Some schools have “short answer” questions with max 4000 characters. Not sure how close to the max we should encourage our DC to write. Anyone have any thoughts/experiences with this??

Anonymous wrote:We are going through it but I truly wonder whether these essays are really important. Do the admissions officers ever include or exclude an applicant based on the essay. Or do they make us do these essays to weed out those who really want it versus those who are just casually looking.

At our school it was very clear they cared a lot about fit and had read the parent essays before our parent interview. Things I had written came up.

Anonymous wrote:Applications… for 9th grade..? LMAO

You won't be laughing when OP's kid is your boss.

Anonymous wrote:We are going through it but I truly wonder whether these essays are really important. Do the admissions officers ever include or exclude an applicant based on the essay. Or do they make us do these essays to weed out those who really want it versus those who are just casually looking.

I think this is very true. I doubt they are really weighted except “mailing it in” is considered. Annoying.

We are going through it but I truly wonder whether these essays are really important. Do the admissions officers ever include or exclude an applicant based on the essay. Or do they make us do these essays to weed out those who really want it versus those who are just casually looking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes so much time and effort. Our k-8 had an 8th grade capstone project and between the project and hs applications it was the equivalent of an extra class in the schedule for several months. It was exhausting.

8th grade “capstone” project? LOL. You can’t make this stuff up. Why bother when your kid will just end up in a state school?

Why are you even on the private school forum?

Go easy on this idiot. Obviously uneducated and not too bright in general.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the gds application takes the most work. Several more obscure essays from both parents and the student plus SSAT and extra-long interview.

"obscure essays"???? Can you be more specific?

For example, what does taking responsibility mean to your child? Use examples. Maybe unique is a better word. Not the standard, what are your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

For my next kid, I will work on the describe your child and another for what are their extracurricular activities over the summer before I have the Ravenna access to see what the school specific essays are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I spent longer on private school applications for my kids than I did on my own college apps back in the day.

+1 Only applying to three schools and not even for 9th grade, and it's still been a lot!

+2 I spent more energy into Open House and essays more than my job interview and resume.

Yup, SO.MUCH.TIME. FWIW, it's a lot of time for middle school applications too (so if you're applying to middle school, pick one that you know kid will be happy with for high school so you don't have to do the process again!).

Anonymous wrote:Three or so years ago, a school shared a quote from MLK and asked us to write about what it meant to us as a family.

Wow! Thanks for the heads up. I thought it would be something like tell us about your child or why do you think our school is a fit for your child.

Anonymous wrote:I think the gds application takes the most work. Several more obscure essays from both parents and the student plus SSAT and extra-long interview.

"obscure essays"???? Can you be more specific?

Anonymous wrote:I think I spent longer on private school applications for my kids than I did on my own college apps back in the day.

+1 Only applying to three schools and not even for 9th grade, and it's still been a lot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes so much time and effort. Our k-8 had an 8th grade capstone project and between the project and hs applications it was the equivalent of an extra class in the schedule for several months. It was exhausting.

8th grade “capstone” project? LOL. You can’t make this stuff up. Why bother when your kid will just end up in a state school?

Please take your nasty and toxic energy and go back to haunt the dank bridge you came from, Troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It takes so much time and effort. Our k-8 had an 8th grade capstone project and between the project and hs applications it was the equivalent of an extra class in the schedule for several months. It was exhausting.

8th grade “capstone” project? LOL. You can’t make this stuff up. Why bother when your kid will just end up in a state school?

Why are you even on the private school forum?

We're only doing two schools, but it's still alot. We've gone to some events--games, plays--and then open houses etc. in addition to tours and shadow days. I think because we're only doing two, we're spending more time to really get a sense of the school etc., but yeah, I'll be glad when it is over.