I’d appreciate feedback/input from those of you that have applied to BS. How long were your DC’s essays? (pages?) None of the schools specify a length or number of words. The essays are designed obviously do give you some “meat” to work with and provide the schools a flavor of who you are, your values, interests, etc.
As for parent statement – would appreciate thoughts on what this as well…Did you try to support themes your child was writing about, discuss strengths? We are newbies, so I appreciate those of you who have plowed this road providing any input.
@31cruzan, every Gateway application school essay questions, and standard SSAT essay questions are limited in number of words or chars either as part of a question or technical limit on the textbox field length of online / pdf forms. Can you give any example school that doesn’t specify length of an essay?
I also remember there was a word and/or character limit on all the essays so you may want to double check that. As far as parent statement supporting child’s themes, DH and I did those completely separately from DD. In fact, I didn’t read DD’s essays until she was ready to hit submit - and then just a quick proofread for any glaring grammatical errors.
I will say I struggled a bit with the parent essays - it’s tough trying to be objective and resisting the impulse to brag ad nauseum about your kid! I was honest about her strengths & weaknesses and included an anecdote that helped to illustrate a personality trait.
I agree with @jwalche and @thestig2, all of the essays had strict word counts.
In our parent essays we focused on strengths (and weaknesses) of our child that wasn’t evident in the recommendations or other parts of the application. Try to explain how you will support your child in boarding school. They want to understand what the family dynamics are like. Just be honest and explain it like it is.
@jwalche@TheStig2@sgopal2 Deerfield Academy does not have a strict word/character count in the Gateway to Prep portal. However, that’s probably one of the very few that don’t.
In my parent statement (or essay), I talked about my support for the boarding school education, s&w of my child and how I think he would benefit (from) the boarding school community.
My parent essay was 2-3 paragraphs, a little less than one side of one page. I tried to minimize fawning opinion and eliminate the painful boredom that every AO must feel reading these darn things. I picked a couple of my son’s most pronounced traits that I could illustrate with short, third party examples. For instance, my son was (and remains) a non-complainer. No matter how overmatched he might be, he has always just kept on truckin’ with a smile on his face. Since Thacher has such a heavy outdoors component, I used the example when we had sent him on a ten day hike at age 12 through the Tetons with a group of other kids and the hike leaders mistakenly gave him an oversized pack, 20# over. They had no idea until the hike was nearly over. They went on and on about it with us afterward and it summed up the kid so well that we used it as an example of a trait Thacher could expect.
I kept it short, too. Just a couple of paragraphs. No bragging. No fawning. No tie or reference to kid’s essays or app. I think schools are just trying to make sure you’re not crazy and are not going to be big PITA along the way. Try to sound normal.
**Normal: **
*As we’ve watched Scottie grow, we’ve seen his curiosity and love for learning develop beyond his years. Once he grabs an idea, we never know where he will chase it. Right now, he is chasing his dream of attending for opportunities that excite him. We support that, although ScottieMom knows there will be a few tears along the way. We feel that boarding school will stretch Scottie in ways even he can’t imagine and, perhaps, in ways that will hurt, but this is precisely the experience we want for him. We also hope he learns to make his bed and clean his room. If can accomplish that, then its reputation is well-deserved. *
**Not Normal: ** Look. Life is hard and being a parent is not something I signed up for. We’re really busy and taking care of Scottie is just one more thing on our plate. And now he’s a teenager. I’m sure you understand. We heard about at the club. Our friend’s kid attends , seems happy enough, and our friends say they have adult lives now. They certainly have more time to spend at the club than we do. We know how this works: We send him to you, write the checks, and buy the Ivy swag. We’re good with that. You do a good job with Scottie, and you can count on some serious support from us. (Hint: Your dorms are from WWII.) Cheers!
Here is an example of what we wrote in one of our parent essays. I agree with @choatiemom. Try to convey some aspect of your child that is not already in the application elsewhere.
*QUESTION: Please tell us something we don’t know about your child (600 characters).
ANSWER: One of the aspects of XXXX’s personality that we admire is his sense of humor. We appreciate how he uses self-deprecating humor to see fun in even the most mundane tasks. We have been amazed how the power of laughter can diffuse even the most tense situations. One memorable event took place this last summer in Europe. XXXX praised a chef in spanish by stating “Mis saludos a la cocino” (my compliments to the kitchen). He meant to say “cocina” (kitchen) instead of “concino” (fat pig). We burst out laughing and XXXXX, without missing a beat, said “hopefully the chef isn’t heavy”.*
We had not read anything about applying and I had yet to discover CC, so I actually wrote a couple of paragraphs summarizing a few traits I admired about my kid and also included several things that I felt were her challenges. Obviously I framed them in "good light’, but I guess we took the (maybe unusual?) approach of being open and straightforward as to who we are and strengths/weaknesses. I figured that I would prefer to lay it all out and then let the school decide. If it was to be a rejection, then I reasoned that the fit would not have been a good one.
As it turned out, she got into all 3 schools and we had a choice. The good part of my approach is that the choice was a true one as we were confident that the schools would be good and appropriate schools for my kid and for our family. So I can’t say if the approach was what resulted in having choices or not, but I am of the opinion that the schools valued our approach.
No kid that I know “hung the moon”. Use the essay as an extra opportunity for the admissions folks to get to know your individual kid. Include anything that might be unusual in his background (life overseas, unique school etc). They already know you are his biggest fan so if there are things that will affect him during his years at school, let them know. You can’t be sure of fit until you know if the school can provide what YOUR kid needs. Try to limit the affect of reputation and marketing and focus instead on each school’s particular strengths. Compare it to your own goals and personality. See what matches. You may be surprised!
@sgopal2, Thanks for assuring us that a non-normal parent essay wasn’t a deal breaker for your son, unless you are joking and I didn’t catch it. (I am not good at catching jokes )
