Prometheus 6

The essay has become such an important part of applying to college that affluent students may turn to $200-an-hour writing coaches to help them produce the 500 perfect words that they hope will separate them from the pack.

One staple of the affluent students’ essays is the service trip to Latin America. “It’s the first time they’ve seen this wrenching poverty,” said Lee Coffin, the director of undergraduate admissions at Tufts University. After a while, however, the trips sound the same.

“My colleagues nod and say, ‘It’s the typical Costa Rica essay,’ ” Mr. Coffin said. 

But the lives of Antoine and the other 36 students at the workshop, which is run by College Summit, a nonprofit organization, are defined by struggle

Making a Hard-Life Story Open a Door to College
By SARA RIMER

WASHINGTON — Antoine Tate, 16, was sitting in a courtyard at Howard University in the heat of a July morning. He was holding a pen, and staring at the blank page on the step beneath him.

He began to write: “Do you ever wonder about where you may end up in the future? At least I know I have. I thought about the worst and best things. I have worried about living half my life in jail. I worried about having a child at a young age. I have worried about living life in poverty, but worst of all, I have thought about accidentally giving my life to God at a young age.”

Antoine, who is African-American, will begin his senior year in September at his large, predominantly black and low-income high school just outside Washington. He had come to Howard for an intense four-day workshop in the complex process he will have to master if he is to fulfill his aspirations of upward mobility: applying to college.

“I have dreamed about lending my ideas to people and inspiring many people, especially the youth, through my life,” Antoine wrote. “And through my writing.”

“College is the key,” he wrote, “as well as hope.”

These first words were the germ of what would become, after hours and hours of soul-searching, coaching, writing and rewriting, his college application essay.

The essay has become such an important part of applying to college that affluent students may turn to $200-an-hour writing coaches to help them produce the 500 perfect words that they hope will separate them from the pack.

One staple of the affluent students’ essays is the service trip to Latin America. “It’s the first time they’ve seen this wrenching poverty,” said Lee Coffin, the director of undergraduate admissions at Tufts University. After a while, however, the trips sound the same.

“My colleagues nod and say, ‘It’s the typical Costa Rica essay,’ ” Mr. Coffin said.

But the lives of Antoine and the other 36 students at the workshop, which is run by College Summit, a nonprofit organization, are defined by struggle.

The workshop is intended to help them discover — and prove to college admissions officials — that their life stories can be as powerful as high SAT scores and stellar grades.

The essay is where they get to shine.

“I will not become a stereotype/statistic because many African/Black Americans proved that we can achieve greater heights,” Antoine wrote. “Richard Wright is a great, black American writer. Have you read his famous book, “Black Boy.” I have, and if you have read it, you should know that he defeated the odds. Same with Martin and his dream.”

“Just like these incredible men,” he wrote, “I, too, want to defeat the stereotypes.”