A College Essay Coachs Take on the College Admissions Scandal

A College Essay Coachs Take on the College Admissions Scandal The college admissions scandal that has been all over the news has inspired me to break my recent blogging silence. The greed and lack of integrity exhibited by employees of top universities disturb me greatly. Since I am a Yale graduate, I have received a couple of apologetic letters from President Salovey; I hope that the school’s promise to be more vigilant in its admissions process holds true. Since I am a college admissions essay coach, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the media. Both USA Today and Rob Hart of WBBM talked to me about ethics in college admissions. Here are the article and radio clip for your reading and listening pleasure: USA Today:  Do all students cheat on their college applications? No, consultants say, but there are plenty of problems. I get calls from people who want me to write essays for them, and I won’t do that, said Brenda Bernstein, who runs The Essay Expert. This student is being judged on their own ability. But there are services that do that. And some sell academic essays as well. WBBM Newsradio Show: Essay Coach Talks Best Practices For College Applications The Dual Life of a Resume Writer and College Essay Coach What strikes me, in particular, is that many people conflate the ethics of writing a professional’s resume with the ethics of writing a student’s college essay. I keep explaining to reporters and others why they are not the same. One of my resume writer colleagues posted this comment about the college admissions scandal to my Facebook page: Just to be devils advocate here, I dont see the difference between writing essays with information students have given about THEIR story and writing a resume for someone who tells you his / her story about his / her career. We dont put on the bottom of their resumes that it was written by us. Most executives have their executive assistants write their letters for them. Is that cheating by the executive (we have all seen where an executive calls his assistant into the office to take a memo)? Like I said, just playing devils advocate.  :-) My response: There is no assumption or requirement that resumes be written by the job applicant. In fact, many hiring managers say they *prefer* a professionally written resume. Theres also no rule that a student cant get some coaching and editing help on their essay. English teachers and guidance counselors have been doing this for years. Whats important to me is that the essay is truthful, at the level the student is capable of writing, and in the students voice. What I would add to the above is that there is most definitely a rule that students must write their own application essays. Admissions committees judge them for the quality of their writing and how they express themselves, because they are going to be required to use those skills in their college careers. By contrast, an executive wont be expected to write a good resume as part of his or her job. Moving Toward Truth Integrity My job as a college essay coach is to help a student tell the truth – not the version of the truth they think an admissions committee wants to hear. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked an applicant, â€Å"Is that really true?† and gotten the response, â€Å"Well not completely. But it seems like that’s what I should have gotten out of it.† Again and again, I point the writer to the truth, which is always more interesting than the picture perfect story they thought they should tell. As a resume writer, too, my job is to tell the truth. The facts speak louder than any flowery language we could write to make something sound better than it is. We stick with the facts. The cheating uncovered in the recent college admissions scandal goes far beyond helping students think through the best way to tell their story. It goes way past the level of supporting an executive by presenting her accomplishments powerfully in writing. I hope the world recognizes this difference. More important, I fervently wish that parents, college admissions advisors, university administrators and sports coaches choose to act with integrity as they shepherd young adults into what could be the most important four years of their lives.

Shanghai, a New Bubble in the World essays

Shanghai, a New Bubble in the World essays Which city is the hottest city in the world nowadays? Somebody will say New York, or somebody will say Tokyo; however, David Ignatius will tell you it should be Shanghai of China. According to the article Come See the Shanghai Bubble written by David Ignatius, The worlds other bubbles may have deflated, what with Europe and America sagging again, Japan still flat on its back and an anti-dollar contagion spreading. But here(Shanghai) in China, these worries seem far, far away. Although David thinks, The Shanghai bubble will eventually burst, as all bubble do, Shanghai is still very attractive for a lot of people. Overseas Chinese and foreign people from various countries are racing to join this gold rush. Nevertheless, there are some weaknesses in this city. The estimation by Economist two weeks ago showed us that 30 percent to 50 percent of Chinese loan might be insolvent; and even worse, its impossible to know. David considers that The only way China can keep the bubble growing is t o continue down the path of reform to make its economy more open, more transparent, better regulated, less corrupt. I agree with Davids standpoint about Shanghai Bubble. In addition, I believe with a good starting, absorbing some useful experience from other bubbles, and better management by Chinese government, Shanghai will have a better future and become a great bubble in the world. Shanghai is a city built by both western culture and Chinese government. Open the history book about Shanghai, we will see Shanghai used to be the foreign concession of some European countries. At the same time of they occupied Shanghai, they also developed this city. Although they could employ lower priced workers to make more money, they built many factories in the old Shanghai. In addition, they also brought some advanced technology and better education to this city. Even now, there still hav...

Law Equity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law Equity - Essay Example (Tom Myers, 2006) It is therefore imperative that a distinction between an ideological society and a non-ideological or post-ideological society should be made for purposes of discussing Zizek's view. In the former, politics is subjugated by the exploration for ultimate societal goal, the ideals and aspiration to realize a particular conception of the better society. It is a society where a dominant view of the better life is dispersed through society and influences people's consciousness. This process assumes different category, ranging from the totalitarian societies of fascism and Stalinist communism to liberal societies where concepts of ideological hegemony is sought. However, in present day society, the issues of political debate can no longer be fixed within the parameters of any single ideology. Over the centuries, society evolved to a much liberated system from a massive framework. Nevertheless, there is a clash between the politics of identity and the politics of ideology: the former explores in political action the recognition of the particular interests and goals of the individual, or cultural group. Ideological politics, on the other hand manifests in a collective manner of public action. The domain of ideological politics is geared towards total social transformation. However, modern political life does not operate anymore in like manner, but of fragmented or piecemeal basis, i.e., particular groups working its way for recognition, special interests claiming that governments take action to their demands (John Schwarzmantel, 2004). To these, Zizek view of the shape of politics in the contemporary society is anything but ideological. That the apparent fact of the perils of ideological politics in their totalitarian form paves way to a disparate reaction which receives the politics of difference and diversity is easily contested by Zezik. If ideologies would lead to the destruction of pluralism, then a healthy and diverse society has no place in a myriad of ideologies which seek to manipulate such diversity into one ideal. Ideologies seeks to present one ideal of a better society and attempts to reorient or direct different aspects of life towards one goal. Thus, an ideological movement is a collective movement, which stimulates people's loyalty, influences their emotions through the employment of myth and symbolism. It seeks to captivate state power to oblige that goal on the whole of society. Hence, the proponents of what Zezik's opposes acknowledge that ideological movements are not recognizable entities in the present society. (Tom Myers, 2006) Thus, its proponents insist that we have moved to a different kind of society which can be appropriately termed as post-ideological. However, Zezik's views differ on this as may be perused in his views as discussed below. Points de Capiton The question thus Zizek asks about ideology is that what maintains an ideological field of meaning consistent This is because of the fact that signifiers are dynamic and are prone to take its meaning to variousninterpretation. So how does ideology maintains its consistency The answer to this question is that a given ideological field is "quilted" by what he terms a point de capiton or the "anchoring point". Zisek argues that a point de capiton is a signifier which averts meaning from moving about inside the ideological quilt. A point de capiton provides identity to an ideological fi