I collect private school essay questions so my clients can get started writing over the summer, getting a jump-start on submission.

Here are the top three private school essay trends of admissions season 2009-2010:

  1. More and more schools are going web-based.  Never before have so many private schools preferred to receive applications over the web.  This is good–it’s nice to submit and get a date-stamp vs. relying on snail mail–but bad because essay length limits are much stricter.
  2. Essay lengths are getting shorter.  Apparently overwhelmed by applicants and trying to save time, private schools are limiting essay length.  Now, your ability to condense information is more important than ever.
  3. A few schools have done away with their essays completely.