Application essays and college writing

jmmom
Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:26:35 +0000

Blahdeblah - no wonder the peer reviewers have little to say re your writing. You are one of my favorite writers here on cc. Clear, simple, alive. That is your writing.

an overly pretentious essay by someone who has clearly been told they’re a good writer one too many times, and probably should not be allowed to own a thesaurus

As a frequent essay reviewer, this is also my least favorite variety. Inevitably, the writer chooses a $3.00 word when a 10-cent word will do, and do better. Thesauruses really don’t convey the nuances of connotation and denotation. Someone needs to tell college applicants that all listings in a thesaurus entry are not interchangeable.