Beginning the college application process is daunting to everyone; filling out the Common App, choosing where to apply, and writing essays can make you feel overwhelmed and anxious quickly. 

A common response to this chaos is hiring a college counselor or essay tutor. While this option sounds quite appealing, it has quickly raised the standards for high school students to compete with trained essay professionals. 

Originally, college essays were a great way of seeing other sides of the candidates that aren’t shown through academics and testing. Now the essays are crafted and manicured by the adults advising your writing process. 

As I have gone through the application process, I have realized that having someone edit and change your personal essay, which is meant to show your own voice, can quickly and completely change the tone

On the Common App, the essay section is called the“personal statement,” implying that the applicant is the one who should be telling their own authentic story, answering the prompt provided by the college. Which is supposed to give them a more well-rounded understanding of who they are accepting into their institution. 

Another aspect of this problem is that these tutors are very expensive. Although they can be very helpful during the application process, they deepen the socioeconomic divide within the country. It highlights the abilities of the more fortunate people, making their applications the best they can be and leaving less fortunate people with unpolished applications, especially if it is their first time doing an application and navigating it alone. 

I think colleges should consider this aspect of the essay when creating their application, and consider giving less weight to the Common App essay. There could also be a section to say if you have used a tutor or an advisor to help with your application, to give more insight into your essay. But that also comes with the consequence that people would not check the box, and that solution would become useless. 

I think that sooner rather than later, colleges should decide how they want to evaluate students and realize that essays are not the same as they used to be, and they might not be the best option anymore for college applications. They could rely more on the activities, letters of rec, and transcript. They could even create something else that is more authentic and forces you to show your whole self.