By Scott Jaschik (Inside Higher Ed.).
The college counselor couldn’t help but be impressed with the draft application essay. It had a solid theme and related to the student’s academic interests. The writing was flawless. But the counselor, who described the situation on condition of anonymity, said that she just didn’t think her student could possibly have written it. It was too perfect for a student whose writing wasn’t. It was more focused than the student’s writing. So she asked the question: Did you get help on this?
The student answered yes — and the help from a paid essay coach had been substantial. For the counselor, his answer raised ethical and practical issues. On ethics, she asked herself (and colleagues in a series of emails) whether it was proper for her to let the student submit the essay as his own work. As for the practical, she found herself wondering whether the essay was “too good” for someone with the student’s grades, and whether it would be obvious that the essay didn’t reflect the student’s skills.
The counselor said in an interview that the incident focused her attention on a growing part of the admissions process for students of means: writing coaches.
Counselors (those who work for high schools and those hired by families) have long provided various forms of help on application essays. So have parents, English teachers, family friends and others. But increasingly a new industry (completely unregulated) has grown. Read full article
