Essays in private school applications -- how much time do you spend on them?

[Anonymous]

I think the school would get more from the off the cuff responses. The slaving over these essays is ridiculous.

- Big 3 parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the school would get more from the off the cuff responses. The slaving over these essays is ridiculous.

- Big 3 parent

Yeah, the schools would get that the parents are either sloppy or entitled.

-A different Big 3 parent

[Anonymous]

Or the school would end up self selecting a lot of journalists, world bank editors and policy wonks.

Did someone say Sidwell ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or the school would end up self selecting a lot of journalists, world bank editors and policy wonks.

Did someone say Sidwell ??

I'd rather a private school community full of public servants who can write versus the lobbyists, lawyers, and legacied who actually dominate the Big 3 schools.

[Anonymous]

NP here, and a lawyer but I don't "dominate" any school, much less the schools my kids attend. Applying out for 2 kids this year, total of 4 different schools and 2 different grades, which means lots of essays. What I have found to be helpful at times is to compose a one page (or so) essay about each of them, describing the typical things that one would expect the essays questions to ask (what is he like, what are her strengths and interests, etc.). Then I turn to the actual essays and can cut and paste portions of my "master" essay into the answer spaces and edit them to fit the context better and more completely answer each particular question (it pays to watch out for subtle differences in how different schools ask the same questions). When I am done with that, I then tend to the outliers, the question or two that each application has that seems to be unique tot hat school. All in all, it takes a few hours of writing and refining the answers, and some days beforehand to think about how best to present each of the children (honestly, of course, but with the goal of showing each of them in the best light possible). Once done, I have my spouse read and critique each of them, and make needed changes before submitting. I generally spend a lot of time on my writing, so this is nothing unusual for me, though it can sometimes be difficult articulating things that I just "feel." I see the time spent on the essays as an investment, much like my tuition dollars and time I may volunteer at the school the kids attend will be an investment. But, that's just me. Others may be able to accomplish the same thing more quickly, and that is fine. Just remember, once you hit "submit", it is too late to go back and change or add something.