Anyone applied to any of these schools and have suggestions on their process? I heard some schools have students do essays as part of the interview??
It wouldn’t hurt to have your son practice a few essays so he’s comfortable with the idea. They just want a writing sample. The question will be something simple like “If you could have any superpower which would you want and why?” Another school I know of (a girl’s school) has the kids spend a morning shadowing a student then asks them to write what they thought of their visit. It’s not a big deal. IMO they’re mostly screening for serious processing or language issues. It’s possible the schools also compare the writing sample with the application essay. Everyone expects the application essay to be more polished than something written with little notice and no option for additional proofreading.
Knowing kids that go to one of those schools, I’d say that if they have the kid do a writing sample at the interview, it’s only to see if it matches the other materials sent (possibly done by a parent or consultant). At least at the school I’m thinking of, there are kids there that are below grade level in writing and many that come in with only the most rudimentary English skills.
My rising middle schooler has had to do a writing sample at most of her interviews. They’ve had her do it while my husband and I are in our part of the interview. The questions are super simple: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and “What is your favorite thing to do with your family?” are two that she had. I’m sure there’s no wrong answer, unless your child writes something REALLY weird (“I want to be a serial killer when I grow up, because I love the taste of flesh” is probably a red flag that could harm admissions chances… artist/doctor/teacher/astronaut/unicorn handler are all fair game, I assume.) I think they just want to see if there are any wild red flags, and make sure that they can string together a coherent paragraph. I doubt a huge emphasis is placed on it, and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. FWIW, she’s below grade level in writing. But I don’t think there’s a ton we can do to prep her, so I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
Thank you all!!
My son applied to several junior boarding schools last year. (He is loving his experience at Rectory). The essay is just a writing sample to see writing level. I was told it is used more for placement in classes than for deciding on admissions.