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perhaps more so than at other colleges. You should think carefully about
     them, and spend time on them.”
    “But,” the girl said plaintively, “some people aren’t that good writers. I mean, some people are good at other things.”
    “Oh, we understand that,” Portia said. She nodded appreciatively at Roden, who was bringing her a chair. “We know that not
     everyone’s equally gifted as a writer. We’re not expecting every student to have the same fluency with language, and we know
     that people are intelligent in different ways. But as far as we’re concerned, you’ve had about seventeen years to write your
     application essays.” Predictably, the kids exchanged looks of horror. “Oh, you’ve been busy. Part of those seventeen years
     was probably spent, I don’t know, spitting up and learning to ride a two-wheeler. You’ve been doing your homework and going
     to camp, or maybe working on your Facebook profile.” There was a ripple of sheepish acknowledgment through the room. “But
     the fact is, you’ve had time to think about how you want to use these brief opportunities on the application, and that’s how
     you should think of them: as opportunities. What are the most important things you need to tell us about yourself?
How
do you want to tell us those things? If you decide that you want to squander an essay declaring your undying devotion to
     the color blue, or your love for your childhood goldfish Fluffy, well, I’m going to wonder if you really have very much to
     say. On the other hand, there are so many things we want to know about you, and with the exception of your recommendations,
     this is just about the only way we’re going to find out. We want to know what makes you tick, what gets you out of bed in
     the morning. If you love to play sports, we want to know why. If your favorite subject is math, we want to know why. If you
     can’t stand biology, make a case for it. Tell us about it. We want to know about the people who have influenced you and the
     way you feel about our leaders and our national policies. We’re interested in your thoughts on religion and even popular culture.
     Basically, we’re interested in just about everything.”
    She turned to the fearful girl, who did not seem at all comforted. Portia sighed.
    “And as far as the writing itself, again, not everyone has a natural, flowing, literary style. We understand this. But on
     the other hand, with seventeen years to write your essays, you’ve certainly had enough time to make sure you’ve made proper
     use of grammar, and that every single word is spelled correctly. Not because mistakes will tell us you’re unintelligent. I
     freely admit that most of us in the adult world rely heavily on our computer spell-check programs! But a spelling or grammatical
     mistake in your application means that you haven’t cared enough to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. And that does mean
     something to us.”
    “You hear that?” Roden said. “Now you know why I’m always on your case about this.”
    “It isn’t a timed exam, after all,” Portia said. “You know, you might make an error in the middle of an SAT essay. It’s not
     a disaster. Anyone can butcher the English language when the clock is ticking. But with your essays, you
have
time, so take the time to go over them. You might catch something, and be really glad you did.”
    “Any other dumb, avoidable mistakes?” Roden said. “Pay attention, everybody.”
    “Okay.” She smiled. “A few. Please don’t write us a long, rapturous essay about how much you want to attend Yale. You’d be
     surprised,” she said when they laughed. “It happens quite a lot. The cut-and-paste function on your computer makes it easy
     to declare undying love for any number of colleges simultaneously. Unfortunately, it also makes it easy to slip up. I’ve read
     essays telling me why the applicant feels he is perfect for Stanford, Duke, Harvard, USC, you name it. You