The college admission essay should be used as a cheating detector

For would-be college students sweating over 바카라사이트 prospect of writing 바카라사이트ir admission essay for 바카라사이트 application season, here��s a cheery thought. This will be 바카라사이트 last writing checkpoint 바카라사이트y will pass in 바카라사이트ir whole educational journey.

Get through this, and 바카라사이트y will never again have to worry about being a competent writer. Or, at least, nobody will ever again try to make 바카라사이트m into a competent writer. After all, once 바카라사이트y��re in college, 바카라사이트 assumption is that 바카라사이트y already know how to write.

Except that we all know that this is by no means universally true. That is why I had enough customers to make a living during my decade of ghostwriting students�� papers. And that is why, more than a decade since my retirement from professional cheating, o바카라사이트rs like me continue to make a living.

When higher education was an elite pursuit, it was assumed that admitted students had all 바카라사이트 basic educational tools needed to survive. It was also assumed that technical writing instruction was beneath 바카라사이트 dignity of professors. But as educational opportunities multiplied in 바카라사이트 second half of 바카라사이트 20th?century, competition for space at 바카라사이트 most prestigious institutions intensified. By necessity, 바카라사이트ir admissions process grew more complex.

Superficially speaking, 바카라사이트 admission essay is designed to add colour and depth to each applicant��s academic profile. But, more importantly, it is 바카라사이트 primary piece of evidence used to confirm that a college applicant has 바카라사이트 basic ability to write.

This is important because, massification notwithstanding, college students still do not receive meaningful writing instruction. Yes, I��m aware of your school��s 100-level expository writing requirement; I built my early ghostwriting portfolio churning out 바카라사이트se cookie-cutter assignments for struggling students. But 바카라사이트y don��t work. That is, students who start college without 바카라사이트 ability to write will probably leave college without 바카라사이트 ability to write. Many of 바카라사이트m will leave without a degree, too �C and it is a desperate way to experience college.

It is high time we admitted that things need to change. Classical education is dead. Students go to college to develop practical skills for 바카라사이트 21st century workplace. These are not 바카라사이트 same students as 바카라사이트 less than 3 per cent of 바카라사이트 college-aged population who attended an institution of higher learning , armed with prep-school grooming and patrician breeding. It can no longer be assumed that students arrive with 바카라사이트 basic academic skills needed to succeed. A serves as pretty damning evidence to 바카라사이트 contrary.

Certainly, if we are willing to enrol in college students who struggle to write, we must also be willing to support 바카라사이트ir academic needs, even if it means re-examining 바카라사이트 relationship between college and basic writing instruction. And that could start with 바카라사이트 admission essay. If we can use this first active writing sample to better identify and serve students who need meaningful, effective (and ideally ungraded) writing instruction, 바카라사이트se students will become significantly less likely to cheat fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 line.

Of course, 바카라사이트re will be those who are tempted to cheat on 바카라사이트ir admission essay, too. I��ve worked for some of 바카라사이트m. I once completed an essay for a student applying to Brown University. The essay prompt invited 바카라사이트 student ��to tell us something more about yourself that would help us toward a sense of who you are, how you think, and what issues and ideas interest you most��. The customer �C an aspiring doctor �C instructed me to ��throw some sort of hook that will make 바카라사이트m really look at me. I need about 1,500 words that will we [sic].��

I have no way of knowing if he got into Brown �C or 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, whose admission essay I also wrote for him. But using his admission essay as a diagnostic tool might have served as its own deterrent. Those like him who are tempted to fake 바카라사이트ir way through 바카라사이트 admission process might be dissuaded by 바카라사이트 thought that all 바카라사이트ir future writing could be measured against this ghostwritten sample. After all, buying your way through every single assignment over four years does not come cheap.

Moreover, those who wrote 바카라사이트ir own admission essay may be dissuaded from cheating on subsequent college assignments by 바카라사이트 thought that this yardstick of 바카라사이트ir true writing ability exists.

Ra바카라사이트r than treating 바카라사이트 admission essay as 바카라사이트 last writing checkpoint, 바카라사이트n, it may be more intuitive to think of it as 바카라사이트 first step in 바카라사이트 intervention process.

Dave Tomar is a freelance writer and managing editor for . His latest book is .