RAP's Blog

Can't I Just Use AI?

11/27/2024

It has been awhile since I wrote in this space, but as we head into the holiday season, I wanted to reflect on the work that I have been doing and share some thoughts with you.

When I tell people that I do writing consulting as a small business, I get asked why?  Is there really a market for it?  What’s the purpose?  Why not just use ChatGPT?

In short, there IS a market for writing consultants.  AI may be here to stay, but it is not the magic formula for sharing YOUR own ideas and thoughts.  And writing is about sharing who you are with a specific audience. A computer is not an audience, nor can it really make your own personal voice stand out.  

The process of collaborating on a piece of writing involves something that will never go away: interpersonal communication.  In order for me to work with my clients to the best of my ability, we have to talk and get to know each other.  That process provides an exercise for the client in identifying exactly who they are.  In fact, often the client makes discoveries about themselves as they go through the process.  To be sure, we aren’t healing any traumas during our sessions, but we are creating pieces that clearly communicate the writer’s authentic self.

And AI isn’t there yet.

Why is writing so important?

8/16/2024

We write every single day.  Be it a text, an email, or that note you write on the break room refrigerator claiming your lunch as your own, being able to communicate through the written word is extremely important.  But perhaps no piece of writing is as important to a teenager as that of the college entrance essay.

As the new school year ramps up, I begin to get requests to work with students on their college entrance essays.  Thankfully, the Common App has streamlined the process for students, so they only need to write one essay.   However, how does a student make that essay stand out and increase the chances that they will be accepted into the college of their choice?

It really comes down to branding.  In recent years I took coursework on copywriting, and identifying a company’s brand is the cornerstone of wordsmithing the best banner ad, email, or social media post.  And so it is with students writing their college entrance essays.

If a student is applying to a large university, they may get accepted on their GPA alone.  

However, with the increased number of students taking AP courses, those GPAs stand to be a bit higher due to weighted GPA systems.  And even if that student has a strong GPA, highly selective and private schools may look more strongly at an essay to determine whether to send an acceptance letter or a rejection letter.

If a student doesn’t have the highest GPA (perhaps they struggled in a class or took courses of personal interest that did not have a weighted GPA), their overall high school resume of extracurricular activities may help them get an edge.  

But if circumstances have prevented a student from attaining a high GPA or from participating in extracurricular activities, the essay can fill in the “gaps” and help those institutions understand who the student is that they are still deliberating over.  And this is where branding comes in.

Don’t confuse branding with labels, though.  Branding is helping to showcase the overall person, whereas labels can be used to help describe the brand.  A person’s brand can feature many labels!

Branding is not something that can easily be covered in a blog post, however, because each person’s brand is so different.  But through consultation and coaching, I can help a student identify their brand, and write an essay showcasing that brand to increase their chances of acceptance!

PS:  This works for scholarship essay applications as well!  

PPS:  This works for those looking to brush up their resumes for a job search as well!