First things first – if you are applying for high school, don’t stress. Take a deep breath and whatever you do, don’t stress yourself out. Just manage your time and work your hardest.

Applying for High School is a milestone that many teenagers go through in eighth grade, and it can be stressful for many. I, personally, did not stress so much as other students at my school, though this was less because of ease and more because of the fact that I am not a person who gets stressed easily. From the parent’s point of view, it can also be seen differently. My parents left it up to me on how much I wanted to prepare and how I wanted to manage my time, while many of the parents of my friends micro-managed them much more and set strict deadlines.

There are steps to applying for a private high school, and the first is checking out prospective schools. I live in Silicon Valley, and I started checking high schools out when I was in seventh grade. Notre Dame, Archbishop Mitty, Presentation, Castilleja, and Harker were five high schools on my list. Events include Open Houses, Information Nights, and smaller events. Thanks to my outreach in seventh grade, I was able to strike Castilleja, an All-Girls school in Palo Alto, from the list, and Valley Christian. The next year, eighth grade, I added The Nueva School and St. Francis to my list. Both schools were last minute additions in the middle of November, and I would not recommend applying last minute as I did.

At the Open Houses, check everything you can out. Follow the tour, go to every table, check out every extracurricular activity, and find out what they offer. I, for example, love writing, and the high school I found cultivates its students in the humanities. A school that focused primarily on sports or math would not be a good fit for me. Find out what YOU want. At the end of it all, talk to the head of admissions. I did this at every school I attended – talk to the head of admissions, introduce yourself, be friendly and open. You want them to remember you because if they remember you then when looking at the application they will see you as a person, not just a name on a paper.

I was not a fan of the all-girls schools, personally. I really liked Harker and Nueva. Nueva was my personal favorite because of its open-ended, project-based style of learning. They offer classes on social-emotional learning and exotic electives such as Social Psychology and Introduction to Cryptocurrency, both of which I am taking in my spring semester of freshman year. Harker also intrigued me, because of its well-made newspaper, highly ranked education, and clubs in areas such as Suturing, a medical practice. Mitty had three key areas that it excelled in – sports, debate, and robotics. Nueva doesn’t have a football team, for example.

After Open Houses, the next step is ranking. Students and their families should rank schools from best to worst, based on how much they want to get into the school. I, for example, was applying to two all-girls high schools, but they were near the bottom of my list. What do you want from high school? Some of them require uniforms, some don’t. Some are girls/boys only, some are intersex. Some are religious, some are non-secular. Are they a college prep school? Do they have a lower school? How much do they cost?

Then, the application process. Most High Schools, including Mitty, Castilleja, Harker, St. Francis, Nueva, and The Menlo School use an online software known as Ravenna for students to submit essays, answer questionnaires, and enter photos.

The application process has a few steps, the main one in that process being the essays. The websites open the applications on the 1st of September, and they are due 2 or so weeks into December. The high schools give a minimum of two essays, all of them there to assess who you are as a person and your morals. There is a link to an example essay here.The basics of the questions include:

Why did you apply to this school?
What do you hope to get out of this school?
What are some special talents and interests you have?
Talk about an important memory of yours.

There are word limits for all the essays, and when submitted they are not truncated. Parents have to write essays too – about their children, whether they think their child is a fit, and about the qualities of their child. I like to get a headstart on things, so I began drafting my essays the moment the applications came out in September.

Along with essays come questionnaires – hobbies, talents, classes, and extracurriculars are all on the list. Photos are also a requirement – family photos and student photos. They want to know about your family – siblings, parents, what school they are at, addresses, emails, etc.

A lot of people want to know – what do schools look for? They search for diversity. They search for motivation. They want to know that you have a goal in life. Some schools want you to play on sports teams. Some schools want you to get really good grades. Some schools want you to be creative and independent. Open Houses are for just that – figuring out what the school wants, what you want, and whether the school can provide for you.

Shadow Days are next – this is a day for the applicant to make their way to the school and spend half a day – a day at the school, following a freshman around and learning as much as they can from the freshman. Any questions the student still has that they didn’t get answered before, ask the student. At the end of the shadow day comes an interview. My advice for the interview is this – be natural. Don’t prepare like crazy, because then you aren’t speaking from the heart. You don’t have to do like I did and wing it, but rote answers are not the way to go. Be friendly and talk to the teacher, whoever is interviewing you, as openly as you can. Talk about yourself, what you like about the school, what you want to get out of the school. Schools want to know what YOU bring to the table, and if they like what you bring then they like you.

After applications, we have the last step – exams. High School Tests come in many different forms. For me, there were three options – HSPT, ISEE, and SSAT (Secondary School Admission Test). Catholic High Schools require the HSPT, or the High School Placement Test, a test with 238 questions. The HSPT is an easier test, with questions that are simpler but time-consuming. The ISEE, or the Independent School Entrance Examination, has 160 questions, but the questions are harder and geared for grades 9-11, meaning that it takes the same amount of time as the HSPT. These tests only have to be taken once, and they will be sent to all schools that require it. I preferred the ISEE just because fewer questions means that my brain can concentrate better, and it isn’t inundated with smaller things.

Preparation for these tests can take different forms. Friends of mine took classes that prepared people for the tests and those involved practice exams. I myself took one practice exam with the class of people at the end of seventh grade, to assess where I was for the upcoming year. I didn’t take any classes but rather borrowed books from my local library on the HSPT and ISEE. My recommendation is this – take a test, and then look at your answers. Find your weak spots, figure out where you need practice, and then study. The tests take place at the end of January. There are different areas to study too – Math, Grammar, Quantitative Reasoning, Writing, and Vocabulary are all tested. HSPT study can be found here, and ISEE prep can be found here.

Results come out in March, and honestly, it is really exciting to find out what school you have gotten into. I was admitted into my first 2 choices, and I ended up attending my number 1.

The High School Application is overall a process that I didn’t find quite as harrying as I expected, and a good warm-up for my eventual college applications.