Secondary School Applications
	Your children have not needed to fill out as many applications as are now suddenly required of them. Therefore, do not be surprised at how cumbersome this initial confrontation may be. Your child will discover that each school has its own particular application that contains many different portions. A student may wonder whether he/she should staple or clip additional pages (either). Simple decisions (typing or printing) can assume crisis levels. Do help your children keep organized and sane while dealing with the plethora of materials that will arrive at your home. Help them create a file system and a master sheet with deadlines and task assignments throughout the fall term. Some Suggestions Send for materials early (Spring and Summer). Admissions Offices are deluged with requests for applications in October, sometimes resulting in a two-week to four-week lag in receiving applications – very valuable time lost in processing an application. The appearance of the application is important. Please be as neat as possible; type if you can. Make sure that you use the correct color of ink (some schools insist on black ink). To ensure a presentable final copy, we suggest you Xerox a copy of the application and use it as a rough draft. You will quickly learn how certain information fits or does not fit into a given space. Finally, do the work yourself. Some institutions are offended by the slickness of some applications, which are obviously prepared by professionals. If you have not already done so, you may wish to get a Social Security number for your child. Allow plenty of time to contemplate and complete the application. Your son /daughter may want to spend one Sunday filling in his/her name and address on all the applications; he/she may devote another Sunday to listing his/her extracurricular activities. All the while he/she should be considering the all-important ESSAY, if required. The Essay The essay reveals both intellectual analysis and technique. Most importantly, the essay needs to be written in the voice of the writer. It must be the student’s writing-not the parents; keep in mind that both the ISEE and the SSAT have a writing component which will be shared with the school and can be used for comparison. Parents are encouraged to read and assist in the process of editing, but the tone and content must be the student’s own. Graded Writing Examples On occasion a school may request the student submit a graded writing sample. While it is natural to wish to submit a paper with, perhaps, your highest grade, consider submitting a paper that you feel is a product of some of your best writing and thinking. As a courtesy, inform the teacher that you are submitting a copy of their graded assignment.   For a printable version of this document, please click here.