<p>I proofread my D’s final essay for grammar and spelling issues after it had been proofread by her English teacher (a requirement at her school). I suggested several changes of tense and that was pretty much it. I did see the first draft (which was only vaguely similar to the final) because my D wanted several people’s opinions as to whether the topic was ok. We all said yes and then through its multiple drafts, the essay turned into something else again. All of her schools said it was among the best essays of the year. It managed to be slightly humorous, very self-deprecating, a little heartwarming, and it contained a genuine mystery. My daughter’s writing is far beyond anything I could have come up with and the essay told exactly who whe was, where she was coming from and where she hoped to go. I have a very good friend whose S is a year ahead of my D (he is a college soph) and I remember his essay well because his mom asked me to proofread it. Since I would never change anything substantive, I came away feeling that it was a truly terrible essay that didn’t reflect its author at all. To this day, my D refers to the young man as “pretentious essay boy” and I believe that it had an impact on his less-than-favorable outcome in terms of admissions and scholarships. It was just that bad.</p>