This blog contains detailed, experience-based guidance across every major component of the boarding school application process. This article explains how the content is organized, what types of articles you'll find, and how to navigate the blog based on where you are in your own journey. Topics covered include: the scope of our experience, blog organization and pillar topics, three types of articles (pillar, expository, general), content characteristics, reading strategies, and what this blog is and isn't.
The Scope of Our Experience
Our experience is limited to our first time applying to eight elite boarding schools: (1) Andover; (2) Choate; (3) Deerfield; (4) Exeter; (5) Groton; (6) Hotchkiss; (7) Lawrenceville; (8) St. Paul's.
A note about the word 'elite': This blog uses 'elite' to describe the eight schools my daughter applied to as a standalone adjective - it has no bearing on the caliber of other schools, which are excellent and have their own merits.
How This Blog Is Organized
The articles are grouped into [number pillar topics that reflect the key aspects of the boarding school application process.]
1. Decision & Timeline - Articles that help you decide whether boarding school makes sense for your family and understand the overall timeline from initial interest through application submission.
2. Strategy & Authority-Building - High-level strategic guidance on how to approach the process, including campus tours, positioning your child's application, and understanding what schools are actually evaluating.
3. Testing - Comprehensive coverage of the SSAT and ISEE, including the SSAT preparation approach and strategies we used, our actual testing experience, and score details from my daughter's practice and actual SSATs.
4. Essay Writing - Detailed guidance on student essays and parent statements, including how to help your child write authentic essays without writing them yourself.
5. Interview Preparation - Everything about preparing for student and parent interviews, including practice strategies, common questions, and what to expect from the experience.
6. References & Supporting Documents - Guidance on managing recommendations, reference preparation, and other required forms.
Add Financial Aid pillar once those articles are written
Three Types of Articles You'll Find Here
Not all articles are created equal in length, depth, or purpose. Understanding these distinctions will help you prioritize your reading:
Pillar Articles (Long-Form, Experience-Based)
These are comprehensive, detailed articles that go deep into major components of the application. They typically run 2,000-3,500 words and blend four elements:
- Our actual experience and decision-making process, including specific examples and outcomes
- Strategic frameworks and approaches we used
- Analytical observations about how different pieces fit together
- Personal reflections on challenges, emotions, and lessons learned
Examples include our complete SSAT preparation strategy, our approach to essay writing, and our campus tour planning process. These articles take longer to read but provide the most comprehensive value.
I made a deliberate decision to keep these longer (vs. cut them up) to optimize and contextualize the flow of information for the reader.
Expository Articles (Focused, Practical Guidance)
These articles are shorter (1,000-1,500 words) and focus on specific sub-topics that warranted standalone treatment. They're more tactical than pillar articles and often present information as frameworks, checklists, or thoughtful considerations.
Examples include guidance on writing 'Why This School' statements, understanding the difference between SSAT and ISEE, and navigating virtual versus in-person interviews. These articles are particularly useful when you need focused guidance on a specific decision point.
General Articles (Quick Reference)
These are concise articles that provide helpful context or foundational knowledge. They may not offer uniquely differentiating insights, but they contribute to the blog's comprehensiveness.
Examples include overviews of application portals and basic timelines. These articles are useful for getting oriented quickly or filling in knowledge gaps.
What to Expect From the Content
All articles across this blog share certain characteristics that reflect my background as a management consultant and my goals for this resource:
Analytical But Accessible
I write the way I think: structured, framework-oriented, pattern-focused. You'll find bullets, corroborating data, references to frameworks (like SCQA), and delineations of categories / options. Nonetheless, I attempted to keep the narrative as prose-like as possible.
Specific and Transparent
Where possible, I share actual data: my daughter's test scores, specific schools we visited, exact timelines we followed, real mistakes we made. This specificity serves a purpose - it helps you calibrate your own situation against ours and understand what worked, what didn't, and why.
That said, I'm protective of our privacy. You'll know we live in the NYC metro area and that my husband attended Exeter, but you won't know our names. Any personal details that are included are meant to be helpful to you, as the reader, to provide context, and not to identify us.
Honest About Uncertainty and Limitations
I don't have insider knowledge of how Admissions Officers make final decisions. I can't guarantee that any strategy will result in acceptance. What I can do is document what we experienced, analyze what seemed to matter, and offer frameworks for thinking through decisions yourself. I'm sharing insights and direct observations where I have them, and do acknowledge uncertainty where I don't.
For extra transparency, the majority of these articles (and this framing one) were written before March 10th (decision day). I will update the blog with decisions we receive, but will almost certainly not revise blogs written before March 10th.
Practical, Not Prescriptive
Every family's situation is different. What worked for us may not work for you - and that's fine. The goal isn't to provide a rigid playbook, and none of this blog's content should be read as pedantic or inflated. Rather, it's published to provide information where there is a dearth of it on publicly accessible forums, so that you have data points you can calibrate relative to your family's own priorities, circumstances, and plans.
How to Get the Most From This Blog
Here's how I'd recommend approaching the content:
If You're Just Starting to Explore Boarding School
Start with the Decision & Timeline section, particularly the article on whether boarding school is worth the cost and the comprehensive application timeline. These will help you understand the overall landscape before diving into specific components.
If You're Already Committed and Beginning the Application
Read through all the pillar articles in sequence (Strategy, Testing, Essays, Interviews). This will give you a comprehensive understanding of how all the pieces fit together. Then circle back to specific expository articles as you reach each decision point in your own timeline.
If You're Looking for Guidance on a Specific Component
Use the pillar topic structure to navigate directly to what you need. Each article includes cross-references to related articles (formatted in red) so you can easily find connected information.
If You're Short on Time
Although counter-intuitive, focus on the long-form pillar articles.
A Few Practical Notes
Cross-References Are Clickable: Throughout the blog, you'll see references to other articles formatted in red text. These are internal links that will take you directly to related content.
Data and Examples Are Real: All tables, frameworks, and examples come from our actual experience unless explicitly noted as hypothetical. If I'm speculating or extrapolating beyond my direct experience, I'll make that clear.
Please excuse accidental typos and incomplete thoughts: This blog was created during spare time - with the intent of democratizing information about this process in as structured, genuinely helpful, and easy-to-digest way as possible. But I am not a professional blogger, and so certain aspects about this blog (e.g., long-form content, my writing style, etc.) may not be fully optimized.
What This Blog Is Not
This is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of everything related to boarding school admissions. I haven't covered every possible scenario or edge case. International student guidance is limited because that wasn't our experience. Waitlist and rejection strategies are minimal because we haven't reached that stage of the process.
This blog also doesn't accept comments or questions. It's intentionally a one-way resource. I don't have capacity to provide individualized guidance beyond what's published here, and I don't want the blog to devolve into a forum where the same questions get asked repeatedly.
Finally, this isn't primarily an advertising platform or lead generation tool for consulting services. There are no hidden agendas or upsells. The small number of products I may eventually offer (like downloadable templates or vocabulary resources) exist to complement the free content, not to gate the most valuable information behind paywalls.
My Request to Readers
Use this resource in the spirit it's intended: as genuine, detailed guidance from someone who just went through this process and wants to help others navigate it more effectively. Take what's useful, adapt what needs adapting, and ignore what doesn't apply to your situation.
If something resonates or proves valuable, the best way to support this work is to share it with other families who might benefit. The more families who have access to clear, comprehensive information about this process, the better.