How's That College Essay Coming?

It’s been a few years since I had the dreaded college essay conversation with my youngest child. But it’s seared in my memory in a decidedly unpleasant way, like the famous marshmallow meltdown in Publix and the time he disappeared in a ball pit in Chuck E. Cheese. And it's the reason I started coaching students on their college essays.

My son was a rising senior at Westminster and had his heart set on going to University of Virginia, where his dad and I both went. Every few weeks that summer after junior year I would ask, “How is that college essay coming along?”

The answer would be some variation of a grunt, which I interpreted to mean, “I haven’t started it, have no real plans to do so, and highly resent the question.”

As Virginia had done away with early decision, he knew he had ample time. My determination for him to complete it was based merely on his getting it out of the way before the swirling chaos of senior year and the workload of multiple AP classes started.

Late August rolls around, school starts, and then he visits Vanderbilt on a gorgeous fall day. Upon his return, he announces he is applying early decision to Vandy, and everything is due in three weeks. Teacher recommendations, the completed application and oh yeah, the essay. 

That Friday he began working on it, while my husband and I spent the weekend at the beach. As we left to return home, my son emailed me his essay to review. Although he is an excellent writer and had a good topic, the essay was way off the mark. He had made two classic mistakes — he was trying too hard and the essay did not sound like him. 

The story does have a happy ending. He got into Vanderbilt, graduated last year, and has an excellent job. (Turns out, the fears I had over his excessive video game playing turned out to be unwarranted.)

I’ve learned there are some things that are better handled when parents take themselves out of the equation. Handling the college essay process is one of those. 

So I decided to utilize my writing and editing background to help other parents in this situation. Five years ago I began coaching students with their undergrad and graduate applications and found I loved the process of teaching them what college admissions officers are looking for in an essay, what makes a suitable topic and finding the right tone. 

If you’d like to know more about how the process works or my background, please see the website at www.collegeessaycoach.net or email me at jan@janschroder.com. If you have a student applying to college, I'd love to meet with him or her. Then when you ask, "How is that college essay coming?" you don't have to dread the answer.