<p>Just last night, a friend gave me her son’s application essay (due today!) and asked me to review it. I did, and made a few syntactical suggestions, as well as noting that there were a couple of places where he went off on tangents that added no value to the essay. She wasn’t entirely thrilled with my help though, because she felt that her son used too many ‘flowery’ phrases that seemed to be an attempt to show off his vocabulary and powers of description. I agreed, but noted that the essay was powerful and exhibited true feelings. I told her that that was commonly the way kids wrote, and yes, we could tighten up on his excessive flights of verbal fancy, but then it wouldn’t be his anymore. I also felt that application readers know authentic writing when they see it, and this was an example of that, even though it could be more polished. So, apparently I didn’t do my job as effectively as this parent wished, but I’m pretty sure I would have crossed the line into changing this kid’s intent and content.</p>