MCPS high school application — ‘responses should be completed by the student without assistance’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids wrote their essays for all the magnet admissions and college admissions on Word. They used the spell check and grammar to get that out of the way. They read it to us and we commented extensively. They fixed it and were happy with it. Then they submitted on whatever platform they wanted to submit. Both kids were in magnet track in MCPS, both are amazing writers, both are in college with significant merit $$.

The quality of writing for most magnet applicant is very high. These are not average B students.

Not sure about when your kids applied but now the applications are only accessible through ParentVue. So parents have to have an active role in submitting because student's can't even see the app without their parents (unless your kid has your ParentVue password, which would be unusual).

Wow. That just makes it ripe for parental interference. Wonder why they don't put this in StudentVUE?

[Anonymous]

An unrelated question that I'm hoping a kind soul might answer....could someone please me to a list or document of what's required to apply to various high school programs if you are coming from a private school?

We want to know what documents, test scores, and essays are required in advance - so we have it ready before we go into ParentVue. Specifically we are looking for Richard Montgomery and some of the DCC programs, both lottery and criteria-based. I have combed the MCPS website and haven't found anything, but I remember such a document being shared earlier on DCUM. Thank you!


(and yes my kid is going to do their own essay without my intervention (:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids wrote their essays for all the magnet admissions and college admissions on Word. They used the spell check and grammar to get that out of the way. They read it to us and we commented extensively. They fixed it and were happy with it. Then they submitted on whatever platform they wanted to submit. Both kids were in magnet track in MCPS, both are amazing writers, both are in college with significant merit $$.

The quality of writing for most magnet applicant is very high. These are not average B students.

This I do not doubt (the quality of writing of magnet students), yet the bolded is the issue. In your examply, you and your DH provided assistance in violoation of the statement. You did.

[Anonymous]

As for me, I would contribute a typo of course.

[Anonymous]

I gave ideas, my kid wrote it, I looked over it and reminded them of a few things. They fixed some things. I looked at it. We talked about different ideas. I reminded them about a typo or grammar thing. If I were to write it myself, it would have looked very different. It's supposed to let their personality shine through. But I think checking over their shoulder and discussing it is fine. I know others would disagree. But my kid got into school of choice and is happy there. Clearly from this post you can see my writing skills aren't as polished as my kid's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely discuss beforehand, and then let your child write their own stuff. It's important their voice stands out.

Basically this is just a dry run for college essays later. Same approach. Admissions officers read so many of these it's really easy to tell when an essay has been edited to death by someone other than the student.

It's funny because my Senior is an excellent writer and his "voice" is extremely mature. Hope he isn't penalized by Admissions Offices.

[Anonymous]

MCPS never taught my kid to wite an essay like that. We did it together. If they want kids to do it on their own, it should be part of the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely discuss beforehand, and then let your child write their own stuff. It's important their voice stands out.

Basically this is just a dry run for college essays later. Same approach. Admissions officers read so many of these it's really easy to tell when an essay has been edited to death by someone other than the student.

It's funny because my Senior is an excellent writer and his "voice" is extremely mature. Hope he isn't penalized by Admissions Offices.

I would think if the quality of your student’s essay aligns with their grades and with the rigor of their coursework, as well as being commensurate with their test scores, it wouldn’t raise any red flags.

It’s the kids taking standard English classes with mediocre SAT scores who seem “off” when they turn in a polished essay, complete with complex sentence structure and nuanced vocabulary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely discuss beforehand, and then let your child write their own stuff. It's important their voice stands out.

Basically this is just a dry run for college essays later. Same approach. Admissions officers read so many of these it's really easy to tell when an essay has been edited to death by someone other than the student.

It's funny because my Senior is an excellent writer and his "voice" is extremely mature. Hope he isn't penalized by Admissions Offices.

DP. I always worried about this with mine -- she is a little old lady in a teen body. I had to give her feedback on her college essays so admissions officers wouldn't think her granny wrote them!

[Anonymous]

My kid has a group chat with about 50 Middle School magnet kids. I peeked. Content is solidly about the essay and most of them complaining about parental interference, a parent rewriting the entire thing, or a parent insisting they do it differently.

My own kid wrote his own, but I guess that maybe puts them at a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

What is the 250-word essay question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the 250-word essay question?

By this I mean what are the actual words of the prompt/question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the 250-word essay question?

By this I mean what are the actual words of the prompt/question?

Its just asking about the kids interests, community involvement, etc. Just talk about themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the 250-word essay question?

By this I mean what are the actual words of the prompt/question?

Its just asking about the kids interests, community involvement, etc. Just talk about themselves.

More specifically it asks what they are passionate about.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. This essay is stressing me out. My DC read theirs to me and it’s…ok. DC is usually a very strong writer, so I’m not sure what’s going on here. I’m trying not to interfere and let it be their voice, but it’s hard.