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

[Anonymous]

The ones for parents to do -- how much time did you spend on them? Lengthy dissertations or just a few sentences?

[Anonymous]

Few sentences! If you write a bunch of dissertations the people who have to read 300 applications are going to hate you...

Beauvoir has a 700 character limit to each question's response. That's a good guideline in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Half hour of writing, maybe. Couple of days of thinking on and off about them.

[Anonymous]

For me, they were short, but took a long time to plan and Erie and edit. Maybe 2 hours for each of the three phases, spread out over 3 weeks. I'm a meticulous writer though, so producing something such as this is like giving birth to it.

[Anonymous]

*write, not Erie

[Anonymous]

And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few sentences! If you write a bunch of dissertations the people who have to read 300 applications are going to hate you...

Beauvoir has a 700 character limit to each question's response. That's a good guideline in my opinion.

This. I found many had character limitations. Also you want to be detailed but concise. Depending on the school you are applying to they have anywhere from 60-120 apps to read. You want your to memorable for the right reasons. So get to the key points in as few as words as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

Because being neurotic and passing on that trait to your kids is kind of terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

Because being neurotic and passing on that trait to your kids is kind of terrible.

So submitting half-ass work product is the better approach? If you think so, then maybe a subpar public school is a better environment for you.

[Anonymous]

Short and sweet: 4-5 sentences.
Of course, to make them that way, it took me an hour for each question! It's easy to write a long rambling rigmarole, it's more difficult to boil it down to something that's to the point, appealing, well-written and SHORT.

[Anonymous]

22:09 here. I did not write 9:52, but agree wholeheartedly. If you think investing in excellence is neurotic, public school is probably a better fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

Because being neurotic and passing on that trait to your kids is kind of terrible.

Not the PP, but I'd be perfectly happy if my children realize that it is sometimes the small things that make a difference, particularly in subjective processes. If it takes ten hours, then that is ten hours very well spent in my view if you have any strong view of where you'd like your child to go to school. If you have a great public option, or if for some reason you know he or she is very likely to be admitted to a school you are very happy with, then I'd agree that spending an hour tops then going our for a nice bike ride makes sense. For those who do not have those certainties, and especially those who are applying for schools for kids to attend for up to 14 years (if pk-12), it would seem to be worth it to put in a day's effort up front in the application process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

Because being neurotic and passing on that trait to your kids is kind of terrible.

So submitting half-ass work product is the better approach? If you think so, then maybe a subpar public school is a better environment for you.

No. It doesn't take us 10 hours to put together great answers. I can't believe it takes anyone that long. Maybe look at a different school that fits your family better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And people complain about Sidwell's former policy of on the spot questions? Taking anything more than 15-20 minutes is defeating the purpose.

What a dumb approach. Written responses help schools evaluate the parents and their suitability for the school. The school has no idea how much time you out into the essays, but an articulate, polished response is obviously going to make a better impression than something written off the cuff.

I spent maybe 1/2 an hour drafting responses to each question. Over a period of several weeks, I spent probably another 10 hours carefully editing each essay, reviewing for brevity, word choice, clarity of ideas, etc. I used to write professionally, and I applied every erg of talent and training to the essay writing process.

DC was accepted by all the schools where we applied, including Big 3 schools. DC had great test scores and made very positive impressions during play dates, so I can't say definitively that the essays made a difference. But, since private school admissions are extremely competitive, why would you disadvantage your child by submitting slap-dash essays?

Because being neurotic and passing on that trait to your kids is kind of terrible.

So submitting half-ass work product is the better approach? If you think so, then maybe a subpar public school is a better environment for you.

No. It doesn't take us 10 hours to put together great answers. I can't believe it takes anyone that long. Maybe look at a different school that fits your family better?

You may think the answers are great. Your readers may not.

Any good writer will tell you that writing well takes time. Superb writing is not a simple stringing together of words, but requires thinking, reading, re-reading, consideration of a wide variety of possible sentences and words, anticipation of possible misreadings, carefully controlling tone, etc.

Of course, the less you know about writing, the simpler a task it seems.