Is My Dad Right??

Northstarmom
Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:27:32 +0000

“I think it’s fine if you have your Dad read over your essay for spelling errors/typos/grammar issues.”

The problem with many folks in doing this is that the student will probably not include some things in the essay if they know that their parent/teacher/friend will be reading it. It’s far different revealing oneself to a stranger than to a person who’s in your life.

I’m not referring to obviously very personal things that you probably wouldn’t talk about to anyone and shouldn’t include on a college app (an example would be explicit details of being sexually abused). I’m referring to things that you might not mention to people whom you know in real life because they may not understand what you meant or may be hurt for dismayed for some reason.

For instance, I’m fairly sure that in my Harvard application, I included info about how stultifying my small town, undiverse, conservative home town high school was for me, and some racist incidents I had experienced there, but I wouldn’t have wanted my mom to read about that because she had gone out of her way to make sure I attended the best school in the area.

Another example: I’m sure Mom would have been alarmed to see that the essay I submitted for a prestigious internship was about my taking over buildings in college student protests. Yet, I got that internship. :)

I don’t think that the few grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors that may slip through if one doesn’t have another person copyedit one’s essay will hurt one’s application to a top college. Presumably, students applying to such schools have excellent grammar and general writing skills anyway, so it’s highly doubtful that they would commit a copy editing error so grievous that it would cause a college to withhold admission.

If one is concerned about whether one’s essay topic is appropriate, one can ask knowledgeable adults as the OP has done here. No need to show them the whole essay.