We are applying as a repeating freshman for the fall 2021 academic year and have really appreciated the information in CC - thank you to everyone for being such a great resource!
We are are applying to 7 boarding schools with various levels of acceptance rates (Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Loomis, Choate, Westminster, Berkshire, NMH - I know it’s an odd mix), have had 3 interviews so far, are in Part 1 the Candidate Profile and endless Zoom meetings to ‘learn more’ - crushed we aren’t able to formally visit, considering it’s the next 4 years, but grateful BSs are doing as much as they can to inform, educate and differentiate to prospective families.
As a parent, I am beginning to feel behind in general, and nervous about DD completion of all of these essays. For anyone willing and with some experience - is the beginning of November late to be starting the essays, still have 4 interviews left, and get recommendations? Any general idea how far along the admissions process families should be two months out? (I guess there are way too many variables to answer that)
Regarding the teacher, counselor and personal recommendation - how long are these to complete in Gateway or SAO for the teacher/counselor/coach? We are emailing Math, ELA, Guidance Counselor and two coaches to request their recommendations in December - is the recommendation a questionnaire or more of a writing format?
I’m so sorry for long post and questions - new to everything and feeling slightly overwhelmed! Thanks in advance…
Please email all teachers you want to write recommendations ASAP. Teachers do not want to be asked in December!!! Asking them now doesn’t mean they complete it right now, it means they have time to plan when they will do it. Recommendations are a form with a portion that the teacher can write something about the student.
This isn’t late to be starting essays. My kids basically did all their essays over December break - BUT they were very disciplined ie up at 9 every day, working on essays for 3 hours, break, working on essays for 3 hours. If that’s your daughter then it’s totally doable. We did it this way because my kids had a soccer schedule that precluded writing essays in the fall.
I’ll offer our experience but know that I’m not suggesting it’s typical or necessarily recommended. But you are way ahead of where we were last year by miles. My DD was weeks away from even taking her first SSAT (nov 16), which she frankly tanked. We asked for recommendations in early November based on a prep school application guidebook, which seemed plenty of time. (Note: you can see the gateway rec forms online. I’d have to poke around to remember exactly where but it wasn’t hard to find.). December SSATs were also not great so we added 4 new higher-admit schools at Christmas time (yikes — that part was a smidge stressful TBH!) that she interviewed for in January (!)
With SSAT situation so up in the air, she didn’t get to essay drafts until Christmas break, although we talked about the topics, themes, narrative of her applications off and on for a month or two in the fall. So the first set of drafts (for SÃO) actually were written in a few hours one day over winter break. (Again not including the outline/brainstorming.). Editing the main essays took another few hours another day or two later. Then each gateway app essay batch was molded from the SÃO batch of essays, taking probably 3-5 hours each school. Totally doable if you focus and work well under deadline. And if you are smart about leveraging the SÃO essays (which was not hard).
I would add that the actual application for each school — just the managing of the forms etc etc took more time than we expected. Just a lot of following up and making sure each school really gets what they need. Also the physical aspect of cutting and pasting essays and managing word and character count takes some time. So I’d leave some space for that fun project.
I have another daughter applying this year and we are just now settling on our school list. Planning for essay drafts over thanksgiving. Recs in a week or two. We’ve just now started signing her up for interviews. That part might be a bit hectic because we have a long list, but we just weren’t sure on our list and we had a lot going on at home unrelated to her applications so the process had to get put on hold for a few weeks. Still, I’m not even a tiny bit feeling like we are “behind.” She is fine.
DD2 last year ended up with 8 admissions, 3 waitlists and 1 rejection and is now at her first-choice school as a 9th grader. So it’s totally doable in a way that feels not stressful. Not to suggest what worked for us would work for everyone. But I think you sound completely on track.
But basically here are the rough steps DD took for building essays.
Brainstormed activities, stories, themes from her life.
Developed a clear narrative that could be supported with evidence (ECs, activities, awards, achievements, etc..)
Made a "hit list" or guiding document of "things she wants to be sure to cover in her essays." Had a short list of "critical stuff" and then another list of "hey would be nice to add."
Made a list of all the essay questions from all schools. SAO has 4 this year I think. That was page one. then ALL the other (gateway school) question options, we put on other pages. (one page per school).
Used the "guiding document" to drive what approximately would be the topic for each SAO essay. Doubled checked that nothing that daughter deemed important was missing. (literally used a checkmark in the margins of a printed doc for this.)
DD used this pretty solid outline to write her SAO drafts in one sitting.
She then edited and shaped SAO essays and printed them. The KEY: have SAO essays you feel REALLY REALLY GOOD about! (my tip for my daughters: do not blame the question. You get to write what you want, and you can absolutely be skilled enough to do it in a form that answers their question. You own what you choose to say about yourself. But definitely answer the actual question.)
Then we sat together and looked at all the Gateway essay question options and selected the questions that most closely aligned with what was said in SAO essays.
All essays were written in word, so literally cutting and pasting and shifting around and rounding out essays was how she created the Gateway essays.
Yes, there were some pieces that were NOT covered by the SAO essays. But 85% of the gateway stuff was able to be pulled from SAO essays in some form, which remember: is your best work, so trust that. You can use the "nice to add" stuff to round out some short answers or to bridge to gateway questions that don't align with SAO questions.
Print entire school essay batch and read (another day; always review writing another day) to confirm that you don't have cut and paste problems, or editing problems due to shifting writing around to respect changes in essay length, etc.
Also check each school's essay batches against the "guiding document" check list you created before you even began the essay process. Again, she literally used checkmarks in the margins.
Cut and paste and populate into the portal. (This takes longer than one would hope!) and then: PRINT again the entire school application and review before submitting.
Final Tip: Always read every final draft aloud to check for your voice and to catch small errors. (I am an author and send my family away for the weekend so I can walk around and freely read my book aloud in the house and that exercise cannot be overestimated! Plus, there is something really powerful about hearing your own voice share your story. Really. don't skip this!)
In other words, the brainstorming on what to say (knowing your own story, unrelated to the essay questions), and then proofreading and editing are the longer pieces. The writing itself was relatively quick.
My only slight addition (which I think is implied above) was that when my kids were writing they didn’t delete anything until after the applications were turned in. So if they were going to cut an essay or part of an essay they cut and pasted it into a separate document in case they wanted to use it in another essay or make the point later.
And reading aloud to proof read before you turn in cannot be emphasized enough.
To clarify something:
Just saw a small point of confusion — #12 should say “before you begin the process of putting essays into portal.” (NOT before you begin the entire essay process).
Thank you @Calliemomofgirls and @one1ofeach - YES, this all helps! Incredibly helpful context and guidance. I love the ‘do not blame the question’ advice - what a different perspective to writing essays.
Also appreciated the insights into adding schools in Dec/interviewing in Jan - we are applying as a repeating freshman because we needed DD to own, motivate and drive the admissions process - she was not ready a year ago, but couldn’t be more opposite now. I thought it might be too late to consider additional schools.
BTW @skieast late arrivals into our fold did not impact her negatively - she received admission, merit, and FA from our latecomers with Skype interviews (back when people didn’t all do zoom). So no one seemed offended that we came into the mix later.
Also, not that it matters, but just for the benefit of other readers in the future – I’m not sure many 8th graders are ready to own this process. Some are, but – It’s a LOT. So just for some perspective – 13 year olds can be pretty immature and then grow a ton by the time September rolls around. None of my 4 daughters would have been able to drive the boarding school application ship at 13. (I’m always impressed by the kiddos here on CC who are doing this whole thing basically alone!)
Great additional perspective also @Calliemomofgirls - I was looking for DD to show proactive engagement toward the process while guiding her on the timelines and priorities. We were half way through 8th grade when she really expressed the consistent drive toward the BS experience and what it could mean for her. Initially thinking it was too late, but she seemed more excited to repeat freshman and experience the full 4 years (vs PG or apply as sophomore).