Why Music - by Andrew Wu - flights of fantasy

It’s easy for everyone to lie to themselves. Alcoholics deny addiction problems; the vast majority of drivers believe themselves above average; the list goes on, and on, and on. One way I cultivate this ability is rather unique. As an educational consultant for a NYC-based firm, I comment on and suggest edits for students’ college essays. Our clients are wealthy international students — talented, intelligent individuals, usually with a single problem: English isn’t their first language. Their essays reach me half-formed, puzzle pieces jammed into each other at oblique angles. But the pieces are there: I mark sentences to rearrange, thoughts to develop, motivations to clarify. One college essay mantra is that everything has a pure, principled reason. I worked at the homeless shelter because I needed sixty volunteer hours to graduate looks bad on an application. So does I competed in Model UN to build my résumé. So when an applicant says they founded International Club because they care

It’s easy for everyone to lie to themselves. Alcoholics deny addiction problems; the vast majority of drivers believe themselves above average; the list goes on, and on, and on. One way I cultivate this ability is rather unique. As an educational consultant for a NYC-based firm, I comment on and suggest edits for students’ college essays. Our clients are wealthy international students — talented, intelligent individuals, usually with a single problem: English isn’t their first language. Their essays reach me half-formed, puzzle pieces jammed into each other at oblique angles. But the pieces ar