NYT: Help with essays for poor students

[marite]

<p>Making a Hard-Life Story Open a Door to College</p>

<p>

The essay has become such an important part of applying to college that affluent students may turn to $200-an-hour writing coaches to help them produce the 500 perfect words that they hope will separate them from the pack.</p>

<p>One staple of the affluent students’ essays is the service trip to Latin America. “It’s the first time they’ve seen this wrenching poverty,” said Lee Coffin, the director of undergraduate admissions at Tufts University. After a while, however, the trips sound the same.</p>

<p>“My colleagues nod and say, ‘It’s the typical Costa Rica essay,’ ” Mr. Coffin said.</p>

<p>But the lives of Antoine and the other 36 students at the workshop, which is run by College Summit, a nonprofit organization, are defined by struggle.</p>

<p>The workshop is intended to help them discover — and prove to college admissions officials — that their life stories can be as powerful as high SAT scores and stellar grades.</p>

<p>The essay is where they get to shine.</p>

<p>“I will not become a stereotype/statistic because many African/Black Americans proved that we can achieve greater heights,” Antoine wrote. “Richard Wright is a great, black American writer. Have you read his famous book, “Black Boy.” I have, and if you have read it, you should know that he defeated the odds. Same with Martin and his dream.”</p>

<p>“Just like these incredible men,” he wrote, “I, too, want to defeat the stereotypes.”</p>

<p>Antoine is a B student at struggling Crossland High, in Prince George’s County, Md., where most of the 1,700 students are black and more than a third are living in poverty. He is a youth leader in his church, but he is not an academic star. He is not one of the handful of students from high schools like his whose numbers attract the attention of diversity-minded college admissions officials. The other seniors with him at Howard had B and C averages.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/education/27college.html?hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/education/27college.html?hp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[2mch2sn]

<p>Thanks, marite for posting this. I checked out the college summit website and researched their volunteer opportunities: <a href=“http://www.collegesummit.org/volunteer/the-volunteer-experience[/url]”>http://www.collegesummit.org/volunteer/the-volunteer-experience&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>They rely on volunteers to serve as writing coaches, counselors etc. Their sessions are 4 days with options to repeat or not. Volunteers stay on the college campus during their service (in dorms I imagine). This sounds like a wonderful way for some dedicated and knowledgeable CC parents to put skills we have acquired helping our own kids to use for students who don’t have those resources in their own families or communities. I am considering applying to be a volunteer in summer 08. I think it would be fascinating to work with these students as they develop their essays and think through their goals.</p>

[doubleplay]

<p>““I will not become a stereotype/statistic because many African/Black Americans proved that we can achieve greater heights,” Antoine wrote”
…"“Just like these incredible men,” he wrote, “I, too, want to defeat the stereotypes.”</p>

<p>How can anyone read stuff like this and not be 100% behind these kids? Bless their hearts- I wish them the best.</p>