Many schools want your child to complete a Candidate Statement as part of their applications process. If your child has never done anything like this, it can be a bit intimidating. Split the statement into its several parts and she will find it much less daunting. Typically these parts of the Candidate Statement will be:
- Personal Questions
- A Short Essay
- Interests
The trick to the Candidate's Statement is to let your child's true personality shine through. Do not write the answers for her. Let her thirteen year old expressions, imperfections and thinking permeate this form. If you think of the Candidate's Statement as a self-portrait, then you understand the purpose of this document. The Admissions Staff want to see your child as she sees herself. That helps them understand her better and it also helps them determine if she will fit in at the school. 'Fit' is very important. You have to get that right or your child will be miserable.
Personal Questions
These questions from Groton's Candidate Statement are typical:
"What do you love to do?"
"How have you been helpful to other people?"
"Which three words would you use to describe yourself?
"What challenges do you find absorbing?"
"What makes you laugh out loud?"
"What is the most interesting thing you have learned in the past year?"
Madeira School offers a variation on these themes and incorporates the Candidate Statement into Part 2 of its application.
"Have you enjoyed your current school year? Why or why not?"
"Describe an instance when you faced disappointment. How did you respond to that disappointment?"
"What books have you enjoyed reading in the past year?"
"Pretend you are beginning your senior year at Madeira. Please describe the activities you will be involved in, including your
Co-Curriculum placement (Wednesday internship)."
A Short Essay
Somewhere, somehow, every school is going to require your to write a short essay. The school will usually supply a prompt or theme. Here is an example from the Woodberry Forest School's application form:
"Directions: Please respond to ONE of the following topics. You may use the space provided or attach a typewritten response. The response should be limited to 300 words.
❑Describe an important event in your life and explain how the event affected you.
❑What are your goals after attending high school and how will attending Woodberry Forest School help you accomplish them?
❑ If you could be anyone else in history, who would you be and what would you do?"
Interests
The school wants to know about your activities and interests. If you have played tennis since you were six years old or have taken bassoon lessons for five years, the school wants to know all about it.
Here's how Miss Porter's School requests this information:
"List below the school, community and extracurricular activities (such as music, art, drama, athletics, clubs, volunteer service, etc.) in order of their importance to you. Let us know the grades in which you participated in the activity, how often you were involved, whether you plan to continue participating and any notable accomplishments or awards."
Conclusion
As you can see, the Candidate's Statement is takes some time and effort to complete. It's not something you want to rush your child through at the last minute. Make sure that she does rough drafts of her answers. Review her answers for completeness but do not correct her style. Simply make sure that she has not left any important facts out. It is, after all, her statement, not yours. The admissions staff will see right through a perfect Candidate's Statement. Indeed most schools require your child to certify that these are her own answers. Relax. She will do fine.
