College Admissions in Coffee Shops

College Admissions in Coffee Shops We happened to overhear a conversation about the highly selective college admissions process in a Santa Monica coffee shop today (photo credit: Bobak HaEri). In a coffee shop today in Santa Monica, California, two Hollywood screenwriters were discussing the highly selective college admissions process in between bemoaning a Hollywood studios reluctance to give a green-light to a movie based upon their script starring an octogenarian. We have a feeling that we could have offered them some insight on their feature in development (how many movies star folks in their 80s?), but we let it go and instead listened intently as  one of the screenwriters read aloud his sons Personal Statement. Before he started reading it, he prefaced the essay with this: I hired a fantastic private college counselor who knows all the secrets of admission to all the Ivy League colleges. And they came up with this. How good is this? As you can imagine, we couldnt wait. The essay read something like this, While Im not even six feet, Ive been a member of my schools varsity basketball team throughout high school and have helped them win a couple of league titles. Last year, I suffered a knee injury while making a layup against our schools arch-rival. The injury landed me on the bench for several weeks, but with hard work, a determined spirit, and perseverance, I worked my way back from injury to be my teams leader in assists. The whole experience taught me a valuable lesson about hard work, determination, and overcoming obstacles, lessons I will always carry with me. That was the essay in a nutshell. And, as you can imagine, we cringed. At Every. Single. Word. Trite, trite, trite. Not another sports essay. Not another overcoming obstacles essay. Not another thanks for the valuable lesson essay. Get the idea? If not, read this post on Sports in College Admissions Essays. It doesnt at all surprise us when we hear a bad college essay. In fact, its just the opposite. We rarely if ever hear a good college essay. When a parent tells us that her kids essay is first rate, we roll our eyes. Because we know they cant see our eyes roll on the other side of the phone. If were on Skype, we try to be more subtle but its what were thinking! What also frustrates us is that there are such bad private college counselors out there. Sure, there are good ones. There are great ones. But there are also terrible ones, like the one who gave the proverbial green-light to this admissions essay. Whomever they hired should not work in the field of private college counseling because, well, they dont knowwe trust you can finish this sentence. Just as there are bad lawyers and great lawyers, bad plumbers and great plumbers, there are great private college counselors and there are bad private college counselors. Do your research so that your child doesnt work on an essay that com es out sounding like the one we heard today in a Santa Monica coffee shop.