I spent the better part of last week reading the APIASF Scholarship applications, and I have to tell you, I'm not so sure the parameters of the scholarships clearly defined what was expected of the students in their essays and recommendation letters. That, or the students were unable to follow directions.
There were a good amount of decent applications that I read, but an overwhelming amount of applications that surprised me with how careless they appeared. There were a few things that really get me going in terms of reading an essay. I like reading essays that appear to be well thought out, and for me, I can tell pretty quickly if an essay is going to be good or not, or whether it follows the criteria.
In terms of the essays, I felt that many of the applicants were unable to find something that really set them apart. "My family is Asian and struggles to support themselves," while valid, didn't feel like a great essay to me. I wanted the students to find something that set them apart from the other applicants, because all of the applicants were of some form of Asian descent. Also, the third essay question was not looking for, "My family could use financial support and this scholarship will be beneficial." The essay question clearly wasn't asking applicants to beg to give them money, it was looking for well thought out responses to specific prompts. I even read an essay that the student had very clearly copied and pasted into the window. With the 500 word cap, the essay just cuts off in the middle, as if they copied and pasted the essay in without doing a word count to make sure it would fit first!
I was also disappointed in the recommendation letters. The applicant's resume was one of the first things we saw, and a lot of the accompanying recommendation letters were just reiterations of that resume. I felt that a recommendation letter should have a more personal touch while still remaining professional. I know I didn't give my resume to my teachers when they were writing my recommendation letters...
I'm sorry to rant on and on, and I don't know how many of my classmates did the APIASF scholarship readings, but after 9 hours of pulling my hair out while reading essays, I felt the need to step up on my soap box. Maybe it's because my 12 grade English teacher had us spend weeks perfecting how to write a good college essay and not all teachers do that...
And this isn't to say that I didn't read any AWESOME scholarship applications... because I read some phenomenal candidates applications... it's sort of like in Band, when one person plays out of tune but everyone else is in tune, you hear that one person who's not in tune stick out like a sore thumb.
I'm glad I read the applications, however. It gave me a much deeper understanding about what goes into a scholarship application and how much detail can be given in just 500 words or less.
Erica I totally agree with you, but I looked at it from a different standpoint. I get work like this all the time, so I know how it goes. It really is just a communication breakdown. Without someone really clarifying things, sometimes students just miss the point. "Oh!!! THAT'S what you wanted? Well I know how to explain THAT!"
ReplyDeleteAs for the recommendation letters, I was a little disappointed. Honestly, in one of them, the teacher had obviously just taken a letter for someone else and had replaced the original person's name... except in one instance at the end where the original name was still in there. Personally, if I write a recommendation letter for something this serious, I make sure to make it personal and not have it be something so obvious. I would have much rather heard personal stories about the character of the student.
I was also a little disappointed with what I read (but thankful, because now I have some good material for a lesson plan). My 7th graders are gearing up for the MCAS long comps tomorrow, and I've been sharing with them all of the advice I wish I could've given to the applicants. In particular: ANSWER THE QUESTION. I'm having them ignore everything else until they can answer the questions presented in one or two sentences, so at the very least, the rest of the composition is relevant to the prompt. From there, they can write whatever they want (within context of the assignment), and later incorporate their simple answers.
ReplyDeleteI think the students had a hard time distinguishing themselves because as kids, they don't know what separates themselves from the rest. I'm still figuring out what makes me tick, how are the high school students supposed to know what makes them special? I was lucky to receive a couple of scholarships out of high school, maybe a couple thousand dollars total. But I had a hard time writing the essay about myself. Even as a physics teacher, if I have a study hall or just see students talking about their essays or trying to write them, I will try to ask them questions or prompt a discussion as to what makes them special. It can be a very hard thing for students to write.
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