Hi, djangojung here
So three of my friends plus me are applying for Choate
2/3 of us has 99 ssat and one has 98
However I play sports, squash, 3 instruments, choir and senate with a gpa of b+ with 99ssat and alumni rec. I presume my essay to be better than his.
My friend is exactly the same but with a gpa of A+ and 98 ssat and without alumni rec. However he is better at squash than me.
My other friend plays violin intensively and a gpa of A+ with 99 ssat (3 wrong total) and great essays
What is the possibility that Choate will accept all 3???
I feel like I am the least qualified help :((( My gpa is bad so.
Will the alumni rec get me in or will I be knocked out. Please help I feel really scared.
It is possible none of you will be admitted. Or all of you.
breathe! congratulations you made it thru the application process. You have strong stats and did the best you could. I know its hard, but try and forgot about it until at least March!
No one but Choate admissions knows the answer to your question.
From all your posts, you seem to be inappropriately focused on stats. ALL of the schools mentioned on this board reject many top-scoring applicants because stats are only one part of the application. Also, these schools do not split hairs between a 99 and a 98 or between a 99 and a 92, etc. The test scores only tell a school whether or not the applicant is capable of handling the work. You do not get an extra admissions star for a perfect SSAT score, especially if you’ve taken the test multiple times chasing a better score after you’ve satisfied the requirement. The alumni rec is not going to be a tie-breaker.
From what you share, you and your friends appear to have similar profiles that are all competitive for Choate. Nothing you have shared indicates anything that will “knock you out” or give you an edge. You are trying to determine which of the three of you is most attractive; Choate is deciding which, among all applicants, will best fill its community needs this coming year. That could be all of you, some of you, or none of you.
Like everyone else here, all you can do is wait.
All three profiles sound like talented students. I would assume that all three also applied to other schools, too. If not, there are some schools with deadlines that haven’t yet passed. No one should put all of their eggs in one basket.
In my brother’s school, GPA for top 10% is above 4.3 and SAT average is above 1450. At least 100 students apply to top schools. It really makes it more competitive for everyone. Usually 10-12 make it to top 10 schools.
Most kids applying to boarding school deal with this. It can be hard because boarding schools don’t want to over admit a group of kids who all already know each other and have a tendency to hang out only with each other. On the other hand, you aren’t exactly in a death struggle with each other either. You all have very similar qualifications and an alumni rec doesn’t really mean anything, unless they are informing the school that your family wants to build a new athletic center. Instead, the schools will evaluate each of you the same way they do other applicants-- how do we think this specific student will fit in at our school and, most importantly how will s/he contribute to the community and grow from the experience. Humility and a desire to learn and grow are often what distinguish highly-qualified applicants from each other.
And by humility, I do not mean someone who trumpets their SSAT score as you do (“99er here”) to a kid who scored in the 15th percentile and was asking in the forum for compassion and reassurance. That’s just not nice.
Thank you to the people who commented here on the inappropriate comments. You were much more polite than I was in my head.
Guys please don’t look at my past I just want an answer to my question not criticism on what I said.
OK, I’ll answer. Schools, as a rule, do not ONLY look at stats. They look at essays, recommendations, and the interview. They read into who a student is, and not only the face they portray in a superficial way. An AO should be able to see what kind of person someone is, that is their job. They look for genuine, kind, helpful students who can handle the work and offer a great deal for their community. Do you think you fit the bill? Then, there is your answer.
@djangojung Sorry you feel stressed from the comments above (however, everyone is telling the truth and giving good criticism).
- You are all very qualified students. There is a chance for all of you to get in.
- Don’t be scared! Whether you get in or not, the admission process is a very valuable lesson for applying to college and university in the future. Either way, it’s a win.
- The alumni rec is a rec. There’s no guaranteeing that it’ll get you in. Frankly, as an AO I wouldn’t even recognize that your recommendation was DONE by an alumni unless they say so. Even then I really can’t be bothered to look them. It’s cool that you were able to get one though.
4)I do hope you stop comparing yourself to others, as you are all unique students with different strengths and weaknesses. If your friend(s) get in but you don’t, that’s okay. Perhaps Choate isn’t the path for you. And if you do get in, I hope you won’t boast to it to your friends considering the competitiveness between you three. - All in all, Choate’s deadline is passes and there’s no going back now. Wherever you end up by the end of this summer, be happy and make the most out of it!
Our older kids applied to BS while attending a middle school out west. They went on to attend Exeter. At the time approx 4 kids were accepted from their school in each admissions cycle.
Fast forward to our younger 2 attending middle school on the east coast. Approximately 3 kids were accepted during each admissions cycle (much smaller school - approx 400 kids in 6,7,8th vs 1800 kids on west coast). Our sons dorm currently has 3 kids out of 30 total from our little town. In our experience there didn’t seem to be a bias toward multiple applicants from one school- rather each student was viewed as a stand alone candidate.
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