How to Write a Private School Admission Essay

Anindita Sempere, executive director, The Writing Faculty, explore the best approaches to writing a successful private school admission essay.

Sempere explains that the essay sits uniquely in the admission process. It exists, she explains, to give a human dimension to the applicant. The school knows the objective applicant- grades, test scores. The essay presents the opportunity for the admission officers to get to know the applicant from a personal perspective.

The essay is the venue where the applicant can show his/her own voice and how he/she thinks. It's difficult to stress how important this is. Private schools are communities and the admission committee wants to get a feeling for how an applicant might fit and contribute to the community through the essay.

In terms of execution, parents can help with the big-picture planning but they need to stay out the voice. Grammar and technical support are fine. If parents inject too much into the essay the admission officer can easily spot it.

As Sempere notes, too much parental input tends to makes the essay bland. The admission committee wants to hear from the student.