The Voice of a Parent in College Essays

The Voice of a Parent in College Essays July 3 Its easy to discern a parents voice in college admissions essays. Its quite easy to discern if a parent wrote or strongly contributed to writing a college admissions essay. Mommy and daddy, dont think youre fooling an admissions officer at a highly selective college for a second with the admissions essay you worked on from your desk at the office. Because you most certainly arent. College admissions officers at highly selective colleges read tons of college essays. They can certainly tell if the voice in a college essay doesnt sound genuine, if it doesnt sound like a teenagers. Often times, parents dont even realize that their own lingo is infusing an admissions essay that they wroteor contributed strongly to writing. Maybe its a phrase from their line of work that no student would ever use but the parent hears this phrase so often that its a part of his or her vernacular. This is a dead giveaway in a college essay. Or maybe its a reflection that no seventeen year-old would simply ever make. We can tell a parents writing very easily. We can discern the voice of a parent in written  communications with students. We can typically discern the voice of a parent within seconds of beginning a college essay. They just dont sound like kids wrote them. Even if they wrote #YOLO or #TBT for Throwback Thursday. But dont include any such ridiculous acronyms in your college essays, students either. That would be bad. Yikes. Have a question about college admissions essays? Let us know your questions by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.