<p>I'm just curious, when do people usually start writing essays for boarding school applications? Do you write them all over winter break? How long do they take to write, edit, and perfect? I think I'll be applying to 5-6 schools and I'm worried I won't have time to finish everything!</p>
<p>You should start now.</p>
<p>It’s honestly different for everyone. Just like how you mentioned the number of schools that you’re applying to, this is another factor that plays into when you should start writing your essays. My advice is to start as early as possible–maybe over thanksgiving break?!
Writing is a true process, so the sooner you start, the better your essays will turn out!</p>
<p>Heed SevenDad. Essays are important. 5-6 schools? Write first drafts for all now. Good writing is about rewriting. Not once, many times. If you wait until winter break you will likely not bang out your best stuff. Start now. Skip that movie, pass on that pizza fest. Knock out drafts of your essays. By year’s end, you can tweak and refine, not freak.</p>
<p>We are doing one draft a day during this break. I’m a bit behind. I’m supposed to do parent essays. ;)</p>
<p>You should start Friday after Thanksgiving. Skip the mall and bang out rough drafts of at least 3 essays. Then do another 3 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Then WALK AWAY from them until next Friday. Look at them again and make revisions. Share them with you parents or a teacher and get their opinions. Incorporate some changes and start working on the next 3 rough drafts. Etc., etc. until you are done.</p>
<p>I have been working on the parent essays. Have 3 done out of 7. DD has one done, will continue on Friday. Good luck to you!!!</p>
<p>@mexusa, this seems like great advice. Thanks. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but it seems like a good idea to get something on paper for each app/essay, and then edit later, rather than spending a lot of time polishing off each one, and then possibly not getting through them all.</p>
<p>We’re going to take one app per day on each weekend day, starting today. DD will work on the student section (short answer + essays) and I’ll work on the parent section. Just a first draft. Starting with the SSAT common app. We want to use school-specific apps for some, but by starting with the common app, at least we’ll have something to submit just in case something unexpected derails us (e.g. unexpected illness).</p>