My kid is doing a Williams pre-read and says she has to submit a “writing sample” done within the last year. Does this sound right? Can it be something she writes now? Or does it have to be something she submitted for school? She goes to a crappy public school where they do almost all writing in class on paper and then upload the work online for grading. She always gets perfect grades but none of these pieces are typed out and they are all done within 35 minutes or 55 minutes and not exactly the sort of thing you want to submit to a top college, you know?
Some schools do ask for writing samples and I have heard of Williams doing so.
I would have her ask the coach for guidance. Has she done a research/term paper in the last year?
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My son had to submit a graded writing sample – a paper – for his Williams preread.
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I am not sure. This is an urban school. She is 11th wieghted GPA in the class of 530. But amazingly they seem to do most writing in class!
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The coach will provide guidance if she only has the papers written in class. In the end though, I wouldn’t the pre-read requirements be changed for her though.
This is something that is part of the Williams application. My take is they are more interested in quality of writing than thought or content. I wouldn’t overthink it. This is what they say:
“Williams does not require a writing supplement. However, some students feel they do their best writing in an academic context rather than through narrative pieces like admission applications. If you are interested in submitting an example of your academic writing, you may share a 3-5 page paper written in the last year. The paper may be creative or analytical, can cover any topic, and need not be graded. Please include a description of the assignment or prompt. Please do not submit lab reports.”
Our school does mostly in-class writing in 11th grade as they are preparing for APs. These tend to be shorter. My son submitted an essay that was about 2 pages typed. With the prompt description, he included a note that it was an in class piece, per the curriculum.
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so helpful! thanks!!
Related note: only one of my kids went through the recruiting process, but we learned from my oldest this was a thing. My kids went “all-in” effort wise with a paper late Junior year/early Senior year to make sure there was something ready to submit with applications.
thats a good idea! Normally the writing sample is something the applicant does for the application specifically so it is good to think ahead. For the purposes of this pre-read my kid is doing a proposal to a nearby hospital for a project she wants to do. She is thinking she could do an abstract and formal proposal outlining current research on the topic and her proposed research. Given what you cut and pasted from the Williams app, this will probably fit the bill, even though it is not a traditional essay. It’s def not a “lab report” and given that they accept creative pieces, i would think writing in a social science context could be ok?
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Check with the coach. This is a legitimate question and the coach is on your side in this. Tell the coach the situation. They have either dealt with this exact thing in the past or can pick up the phone and get a clear answer from admissions.
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We did the submitted paper last cycle as part of the Williams pre-read. She turned in a graded paper from a social sciences seminar class. I would reiterate (a) talking with coach if your child doesn’t think they have a good paper to submit, and (b) recognizing that the paper for the pre-read is the same as the optional paper that is a part of the actual application so you can use the description from the application as a guide for the pre-read paper.
Same for my daughter.
My kiddo had to submit a paper for pre-read last year. They submitted it ungraded though later realized that the school probably wanted to see the comments b/c in application they asked for a graded paper. My child also went to a public school but did have a few options for writing samples but agree that there wasn’t a lot and what they had mostly came from elective classes. I think they submitted an essay somewhere in the 3-5 page range. If you really don’t have anything from school that is tough…. You should consider giving feedback to school that they need to assign more writing b/c kids should have had to write a few papers by senior year. That being said, I would share details about lack of writing assigned by school with the coach and get their guidance.