dog college essay

72 Dog Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

To find good research titles for your essay about dogs, you can look through science articles or trending pet blogs on the internet. Alternatively, you can check out this list of creative research topics about dogs compiled by our experts .

🐩 Dog Essays: Things to Consider

🏆 best dog titles for essays, 💡 most interesting dog topics to write about, ❓ questions about dog.

There are many different dog essays you can write, as mankind’s history with its best friends is rich and varied. Many people will name the creatures their favorite animals, citing their endearing and inspiring qualities such as loyalty, obedience, bravery, and others.

Others will discuss dog training and the variety of important roles the animals fulfill in our everyday life, working as shepherds, police members, guides to blind people, and more.

Some people will be more interested in dog breeding and the incredible variety of the animals show, ranging from decorative, small Yorkshire terriers to gigantic yet peaceful Newfoundland dogs. All of these topics are interesting and deserve covering, and you can incorporate all of them a general essay.

Dogs are excellent pet animals, as their popularity, rivaled only by cats, shows. Pack animals by nature, they are open to including members of other species into their groups and get along well with most people and animals.

They are loyal to the pack, and there are examples of dogs adopting orphaned kittens and saving other animals and children from harm.

This loyalty and readiness to face danger makes them favorite animals for many people, and the hundreds of millions of dogs worldwide show that humans appreciate their canine friends.

It also allows them to work many important jobs, guarding objects, saving people, and using their noses to sniff out various trails and substances.

However, dogs are descended from wolves, whose pack nature does not prevent them from attacking those outside the group. Some larger dogs are capable of killing an adult human alone, and most can at least inflict severe harm if they attack a child.

Dogs are trusted and loved because of their excellent trainability. They can be taught to be calm and avoid aggression or only attack once the order is given.

They can also learn a variety of other behaviors and tricks, such as not relieving themselves in the house and executing complex routines. This physical and mental capacity to perform a variety of tasks marks dogs as humanity’s best and most versatile helpers.

The variety of jobs dogs perform has led humans to try to develop distinct dog breeds for each occupation, which led to the emergence of numerous and different varieties of the same animal.

The observation of the evolution of a specific type of dog as time progressed and its purposes changed can be an interesting topic. You can also discuss dog competitions, which try to find the best dog based on various criteria and even have titles for the winners.

Comparisons between different varieties of the animal are also excellent dog argumentative essay topics. Overall, there are many interesting ideas that you can use to write a unique and excellent essay.

Regardless of what you ultimately choose to write about, you should adhere to the central points of essay writing. Make sure to describe sections of your paper with dog essay titles that identify what you will be talking about clearly.

Write an introduction that identifies the topic and provides a clear and concise thesis statement. Finish the paper with a dog essay conclusion that sums up your principal points. It will be easier and more interesting to read while also adhering to literature standards if you do this.

Below, we have provided a collection of great ideas that you can use when writing your essays, research papers, speeches, or dissertations. Take inspiration from our list of dog topics, and don’t forget to check out the samples written by other students!

• An Adventure with My Pet Pit-Bull Dog “Tiger” One look at Tiger and I knew that we were not going to leave the hapless couple to the mercies of the scary man.
• Dogs Playing Poker The use of dogs in the painting is humorous in that the writer showed them doing human things and it was used to attract the attention of the viewer to the picture.
• Debates on Whether Dog is the Best Pet or not The relationships between dogs and man have been improving over the years and this has made dogs to be the most preferable pets in the world. Other pets have limited abilities and can not match […]
• Dog Food: Pedigree Company’s Case The attractiveness of the dog food category is manifested through the intense competitive nature of the various stakeholders. The third and final phase of the segmentation is to label the category of dog food as […]
• Breed Specific Legislation: Dog Attacks As a result, the individuals that own several canines of the “banned” breeds are to pay a lot of money to keep their dogs.
• Animal Cruelty: Inside the Dog Fighting In most cases the owner of the losing dog abandons the injured dog to die slowly from the injuries it obtained during the fight. The injuries inflicted to and obtained by the dogs participating in […]
• The Benefits of a Protection Dog Regardless of the fact that protection dogs are animals that can hurt people, they are loving and supportive family members that provide their owners with a wide range of benefits.
• Cats vs. Dogs: Are You a Cat or a Dog Person? Cats and dogs are two of the most common types of pets, and preferring one to another can arguably tell many things about a person.
• “Love That Dog” Verse Novel by Sharon Creech In this part of the play, it is clear that Jack is not ready to hide his feelings and is happy to share them with someone who, in his opinion, can understand him.
• Cesar Millan as a Famous Dog Behaviorist Millan earned the nickname “the dog boy” because of his natural ability to interact with dogs. Consequently, the dog behaviorist became a celebrity in different parts of the country.
• “Marley: A Dog Like No Other” by John Grogan John Grogan’s international bestseller “Marley: A Dog Like No Other” is suited for children of all ages, and it tells the story of a young puppy, Marley, who quickly develops a big personality, boundless energy, […]
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Haddon therefore manages to carry the reader into the world of the novel and holds the reader to the end of the novel.
• Compare and Contrast Your First Dog vs. Your Current Dog Although she was very friendly and even tried to take care of me when I was growing up, my mother was the real owner.
• Small Dog Boarding Business: Balanced Scorecard Bragonier posits that SWOT analysis is essential in the running of the business because it helps the management to analyze the business at a glance.
• Moral Dilemma: Barking Dog and Neighborhood Since exuberant barking of Stella in the neighborhood disturbs many people, debarking is the appropriate measure according to the utilitarian perspective.
• Dog Training Techniques Step by Step The first step that will be taken in order to establish the performance of this trick is showing the newspaper to the dog, introducing the desired object and the term “take”.
• How to Conduct the Dog Training Properly At the same time, it is possible to work with the dog and train it to perform certain actions necessary for the owner. In the process of training, the trainer influences the behavior of the […]
• The Great Pyrenees Dog Breed as a Pet In the folklore of the French Pyrenees, there is a touching legend about the origin of the breed. The dog will not obey a person of weak character and nervous.
• Dog Food by Subscription: Service Design Project For the convenience and safety of customers and their dogs, customer support in the form of a call center and online chat is available.
• “Everyday” in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Haddon The novel presents Christopher who passes through many changes in his life, where he adapts to it and acclimatizes the complications that come with it.
• A Dog’s Life by Charles Chaplin The theme of friendship and love that is clear in the relationship between Tramp and Scraps. The main being that Chaplin makes it very comical thus; it is appealing to the audience, and captures the […]
• What Dog Are You? All of them possess individual traits that have to suit the profile and character of the owner for them to create a harmonious and beneficial union and to feel comfortable together first of all, every […]
• Why Does Your Dog Pretend to Like You? Children and the older generation can truly cherish and in the case of children can develop as individuals with the help of dogs.
• Caring for a Dog With Arthritis For Monty, the dog under study, the size, and disposition of the dog, the stage of the disease as also its specific symptoms and behaviour need to be observed and then a suitable choice of […]
• Dog House: Business Law Today Based on the definition of a shareholder’s derivative suit, it is possible to say that corporations can be expected to benefit from this type of litigation.
• “Traditional” Practice Exception in Dog Act One of those who wanted the word to remain in the clause was the president of the Beaufort Delta Dog Mushers and also an Inuvik welder.Mr.
• “How to Draw a Dog” Video Lecture Critique The video begins with an introduction to the character that the artist is going to draw. The artist provides a more detailed description of the process later when he begins to draw dog’s eyebrows and […]
• Small Dog Boarding Business: Strategic Plan Based on the first dimension of the competing values framework, the dog boarding business already has the advantage of a flexible business model, it is possible to adjust the size of the business or eliminate […]
• Non-Profit Dog Organization’s Mission Statement In terms of the value we are bringing, our team regards abandoned animals who just want to be loved by people, patients with special needs, volunteers working at pet shelters, and the American society in […]
• “Dog’s Life” by Charlie Chaplin Film Analysis In this film, the producer has used the comic effect to elaborate on the message he intends to deliver to the audience. The function of a dog is to serve the master.
• Dog’ Education in “The Culture Clash” by Jean Donaldson The second chapter comes under the title, Hard-Wiring: What the Dog comes with which tackles the characteristic innate behaviors that dogs possess naturally; that is, predation and socialization. This chapter sheds light on the behaviors […]
• Implementing Security Policy at Dog Parks To ensure that people take responsibility for their dogs while in the parks, the owners of the parks should ensure that they notify people who bring their dogs to the park of the various dangers […]
• Operant Conditioning in Dog Training In regards to negative enforcements, the puppy should be fitted with a collar and upon the command “sit”, the collar should be pulled up a bit to force the dog to sit down.
• First in Show Pet Foods, Inc and Dog Food Market Due to the number of competitors, it is clear that First in Show Pet Food, Inc.understands it has a low market share.
• Animal Assisted Therapy: Therapy Dogs First, the therapist must set the goals that are allied to the utilization of the therapy dog and this should be done for each client.
• The Tail Wagging the Dog: Emotions and Their Expression in Animals The fact that the experiment was conducted in real life, with a control group of dogs, a life-size dog model, a simultaneous observation of the dogs’ reaction and the immediate transcription of the results, is […]
• The Feasibility Analysis for the Ropeless Dog Lead This is because it will have the ability to restrict the distance between the dog and the master control radio. The exploration of different sales models and prices for other devices indicates that the Rope-less […]
• Classical Conditioning: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks According to Basford and Stein’s interpretation, classical conditioning is developed in a person or an animal when a neutral stimulus “is paired or occurs contingently with the unconditioned stimulus on a number of occasions”, which […]
• The Movements and Reactions of Dogs in Crates and Outside Yards This study discusses the types of movements and reactions exhibited by dogs in the two confinement areas, the crate and the outside yard.
• A Summary of “What The Dog Saw” Gladwell explores the encounters of Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer who non-verbally communicated with the dogs and mastered his expertise to tame the dogs.
• Border Collie Dog Breed Information So long as the movement of the Border Collies and the sheep is calm and steady, they can look for the stock as they graze in the field.
• Evolution of Dogs from the Gray Wolf However, the combined results of vocalisation, morphological behavior and molecular biology of the domesticated dog now show that the wolf is the principle ancestor of the dog.
• Attacking Dog Breeds: Truth or Exaggeration?
• Are Bad Dog Laws Unjustified?
• Are Dog Mouths Cleaner Than Humans?
• Can Age Affect How Fast a Dog Runs?
• Can Chew Treats Kill Your Dog?
• Can You Control Who the Alpha Dog Is When You Own Two Dogs?
• Does Drug Dog Sniff Outside Home Violate Privacy?
• Does the Pit Bull Deserve Its Reputation as a Vicious Dog?
• Does Your Dog Love You and What Does That Mean?
• Does Your Dog Need a Bed?
• How Can People Alleviate Dog Cruelty Problems?
• How Cooking With Dog Is a Culinary Show?
• How Can Be Inspiring Dog Tales?
• How Owning and Petting a Dog Can Improve Your Health?
• How the I-Dog Works: It’s All About Traveling Signals?
• What Can Andy Griffith Teach You About Dog Training?
• What Makes the Dog – Human Bond So Powerful?
• What the Dog Saw and the Rise of the Global Market?
• What Should You Know About Dog Adoption?
• When Dog Training Matters?
• When Drug Dog Sniff the Narcotic Outside Home?
• At What Age Is Dog Training Most Effective?
• Why Are People Choosing to Get Involved in Dog Fighting?
• Why Are Reported Cases of Dog-Fighting Rising in the United States?
• Why Dog Attacks Occur and Who Are the Main Culprits?
• Why Does Dog Make Better Pets Than Cats?
• Why Every Kid Needs a Dog?
• Why Should People Adopt Rather Than Buy a Dog?
• Why Could the Dog Have Bitten the Person?
• Will Dog Survive the Summer Sun?
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Essays About Dogs: Top 5 Examples and 8 Easy Prompts

Essays about dogs address the close relationship between a man and his best friend. Discover our top essay examples and prompts to assist you in writing.

There are 69 million households in the US with dogs. This statistic attests to the fact that many are fond of dogs and have them for many reasons, primarily for their unconditional love and emotional support. In addition, having a dog at home helps improve physical and mental health.

5 Best Essay Examples

1. long essay on dog by prasanna, 2. dogs are better than cats essay by anonymous on papersowl.com , 3. dogs are not just companions — they are true bae by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 4. dog is a man’s best friend by anonymous on eduzaurus.com, 5. lessons we can learn from the life of our pet dogs by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 1. the truths about dogs, 2. pros and cons of having a dog, 3. the most famous dog breeds, 4. dogs and expenses, 5. a dog’s lifespan, 6. dogs and society, 7. my first dog, 8. dogs and mental health.

“Dogs have been a companion to man for almost 40,000 years. Dogs perform many functions. They are trained and are one of the popular pets to have.”

Prasanna’s essay contains general facts about dogs, such as their origin, characteristics, behavior, love for meat, and more. She describes the dog as a four-legged animal with sharp eyes, sensitive ears and nose, and of different breeds, sizes, and colors. The essay includes the various functions of dogs, such as hunting, pulling sleds, protecting, comforting their owners, and improving their well-being. Check out these articles about animals .

“… Dogs are better than cats. The loyalty, bravery, and human characteristics of dogs, as well as, the service and personal benefits of owning a dog far exceed those owning a cat.”

In this essay, the writer mentions how dogs are more energetic, friendly, protective, and easier to train and bond with than cats. The writer effectively discusses the advantages and disadvantages of owning these pets as a dog and cat owner. It also provides the readers with the relevant information they need when they look for a pet to adopt. If you disagree with this stance, check out these articles and essays about cats .

“They can read your facial expression, socialize and communicate just like any other human does. Dogs can empathize with human feeling and match with the wavelengths of their owners in an instant. They can easily decipher your depressed condition and they can smell your fears.”

The author uses research findings and a real-life story to prove that humans and dogs share a strong bond that’s unbreakable and unfathomable. In addition, they say dogs are the best therapy animals because they are compassionate, respond in a friendly way, and do not show stressful behavior while playing with patients. 

To prove that dogs show loyalty, unconditional love, and strong friendship, the writer uses the story “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale.” The story is about Hachiko, the Akita dog that walks his owner to and from the train station until his owner suddenly dies at work. As a loyal dog, Hachiko always comes to the station and waits with anticipation to witness his return until his last breath showing that they are truly best friends for life.

“… Not just a pet, but a part of the family. When we give love freely to dogs, we receive their love and affection in return. Dogs can truly be a man’s best friend, and we should be grateful to be theirs as well.”

This essay talks about the indescribable bond between a dog and its owner. Harley is the name of the writer’s big and muscular white female bulldog with a soft heart. The writer discusses how she gives them so much joy every time they play, train, and ride in the car. This essay also shows how protective the dog is and how it barks whenever someone strange approaches them. The author firmly believes that dogs are gifts sent by God.

“Dogs are not called man’s best friend for nothing. Aside the fact that they are a delight to look upon, they are also sweet creatures that act in ways we can learn from.”

This essay includes essential life lessons humans can learn from dogs, such as being adaptable to different environments or situations and remaining loyal and faithful to anything or anyone. Dogs’ carefree attitude allows them to be comfortable with themselves. It demonstrates how people can live freely to enjoy life happily. You might also be interested in these essays about animal testing .

8 Writing Prompts for Essays About Dogs

Did you know dogs are domesticated wolves ? If you plan to write a fun and engaging essay, look for amusing dog facts that many are unaware of. You can focus on one breed or discuss dogs in general. First, share the dog’s history, characteristics, and unique behaviors. Then, search for common dog myths and correct them.

If this sounds like a lot of work, do a 5 paragraph essay instead.

It has been proven that dogs are excellent for human well-being. They make people happy and comfort their owners whenever they’re sad. However, dog ownership is not just rainbows and sunshine. 

For this prompt, consider the benefits and drawbacks of adopting a dog. In the conclusion, give your own opinion on whether people should have dogs or not. Add your reasons; this could be the cost, aggressive dog breeds, or allergies.

There are many dog breeds today. Pick the most popular ones and include why they are the ones usually seen, bought, or adopted. Write their characteristics and behaviors to help your readers learn about the similarities and differences between each dog. Use pet articles, scientific research, or other reliable sources to make your essay more credible.

You can also tackle the issue of dog crossbreeding , which can lead to genetic mutations.

Dogs need a place to sleep, training, grooming essentials, and other supplies besides the basics, such as food and water. These additional and continuous expenses hinder others from adopting dogs. Use this prompt to share factors that will help you decide whether to pursue adoption. Then, identify dog essentials and items and offer cheaper alternatives to save money.

The average lifespan of a dog is 10 to 13 years , which is much shorter than humans. This means humans usually outlive their canine companions. In this prompt, you can teach the readers how to calculate the lifespan of their dogs based on size and type. Then, advise the dog owners how they can make their dog’s stay on Earth worth it. For an interesting piece of writing, look for a story of a dog outliving its owner and how it reacted or lived out its remaining days, and include this in your essay.

Many households believe dogs symbolize protection and love. Society also adjusted to accommodate dogs with animal laws and dog parks. Further explain how interwoven dogs and the community are, that they’re now a necessary part of some people’s lives. For example, having a dog can make someone more sociable by setting a play date with other dogs and interacting with the other fur parents.

Use this prompt to share your first dog ownership experience with your readers. First, introduce your dog and how you got it. Next, describe your first dog’s unique qualities and add your unforgettable memories together.  End your essay with the greatest life lesson your dog taught you that you still practice today.

Aside from helping their owners have a more active lifestyle, dogs also improve mental health. For this prompt, focus on therapy dogs. Discuss what they offer, including their therapeutic effects on their owners. Then, identify who needs them the most. Add the best breeds for therapy dogs and why.

Do you want to know one of our top grammar checkers? Check out our ProWritingAid review .

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Essays on Dog

Your dog essay cannot omit the fact that you never experienced a truly pure, generous, and overwhelming unconditional love if you never had a dog. Unlike any other creatures, dogs are joyous, full of life, cheerful, and affectionate. For many centuries, dogs have accompanied a person in various life situations: from hunting to guarding the house, so essays on dog have been written by many generations of dog-lovers. Dog essays portray dogs as creatures that are smart and able to learn, play, and socialize. According to essays about dog history, the domestication of dogs took place during the Paleolithic period. It's no surprise that dogs are extremely popular and loved – over 30% of the entire world's population has a pet dog. Our dog essay samples will cover many dog-related topics – give those essay samples a read to find more useful info.

The purpose of the research was to identify the relationship that people have with their pets. The investigation was driven by the observation that people identify their pets as part of their family and tend to have a special emotional connection with them. As a result, the research uses the...

Nothing beats a long walk in the morning or evening with the company of a friendly pet dog. Dogs have been man’s companion for several decades now because they share our lives in several ways many animals cannot. Dogs are always friendly and a perfect human companion that is why...

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My Home and the Void Without Jake My home used to be a place where I would feel the comfort of my family. Now I only feel an apparent emptiness, void of the joy I used to feel. This type of sorrow surrounds me, and I am caught in the dark,...

A community and its types A community is made up of individuals who have a lot in common and mingle in the same geographical area. Neighbourhoods are of various types. Some examples of communities are hobbies and other Interest-based communities, experience-based communities, ownership-based communities amongst others. Fosters are quick examples of...

Words: 1140

Purchasing a Hybrid Dog Many individuals would ask themselves whether purchasing a hybrid dog is a problematic issue even if the vendor is trustworthy. Another question one should ask is why pet breeding is irresponsible. Despite a vast number having pets in their homes, we still have millions of homeless dogs...

The author, Sean Curtis in the article Why Cats Make Better Pets than Dogs explains the reasons as to why he would consider cats as pets to dogs. He bases his argument on the facts that cats are generally easy to deal with and require less time as compared to...

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Puppy Training: Setting a Foundation for a Well-Behaved Dog Puppies are adorably cute and enchanting little beings. Any pet lover can probably attest to the fact that bringing a puppy home was undoubtedly one of their most treasured moments. The first few weeks or months into the puppy's stay are often...

Words: 1537

Training a Puppy Often people anticipate the happiness of everything that is nice about having a puppy. However, most of the time, things fail to turn out like we would wish them to happen. Puppies are not only a source of delightful energy but curiosity too. Conversely, they can be both...

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In contrast to using dogs to protect private warehouses, the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design strategy is defined in the paper, along with the reasons why it is preferable. Also described are the specifics of CPTED that I would advise the proprietors implement in order to assist in securing a...

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The feasibility of removing a kidney in humans can be linked to many years of research on the best form of operation and the impact on physiological processes. The dog model was used in the initial tests. Tests done on dogs showed that compensative hypertrophy of the kidney remained and...

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Dogs are significant creatures in human society; they are domesticated for personal or commercial reasons, such as racing. Their importance in society is mostly reciprocal, and both sides of the divide have fostered this relationship since ancient times when they were domesticated, and it is said that a dog eventually...

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According to the excerpt from No, I Do Not Want to Pet Your Dog . Every man or woman at some point in life experiences the adverse consequences of stress and depression. Certain factors bring stress such as family issues, impromptu payments and a car battery which is dead....

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Essay Samples on Dog

Why my dog is my best friend.

The bond between my dog and me goes beyond the realms of human language. In those expressive eyes and the gentle sway of the wagging tail, there exists a language of connection that transcends words. When joy dances in my heart or when the weight...

Why Dogs are the Best Pets: Exploting Persuasive Arguments

When it comes to choosing a loyal and loving companion, there's no doubt that dogs stand out as the best pets. Their unwavering loyalty, boundless affection, and unique ability to connect with humans make them exceptional partners in life. In this essay, I will present...

In Defense of Canine Companionship: Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

The age-old debate between dog enthusiasts and cat aficionados has sparked numerous discussions about which furry friend makes the superior pet. While both dogs and cats have their merits, this essay aims to highlight the reasons why dogs are often considered better companions than cats,...

My Dog is My Stress Reliever and My Partner in Crime

During everyone’s lifetime span there’s always someone who keeps me company and is always by my side no matter what. Some people have a significant other, favorite parent, or best friend. But there’s some that have an animal’s companion. For me that’s the case. In...

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Sad Story About Dog in My Life

We take many good things in our life for granted and only realize the significance of them when they are gone. I still remember that day, a lovely fall day, with a clear sky and bright sun, and seemed that nothing can interrupt its tranquility...

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Reasoning Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

Human beings need a pet to have company. Therefore, people adopt different types of pets. Dogs and cats take a prominent place in the world of pets. Most of the people says that dogs are better than cats. Why Dogs are Better Than Cats? It...

Reasons Whether Dogs Are Better Than Cates

What would you rather have an animal that gets dirt and mud everywhere or an animal that stays clean and does not bother you all the time? Cats and dogs are the most common household animals in America, which means that all people have to...

Choosing Between A Cat And A Dog

“A Dog is a Man's Best Friend” is a phrase that many individuals, especially dog lovers often say to another person when talking about dogs. However, I firmly believe that the same thing can be said about cats. This is because cats are great loyal...

The Benefits Of Having A Dog Over A Cat

I think it dogs are better. They play more cats do not like to go on a walk. Dog like playing hide and seek. All dog can learn more than a thousand word. The cat won not let people touch then but dog let everyone...

Dogs Vs Cats: The More Intimate Pet For A Person

Dogs and cats are the most popular pets in the world. They are very popular, but they differ in many ways. Some people tend to settle cats, but others want a dog company. Cats are more autonomous and cheaper. Cats do not need to keep,...

Main Differences Between Having Cats and Dogs as Pets

You've probably been asked at some point in your life if you're a dog person or a cat person, if you had to live with one, which would you choose? The debate between cats and dogs have been going on for years about which pet...

Characteristics of Dingoes, Closest Wolf Relatives in Australia

At present, there is not a single type of wolf is present in Australia. Fossil’s studies show that there were no any true wolf was ever present in the Australia. However, closely related relatives of Wolves were present that are explained below. Possible Reason for...

A Misconception Surrounding Pit Bulls

A stigma has been created of hostile qualities being correlated with pit bulls. Before this stigma, the breed was being used to fulfill tasks the owners needed assistance with— like hunting down predators on farms. Many are also unaware of the history of pit bulls...

What Better: Rescue and Adopt a Dog from a Shelter or Buy Dog In a Pet Store

As we know, people often wonder what makes a better decision to rescue and adopt a dog from a shelter or purchase a puppy from a pet store? While both animals can give unconditional love, adopters have to consider that a puppy from a pet...

Border Collie - A Famous Pooch Breed

Beginning in the nineteenth century on the periphery among Scotland and England, the Border Collie was named after their zone. This pooch breed is prized for their extraordinary gathering limits of a creatures. Today, the Border Collie is a standard develop worker, family accomplice and...

Chihuahua - A Little Pooch Breed

This pooch breed is the littlest everything being equal. The Chihuahua has the pleasure of being the most established breed in America. They were named after the Chihuahua locale in Mexico. It is trusted this dropped from an antiquated breed that was bigger in measure...

Chow Chows -A Pooch Breed Started In China

This antiquated pooch breed started in China over 2000 years prior. The Chow is a universally handy breed that was utilized for chasing, crowding, pulling and assurance. This breed is regularly alluded to as "the Chow", and today are utilized essentially as partner pooches. This...

Dog Feeding Tips – A Guide To Dog Fitness

Do you think dogs can be as fit as their owners? We as humans can be quite obsessed with our health. We go gluten free, grow our own vegetables in the backyard and stress about keeping hydrated all day long. Why don’t we do the...

Rescue Dogs: We Benefit Them, Just As They Benefit Us

According to the organization ASPCA, also known as American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 6. 5 million animals are rescued each year, 3. 3 million of those animals being dogs. Many of those dogs come from horrible places, whether they were abused...

• Animal Intelligence

The Cairn Terrier - The Humblest Of The Terrier Pooch Breeds

This is the humblest of the Terrier pooch breeds. The Cairn Terrier was at first imitated in the Scottish Highlands for their working limit, not their looks. This breed is intense and strong, anyway not unnecessarily overpowering. This pooch breed is astute, bold and survive....

Use Of Dogs As Violation Of Animal Ethics

Countering Animal Rights Claims Against Canine Work The topic of animal rights is one that is frequently addressed in American culture. Activists, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have been known to protest loudly and visually, dawning red-paint encrusted faux-fur coats...

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Dog — Dogs Are a Great Pet

Dogs Are a Great Pet

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Words: 447 |

Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 447 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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Companionship, health benefits, unique qualities of different breeds.

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122 Dog Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Dogs are a popular topic for essays, as they are beloved by many people and have a wide range of interesting characteristics and behaviors. If you are looking for inspiration for your next essay on dogs, here are 122 topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• The history and evolution of dogs as pets
• The benefits of owning a dog for mental health
• The different breeds of dogs and their unique characteristics
• The role of dogs in therapy and emotional support
• The impact of dogs on human physical health
• Training techniques for dogs and their effectiveness
• The importance of proper nutrition for dogs
• The ethics of breeding dogs for specific traits
• The bond between humans and dogs
• The role of service dogs in assisting people with disabilities
• The impact of dogs on children's development
• The cultural significance of dogs in different societies
• The myths and misconceptions about certain dog breeds
• The history of dog shows and competitions
• The role of dogs in search and rescue operations
• The dangers of leaving dogs in hot cars
• The benefits of adopting a dog from a shelter
• The impact of social media on dog culture
• The role of dogs in literature and popular culture
• The training process for therapy dogs
• The differences between purebred and mixed breed dogs
• The impact of puppy mills on the pet industry
• The benefits of using dogs in police work
• The history of dogs in warfare
• The role of dogs in wildlife conservation efforts
• The impact of climate change on dogs and their habitats
• The benefits of owning a senior dog
• The history of dog breeding and genetics
• The impact of technology on dog care
• The benefits of owning a dog for seniors
• The impact of music on dogs' behavior
• The benefits of dog parks for socialization
• The history of dog training techniques
• The impact of dogs on wildlife populations
• The benefits of owning a dog for families
• The history of dogs in art and photography
• The impact of dogs on human relationships
• The benefits of owning a dog for singles
• The impact of dogs on the environment
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with depression
• The history of dogs in ancient civilizations
• The impact of dogs on crime rates
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with anxiety
• The impact of dogs on children's education
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with PTSD
• The impact of dogs on wildlife conservation efforts
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with autism
• The impact of dogs on the economy
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with physical disabilities
• The impact of dogs on public health
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with hearing impairments
• The impact of dogs on community safety
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with visual impairments
• The impact of dogs on crime prevention
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with diabetes
• The impact of dogs on disaster response efforts
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with epilepsy
• The impact of dogs on mental health treatment
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with chronic illnesses
• The impact of dogs on healthcare costs
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with cancer
• The impact of dogs on workplace productivity
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with heart disease
• The impact of dogs on stress levels
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with chronic pain
• The impact of dogs on physical fitness
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with arthritis
• The impact of dogs on socialization
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with Alzheimer's disease
• The impact of dogs on loneliness
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with dementia
• The impact of dogs on community cohesion
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with substance abuse disorders
• The benefits of owning a dog for people with eating disorders
• The impact of dogs on domestic violence prevention efforts
• The benefits of owning a dog for

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Students Will Love This Pet Animal Dog Essay Sample

The pet is a part of the family, and it is a great challenge to take responsibility for the little life. Many people like to get rodents, some prefer lizards and even spiders, but most people bring dogs home.

Photo from Depositphotos

A dog can cure their owners of apathy, anxiety, and bring a lot of joy in their life. There is no doubt that dogs and their owners can even start looking like each other. You can read about it in any scholarly research such as the next pet animal dog essay. There is nothing miraculous here, because when we spend a lot of time with a beloved one, we became a bit similar. More and more people like to adopt a dog from an animal shelter. This step shows the kindness of the owner and the responsibility of having a pet. Meanwhile, people often bring expensive purebred dogs to shelters or even throw them out.

Students often want to raise this problem to scholarly research; as such, you can read informative essays about dogs here. In this essay, the author wants to show the advantages of dog adoption over buying a new one.

At the WritingCheap service, you can find not only essay on dog ownership but many other samples we kindly present on our blog page.

Why Should People Adopt Dogs and Not Buy? Bringing a dog into your family can be a very exciting event. Planning out the food, toys, and treats to buy with your new companion brings more anticipation for bringing home your new pet. Where do you find your new friend, though? Should you purchase a puppy from the pet store in the mall, or should you find an animal shelter to adopt from regardless of the animal’s age? While the puppies in the windows of the mall shop have cuteness appeal, adopting a dog from a shelter is actually the better option. By adopting a dog from a shelter, you are not supporting puppy mill businesses, and you are possibly giving an older dog a second chance. A puppy mill is an organization for the mass breeding of puppies to be sold in stores. These organizations are unhealthy for puppies and their mothers. According to American Humane, these operations are unregulated so there is no guarantee the mothers and their puppies are having their basic needs being met (“Puppy Mills and Mass Breeding,” 2016). Along with their basic needs, these dogs are not being socialized or getting veterinary care. When adopting a dog from a humane society, you are preventing puppy mills from profiting. By not giving any profits to puppy mill companies, such as the stores in shopping malls, the mills are not getting anymore money to put towards staying open. Also, when you adopt a dog from an animal shelter, you can be assured your new pet has had its medical needs met, which can mean they are spayed or neutered and up to date on their shots (“Top Reasons to Adopt a Pet”). Another reason adopting from a shelter is better than buying from a store that supports puppy mills is that you may be giving an older dog a second chance. It is easy to understand how puppy stores are so profitable. People want to adopt a puppy because it is an adorable new life. When adopting from a shelter, though, puppies are not always an option. Instead, many of the dogs available are already adults. These dogs have been placed in shelters for various reasons, whether their previous family could not afford to care for them anymore or they were simply found roaming the streets. Shelters are frequently overwhelmed with the amount of animals they bring in, which means many of the animals coming in could be euthanized if they are left unadopted. The Humane Society has noted that by adopting an animal from their shelters, you are preventing that animal from being euthanized, and you are also freeing up space for another animal to be brought in (“Top Reasons to Adopt a Pet”). Puppy stores are largely popular because they are in populated areas such as malls and provide adorable puppies, provoking people to buy them. Adopting from animal shelters is a better option, though, because it prevents stores supported by puppy mills from profiting on their unethical practice, and it gives an older dog a second chance for a happy home. If people stop shopping at puppy stores completely and switch to solely adopting from shelters, puppy mills will have no choice but to stop breeding and shut down. This will also be beneficial for shelters: with more people adopting dogs, the shelters will have more space for incoming animals and less animals will have to be euthanized. Resources Puppy Mills and Mass Breeding. (2016, August 26). American Humane. Retrieved May 8, 2020, from https://www.americanhumane.org/position-statement/puppy-mills-and-mass-breeding/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhtT1BRCiARIsAGlY51IZqtbC0j7gua-Zje2UMRp_UzTUz7FbPzWdu5jaYAISdw0P7hHGxbIaAjwlEALw_wcB. Top Reasons to Adopt a Pet. (n.d.). Humane Society. Retrieved May 8, 2020, from https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/top-reasons-adopt-pet.

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What generally defines poetry connects a number of poems in terms of thematic concerns, stylistic devices employed, mood and the language. According to one of the earliest definition of poetry, William Wordsworth says that poetry is an unprompted flow of feeling recollected in stillness. Themes are connected to the mood of the poem and different authors may fall victims of such impulsive composition environment and themes speak louder that decorative styles like alliterations, assonance, rhymes. In this paper I will discuss the connection between three poems; Noh’s Raven, dog dreaming and the drunken in the furnace by W.S. Merwin.

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A phobia is an irrational fear to natural phenomenon such that it is abnormal as compared to the behavior of normal people. It is normally triggered by a specific stimulus and hence is a consequence of conditioning. An addiction is a dependence on a substance or action for acquisition of pleasure with little regard for the possible negative effects. Conditioning is the training of the human, or any animal’s, system to respond in a specific manner when exposed to a specific stimulus. It can be voluntary or involuntary on the part of the subject hence the two types of conditioning: operant and classical.

Discuss Phobias and Addictions as Related to Classical and Operant Conditioning

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My/F name/F is/F Salam/F Almaqabi/F, I/F am/F an/F under/F graduate/F student/F at/F Idaho/F State/F University/F. Some/F gentle/F men/F dine/F d/B at/F an/F economic/F al/B restaurant/F. They/F found/F the/F service/F to/F be/F un/B accept/F able/B and/F wish/F ed/B to/F express/F their/F un/B happiness/F to/F the/F management/F. The/F manage/F r/B was/F un/B available/F, so/F they/F brought/F the/F left/F over/F s/B home/F to/F their/F dog/F who/F reside/F d/B in/F a/F dog/F/house/F in/F the/F back/F yard/F.

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Fuligo septica, which is also known as the dog vomit slime mold or scrambled slime belongs to the class myxomycetes. It is abundantly found in a varied number of terrestrial ecosystems, especially in area with higher water content. Fuligo septica exist as a colorful mass between 2-20 cm (length) and 1-3 cm (thickness).

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Some gentle/men dine/d at an economic/al restaurant. They found the service to be un/accept/able and wish/ed to ex/press thei/r un/happi/ness to the manage/ment. The manag/er was un/avail/able, so they brought the left/over/s home to their dog who resid/ed in a dog/house in the back/yard.

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In this paper, we will cover an observation of an infant, named Nicholas, aged 9 months. We will examine his physical development, his cognitive development, and his language and social development. Observations will be marked by the letter “O”, and reflections will be marked by the letter “R”.

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Dogs and cats share extraordinary relationships with humans and are two of the most popular choice for pets. They both offer unconditional love, comfort and friendship and become an important part of our lives in many ways. While some people prefer the company of dogs, others are considered cat lovers. Both cats and dogs are different in their behavior and have their own personalities as pets. The essay examines the nature of cats and dogs and illustrates the similarities and differences in their behavior and how they percept certain situations.

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Dogs are perhaps the most common pets in the world over. However, it is not always that dogs are kept as pets. Dogs are on several occasions exclusively reared for their strength intelligence, temperament and ability to perform assorted tasks. It is the attributes of a particular dog that warrants its categorization as a working dog to perform a specific task. This paper is aimed at describing some of the most common police working dogs while also highlighting the factors influence their training as well as what the trainers look for while selecting these dogs.

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Dogs and cats are the most common pets kept by man. They can be said to be man’s closest friends in relation to the animals. This implies that the two share quite a lot. This essay is dedicated to bringing out the similarities and differences between dogs and cats. The essay will first highlight the similarities and then look at the differences.

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Introduction Attention Getter: to many they are just animals but to most dogs are more than what we may think. They are our pets, friends, family and loved ones. What a better way to take care of such an important aspect of your life than through ensuring it lives. Thesis: In order to keep your dog healthy, feed it a balanced diet, exercise it and have the veterinarian take a look at it several times a year to prevent diseases.

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Essay On Dog

Dogs are the descendants of wolves and believed to be the most faithful animals. Dogs are widely domesticated animals and commonly loved by humans. If you look around, you may find that many of your family members or friends are ardent dog lovers. Here are a few sample essays on “Dog”.

100 Words Essay On Dog

Dogs, the first species to be domesticated, are the closest relatives to modern wolves. Hunter-gatherers first domesticated them over 15,000 years ago. Dogs are bred for various reasons. One of the most popular reasons to breed them is their sensory capabilities. Policemen and security widely use them to detect crime because of their smelling capabilities. Dogs have made human life easier and have performed various roles for mankind. From hunting to helping the police and military, dogs have been part and parcel of human life. Over the millennia, dogs have become adapted to humans and their behaviour and are thus referred to as “Man’s Best Friend”.

200 Words Essay On Dog

The dog is one of the most faithful species and is considered one of the most obedient animals worldwide. Dogs are carnivorous animals who like eating flesh. They belong to the “Canidae” family. Dogs belong to the categories of mammals as they are capable of reproduction. Dogs, when petted, become an essential part of the family. Your pain hurts them, and your happiness makes them happy.

How Dogs Become Family

Let me describe a small incident where my cousin cried buckets because her dog got hurt. I remember one evening when my cousins visited me. Tina came along with her dog, Tuffy. All of us decided to go somewhere to hang out, leaving Tuffy home. As we started the car, Tuffy started running behind our car and got hurt. Since we heard the sound of something getting hit by the car, we all stepped down to see what it was. As soon as Tina saw it was Tuffy and he got hurt, she started crying. Tuffy had started bleeding a little and had to be taken to the doctor. However, Tina kept crying the whole evening, and our outing plan was also cancelled. This shows how domesticated dogs become a part of our family.

500 Words Essay On Dog

Dogs are one of the favourite species of humans to pet. They are domesticated animals of the mammal family, whose scientific name is Canis Lupus Familiaris. Dogs are subspecies of grey wolves and also related to jackals and foxes. They are one of the most ubiquitous animals in the world.

How Dogs Communicate | Dogs bark when they wish to communicate something to someone. However, if you feel that a dog is barking excessively, it might signify that they wish to be left alone or feel threatened. Dogs also bark when they feel they are not getting enough attention and want to divert attention to themselves.

How Dogs Help Us | Different dogs belong to different breeds and thus, exhibit different characteristics. For example, domesticated dogs can help you reduce stress and anxiety. Thus, they have psychological advantages. Sniffer dogs are used in various detective missions because of their strong sense of smell.

Why Dogs Sniff | Dogs have a habit of sniffing other dogs’ rear ends. This is because sniffing rear ends helps them to gather chemical information and helps in the unique identification of another organism.

Ageing In Dogs | Ageing in dogs is another topic that humans have exaggerated. Humans believe that one human year is equivalent to 7 dog years. However, this is not true.

Despite being popularly- loved animals and one of the most widely domesticated species, dogs are often subject to cruelty, which is a sad reality. Here are a few ways we can contribute to protecting dogs from cruelty.

Protecting Dogs From Cruelty

Watching dogs exposed to animal cruelty can be a heart-wrenching experience, but knowing what you can do to prevent it can save many lives. Here are a few things you can do if you come across such a site:-

Get Veterinary Care | An abused dog or animal needs to be treated immediately. Thus, you first get the dog treated.

Voice Out | You need to voice out things to make a difference. Talk to its owner if you see a dog chained in any house. Ask them to care for their pet’s companion.

Know The Law | Get educated and be updated with animal protection laws, which can be of tremendous help to you.

Dog-Man’s Best Friend

This real-life story shows how dogs never give up on their masters. Once, a dog was adopted by an old man named Jammy. Jammy was quite old and used to live alone. To eradicate his loneliness, he adopted a dog and named him Tommy. Jammy used to spend all his time with Tommy – feeding him, playing with him, taking care of him, and nurturing him. As time passed, Tommy and Jammy became inseparable. But Jammy was getting older and unhealthier. One day Jammy did not wake up in the morning. He had died of cardiac arrest. Tommy couldn’t take his master's death, and when Jammy was being cremated, Tommy jumped into his funeral pyre and died. This story is a perfect example of how loyal and perfect friends dogs are.

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Essay on My Pet Dog for Students and Children

500+ Words Essay on My Pet Dog

Pets are a great blessing in anyone’s life. They are the only ones who love us unconditionally. Pets always offer us everything they have without asking for anything in return. The main aim of any pet’s life is to make their owner happy. Nowadays, even the term ‘owner’ is changing. People prefer their pets as kids and to themselves as parents. This is how the relationship between pets is evolving. People treat them no less than humans. For instance, they celebrate their birthdays; get those matching outfits and more.

In my opinion, I feel the pets rightly deserve it. The most common pet you can find at anyone’s place is dogs. A man’s best friend and the most faithful animal, a dog. I also have a pet dog that I love to bits. We got him when he was a little baby and have watched him grow into a beautiful dog. All my family members love him with all their heart. We love his silly antics and cannot imagine our lives without him. We named him Sasha.

Sasha – My Pet Dog

My father adopted Sasha when he was a little baby. His friend had given birth to puppies and they decided to put the puppies up for adoption. We convinced our father to get one for us. Considering they knew our family well, they immediately agreed. Little did we know that our lives would change forever after his entrance.

Sasha came in like a blessing for our family. He belongs to the breed of Labrador. Sasha was black in colour, pure coal black. He came in as a puppy with his cute little paws and eyes. We couldn’t stop gushing over this beauty. My siblings used to fight with each other as to who will get the maximum time to play with Sasha.

Read 500 Words Essay on Dog here

As and when Sasha grew up, he learned various tricks. We trained him to follow our instructions and he even learned a few tricks. We loved showing him off to our colony friends and relatives. I always took Sasha out with me as he loved taking a walk on the road.

Furthermore, my siblings and I took on the responsibility of keeping Sasha clean. Every week, we took turns to bathe him and brush him nicely. I remember I even got a bow for him from my pocket money. Sasha loved it and wagged his tail in excitement. Sasha has been with us through thick and thin and we will forever be indebted to him for his loyalty.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

A Changed Life

Before having a pet dog, we didn’t know what all we would experience. After Sasha came into our lives, he changed it forever. Sasha changed the meaning of loyalty for us. We learned how this faithful animal always worked for our happiness and safety.

Certainly, Sasha made us better human beings. We are now more compassionate towards animals. There was one instance where the stray dogs were going to harm a kitten, and to our surprise, Sasha saved that little kitten and got her home.

In other words, we have learned a lot of things from Sasha. He protected us when we slept at night. He tried to cheer us up whenever anyone of us was sad. Sasha’s obedience inspired me a lot to be kind to my parents. Therefore, all the credit for changing our lives goes to Sasha.

Q.1 What are some common pet animals?

A.1 Some of the most common pet animals are dogs, cats, parrots, hamsters, rabbits, turtles and more.

Q.2 Why should one own a pet dog?

A.2 We can learn a great deal from our pet dogs. They teach us loyalty, compassion, courage, and obedience.

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September 26, 2017

10 Pet Peeves in College Admissions Essays

There are a number of mistakes students make in their college admissions essays, mistakes that significantly hurt their cases for admission. But there are certain mistakes that so many students make each and every year that we figured we’d highlight for the loyal readers of our college admissions blog in the hope that maybe, just maybe it’ll dissuade students from writing these sorts of things in their admissions essays in future years. These sorts of mistakes, mistakes committed not only within the Common Application Personal Statement but also within supplemental essays are, in our view, egregious blunders.

1. Dialogue. While there can be exceptions, when college applicants start off their essays with dialogue, it typically reads as juvenile.

2. Webster’s Dictionary definitions. Thanks for letting us know how Webster’s Dictionary defines a word. An admissions officer is hoping to gain insight into you. If they wanted to study the dictionary, certainly they could find a Webster’s Dictionary somewhere.

3. Life lessons. That time you fell down in a track meet but got back up and realized the importance of perseverance — you bet it rings as cliché. Big time.

4. Starting too many sentences with ’I’. Mix it up. “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” It’s not all about you. And if you’ve never seen “The Brady Bunch,” you surely won’t understand our reference but we’re ok with that.

5. Spelling and grammatical errors. Yes, it’s obvious. But sometimes we feel the need to state the obvious. Proofread every word of every sentence of every essay. It’s rare when we read an essay that we didn’t work on with a student that doesn’t have spelling and / or grammatical errors.

6. Subtle or not-so-subtle brags . Don’t try to impress. You’re going to turn admissions officers off. Don’t write about winning some competition. That’s an award to list under Honors. It’s not something you should be writing about in essays.

7. Generic sentences in Why College essays. “I want to go to UPenn because the school offers a great liberal arts education.” Fantastic. So does every other highly selective school. You’re fooling nobody that you wrote that sentence specifically for UPenn.

8. Windows into your youth. College admissions officers want to read about you in the present day. They don’t want to read about what you were like as an eight year-old. Bring your story into the present — from the beginning.

9. Disparaging others. Don’t put down classmates or others to try to make yourself look better. It’ll have the opposite impact.

10. Summaries. Admissions officers didn’t forget what you wrote earlier on in the essay. They aren’t goldfish. There’s no need to repeat things. Use all of the real estate you have to offer new insights.

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Essay about dog

Hello, I recently wrote my common app personal statement about the day I adopted my dog and how this made me reflect on various topics. Do you guys think this is a good idea? I read somewhere that colleges don’t like when applicants write about the death of pets but the article didn’t specify on pet essays in general. What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.

How you write your essay is probably more important than the topic. Adopting a pet can make for a fine essay if well written, IMO.

You can use any medium to convey your story, but be careful the essay is more about you than the dog. You want to show you are curious, have an insatiable appetite for discovery, are a good community citizen and want to gain knowledge for the greater good. If you can do all this with a dog, all the power to you.

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Six brilliant student essays on the power of food to spark social change.

Read winning essays from our fall 2018 “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” student writing contest.

For the Fall 2018 student writing competition, “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” we invited students to read the YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,”   by Korsha Wilson and respond to this writing prompt: If you were to host a potluck or dinner to discuss a challenge facing your community or country, what food would you cook? Whom would you invite? On what issue would you deliberate? 

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these six—on anti-Semitism, cultural identity, death row prisoners, coming out as transgender, climate change, and addiction—were chosen as essay winners.  Be sure to read the literary gems and catchy titles that caught our eye.

Middle School Winner: India Brown High School Winner: Grace Williams University Winner: Lillia Borodkin Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Literary Gems Clever Titles

Middle School Winner: India Brown  

A Feast for the Future

Close your eyes and imagine the not too distant future: The Statue of Liberty is up to her knees in water, the streets of lower Manhattan resemble the canals of Venice, and hurricanes arrive in the fall and stay until summer. Now, open your eyes and see the beautiful planet that we will destroy if we do not do something. Now is the time for change. Our future is in our control if we take actions, ranging from small steps, such as not using plastic straws, to large ones, such as reducing fossil fuel consumption and electing leaders who take the problem seriously.

 Hosting a dinner party is an extraordinary way to publicize what is at stake. At my potluck, I would serve linguini with clams. The clams would be sautéed in white wine sauce. The pasta tossed with a light coat of butter and topped with freshly shredded parmesan. I choose this meal because it cannot be made if global warming’s patterns persist. Soon enough, the ocean will be too warm to cultivate clams, vineyards will be too sweltering to grow grapes, and wheat fields will dry out, leaving us without pasta.

I think that giving my guests a delicious meal and then breaking the news to them that its ingredients would be unattainable if Earth continues to get hotter is a creative strategy to initiate action. Plus, on the off chance the conversation gets drastically tense, pasta is a relatively difficult food to throw.

In YES! Magazine’s article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson says “…beyond the narrow definition of what cooking is, you can see that cooking is and has always been an act of resistance.” I hope that my dish inspires people to be aware of what’s at stake with increasing greenhouse gas emissions and work toward creating a clean energy future.

 My guest list for the potluck would include two groups of people: local farmers, who are directly and personally affected by rising temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, drought, and flooding, and people who either do not believe in human-caused climate change or don’t think it affects anyone. I would invite the farmers or farm owners because their jobs and crops are dependent on the weather. I hope that after hearing a farmer’s perspective, climate-deniers would be awakened by the truth and more receptive to the effort to reverse these catastrophic trends.

Earth is a beautiful planet that provides everything we’ll ever need, but because of our pattern of living—wasteful consumption, fossil fuel burning, and greenhouse gas emissions— our habitat is rapidly deteriorating. Whether you are a farmer, a long-shower-taking teenager, a worker in a pollution-producing factory, or a climate-denier, the future of humankind is in our hands. The choices we make and the actions we take will forever affect planet Earth.

 India Brown is an eighth grader who lives in New York City with her parents and older brother. She enjoys spending time with her friends, walking her dog, Morty, playing volleyball and lacrosse, and swimming.

High School Winner: Grace Williams

Apple Pie Embrace

It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.

 As a child, I enjoyed Thanksgiving and the preparations that came with it, but it seemed like more of a bridge between my birthday and Christmas than an actual holiday. Now, it’s a time of year I look forward to, dedicated to family, memories, and, most importantly, food. What I realized as I grew older was that my homemade Thanksgiving apple pie was more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation. 

 Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.

 That said, my family has always been more than the “mashed potatoes and turkey” type.

My mom’s family immigrated to the United States in 1976. Upon their arrival, they encountered a deeply divided America. Racism thrived, even after the significant freedoms gained from the Civil Rights Movement a few years before. Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.

 If I were to host a dinner party, it would be like Thanksgiving with my Chaldean family. The guests, my extended family, are a diverse people, distinct ingredients in a sweet potato casserole, coming together to create a delicious dish.

In her article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson writes, “each ingredient that we use, every technique, every spice tells a story about our access, our privilege, our heritage, and our culture.” Voices around the room will echo off the walls into the late hours of the night while the hot apple pie steams at the table’s center.

We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience. While snacking on sunflower seeds and salted pistachios, we’ll talk about the news- how thousands of people across the country are protesting for justice among immigrants. No one protested to give my family a voice.

Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family—immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.

Grace Williams, a student at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, enjoys playing tennis, baking, and spending time with her family. Grace also enjoys her time as a writing editor for her school’s yearbook, the Pioneer. In the future, Grace hopes to continue her travels abroad, as well as live near extended family along the sunny beaches of La Jolla, California.

University Winner: Lillia Borodkin

Nourishing Change After Tragedy Strikes

In the Jewish community, food is paramount. We often spend our holidays gathered around a table, sharing a meal and reveling in our people’s story. On other sacred days, we fast, focusing instead on reflection, atonement, and forgiveness.

As a child, I delighted in the comfort of matzo ball soup, the sweetness of hamantaschen, and the beauty of braided challah. But as I grew older and more knowledgeable about my faith, I learned that the origins of these foods are not rooted in joy, but in sacrifice.

The matzo of matzo balls was a necessity as the Jewish people did not have time for their bread to rise as they fled slavery in Egypt. The hamantaschen was an homage to the hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story who plotted the Jewish people’s destruction. The unbaked portion of braided challah was tithed by commandment to the kohen  or priests. Our food is an expression of our history, commemorating both our struggles and our triumphs.

As I write this, only days have passed since eleven Jews were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. These people, intending only to pray and celebrate the Sabbath with their community, were murdered simply for being Jewish. This brutal event, in a temple and city much like my own, is a reminder that anti-Semitism still exists in this country. A reminder that hatred of Jews, of me, my family, and my community, is alive and flourishing in America today. The thought that a difference in religion would make some believe that others do not have the right to exist is frightening and sickening.  

 This is why, if given the chance, I would sit down the entire Jewish American community at one giant Shabbat table. I’d serve matzo ball soup, pass around loaves of challah, and do my best to offer comfort. We would take time to remember the beautiful souls lost to anti-Semitism this October and the countless others who have been victims of such hatred in the past. I would then ask that we channel all we are feeling—all the fear, confusion, and anger —into the fight.

As suggested in Korsha Wilson’s “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” I would urge my guests to direct our passion for justice and the comfort and care provided by the food we are eating into resisting anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds.

We must use the courage this sustenance provides to create change and honor our people’s suffering and strength. We must remind our neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that anti-Semitism is alive and well today. We must shout and scream and vote until our elected leaders take this threat to our community seriously. And, we must stand with, support, and listen to other communities that are subjected to vengeful hate today in the same way that many of these groups have supported us in the wake of this tragedy.

This terrible shooting is not the first of its kind, and if conflict and loathing are permitted to grow, I fear it will not be the last. While political change may help, the best way to target this hate is through smaller-scale actions in our own communities.

It is critical that we as a Jewish people take time to congregate and heal together, but it is equally necessary to include those outside the Jewish community to build a powerful crusade against hatred and bigotry. While convening with these individuals, we will work to end the dangerous “otherizing” that plagues our society and seek to understand that we share far more in common than we thought. As disagreements arise during our discussions, we will learn to respect and treat each other with the fairness we each desire. Together, we shall share the comfort, strength, and courage that traditional Jewish foods provide and use them to fuel our revolution. 

We are not alone in the fight despite what extremists and anti-semites might like us to believe.  So, like any Jew would do, I invite you to join me at the Shabbat table. First, we will eat. Then, we will get to work.  

Lillia Borodkin is a senior at Kent State University majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Child Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school and become a school psychologist while continuing to pursue her passion for reading and writing. Outside of class, Lillia is involved in research in the psychology department and volunteers at the Women’s Center on campus.   

Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester

As a kid, I remember asking my friends jokingly, ”If you were stuck on a deserted island, what single item of food would you bring?” Some of my friends answered practically and said they’d bring water. Others answered comically and said they’d bring snacks like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or a banana. However, most of my friends answered sentimentally and listed the foods that made them happy. This seems like fun and games, but what happens if the hypothetical changes? Imagine being asked, on the eve of your death, to choose the final meal you will ever eat. What food would you pick? Something practical? Comical? Sentimental?  

This situation is the reality for the 2,747 American prisoners who are currently awaiting execution on death row. The grim ritual of “last meals,” when prisoners choose their final meal before execution, can reveal a lot about these individuals and what they valued throughout their lives.

It is difficult for us to imagine someone eating steak, lobster tail, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream one moment and being killed by state-approved lethal injection the next. The prisoner can only hope that the apple pie he requested tastes as good as his mom’s. Surprisingly, many people in prison decline the option to request a special last meal. We often think of food as something that keeps us alive, so is there really any point to eating if someone knows they are going to die?

“Controlling food is a means of controlling power,” said chef Sean Sherman in the YES! Magazine article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” by Korsha Wilson. There are deeper stories that lie behind the final meals of individuals on death row.

I want to bring awareness to the complex and often controversial conditions of this country’s criminal justice system and change the common perception of prisoners as inhuman. To accomplish this, I would host a potluck where I would recreate the last meals of prisoners sentenced to death.

In front of each plate, there would be a place card with the prisoner’s full name, the date of execution, and the method of execution. These meals could range from a plate of fried chicken, peas with butter, apple pie, and a Dr. Pepper, reminiscent of a Sunday dinner at Grandma’s, to a single olive.

Seeing these meals up close, meals that many may eat at their own table or feed to their own kids, would force attendees to face the reality of the death penalty. It will urge my guests to look at these individuals not just as prisoners, assigned a number and a death date, but as people, capable of love and rehabilitation.  

This potluck is not only about realizing a prisoner’s humanity, but it is also about recognizing a flawed criminal justice system. Over the years, I have become skeptical of the American judicial system, especially when only seven states have judges who ethnically represent the people they serve. I was shocked when I found out that the officers who killed Michael Brown and Anthony Lamar Smith were exonerated for their actions. How could that be possible when so many teens and adults of color have spent years in prison, some even executed, for crimes they never committed?  

Lawmakers, police officers, city officials, and young constituents, along with former prisoners and their families, would be invited to my potluck to start an honest conversation about the role and application of inequality, dehumanization, and racism in the death penalty. Food served at the potluck would represent the humanity of prisoners and push people to acknowledge that many inmates are victims of a racist and corrupt judicial system.

Recognizing these injustices is only the first step towards a more equitable society. The second step would be acting on these injustices to ensure that every voice is heard, even ones separated from us by prison walls. Let’s leave that for the next potluck, where I plan to serve humble pie.

Paisley Regester is a high school senior and devotes her life to activism, the arts, and adventure. Inspired by her experiences traveling abroad to Nicaragua, Mexico, and Scotland, Paisley hopes to someday write about the diverse people and places she has encountered and share her stories with the rest of the world.

Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo

The Empty Seat

“If you aren’t sober, then I don’t want to see you on Christmas.”

Harsh words for my father to hear from his daughter but words he needed to hear. Words I needed him to understand and words he seemed to consider as he fiddled with his wine glass at the head of the table. Our guests, my grandma, and her neighbors remained resolutely silent. They were not about to defend my drunken father–or Charles as I call him–from my anger or my ultimatum.

This was the first dinner we had had together in a year. The last meal we shared ended with Charles slopping his drink all over my birthday presents and my mother explaining heroin addiction to me. So, I wasn’t surprised when Charles threw down some liquid valor before dinner in anticipation of my anger. If he wanted to be welcomed on Christmas, he needed to be sober—or he needed to be gone.

Countless dinners, holidays, and birthdays taught me that my demands for sobriety would fall on deaf ears. But not this time. Charles gave me a gift—a one of a kind, limited edition, absolutely awkward treat. One that I didn’t know how to deal with at all. Charles went home that night, smacked a bright red bow on my father, and hand-delivered him to me on Christmas morning.

He arrived for breakfast freshly showered and looking flustered. He would remember this day for once only because his daughter had scolded him into sobriety. Dad teetered between happiness and shame. Grandma distracted us from Dad’s presence by bringing the piping hot bacon and biscuits from the kitchen to the table, theatrically announcing their arrival. Although these foods were the alleged focus of the meal, the real spotlight shined on the unopened liquor cabinet in my grandma’s kitchen—the cabinet I know Charles was begging Dad to open.

I’ve isolated myself from Charles. My family has too. It means we don’t see Dad, but it’s the best way to avoid confrontation and heartache. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like if we talked with him more or if he still lived nearby. Would he be less inclined to use? If all families with an addict tried to hang on to a relationship with the user, would there be fewer addicts in the world? Christmas breakfast with Dad was followed by Charles whisking him away to Colorado where pot had just been legalized. I haven’t talked to Dad since that Christmas.

As Korsha Wilson stated in her YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” “Sometimes what we don’t cook says more than what we do cook.” When it comes to addiction, what isn’t served is more important than what is. In quiet moments, I like to imagine a meal with my family–including Dad. He’d have a spot at the table in my little fantasy. No alcohol would push him out of his chair, the cigarettes would remain seated in his back pocket, and the stench of weed wouldn’t invade the dining room. Fruit salad and gumbo would fill the table—foods that Dad likes. We’d talk about trivial matters in life, like how school is going and what we watched last night on TV.

Dad would feel loved. We would connect. He would feel less alone. At the end of the night, he’d walk me to the door and promise to see me again soon. And I would believe him.

Emma Lingo spends her time working as an editor for her school paper, reading, and being vocal about social justice issues. Emma is active with many clubs such as Youth and Government, KHS Cares, and Peer Helpers. She hopes to be a journalist one day and to be able to continue helping out people by volunteering at local nonprofits.

Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Bittersweet Reunion

I close my eyes and envision a dinner of my wildest dreams. I would invite all of my relatives. Not just my sister who doesn’t ask how I am anymore. Not just my nephews who I’m told are too young to understand me. No, I would gather all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to introduce them to the me they haven’t met.

For almost two years, I’ve gone by a different name that most of my family refuses to acknowledge. My aunt, a nun of 40 years, told me at a recent birthday dinner that she’d heard of my “nickname.” I didn’t want to start a fight, so I decided not to correct her. Even the ones who’ve adjusted to my name have yet to recognize the bigger issue.

Last year on Facebook, I announced to my friends and family that I am transgender. No one in my family has talked to me about it, but they have plenty to say to my parents. I feel as if this is about my parents more than me—that they’ve made some big parenting mistake. Maybe if I invited everyone to dinner and opened up a discussion, they would voice their concerns to me instead of my parents.

I would serve two different meals of comfort food to remind my family of our good times. For my dad’s family, I would cook heavily salted breakfast food, the kind my grandpa used to enjoy. He took all of his kids to IHOP every Sunday and ordered the least healthy option he could find, usually some combination of an overcooked omelet and a loaded Classic Burger. For my mom’s family, I would buy shakes and burgers from Hardee’s. In my grandma’s final weeks, she let aluminum tins of sympathy meals pile up on her dining table while she made my uncle take her to Hardee’s every day.

In her article on cooking and activism, food writer Korsha Wilson writes, “Everyone puts down their guard over a good meal, and in that space, change is possible.” Hopefully the same will apply to my guests.

When I first thought of this idea, my mind rushed to the endless negative possibilities. My nun-aunt and my two non-nun aunts who live like nuns would whip out their Bibles before I even finished my first sentence. My very liberal, state representative cousin would say how proud she is of the guy I’m becoming, but this would trigger my aunts to accuse her of corrupting my mind. My sister, who has never spoken to me about my genderidentity, would cover her children’s ears and rush them out of the house. My Great-Depression-raised grandparents would roll over in their graves, mumbling about how kids have it easy nowadays.

After mentally mapping out every imaginable terrible outcome this dinner could have, I realized a conversation is unavoidable if I want my family to accept who I am. I long to restore the deep connection I used to have with them. Though I often think these former relationships are out of reach, I won’t know until I try to repair them. For a year and a half, I’ve relied on Facebook and my parents to relay messages about my identity, but I need to tell my own story.

At first, I thought Korsha Wilson’s idea of a cooked meal leading the way to social change was too optimistic, but now I understand that I need to think more like her. Maybe, just maybe, my family could all gather around a table, enjoy some overpriced shakes, and be as close as we were when I was a little girl.

 Hayden Wilson is a 17-year-old high school junior from Missouri. He loves writing, making music, and painting. He’s a part of his school’s writing club, as well as the GSA and a few service clubs.

 Literary Gems

We received many outstanding essays for the Fall 2018 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.

Thinking of the main staple of the dish—potatoes, the starchy vegetable that provides sustenance for people around the globe. The onion, the layers of sorrow and joy—a base for this dish served during the holidays.  The oil, symbolic of hope and perseverance. All of these elements come together to form this delicious oval pancake permeating with possibilities. I wonder about future possibilities as I flip the latkes.

—Nikki Markman, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

The egg is a treasure. It is a fragile heart of gold that once broken, flows over the blemishless surface of the egg white in dandelion colored streams, like ribbon unraveling from its spool.

—Kaylin Ku, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, New Jersey

If I were to bring one food to a potluck to create social change by addressing anti-Semitism, I would bring gefilte fish because it is different from other fish, just like the Jews are different from other people.  It looks more like a matzo ball than fish, smells extraordinarily fishy, and tastes like sweet brine with the consistency of a crab cake.

—Noah Glassman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

I would not only be serving them something to digest, I would serve them a one-of-a-kind taste of the past, a taste of fear that is felt in the souls of those whose home and land were taken away, a taste of ancestral power that still lives upon us, and a taste of the voices that want to be heard and that want the suffering of the Natives to end.

—Citlalic Anima Guevara, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

It’s the one thing that your parents make sure you have because they didn’t.  Food is what your mother gives you as she lies, telling you she already ate. It’s something not everybody is fortunate to have and it’s also what we throw away without hesitation.  Food is a blessing to me, but what is it to you?

—Mohamed Omar, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

Filleted and fried humphead wrasse, mangrove crab with coconut milk, pounded taro, a whole roast pig, and caramelized nuts—cuisines that will not be simplified to just “food.” Because what we eat is the diligence and pride of our people—a culture that has survived and continues to thrive.

—Mayumi Remengesau, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Some people automatically think I’m kosher or ask me to say prayers in Hebrew.  However, guess what? I don’t know many prayers and I eat bacon.

—Hannah Reing, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, The Bronx, New York

Everything was placed before me. Rolling up my sleeves I started cracking eggs, mixing flour, and sampling some chocolate chips, because you can never be too sure. Three separate bowls. All different sizes. Carefully, I tipped the smallest, and the medium-sized bowls into the biggest. Next, I plugged in my hand-held mixer and flicked on the switch. The beaters whirl to life. I lowered it into the bowl and witnessed the creation of something magnificent. Cookie dough.

—Cassandra Amaya, Owen Goodnight Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

Biscuits and bisexuality are both things that are in my life…My grandmother’s biscuits are the best: the good old classic Southern biscuits, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Except it is mostly Southern people who don’t accept me.

—Jaden Huckaby, Arbor Montessori, Decatur, Georgia

We zest the bright yellow lemons and the peels of flavor fall lightly into the batter.  To make frosting, we keep adding more and more powdered sugar until it looks like fluffy clouds with raspberry seed rain.

—Jane Minus, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Tamales for my grandma, I can still remember her skillfully spreading the perfect layer of masa on every corn husk, looking at me pitifully as my young hands fumbled with the corn wrapper, always too thick or too thin.

—Brenna Eliaz, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

Just like fry bread, MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) remind New Orleanians and others affected by disasters of the devastation throughout our city and the little amount of help we got afterward.

—Madeline Johnson, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

I would bring cream corn and buckeyes and have a big debate on whether marijuana should be illegal or not.

—Lillian Martinez, Miller Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

We would finish the meal off with a delicious apple strudel, topped with schlag, schlag, schlag, more schlag, and a cherry, and finally…more schlag (in case you were wondering, schlag is like whipped cream, but 10 times better because it is heavier and sweeter).

—Morgan Sheehan, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Clever Titles

This year we decided to do something different. We were so impressed by the number of catchy titles that we decided to feature some of our favorites. 

“Eat Like a Baby: Why Shame Has No Place at a Baby’s Dinner Plate”

—Tate Miller, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas 

“The Cheese in Between”

—Jedd Horowitz, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Harvey, Michael, Florence or Katrina? Invite Them All Because Now We Are Prepared”

—Molly Mendoza, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

“Neglecting Our Children: From Broccoli to Bullets”

—Kylie Rollings, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri  

“The Lasagna of Life”

—Max Williams, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

“Yum, Yum, Carbon Dioxide In Our Lungs”

—Melanie Eickmeyer, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

“My Potluck, My Choice”

—Francesca Grossberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Trumping with Tacos”

—Maya Goncalves, Lincoln Middle School, Ypsilanti, Michigan

“Quiche and Climate Change”

—Bernie Waldman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Biscuits and Bisexuality”

“W(health)”

—Miles Oshan, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

“Bubula, Come Eat!”

—Jordan Fienberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

Dog killed in bear attack in North Jersey town as police report multiple encounters

Sparta Police are urging the public to be alert when their pets are outside following two separate bear encounters, including one that killed a dog, over a four-day span.

The first occurred at a home on Graphic Boulevard May 9. Three dogs were outside when a bear attacked and killed one of the animals, Detective Lt. Thomas Snyder told NorthJersey.com Thursday.

On May 13, another dog was injured in a bear attack on Mountain Spring Drive. The two homes are roughly a mile from each other in neighborhoods off West Mountain Road.

Sparta Police, in coordination with officials from New Jersey Fish and Wildlife, are investigating the two incidents and "taking appropriate measures to ensure public safety," Chief Jeffery McCarrick stated in a post on the department Facebook page Wednesday.

In the meantime, McCarrick advised residents near West Mountain Road to be cautious when outside. They should also "take necessary precautions to avoid potential encounters" such as securing outdoor garbage and food sources that may attract wildlife, he said.

Sussex County recorded 80 bear attacks , damage reports or other encounters from Jan. 1 to April 21, according to the most recent Bear Activity Report from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. That figure represents just over half of the 157 incidents in the entire state over that time and is well above the 54 reported during the same period last year.

In January 2022, two dogs were killed by bears in Sparta in a span of less than three weeks. In May of that year, a woman in neighboring Lafayette was taken to the hospital after she was injured by a bear while checking her mail.

A Dog Is a Mom’s Best Friend

As mothers—and as women—we are often held to impossible standards. On Mother’s Day, we’re grateful to the pets who love us for ourselves.

I found her in my mid-30s. I had just run for Congress in New York City, and lost spectacularly. Utterly humiliated, I spent most of my time alone, glued to my couch. My now-husband, Nihal, knew just how to cheer me up: we piled into a rental car, and drove to a farm in Pennsylvania.

I immediately knew she was the one: a beagle bulldog mix, seven pounds, all wrinkles and squat limbs and crooked teeth. Her soulful eyes had seen a lot in her brief lifetime, and she looked at me like she knew I had, too.

The Congressional race had left me broke, unemployed, and hardly able to afford my own life, let alone support another. But for some reason, I forked over what remained of my bank account, scooped up the dog, and home we went. I named her Stanley. It just suited her.

In the months to come, Stanley dragged me off the couch, forcing me to once again walk the streets of the city I loved. She licked the envelopes of the “I’m sorry I lost, I promise I will become something” letters I wrote to my supporters. She was utterly fearless, if a little bit shameless, unafraid to greet strangers with a goofy smile.

Stan was there to walk with me and turn the other way, when it seemed that all of New York City was just pregnant ladies pushing double-wide strollers. When I miscarried, and miscarried again, and then miscarried again, Stan was my soft tissue box, patient and still as I buried my head into her camel-colored fur and cried after receiving more bad news from the doctor. When I lay awake at night scrolling through fertility blogs, my belly bloated and sore from IVF shots, Stan was my weighted blanket, the sounds of her heavy bulldog breath eventually lulling me to a few hours of sleep. She didn’t judge me, and she certainly didn’t blame me.

When Mother’s Day rolled around year after year, and I still was not, technically, a mom, I considered that maybe Stan was my real baby. When I was with her, I would feel, however briefly, like I wasn’t a failure. To Stanley, I wasn’t a bad wife or bad candidate, bad woman or bad person. I was just Reshma. And I was loved.

She didn’t even mind, as a human sibling might, when two sticky, smelly, shrieking strangers came into our lives and took my attention—some of it, anyway—away from her. When I was 39, I welcomed my son Shaan, and then, a few years later, his brother Sai. Their S names were in Stan’s honor.

Stan adjusted well: watching over the boys, playing with them, and happily taking their food. But more than anything, she was a respite from the all-encompassing exhaustion of motherhood.

In summer 2020, as I spent my days furiously paddling to keep my head above water while looking after a newborn, a toddler, and a nonprofit gutted by COVID, Stanley was my rock. She still did not judge me, even when I accidentally left her in my building’s elevator for fifteen minutes on a particularly hectic day—a sign that I needed more help than I was willing to admit, and that maybe other moms did, too.

.css-1aear8u:before{margin:0 auto 0.9375rem;width:34px;height:25px;content:'';display:block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1aear8u:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/elle/static/images/quote.fddce92.svg);} .css-1bvxk2j{font-family:SaolDisplay,SaolDisplay-fallback,SaolDisplay-roboto,SaolDisplay-local,Georgia,Times,serif;font-size:1.625rem;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.125rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.125rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.25rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.375rem;line-height:1.2;}}.css-1bvxk2j b,.css-1bvxk2j strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-1bvxk2j em,.css-1bvxk2j i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;}.css-1bvxk2j i,.css-1bvxk2j em{font-style:italic;} Although long labeled a man’s best friend, really, dogs are the best friend moms deserve.”

Later that year, as COVID exposed and exacerbated the struggles of American mothers, I launched Moms First to advocate for policies like paid leave and child care. And I started to pay closer attention to the ways moms were undervalued, underestimated, and held to impossible standards.

Although long labeled a man’s best friend, really, dogs are the best friend moms deserve. Sure, they’re a good proxy for having real, human children—the expenses, the accidents, the mysterious smells. But more than any of that, when we’re faced with the pressure to be perfect—by society, and by ourselves—dogs offer us a safe place to land: the kind of unconditional love that makes us feel like we can do anything. Like we are not, as I’ve spoken about before, imposters . It’s a gift every person deserves, but women rarely receive.

More than how to care for my children, Stanley taught me how to care for myself. How, in the face of mom guilt and mom bods and mom shame and mom penalties, I could give myself grace. Not as a gift, but as a given.

When Stan was diagnosed with cancer last spring, I thought my world had fallen apart. The veterinarians gave her three weeks to live; she lived for eight months.

I tried, every day, to be the companion to her that she was to me: cooking her fresh food every day, sneaking her gobs of peanut butter, taking her out in the middle of the night, as many times as she needed. I’d like to think that Stanley left me when she knew I could live life without her—a nice idea that provides little relief in the face of grief.

The week Stan died, Shaan turned nine. We held his birthday party at Benihana, an establishment I will probably never be able to visit again. I was devastated, irritated, and in absolutely no mood to celebrate, let alone marvel at an onion volcano. When a child complained that they didn’t like the chocolate cake, I wanted to yell, “I don’t care! Don’t you know I’ve just lost my baby?” Instead, the kid saw my glassy eyes and settled for some plain rice.

It was, to put it lightly, not Shaan’s best birthday. Once again, I felt like a failure.

But then, I thought of Stan.

Moms, and women generally, are cut such little slack. But through those watery, sparkling, soulful eyes, Stan saw me for me. Other people loved me despite my failures—Stan didn’t even see them.

And so, I do my best to honor Stan. To accept myself entirely, even when it feels impossible. To encourage the women in my life to do the same. To get off the couch, to walk through the neighborhood, to watch women with their babies, women with their dogs. To take comfort in knowing that someone loves them unconditionally—just like Stan loved me.

Reshma Saujani is the founder and CEO of Moms First and the founder of Girls Who Code. She is the author of instant national bestseller Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think) . 

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The Best College Is One Where You Don’t Fit In

By Michael S. Roth

Mr. Roth is the president of Wesleyan University.

This time of year, college campuses like the one where I live fill up with high school seniors preparing to make what feels like a momentous choice. The first imperative is to find a school that they can afford, but beyond that, many students have been advised to find one where they can see themselves. Too often, they take this to mean finding a place with students like them, even students who look like them — a place where they will feel comfortable. I can’t tell you how many families have described driving many hours to a campus somewhere and having their daughter or son say something like: “We don’t need to get out. I can tell already this isn’t for me.”

“How about the info session?” the patient parent asks.

Choosing a college based on where you feel comfortable is a mistake. The most rewarding forms of education make you feel very uncomfortable, not least because they force you to recognize your own ignorance. Students should hope to encounter ideas and experience cultural forms that push them beyond their current opinions and tastes. Sure, revulsion is possible (and one can learn from that), but so is the discovery that your filtered ways of taking in the world had blocked out things in which you now delight. One learns from that, too.

Either way, a college education should enable you to discover capabilities you didn’t even know you had while deepening those that provide you with meaning and direction. To discover these capabilities is to practice freedom, the opposite of trying to figure out how to conform to the world as it is. Tomorrow the world will be different anyway. Education should help you find ways of shaping change, not just ways of coping with it.

These days, the first thing that campus visitors may notice are protests over the war in Gaza. These will be attractive to some who see in them an admirable commitment to principle and off-putting to those who see evidence of groupthink or intimidation. Any campus should be a “ safe enough space ,” one free of harassment and intimidation, but not one where identities and beliefs are just reinforced. That’s why it’s profoundly disturbing to hear of Jewish students afraid to move about because of the threat of verbal and physical abuse. And that’s why it’s inspiring to see Muslim and Jewish students camped out together to protest a war they think is unjust.

Refusing to conform can mean being rebellious, but it can also mean just going against the grain, like being unabashedly religious in a very secular institution or being the conservative or libertarian voice in classes filled with progressives. I recently asked one such student if he perceived any faculty bias. “Don’t worry about me,” he replied. “My professors find me fascinating.” Some of the military veterans who’ve attended my liberal arts university have disrupted the easy prejudices of their progressive peers while finding themselves working in areas they’d never expected to be interested in.

Over the years, I’ve found nonconformists to be the most interesting people to have in my classes; I’ve also found that they often turn out to be the people who add the greatest value to the organizations in which they work. I’m thinking of Kendall, a computer science major I had in a philosophy class whom I saw on campus recently because she was directing an ambitious musical. When I expressed my admiration at her unlikely combination of interests, she was almost insulted by my surprise and enthusiasm. Had I really stereotyped her as someone not interested in the arts just because she excels in science?

Or take the student activist (please!) who a couple of years after leading a demonstration to the president’s office made an appointment to meet with me. I was worried about new political demands, but she had something else in mind: getting a recommendation for law school. I could, she reminded me with a smile, write about her leadership abilities on campus. And I did.

Of course, even students who refuse to fall in with the herd should learn how to listen and speak to it and to various groups different from their own. That’s an increasingly valuable capacity, and it will help them make their way in the world, whatever school they attend, whatever their major.

Side by side, students should learn how to be full human beings, not mere appendages, and this means continually questioning what they are doing and learning from one another. “Truly speaking,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said about a century ago, “it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul.” That’s why the colleges — large public institutions or small faith-based colleges or anything in between — that nurture and respond to the energies of their students are the ones that feel most intellectually alive.

So, what makes a school the right one? It’s not the prestige of a name or the campus amenities. First and foremost, it’s the teachers. Great teachers help make a college great because they themselves are never done being students. Sure, there are plenty of schools filled with faculty members who think alike, who relish the bubble of fellowship in received opinion. A college can make being weird or radical into adolescent orthodoxy. These places should be avoided. By contrast, there are colleges with great teachers who practice freedom by activating wonder, a capacity for appreciation and a taste for inquiry — and who do so because they themselves seek out these broadening experiences. You can feel their own nonconformity as they try to provoke their students away from the various forms of received opinion.

Finding the right college will often mean finding these kinds of people — classmates and mentors, perpetual students who seek open-ended learning that brings joy and meaning. That’s what young people checking out schools should really be looking for: not a place merely to fit in but a place to practice freedom in good company.

Michael S. Roth is the president of Wesleyan University. His most recent books are “ The Student: A Short History” and “ Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses.”

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D.V.M. Class of 2025 celebrates White Coat Ceremony

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Members of the Class of 2025 stand to take the Veterinarian's Oath at the 2024 CVM White Coat Ceremony. Photo: Darcy Rose Video / CVM

On Saturday, May 4, 2024, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) held its annual White Coat Ceremony, marking the transition of the Veterinary Class of 2025 to fourth-year clinical rotations.

The ceremony takes its name from the iconic white coat worn by medical professionals, and serves as a physical reminder of the students’ responsibilities as future veterinarians — to balance scientific excellence with compassionate patient care.

Before the coating ceremony, Lorin D. Warnick, D.V.M., Ph.D. '94, the Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine, welcomed the students and their families to Bailey Hall on Cornell’s campus.

“Your clinical education will be foundational to your future work,” Warnick said. “Employers and the public look to veterinarians to understand the scientific basis of health and disease, to advise them on preventive medicine, to know the processes of diagnosis and treatment, the transmission of infectious diseases and the intersection of the health of animals in the environment.”

He went on to note that the Class of 2025 will benefit from the recent updates to CVM’s clinical curriculum. “You’ll have a new evaluation system that really emphasizes actionable feedback and growth in skills and knowledge,” he said.

Warnick stressed the importance of three key principles as the students continued on their professional path: ethical behavior, working well in teams and continuous learning. “These, and other professional obligations, should become second nature as you take this next step in your education.”

Next, Warnick welcomed Jai Sweet, Ph.D. ’96, assistant dean of veterinary services, who officiated the coating ceremony. The audience looked on and applauded as each individual member of the Class of 2025 took to the stage to receive their official Cornell white coat from a chosen mentor. 

After this, Mara DiGrazia '92, D.V.M. '96, president of the Alumni Association Executive Board, took the stage to address the crowd.

“When you’re finished with your rotations, you’ll be a competent, hardworking, intelligent, compassionate veterinarian, in any field you decide to dive into,” DiGrazia said. “Our extensive network of Cornell alumni will always be here for you.”

She then led the newly-coated class in reciting the Veterinarian’s Oath, as follows:

Following the oath reciting, keynote speaker Niccole Bruno, D.V.M. '06, founder of blendVET™, gave the official address to the class.

“As a third-year student in 2004, I could have never fathomed that I would be standing here on this stage in this capacity,” Bruno said. “It speaks to life’s unexpected twists and turns and the incredible opportunities they offer.”

She went on note the important role the students would go on to play in their careers. “As future veterinarians, you will soon realize that our profession is not about the medicine we practice, but equally about the people we serve and the diverse teams we work alongside,” she said. “Being a veterinarian is inherently a leadership role. And our leadership reflects the values and principles we hold dear. It is crucial to lead from a place of authenticity, and to create an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging.”

Bruno’s speech was followed by the presentation of the John F. Cummings Memorial Award to Emily Lynne Davis, Class of 2025. The scholarship recognizes a student who has demonstrated clear and outstanding academic achievement in the study of veterinary medicine or comparative medicine.

The ceremony wrapped up with director of the Cornell University Hospital for Animals, Dr. Meg Thompson, welcoming the class to the hospital, and with final closing remarks from Warnick, who invited students and their family and friends to gather for a reception at Takoda’s Run Atrium at the college.

Wearing their new, bright-white coats, the Class of 2025 filed back out of the auditorium to the thunderous applause of the onlookers, and into the sunshine to start the next step of their veterinary journey.

Written by Lauren Cahoon Roberts

Photos by Darcy Rose Video

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