We recently decided to hire a college counselor to help with the application process, including (probably mostly) the writing part. My daughter had to do something called a “brag sheet” for her school guidance counselor, and she filled it out and sent it to the college counselor to get her feedback. The counselor wrote back that it was wonderful and ready to send in. I hadn’t looked at it yet, but when I did, I noticed that there were quite a few typos and some word omissions. Not the end of the world for a brag sheet, but I wouldn’t want that to happen on an essay. I can proof my kid’s essays myself but part of the point was to remove me from the process. Do you think I’ve hired the wrong person?
I consider proofreading a key part of what I offer my clients, but the only thing that matters here is what services YOU are looking for. Have a conversation with the counselor and find out whether this was an oversight or whether the counselor doesn’t provide proofreading. You might also want to check with your kid about how she communicated with the counselor; it’s possible that they agreed that the counselor was only looking at the content, or something like that.
Maybe it’s just my high standards and Hanna’s high standards, but I would consider myself unqualified and unworthy if I didn’t make it a point to proofread everything involved in the process which I had the opportunity to view. In addition to things like professional advice, one thing you hire an expert for is oversight. Proofreading is part of presentation. That would also be the opportunity for a respectable counselor to remind the student of the importance of proofreading her/his own work – both with regard to the admissions cycle (such as the student’s own inquiring emails to the college) and as preparation for college work. Proofreading is also a K-12 skill.
I will say that many of my tutoring students, and a few of my college application students, do not budget enough time for proofreading. I’m seeing this more and more in high school work: shortcut and last-minute approaches which are unrealistic in how little time is planned for at least a quick second read by the student. When things have been really bad in that department, I’ve returned the work to the student, requiring him to do his own job first so that I can then comment on the content.
Are you paying by the hour for this counselor, or did you “buy a package”? (One of the many reasons I am against “packages.” I do not think they benefit the customer, and the counselor also needs a little room if the relationship is too unworkable from her vantage point.)
Our rising senior class as SIX HUNDRED kids in it.
I have one rising senior in my home.
It seems to me that it’s my son’s job, and then mine, and then my husband’s to proofread anything of importance to my son’s future.
I realize that you hired a counselor, and that changes the equation a bit. But at the end of the day, if it’s my child’s future, it’s up to us. The counselor can refund the fee, and my child will still be stuck with the results.
Some college counselors work with essay tutors. The counselor would help with the essay topic then pass off the student to work with a tutor then do a final read before it is submitted. D2 worked with such counselor. It was machine. He had a group of retired adcoms to do “chance me”, come up with a college list, and strategy on how to improve odds. We paid extra for essay coaching.
Yes, it depends on what you paid for. Make sure essay writing is part of the package. If so, let the counselor know what you expected from her/him.
I am a college counselor. I definitely proofread every written document my students produce and have to submit. There are usually many drafts and I proofread all of them. When it is at final draft, I do my best to make sure there are no errors. Just to be safe, I sometimes suggest the parents take one more look to proofread on the off chance I have missed anything because I have looked at it so many times and at so many drafts. A second reader can be beneficial. However, I certainly assume my job in advising a student on resumes, essays, and such is to proof all final drafts.
You may want to discuss with your college counselor if this is considered part of her services. In my opinion, it should be, when you are paying for an independent counselor.
As another independent counselor, I agree that a significant part of my job is making sure that submissions are error -free. I have partners and we work with students in teams of two, so although each piece of the application has at least two independent sets of eyes to review for editing errors (grammar, spelling, and punctuation), we ask our students’ parents to review the entire submission, including the essays, prior to pressing send. Our philosophy is that since we do not sit with our students as they submit their applications, we want a second set of eyes on that final submission. There is no way for us to know if a student changes something at the last minute. As for other writing, such as brag sheets or autobiographies provided to school counselors, we offer to review them, and if the student asks, we will proofread as well as offer substantive comments. The tricky part comes when parents ask us to review their submissions to the counselors (local schools ask parents to submit a separate “brag” letter)! It can get uncomfortable when proofreading those letters and we tend to edit only glaring errors. However, we do discuss with the parents to what extent we will review their writing, in advance.
I would think about hiring a different counselor or consider if you need one at all. If you are paying privately, the counselor you hire should give everything you send his/her full attention including catching typos. If he/she isn’t going to go through a particular document thoroughly the counselor should explain in advance why it isn’t part of the job and let you know that he/she will only give it a cursory review. At the very least I’d call to express your disappointment and get clarification about what you should expect going forward.
The counselor may have proof-read it, but may not be very good at it. If the end result was unacceptable as is, then I would certainly use someone else.