larva growing under her skin. Soon she has enough to construct an essay that shows a completely different side of her. She may even send this essay to any of her colleges that accept additional materials. Rachel’s sense of humor is her signature; like her favorite character Yossarian, she sees absurdity in everything. Today it is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, already worn and slightly crumpled. They say the best books tell you what you already know, resonating with your own thoughts and emotions. As I read, it is as if the tempest of my thoughts is spelled out on paper. The overflowing sense of hyper-reality in Tim O’Brien’s words of warfare spills into my world. Could she tweak some of her Catch-22 essay to write about humor under pressure? She’d have to use examples that show this trait, rather than simply insist she’s funny, which isn’t effective. I became a person who refused to surprise people. Unsettled, I turn to my ever-present book for comfort. Why you want to attend this school â€" admissions committees want to know why you are interested in their program and what makes you a good fit. Okay, maybe I’m overreacting â€" but I cannot for the life of me understand that award. “Most Original” always let me down, and as a result, I hated to be original in any context.