Nothing Like that Personal Touch
February 7, 2008 by Deborah Ng
Filed under Entertainment
There are many reasons schools request an essay in the admissions process. Mostly they want to be sure you’re a good fit. See, the admissions process benefits all parties involved. Well, except maybe the guy who is writing your essay for you.
Need someone to write an essay (Union Square)
Reply to: cheater@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-07, 5:08PM EST
I am applying to F.I.T. and need someone to help me write a essay to impressed the school. this is what the school requires.The Admissions Office does not conduct interviews. Instead, we rely on your essay to give you the opportunity to tell us more about yourself. Make your essay compelling and relevant to your application. In other words, tell us how your experiences have prepared you to commit to your chosen major at FIT. Feel free to include all activities and accomplishments in which you take pride. Presentation is also important, so keep your essay to no more than 750 words and check your spelling and grammar.
Here’s the thing….
If there’s anything you shouldn’t cheat on, it’s your admissions essay. If this genius can’t be counted on to write his own admissions essay, what’s going to happen when he has to do homework or write a paper? Plus…I’m not saying anyone would do this…but what would happen if someone emailed the above ad from the New York City writing gigs section of Craigslist to the admissions office at F.I.T?
I’m guessing it wouldn’t be cool.
Not cool at all.
See, the school isn’t requiring you to show how good you are at delegating, they want to know how good you are at writing and thinking.
Also, FIT is a creative school… they want to see how well you express yourself, how motivated you are to create, and how you’ve incorporated all this into your life.
I have to agree. If you are going to lie and cheat on something like this, what will keep you for doing it else where in life.
Unfortunately this speaks volumes about the person who wrote it; really sad.
“Plus
I “helped” someone write a college admission essay once. I showed her how to edit, gave her advice on what to focus on and what to leave out, told her the right people to ask the right questions of, and read her personal story with enthusiasm and support. After two weeks of polishing and sweating, she submitted her essay, and was thrilled to be accepted. Whatever happened to that sort of “help”?
I think you are being way to harsh.
F.I.T ( the Fashion Institute of Technology) is a creative school, filled with students who are talented aspiring fashion designers. Writing essays may not be their strength, and their first language may not even be English. I would have no qualms with assisting a hopeful student with writing an essay. How is this different than students who are lucky enough to have educated parents who will proofread and correct their essay for them till they get it right?
Kitty I don’t think it’s harsh at all to expect a student to do his own homework. Proofreading is one thing, but the essay should be in a student’s own words.
key words here: HELP me write an essay.
I would just think it a shame if a talented student who didn’t have a knack for writing didn’t get into a school program because of an entrance essay.
I would never write the entire essay for a student, but I think that her search for assistance shows that she is smart enough to know that she needs help in an area that is not her strength, and she has the ambition to make sure she submits a solid application. If my college had required I submit a drawing of myself instead of an essay, I’d have searched for help too.
Encouraging people to notify the school — or doing it yourself if that’s actually want you did — is SO wrong.
By all means pass your entirely-too-harsh judgment on them. But it really should have been left at that.
What right do you have to take an action that may have far-reaching effects on the life of a random person you know nothing about?
What an utterly horrible thing to do.
Anne it’s mere speculation. I’m not encouraging anyone to do anything. The guy (or girl) listed the name of the school and the essay requirements in his ad. Not too bright. Anyone can email the school. Not saying they should, just saying it can happen.
The Craigslist Curmudgeon is meant to be taken with a grain of salt. If people are influenced by some anonymous crank on the Internet, we have a bigger problem than kids who don’t do their own writing.
Is it really way too harsh to expect people to write their own entrance essays? If today’s students can’t even do that on their own I worry about the future of this country.
I stand by my opinion, harsh or otherwise.
Unless the ad-placer was dumb enough to post his or her name or email address (identifying the school was dumb enough), emailing that ad to FIT really wouldn’t have much effect on anything. It was just a joke. Of course there ARE simple ways to have this person identified and the school notified, but none of us really has the time or the inclination to do it. And anyone who has a real vested interest in doing something like that–like another student vying for admission using their own legitimate essay–wouldn’t need any encouragement from this site.
I’m sure the school is well aware that they’re not going to get essays on the level of Shakespeare or Chekhov. People attending F.I.T. are not the future of literature in the civilized world. I don’t see why it’s asking too much for them to demonstrate that they are literate, though. Illiteracy seems to be becoming more and more fashionable, judging by all the errors in spelling and grammar I see in the major news outlets now. How hard can it be to write an essay for a fashion school?