WSJ turns the table on college presidents

[wisteria]

<p>From the Wall Street Journal:</p>

<p>

Holding College Chiefs to Their Words
By ELLEN GAMERMAN</p>

<p>Reed College President Colin Diver suffered writer’s block. Debora Spar, president of Barnard College, wrote quickly but then toiled for hours to cut an essay that was twice as long as it was supposed to be. The assignment loomed over Wesleyan University President Michael Roth’s family vacation to Disney World.</p>

<p>The university presidents were struggling with a task that tortures high-school seniors around the country every year: writing the college admissions essay. In a particularly competitive year for college admissions, The Wall Street Journal turned the tables on the presidents of 10 top colleges and universities with an unusual assignment: answer an essay question from their own school’s application.</p>

<p>The “applicants” were told not to exceed 500 words (though most did), and to accept no help from public-relations people or speechwriters. Friends and family could advise but not rewrite. The Journal selected the question from each application so presidents wouldn’t pick the easy ones. They had about three weeks to write their essays.</p>

<p>The exercise showed just how challenging it is to write a college essay that stands out from the pack, yet doesn’t sound overly self-promotional or phony. Even some presidents say they grappled with the challenge and had second thoughts about the topics they chose

</p>

<p>The article is here:
[Holding</a> College Chiefs to Their Words - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html]Holding”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html)</p>

[somebodynew]

<p>I wish we could have seen the complete essays. I would be really interested to peer into the minds of these administrators.</p>

[midmo]

<p>Debora Spar, president of Barnard:

When she sat down to write, she rejected one of her first ideas, which was to describe her running and swimming routine.

</p>

<p>Thank heavens for that!</p>

[wisteria]

<p>

I wish we could have seen the complete essays. I would be really interested to peer into the minds of these administrators.

</p>

<p>You can read all ten of the complete essays. They’re in sidebars to the main article</p>

[somebodynew]

<p>Oh great! I’ll definitely take a look at that…AFTER I finish my work. ::backs out of parent forum, gets back to work on term papers::</p>

[qialah]

<p>Thanks for posting that. Definitely something to show DD.</p>

<p>I think it does prove that the “most influential person” essay is the toughest to write.</p>

[midmo]

<p>

I think it does prove that the “most influential person” essay is the toughest to write.

</p>

<p>I can’t believe that is any tougher than one from U Chicago a couple of years ago, in which you were invited to describe yourself as a mathematical function. Zimmer should have tackled that one.</p>

[idad]

<p>Zimmer is a mathematician, that would have been too easy for him. I found his current essay interesting, very UChicago, however.</p>

[RedCatharsis]

<p>Are the actual essays online or just excerpts?</p>

[mathmom]

<p>midmo, mathson liked that essay prompt. He had an equation and a reason to pick it in no time at all. If only the MIT prompt had been as easy!</p>

<p>Most of those essays were really, really boring. I kind of liked the one about the lack of routine, the Rilke quote one and the one about the influence of the dead brother. The rest were forgettable.</p>

[JHS]

<p>Wowie zowie. Being a good writer on your own is obviously NOT a prerequisite for a college presidency. Many of those essays are both turgid AND self-aggrandizing. But . . . they are all pretty accomplished, ambitious kids, so I would favor their admission anyway.</p>

[midmo]

<p>idad, Ah, didn’t realize Zimmer was a mathematician. Maybe he came up with that prompt in the first place.</p>

<p>Mathmom, my son actually liked that one, also. It would have been a nightmare for me.</p>

[curious77]

<p>Now let’s make them take the SAT!</p>

[PlantMom]

<p>Very interesting. I’d love to see what kind of essays admissions officers would write.</p>

[mathmom]

<p>Luckily Chicago always has a bunch of choices - I like their essay prompts, I wish more colleges took that route. BTW many (all?) the Chicago essay prompts are written by U. of Chicago students.</p>

[epiphany]

<p>

Now let’s make them take the SAT!

</p>

<p>And compare their EC’s, particularly those which are internationally awarded.:D</p>

[Dad_o_2]

<p>I propose a CC essay-prompt writing contest…</p>

[wisteria]

<p>

Are the actual essays online or just excerpts?

</p>

<p>Yes, the full essays are on-line–in a sidebar to the main article which I posted earlier.</p>

<p>Here are direct links to the 10 essays:</p>

<p>[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Barnard](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155156458688435.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155156458688435.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Carleton](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155493451388691.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155493451388691.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Grinnell](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155301644088603.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155301644088603.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Oberlin](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155217627688489.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155217627688489.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Pomona](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155208855388541.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155208855388541.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Reed](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155396679688641.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155396679688641.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Chicago](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124154887936488319.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124154887936488319.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Penn](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155327269488613.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155327269488613.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Vassar](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124154959281788367.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124154959281788367.html)
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com Wesleyan](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155340652688619.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155340652688619.html)</p>

[JHS]

<p>By the way, the Chicago essay prompts are submitted by accepted students, not enrolled students. Many of them are submitted by students who wind up enrolling elsewhere. Of course, hundreds of students submit questions, and the admissions staff decides which ones to use, and also edits them, so the student origin of them has a little asterisk on it. Still, a cute idea, and lots of them are really interesting.</p>

[sorghum]

<p>

And now, I had raced out into those same streets and knocked a man down with a baseball bat. I had demonized the muggers and the burglars who were preying on our neighborhood, and now I had descended to their level. Or worse. Doubts welled up in my mind. Did I really understand what it means to live in a diverse neighborhood?

</p>

<p>This is by far the worst. Racist, sanctimonious, self-serving garbage. He hit a mugger but because the mugger is black now he is worse than a mugger? </p>

<p>What about, white, black or any color, if someone mugs me or my neighbor, I’ll hit them with a baseball ball and recover the stolen the goods. And I’ll never apologize for it.</p>