When I work with students on college application essays I
insist on an easy versioning system. Whatever the student names the initial
draft is followed by v1 (which stands for version 1). When I make comments I change
it to v2. As we dialogue back and forth the student has the odd numbered
versions and I have the even numbered versions.
Last year Simon
& Schuster published
a new version of "A Farewell to Arms" that contains all 47 alternate
endings written by Ernest Hemingway. This caused some controversy, as many
people thought that Hemingway had made a reasoned decision about which ending
to use and therefore the others should remain private. Other people (like me) were
thrilled, as it seemed like a peek into the mind of a brilliant author.
The main reason
this stuck with me is because most students I work with are not used to doing a
lot of rewrites for school papers--maybe 2 or 3--but certainly not 47. The care
Hemingway used to communicate character and content is a great example for
college personal statements. How can the student tell a story no one else could
tell, in an authentic voice? It may take several revisions.
By the way,
students who work with me do usually opt to rewrite their personal statement 47 times.
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