August 2027. Daisy returns home from her first AP English lecture as a senior, and her first assignment for the course is already given: write your personal statement for the Common Application. The Ten Commandments of Personal Statement Writing ring in her head, and Albert, her classmate, comes to her home to do it together, after football practice.
"Hi Daisy" Albert, a defensive tackle, greets Daisy upon arriving at her home.
"Hi Al; let's review the prompts and see which one is most likely to represent your personal voice. The teacher told in class that it's the primary way to differentiate ourselves among vast pools of applicants" Daisy then shows him the Common App prompts on her cell phone.
The pair start brainstorming what could go into each prompt, but quickly realize there are prompts that represent them better than others. For Daisy, the clear frontrunner is the fifth prompt. Discuss an accomplishment, event or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. Which, to Daisy, was about the importance of taking the long view in civic engagement.
On the other hand, Albert couldn't decide between 2 prompts. Between challenging ideas or beliefs, and facing a challenge, setback or failure.
"Don't forget what the teacher said about your essay: colleges taking the Common App want to show signs of personal growth or maturity. In that situation where you can't decide between two prompts, I know it's going to take longer than you would like, even with AI, I'd say, write a draft for each prompt" Daisy tries to guide Albert.
"What about you? Do you have an idea for what your essay will be about?" Albert asks her, believing she has a better idea.
"Yes. What about we just write our first drafts and then we'll go over these together, will you?"
For sure, AI would cut down on the time each of them would spend writing the first drafts, compared to writing manually, but they would need to polish each of these essays manually, because they were told in class that relying solely on AI won't fly.
During the octofinals of the Columbia Online Invitational 2027, I learned that not only it's important to be able to engage in dialogue with stakeholders of civic issues at any age, but also that intelligibility is critical to do so, Daisy starts writing her personal statement for the assignment, while refraining from going into more detail about Lincoln-Douglas debating, or the outcome of that round played against DCC. After all, her ranking at that tournament was already somewhere else on her résumé.
"DCC? What the hell is DCC?" Albert asks her, apparently oblivious to the Venomous Agendas' inter-state rivalries, upon reading Daisy's first draft.
"Detroit Catholic Central. They're one of our biggest rivals in debates"
"Retirement reforms? Aren't you too young to be preoccupied with these?" Albert asks her, gasping at the content of Daisy's draft.
"That's the whole point of my essay, Albert! It's not too young for us to think about these things!" Daisy retorts, while she starts reading one of Albert's drafts.
If one wanted to apply to Ivies or equivalent, writing about this prompt essentially means that only challenges and setbacks are allowed because their admission standards are so extreme that successful applicants, by and large, experienced nothing but success, Daisy is left wondering about how strong Albert is as a student, before she keeps reading the essay.
The two keep revising essays and giving feedback on them until dinnertime comes with Daisy's father. At this point of their high school careers, college is on their minds.
"Today, we were given only one assignment, but it's a big one: our Common App essays" Daisy starts telling her dad.
"Honey, you always were the brainier one in the family. It's OK to aim for the top, but know the following: it's OK if you're not attending an Ivy, or equivalent, in the end" Daisy's father tries to advise the two of them.
"I think I'm due for an appointment at counseling"
"Yeah, me too" Albert continues.
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"Before you go to counseling, please have your list of extracurriculars as well as your GPA and test scores on hand" Daisy's father urges the two seniors. "And I hope you have an idea of who to ask for letters of recommendation: two teachers, and a third one that must not come from a relative. The cold, hard truth is that, no matter what institution you could deem a good fit, you must leave the town for that"
Look at me, a defensive tackle at 3.65/1300. It's obvious that I'm not going to attend an Ivy, but what other factors could go into this? Albert starts questioning what else he needs to get into college, and where. And books his appointment with the guidance counselor.
Obviously, Daisy has much soul-searching to do to ensure that her essay on how debating retirement reforms led her to look at civic engagement more broadly, and greater intellectual curiosity is an accurate reflection of herself, so she spends the rest of the night polishing it further each time. And also question what she wants out of a college. And look for colleges to apply to, based on her academic profile. Which she mentions in her request for an appointment with guidance: 3.95/1500 (RW800, M700). And I must tie retirement reforms to potential majors: economics, political science and sociology, but I have very few words left to do so, Daisy makes another round of polishing prior to submitting the assignment.
The following day, at debate practice, Daisy asks the coach, who is also her AP English instructor, for a letter of recommendation before her appointment with guidance next week.
"Coach, I would like to ask you for a letter of recommendation for college please..." Daisy asks the debate coach, and other seniors on the team follow suit, such as Chantal and Gaston.
"Certainly, Daisy, and same goes for every senior on the team" The coach then pulls aside Daisy to talk to her one-on-one. "Although you're obviously conscientious and smart, with clear capability for collegiate success, I have one reservation. Being in the quarterfinals at Columbia, semis at district and State, or triple-octos at Last Chance, unfortunately, won't be enough for Ivy League consideration. You would have needed to compete at Nats, and, ideally, go into the playoff rounds"
One down, two more to go. The drama teacher should be a natural second choice, because, normally, you should ask people who know you well, but who's the third? Daisy feels like she must secure all 3 recommendations before filing any application. Maybe the booster club president. After all, I was the booster club's graphist for as long as I've been involved in it, she then writes an email about having the booster club president writing her a rec.
Meanwhile, Albert is excused from training for the day because the football head coach agreed to move up his appointment with guidance. The counselor then starts the meeting with a review of Albert's academic and extracurricular profile:
"Most colleges that will accept a student like you will probably be OK with only having had a few hours of community service, and maybe a part-time summer job, when you were playing defensive tackle for all four years. Do you want to stay in-state or are you willing to go out-of-state?" the counselor asks Albert.
"I'm not sure, honestly" Albert answers him.
"The other big question is your family budget. Obviously, in-state will be more affordable, but unless you're willing to drive forty minutes in each direction, you will have to budget based on residential attendance. Speaking of which, what major do you plan on studying?" the counselor asks him. "It's OK to apply as undecided, but if you want to study a major not offered at McNeese State or UL-Lafayette, you must be prepared to live in residence. However, these two institutions should be considered safeties for you. That is, schools you can likely get into"
The cold, hard truth is that so many here will happily attend either one, and not consider going anywhere else. Especially those who might have between 3.0-3.5. It's the 3.5+ kids that stress me most, the counselor thinks, while Albert asks his parents for income information.
"Regardless of where you would like to attend, please run the net price calculator prior to applying, and file the FAFSA. If you want to go out-of-state, however, they won't take the TOPS money" the guidance counselor warns him before the meeting ends.
The booster club president seems to take his time to answer Daisy's request, but he wonders what he could possibly have to say to a college admissions office the debate coach or drama teacher couldn't. You have some artistic talent, but that's what most of my interactions with you are about. I had limited exposure to other facets of you, but I had the same experience with Florence a few years ago. Some colleges sent forms asking where applicants stack up among the pool of students in various areas, along with the requests for letters of recommendation, the booster club president then sighs, while making side-by-side mental comparisons of Daisy with Flo's high school self.
And yet, when Albert gets his own discussion about college with his parents, they give him a budget not to exceed, along with stipulations.
"If you want to go away from home for college, you must ensure that it's going to be better than what's within commuting range, and fit our budget" Albert's mother warns him.
"Has Daisy has been helpful about your essays?" Albert's father asks him.
"Yes, totally" Albert blushes while he answers his parents.
"You understand that, if you go away from here for school, ideally you should go to a Catholic college, because I'm concerned you will lose your faith if you go out-of-state" Albert's father advises him.
"What do you mean?" Albert asks his parents about their religious concerns.
It's still early. But I'm glad the AP English teacher forced people to get started as early as week 1, Albert's mother reflects on that experience.