Official 2019 Prep School Stats/Ec's Thread

Prep School Admissions
1

The official 2019 prep school stats/ec’s thread. Credit goes to @atria and @ChoatieMom for the format and @keystosuccess for some of the other things and @FunintheSun1211 for last year’s thread.

**THIS THREAD SHOULD BE LOCKED UNTIL MARCH 9/10

**Note: this thread is FOR RESULTS ONLY! Any commentary (congratulations, commiseration, etc.) shall only be spoken about on other threads. (Namely the Official 2019 Freakout Thread)

Format (copy & paste all thing below):
Accepted:
Rejected:
Wait listed:
Likely Attending:

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT:
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted:
• Rank:
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews:
• Essays:
• Math Rec:
• English Rec:
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec:
• Principal/Counselor Rec:
• Sports (if any):
• Instruments (if any):
• Other ECs (if any):
• Hook:

Location/Person:
• State or Country:
• Current School Type:
• Ethnicity:
• Gender:
• Grade Applying For:
• Age:
• Financial Aid/Full Pay:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?

(End)

General Comments:
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please do NOT post your stats/ecs until you receive all of your decisions. Otherwise, the posts will be deleted without notice or comment.

2

Accepted: Deerfield
Rejected:
Wait listed: PA, PEA, CRH
Likely Attending: Deerfield

Stats:
• SSAT: 99% 2355
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 4.5 W, 4.0 UW
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats:

Subjective:

• Interviews:
DA: Over an hour, AO used her lunch period to talk to me, took me to their arts center where I talked with art teachers and gave them my portfolio, really good.
PA: Really trash, won’t get further into it LOL.
PEA: Pretty good, not amazing.
CRH: First one I did, not good, not bad.

• Essays:
DA: Not long, but super passionate and (hopefully) unique?
PA: Pretty good, I used my essay for another competition and won with it
PEA: Worst of the bunch
CRH: Pretty good, not amazing.

• Math Rec: Blind–I never pay attention but I’m basically the only one doing good in her class. Was a new teacher so I was the first recommendation she ever wrote.
• English Rec: Blind–Probably pretty good, I do well in her class but she doesn’t know me as a person.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: Blind–Science Olympiad coach wrote it, has known me for 4 years, probably amazing.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Half blind–Probably ok, I saw her typing it on her computer at one point, she described me as passionate and self motivated. Doesn’t know me as a person.
• Sports (if any): Swimming for 7 years
• Instruments (if any): Clarinet for 4 years. County, district, and state awards.
• Other ECs (if any): Science Olympiad, painting. Regional, region at large, and state awards. Also coached Science Olympiad team to 1st place Varsity and JV.
• Hook: N/A

Location/Person:

• State or Country: Southeast coast
• Current School Type: Magnet public
• Ethnicity: Asian American
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: ~2/3 FA

Strengths: Self motivated. Taught myself electrical engineering and physics.

Weaknesses: Crippling self doubt LMAO

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
DA: Basically every part of my application was decent so it was just luck.
PA: My interview destroyed the good parts of my application…it was pretty bad.
PEA: Probably just not needed/bad luck. I trust the AOs, they probably saw something as reason to WL.
CRH: Was just kind of mediocre overall.

3

Accepted: Andover, Exeter, St. Paul’s, Lawrenceville, Middlesex, Loomis
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: Choate, Groton
Likely Attending: idk. can’t wait for revisit day!

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 2380 99% (99% reading and math, 97% verbal)
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: We don’t have GPAs. Probably like a 3.8-3.9 I think.
• Rank: N/A. All the kids at my school try their best to get A’s (cuz of parents and peer pressure)
• Other stats: I have A’s in all my subjects besides math and science. I’m in the advanced math program so we take classes a year ahead (like I’m taking Algebra II right now). I got straight B’s in math in 6th grade, 2 B’s in math and 2 B’s in science in 7th, and straight A’s in 8th (besides a B in Film). Everything else was all A’s. I know, not the best transcript wise…

Subjective:
• Interviews: Good. The interviewers all had a good impression of me.
• Essays: Could be better. I wrote all of them a week before the deadline and pretty much used the same essays for each school. Advice to past self: don’t do that and check the CHARACTER count for Gateway, not just the word count. If you don’t, then you’ll end up spending hours trying to delete 2/3rds of your essays.
• Math Rec: Should be fine. I don’t think he hates me.
• English Rec: Should be fine.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: Good.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Probably mediocre since I don’t know the guidance counselor that well and we have a big school.
• Sports (if any): Squash (not the vegetable)
• Instruments (if any): Clarinet and Piano. Got some state-level awards in Piano and performed at Carnegie. I didn’t really use music as my hook though.
• Other ECs (if any): Debate, writing, community service, VP of student council, art, lots of leadership experiences.
• Hook: I did internships and I got national/international awards in debate and writing

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Tri-state area
• Current School Type: Public (one of the top school districts in the state)
• Ethnicity: Asian (ORM)
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 13
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Nope

Strengths:
ECs. I could make varsity for squash at all the schools and I had national awards at stuff I was interested in.

Weaknesses:
My grades, recommendations, and being Asian. Fun fact, St. Paul’s accepted 38 Asians in total this year for all forms.

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Full pay and good ECs got me accepted. I don’t know why I was waitlisted at Choate or Groton though, but that’s ok. I think I didn’t get into Choate because I didn’t do their additional information questions on the GoChoate thingy.

4

Accepted: Exeter
Rejected: None
Wait listed: Hotchkiss, Andover
Likely Attending: Exeter

Stats: 8.5/10. This went better than expected!

• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 2337 SSAT! 99th percentile for everything/perfect on vocab and math except reading: 95th percentile
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: cumulative weighted: 4.0, cumulative unweighted: 3.9
• Rank: 50/860
• Other stats: Demonstrating for all but two skills (developing) for character skill snapshot

Subjective: 6/10. I wish I could have done better here, but I’m okay with how everything went.
• Interviews: 7/10. These were my first interviews It went well, nothing out of the ordinary. I think what really helped me here was applying my answers to the questions to Exeter/the future. I didn’t get a chance to do a campus interview, but the alumni interviews were great! We did a Skype interview for Hotchkiss and that went well.
• Essays: 4/10. I re-read them, they were pretty last-minute. My Andover short answers were very personal/full of heart and my Hotchkiss fill in the blanks were a little unconventional. I wrote a 140-character haiku for my Hotchkiss “describe yourself in a tweet” prompt, not sure if that helped or hurt me.
• Math Rec: 7/10. Math is definitely not my strongest subject, but my teacher is an incredibly kind soul who worked personally with me sometimes to help me. I think these went well, nothing out of the ordinary.
• English Rec: 5/10. My English teacher isn’t too close with me, and I’m not a “standout student” in his class. As with math, I always try to participate but I’m not sure how these went — they were all blind.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 10/10. My speech and debate coach wrote these, and I got to see them. They were personal, specific, and powerful. I’m so grateful to him, and I hope I can make him proud. I think this rec played a significant role in my admissions decisions.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: 3/10. I don’t talk to my counselor often, which I should have done leading up to this :frowning: This was a blind rec as well.
• Sports (if any): None — I was so afraid this would hurt my decisions (I think it did).
• Instruments (if any): Violin; 11 years. My Exeter music submission was awful. I submitted it at 2 AM the morning it was due. I would definitely recommend getting a good audio setting to record any musical supplements in the future :slight_smile:
• Other ECs (if any): English Academic Super Bowl, Fine Arts Academic Super Bowl, Social Studies Super Bowl, founder/leader of my school’s mental health organization, 1st violinist for local youth symphony, tutor to violin student who can’t afford private teacher, Scholastic Art and Writing — awarded a Silver Key for Flash Fiction, Speech and Debate co-captain, TEAMS STEM Competition Captain — Second Place in Nation for prepared presentation, Student Government, Amnesty International
• Hook: None :frowning:

Location/Person:

• State or Country: Indiana, USA. Not many applicants from here :-/
• Current School Type: Public School
• Ethnicity: Asian → Han Chinese
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: Repeating 10th Grade
• Age: 15
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Financial Aid/Tuition free for us since we make under $75k.

Strengths: Definitely my extracurriculars. I think what helped me was that my ecs were focused around a common thread (communication, history) but I was also branching out. My awards in each area also showed my dedication and passion, maybe? Not sure :frowning: My personal rec definitely helped a lot too! Along with my scores, I think this all contributed the most to my admission to Exeter.

Weaknesses: Easily my essays and my other recs, along with my music submission. I needed to work more on those and I needed to network more.

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Acceptance - I don’t know, but if I had to pick a reason, it could be because I reached out to the debate coach/captains at Exeter and I included additional info for my applications (ie Performance Biography for my music).
Waitlist - I understand that I didn’t have the extra factors needed to pass that threshold of acceptance, but I think my lack of a sport might have played a big role.

Good luck to all, please take care of yourselves!! <3 Message me if you have any questions about my decisions:0

5

Format (copy & paste all thing below):
Accepted:-
Rejected:pa
Wait listed:-
Likely Attending:

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 93% overall (feb ssat)
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 3.5-3.7 (ouch)
• Rank:NA
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews:
Okay, boring 3/10
• Essays:
mediocre-okay (not sure honestly) 3/10
• Math Rec:
really good I’m guessing 8/10?
• English Rec:
eh? I’m not so sure 6/10?
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec:
Really great 9/10?
• Principal/Counselor Rec:
good? not great. 5/10?
• Sports (if any):
swimming
badminton
squash
• Instruments (if any):
flute
violin
• Other ECs (if any):
painting
acting (went to a professional acting academy)
french

• Hook: military family?

Location/Person:
• State or Country: in asia want to keep privacy
• Current School Type: international private
• Ethnicity:mostly asian, partly caucasian
• Gender:female
• Grade Applying For:9
• Age:14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: partial fa

Strengths:
artistically advanced?
Weaknesses:
Over representation!
not the best essays, Ec’s aren’t that special, grades are subpar
Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
honestly, my whole application was rushed, I was too lazy to apply to more schools (which i now regret)
My application was really generic and not special.
Re-reading my essays, you could tell that it was definitely last minute.
TIP: plan in advance LOL :confused: also apply to more safeties!
(End)

6

Accepted: Peddie, Cranbrook, Hun
Rejected: Lawrenceville
Wait listed: None
Likely Attending: Peddie (GO FALCONS)

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: SSAT was 85%
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 3.85 W (oof)
• Rank: school doesn’t rank
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: Peddie was my best, I really connected with my interviewer and I got to meet the crew coach and we really hit it off. 2nd was Lville, then Hun and then Cranbrook. Cranbrook interview was a bit rushed by AO and I didn’t feel like I connected with the Hun AO too much + I was very nervous.

• Essays: I’d say they were a solid 8.5/10 to 9/10. I had a couple spelling errors though. In Peddies Supplement form I really shined and showed my personality + interests, I was very raw and wasn’t afraid to show myself.

• Math Rec: I’d say it was pretty good, 8/10

• English Rec: 10/10 my English teacher is phenomenal and we are SUPER close.

• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: I had my Garden Club write my letter and I know it was a solid 10/10

• Principal/Counselor Rec: I think my counselor gave a pretty good rec, but I wasn’t close to her. I’d say 7.5/10.

• Sports (if any): Crew (2 years), Sailing (2 years)

• Instruments (if any): nope

• Other ECs (if any): Garden Club (2 years), Debate Club (1 year), Students against violence (1 year), EMS Club (1 year), Monthly coloumist in published magazine (1 year)

• Hook: Connections

Location/Person:
• State or Country: NJ
• Current School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Multiracial
• Gender: F
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: FP

Strengths: Crew and my character which was reflected in interviews + articles. My interviews were quite good too, especially Peddie. I was able to show my true self to the AO, I didn’t make up fluff that I thought they would like. I also got into some deep and emotional topics for me, like bullying which I think helped us to connect.

Weaknesses: Grades weren’t the best this year, 3 challenging honors classes really stretched me. SSAT wasn’t amazing for Lville, and the duration of my ECs weren’t the best (1 or 2yrs).

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Many Lville applicants had better scores, grades, ECs, etc. and power to them! I have no saltiness to them, they worked harder and smarter and congratulations to them. Though, that being said I still managed to get into my top school, PEDDIE!

7

Accepted: Exeter, Groton
Rejected: Andover
Wait listed: Choate, Deerfield, Lawrenceville
Likely Attending: Exeter

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 90
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted:
• Rank:
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: All, except Lawrenceville, seemed to go well with plenty of free flowing exchanges. At Lawrenceville the interviewer was shockingly uninterested.
• Essays: I think they were ok.
• Math Rec: I expect strong.
• English Rec: I expect strong.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: strong area with plenty of long standing diverse interests which interviewers seem to like
• Principal/Counselor Rec: I expect strong
• Sports (if any): play a few but one I’m very passionate about.
• Instruments (if any): None
• Other ECs (if any): Many
• Hook: I suspect ECs.

Location/Person:
• State or Country:
• Current School Type: public
• Ethnicity: mixed race
• Gender: male
• Grade Applying For: 9th
• Age: 13
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: about 60 per cent pay

Strengths: Academics, personality, ECs.

Weaknesses: no music, essay writing could be better

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? Combination of strong academics, ECs, personality. I don’t know if not being full pay contributed to wait list and rejections, guess will never know

8

Accepted: lawrenceville, deerfield, peddie, loomis, taft
Rejected: none
Wait listed: milton, andover
Likely Attending: lawrenceville or deerfield

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: ssat, 87% (75 verbal, 75 reading, 99 maths)
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: schools doesnt have gpa
• Rank: don’t have ranks
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: pretty good, especially with deerfield and andover, with andover the lady didn’t seem to like me much, didn’t have one for milton
• Essays: pretty good except for the personal essay for andover
• Math Rec: excellent
• English Rec: not too good (my english teacher doesn’t like me much)
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: really good
• Principal/Counselor Rec: excellent
• Sports (if any): soccer, volleyball, basketball
• Instruments (if any): piano
• Other ECs (if any): maths olympiads, STEM clubs
• Hook: my maths is really good, I’m 3 years accelerated, I guees thats it

Location/Person:
• State or Country: central asia (don’t want to specify exact country)
• Current School Type: british
• Ethnicity: russian
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: full pay

Strengths: maths and I’m really into STEM ( I madr that clear in the interviews and throughout the application)

Weaknesses: my english grades aren’t yhe best and I was quite unprepared for the interviews

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? I think i was waitlisted at PA and milton because I applied one day before the deadline, and submitted half of my materials late to andover and didn’t even have an interview with milton.

9

Accepted: Exeter, Andover
Rejected: none
Wait listed: none
Likely Attending: Waiting to revisit.

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 2274
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: ~4.1
• Rank: Top 3
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: Exeter’s was the best 10/10. Andover’s was great but I kept on forgetting my questions because I’d jump from one thought to another and I’d forget my initial thoughts, which were my questions. Luckily, she was really understanding of this and would give me time to try and remember my questions. Despite this, we still had a really good conversation 9/10
• Essays: Highlighted how I’ve changed my community as well as my curiosity for different cultures. 10/10
• Math Rec: 10/10
• English Rec: 10/10
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 10/10
• Principal/Counselor Rec: 10/10
• Sports (if any): None
• Instruments (if any): Not in years
• Other ECs (if any): Student council, peer tutoring, volunteer work. I’ve done these for 3+ years. I like community work and will dedicate lots of time at the school of my choosing to volunteer work.
• Hook: URM

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Mass, USA
• Current School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Black ??
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 15
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Full Aid

Strengths: Recs, taking calc as a freshman, Ive demonstrated my curiosity and interests through my hobbies and extracurriculars. (I think that this is a strength because I didn’t merely tell them that I’m curious, passionate and motivated. I showed them that I was curious, passionate and motivated without using any of those words in my essays)

Weaknesses: Full aid, I don’t have a long list of extracurriculars,

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? My recommendations, by far. My greatest tip to future applicants is to form strong bonds with your teachers.

10

Accepted: None
Rejected: Andover, Hill
Wait listed: Exeter, L’ville, Peddie
Likely Attending: Still awaiting response from George School

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 2217 87%
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 4.0
• Rank: Not available
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: Very good
• Essays: Very good
• Math Rec:
• English Rec:
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec:
• Principal/Counselor Rec:
• Sports (if any):
• Instruments (if any):
• Other ECs (if any):
• Hook:

Location/Person:
• State or Country: PA
• Current School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: M
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 15
• Financial Aid/Full Pay:Full FA

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?

11

Accepted: Exeter
Rejected:
Wait listed: Andover
Likely Attending: Exeter

Stats:
• SSAT: 92% overall, R 90, Q 99 V 83
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 3.87 cumulative, 4.0 this year
• Rank:
• Other stats: Snapshot - developing initiative and social awareness, demonstrating the rest

Subjective:
• Interviews: 8/10 the one at Exeter was amazing, I was prepared well, and the AO had this “she is definitely getting in” look on her face. The one at Andover was also really good, but I did it two weeks after the deadline.
• Essays: 7/10 Not my best pieces of writing, but I really tried to be myself in those. However, the one for Andover was rushed, I had less than a week to write it.
• Math Rec: 9/10, I stand out in this class, and often lead discussions. The teacher also said something about highliting my creativity, so I hope that helped.
• English Rec: 10/10, The teacher once said that I’m her favorite student, she also coaches the history bee team, and helped me a lot with my application.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 9/10, my PE teacher has known me since fourth grade, and saw me develop as a character.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: 6/10, the principal doesn’t really know me, but is aware of my achievments and perserverance.
• Sports (if any):
• Instruments (if any):
• Other ECs (if any): Student Council (was vice president last year, lost this year’s elections for president), History Bee (several international and continental awards, made a club for team practice), visual art (submitted a portfolio), reading about art history on Wikipedia (yes, that technically counts)
• Hook: does my enthusiasm count?

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Slovenia
• Current School Type: private international
• Ethnicity: Russian
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying For: repeat 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: FP

Strengths: being crazy about art history, leadership positions

Weaknesses: no sports or instruments

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
I was waitlisted at Andover because I didn’t really want to go there, so I didn’t put enough effort into the application. I was accepted to Exeter, my dream school, because… I got lucky, there’s no other explanation.

12

SwamiJr

Accepted: SPS, Exeter, Andover, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, Nobles, BB&N + 1 more day school
Rejected: None
Wait listed: None
Likely Attending: Andover leading but revisiting a few just in case

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: SSAT 96th percentile
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: All As + 1 B
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats: N/A

Subjective:
• Interviews: 10/10 every interviewer offered positive feedback and spoke about how amazing and mature SwamiJr is.
• Essays: 8/10 I thought they were just okay. He had one amazing essay which offered great insight into his analytical skills and thoughtfulness about society. He did not spend nearly enough time on them and they were completed in the wee hours of the AM. I don’t read essays written by 14 year olds so maybe they were incredible using that bar.
• Math Rec: Blind…likely strong contributes in class.
• English Rec: Blind…likely strong contributes in class.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: Blind…very strong and related to community service.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Blind…very strong…she has known him personally and knows our family.
• Sports (if any): Played almost all at some point. Fall sport has played for over a decade and plays club level. Spring sport has played for a few years.
• Instruments (if any): None
• Other ECs (if any): Member of community service organization for 3 years, self-driven supplemental study for personal interest…distance learning
• Hook: URM

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Northeast
• Current School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: URM
• Gender: M
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay:FP

Strengths: Great interviews…every single interviewer noted that they connected with him, demonstrable desire to learn and seek new challenges, nice and provided interview answers that showed interest in helping others/community, deep commitment and experience with “main” sports and ECs

Weaknesses: Not an impact athlete, no local/state/national recognition in sports and ECs, over represented geography

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? Stats, Subjective, FP and Strengths…all interviewers commented that they thought SwamiJr could strengthen the community and take advantage of all the schools offer in and out of the classroom.

13

Accepted:
Rejected: Choate
Wait listed: Horace Mann, Riverdale
Likely Attending:

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 9,9,8,7
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: i think like 3.5 ish?
• Rank:
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: HM- 6/10 Riv- 10/10 Choate- 9/10
• Essays: pretty good I would say. 9/10
• Math Rec: 8/10
• English Rec: 10/10 she said she would write me a strongest possible rec
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 10/10
• Principal/Counselor Rec: 8/10 he doesn’t know me well
• Sports (if any): track, dance
• Instruments (if any):
• Other ECs (if any): visual arts, community service
• Hook:

Location/Person:
• State or Country: NY
• Current School Type: public
• Ethnicity: asian
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: FP

Strengths: wide range of ECs and I had a lot of honors and stuff for them

Weaknesses: grades, overrepresented state & ethnicity

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? I think grades and my interview

14

Accepted: Groton, Middlesex
Rejected: none
Wait listed: none
Likely Attending: no idea, we love both and have a strong pull to each school

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: above 95%
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: all A’s, (gpa not calculated)
• Rank: don’t rank
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: excellent, interviews well
• Essays: excellent, I read all the essays. Several made me tear up even though I lived through it with the kid. She worked on them very, very hard. She wrote and then edited for a long time.

All recs were blind but likely excellent. Teachers have been highly complimentary in parent-teacher conferences. I suspect she was scored in the “one of the best I’ve taught category.”
• Math Rec:
• English Rec:
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec:
• Principal/Counselor Rec:
• Sports (if any): 2 sport recruited athlete
• Instruments (if any): yes but recreationally
• Other ECs (if any): serious about a couple of community service groups that demonstrate a serious understanding of giving back to communities you live in
• Hook: athlete

Location/Person:
• State or Country:
• Current School Type: local public
• Ethnicity: white
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age:
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: FP

Strengths:
Combination of highly competitive athlete and really smart kid. She is also very personable and presents well. I am very good at preparing her for interviews and she told me that my interview prep was hugely helpful. We interviewed early at many schools, I think that helped her feel comfortable (less crowded, calmer environment). Although they were blind I suspect that her teacher recommendations were outstanding and likely really cemented her as a strong candidate. She has excellent relationships with all her teachers (per their feedback, not hers).

Weaknesses:
Honestly not sure, being a white kid?

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Coaches wanted her but didn’t have to work hard with admissions because her academic stats were very high as well. She is just a really good kid and I think that comes across when speaking to adults. She has things she’s interested in but isn’t braggadocious. She has some amazing accomplishments and will just say “I love playing soccer.”

15

Accepted: Andover, Exeter
Rejected: None
Waitlisted: Choate, Deerfield
Likely Attending: Andover

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 99%
• GPA: Not sure, but all A’s and A minuses
•Rank: N/A
•Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interview: Andover interview was okay. Exeter was amazing and went way over the time limit. Choate and Deerfield were both kind of rushed and neither took place at the school.
• Essays: I honestly thought they were pretty good. I tried to be as funny as I could, and wrote about unconventional things
• Math Rec: Average. My math teacher kind of likes me but doesn’t know me very well. Plus I’m not fantastic at math.
• English Rec: Pretty good, I’d think. I’m an advanced reader, and I have a bond with my teacher.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Should be good, my counselor likes me a lot.
• Personal Rec: Should be amazing. It was written by a very old family friend who happens to be a literature professor at UNC.
• Extracurricular Rec: Very good, my piano teacher loves me and we have a great bond.
• Instruments: Piano, but I also do modern classical composition
• Other ECs: Not really, but I sing recreationally and I used to dance
• Hook: Underrepresented state + Double legacy at Andover. My dad and grandfather both went

Location/Person

• State or Country: The southeast of US
• Current School Type: Small Private
• Ethnicity: Asian and white
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying for: 9
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Lots of FA

Strengths:
Definitely music. I’m very passionate and serious about music, and I focused on it a lot throughout the application process. I submitted several performance videos, as well as the scores of all of my compositions. I also think my love of literature and my essays helped a lot. My interview at Exeter probably played a large part, but I’m not sure about Andover.

Weaknesses:
ORM (Asian), Lots of financial aid, only one serious EC

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Probably I was accepted for writing and music, as well as my good grades. The double legacy may have helped at Andover, although I don’t know how much. At Choate and Deerfield, I didn’t display much interest in going, so they may have picked up on that.

16

Accepted: Andover, Lawrenceville, Choate
Rejected: None
Wait listed: Groton
Likely Attending: IDK

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: SSAT 99%
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: All A’s
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats: N/A

Subjective:
• Interviews: ANDOVER: Nice, connected well CHOATE: Pretty good, had fun, stumbled on a few questions LAWRENCEVILLE: Talked a lot, ok I think GROTON: Horrible (i mean horrible)
• Essays: ANDOVER: Short essays were good, long essay was great CHOATE: Short essays unique, long essay not really LAWRENCEVILLE: Really good essays GROTON: Decent
• Math Rec: Blind. I would say pretty good.
• English Rec: Very good. Have good relationship with her.
Personal/Extracurricular Rec: Very personal since I’ve known her for years.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: IDK
• Sports (if any): I dance but I’m terrible at it.
• Instruments (if any): Cello- 7 years, state orchestra 1st cellist, strongest EC. Piano-play for fun
• Other ECs (if any): Editor of newspaper, volunteer as tutor in school, placed in state Science Olympiad and National History day, creative writing awards.
• Hook: Girl who excels in STEM. Geographical diversity?

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Somewhere from Midwest/Southeast
• Current School Type: Private
• Ethnicity: I put down White
• Gender: Girl
• Grade Applying For: 8th
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Full pay

Strengths: I did a lot of EC’s and had a variety of interests. My interviews and essays were unique. My main strength was my recs I think. (have good relationship with teachers)

Weaknesses: I’m not super outgoing, which showed in interviews. I did a lot of activities, but didn’t excel in anything

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
I think it was that had so much variety in my EC’s- even if I wasn’t the best at any of them. Also, recs were good.

17

Accepted: none
Rejected: pa, crh, hkiss
Wait listed: da
Likely Attending: da if taken off wl, otherwise lps

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 87 avg
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 3.8
• Rank: unranked
• Other stats: -

Subjective:
• Interviews: pa interview was quite good, crh was ok, da was amazing, hkiss was also quite good (i interviewed for all four w ao’s because i had my interviews at a reception)
• Essays: pa and crh i felt like were my best, hkiss ok-ish, and da the worst
• Math Rec: i feel like my math teacher hated me because he was new and he literally never taught, only played video games w the boys in class. unless you were one of the boys he’d joke with, he didn’t like you.
• English Rec: my english teacher was super nice and supportive about it, so i didn’t worry too much about that rec. i’m a pretty good student in her class
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: had my seventh grade english teacher do it. she said she’d write me a really good rec, we’re quite close and she’s super nice to me
• Principal/Counselor Rec: alright so long story short, my principal didn’t even know it existed and before winter break, claimed that he couldn’t do it because grades weren’t out. after the break, he left, and i had to bug him for a whole month because he kept saying that i never told him. didn’t expect a really good rec from him lol
• Sports (if any): swimming for seven years, have qualified for many championships (junior olympics, etc.)
• Instruments (if any): violin for seven years (have gone on international tours, currently playing mendelssohn concerto in e minor and lalo symphonie espagnole)
• Other ECs (if any):
• Hook: none

Location/Person:
• State or Country: california
• Current School Type: public
• Ethnicity: asian
• Gender: female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 12
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: partial fa

Strengths: ec’s, interviews

Weaknesses: age - i started schooling a year early, so i’m a lotttt younger than other people
over-represented state and specific region within the state too haha
low?-ish ssat score
pretty bad mental health (i did mention it as a weakness in my interviews)

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
i mean, da was literally the last place in the world i was expecting a wl from. i thought that overall, it was my weakest? application, so i’m not quite sure. especially because i got rejected from the other schools, i had zero hope for anything other than a rejection from da.
why i got rejected is a whole different story. there were a lot of things that are a bit more on the personal side, so i won’t be putting them here, but yea.

18

Accepted: St. Andrew’s (DE), Groton, Hill, Middlesex
Rejected:
Wait listed: Blair
Likely Attending: St. Andrew’s (DE)!!!

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 94% overall
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: idk my gpa, but I have had straight As for 3 years
• Rank: School doesn’t rank
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: SAS went really really well. Middlesex was definitely my worst. Hill and Blair were okay. Groton went well too.
• Essays: SAS, Groton, and Middlesex were definitely the best. I poured my soul into them
• Math Rec: Blind, but I’m very close with my math teacher.
• English Rec: Blind. It’s a little hard to tell if my teacher likes you, but he taught at boarding school, and I don’t think he’d write someone a bad letter.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: My drama teacher who is also my advisor probably wrote me a great rec. My 7th grade history teacher also wrote me one, which would have been interesting because she really watched me grow last year.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: I don’t know if he knows who I am.
• Sports (if any): Swimming 4 years on school + club team
• Instruments (if any): Piano for 7 years and Voice for 2
• Other ECs (if any):

  • Musicals for the past three falls
    -A capella
    -Chorus
    -Plays in the spring
    -Dance classes
    • Hook: 4th generation legacy at Groton

Location/Person:
• State or Country: NY
• Current School Type: Private Day School
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: FP

Strengths:
-Essays. I’m a pretty strong writer
-Interviews. I love to talk, and it’s hard to get me to stop once I’ve started.

Weaknesses:

  • Didn’t ask many questions/follow up with Blair
  • I don’t have many sports

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?

I wrote a FC letter to SAS, and overall I tried really hard on my application there. Most of my family has gone to Groton, so I think that that helped me a lot. I’m completely shocked that I got into MX! My grades are good and I had strong test scores.

19

Accepted: SPS, Taft, Middlesex, Loomis (LC Scholar), American Heritage (100% merit scholarship), Pine Crest, Ransom Everglades, FAU High (last 4 in South FL; could get a B.S. by graduation at FAU High)
Rejected: L-ville, Exeter
Wait listed: Andover, Groton, Choate, Deerfield, Thacher, Hotchkiss
Likely Attending: waiting on revisit

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 99th SSAT
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 3.75
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats: double SET (>1500 SAT)

Subjective:
• Interviews: mostly ok, good rapport with Loomis, terrible w/ L-ville; most via skype
• Essays: 8/10
• Math Rec: 10/10
• English Rec: 9/10
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 10/10
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Not sure, but met him after apps were submitted and he spoke highly of me
• Sports (if any): none
• Instruments (if any): violin, trombone
• Other ECs (if any): Robotics (including awards), Model UN, writing for newspaper/Scholastic Awards, food pantry/youth advocacy group, CTY/CTD awards (Grand), online DE courses, math courses (AoPS)
• Hook: ECs (music), URM – not really sure, honestly

Location/Person:
• State or Country: FL
• Current School Type: Private
• Ethnicity: Haitian

  • Gender: M
    • Grade Applying For: 9
    • Age: 13
    • Financial Aid/Full Pay: Full Fin Aid

Strengths: Test-taking, intellectual curiosity, culturally unique background (expressed in essays), commitment to helping our local Haitian community (addressing health/SES disparities)

Weaknesses: Grades. Had some formatting messes on a couple of applications (e.g., update with list of awards/clubs on Exeter’s turned into teeny-tiny print) and my transcript for middle school includes lots of absences at the beginning of the year because of early bird orchestra). Among my interviews, I usually did somewhat better when I skyped, and only started getting more comfortable with interviews later in the process. Also, many of my activities were one-year involvements instead of two or three.

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
I had a strong rapport and was getting positive feedback from AOs at the schools where I was accepted (and these interviews were better). Honestly, I hoped to get a few more boarding school acceptances, but am very happy about those I did get. I was also accepted to a few local schools that prepare students well and send many to competitive colleges.

This was a great experience and will only motivate me to knock it to improve for college apps and beyond.

20

Accepted:
Rejected: Andover, Exeter, L’ville
Wait listed: H’kiss
Likely Attending:

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 95%ile overall
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: ~3.97
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: I thought they went pretty well. But H’kiss seemed rushed by interviewer. Exeter was by alumni.
• Essays: I honestly have no idea because I’ve never seen other people’s. But an Andover grad looked through and said it was good.
• Math Rec: 6/10 I think we bonded after he submitted the rec. oof.
• English Rec: 8/10
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 7/10
• Principal/Counselor Rec: 6/10 prob dislikes me but wrote good stuff out of kindness.
• Sports (if any): XC (JV), track (V), tennis (for fun)
• Instruments (if any): piano, viola
• Other ECs (if any): Robotics, girl scouts (developed an app for kids),
• Hook: none

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Japan (with US citizenship)
• Current School Type: International private
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 15
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Partial FA

Strengths: Perhaps the fact that I was a reapplicant for Andover and Exeter? Girl in STEM (for H’kiss)?

Weaknesses: Living international and needing FA. Quite typical ECs, quite typical essays, nothing unique. Also ORM. Recs.

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? I was quite shocked at my results. I’ve never heard of people who were waitlisted one year and rejected the next so that was a surprise. But being rejected perhaps is better because waitlists give you false hope. Those who were rejected everywhere: don’t lose hope! Trust me, the waitlist is basically a delayed rejection, especially for Andover and Exeter where the yield rate is high.
That being said, I’m going to send some updates to H’kiss because right before M9 I got into the world championships for robotics.
Why do I think I got these results? Well being international and needing FA was probably a big factor. I know a lot of people that are international that are in BS but are all legacy/FP. Another reason is probably because of my recs. I didn’t see them and also I am not the most spectacular student. I also lack creativity. This list could go on.
My greatest regret is only applying to a few schools. Please, if you were to apply for FA, apply to a lot of schools! Especially if you can afford all the application fees!