2nd try at a Chance Me

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi,

This is my 2nd time trying this, I’ve never posted on CC before so fingers crossed it works this time

I’m a mixed race, asian-white, female, applying to 10th grade (I applied to just Andover last year and didn’t get in because I had zero idea what I was doing) from Massachusetts applying to 9 schools: Andover, Choate, Deerfield,Exeter, Hotchkiss, Loomis, Middlesex, Milton, and Taft

Grades and SSAT:

My SSAT score was pretty good. Verbal: 93%, Reading: 93%, Quantitative: 94% and Overall: 96%

In Middle School I had all As. My High School is a good school and I take all Honors classes

Grades for the first term of 9th grade:

Acc Algebra: 93 (This is a great grade for an accelerated math class at my school)

Honors Acc Chemistry: 99

French: 99

Honors World History: 91

Honors English: 89 (This is a pretty good score, it’s the hardest class I’ve ever taken and the way our writing is graded if we did “good” we get an 85)

ECs:

Band: If I go to BS it will be my 5th year as a trumpet player. I’m definitely a solid player. I play in Jr Districts (I was hoping for Sr Districts but it was definitely a stretch). I am 1st trumpet in one of the best school Jazz bands in the state and am the best trumpet player in my grade by a huge margin. That was somewhat a joke because of Covid I am the only trumpet player who joined Jazz because we’re not doing competitions or concerts and I am the only trumpet player in my grade. I’m not the best ever but I love love love being in the band and I could jump in and play any High School level part in any type of ensemble.

Science Fair: This is my second year doing a science fair project. Last year the science fair was cancelled so I never got to compete but I did finish my project. I’m an avid gardener and I love all kinds of plant related science (Vertical Farming!). This year’s project is on the science of wheat and I’m almost finished which is super exciting.

Politics: Politics is probably my biggest passion (although I’m pretty passionate about a lot of things). After I took Civics in 8th grade, it really opened my eyes to the way our government is controlled by the people, and how we are responsible for making change. I’ve volunteered for 5 different campaigns, every other conversation is about politics, my computer is decorated with political stickers, and I’ve written several letters to my congressmen. Politics is really my dream job.

Student Council: I ran unopposed for student council and am really enjoying it. We’ve done a can drive and decorated the whole school for Halloween. Most importantly to me is a diversity initiative we did, that I think is both successful and extremely necessary.

I also speak a good amount of Mandarin Chinese (HSK 3 level working on HSK 4) and am currently teaching myself using Coursera

I currently don’t play any sports because my parents couldn’t get me to and from any practices as a kid and my school only has varsity teams and I’m not that good. I do love sports (I watch the Red Sox religiously and love to play catch with my brother when he begrudgingly is willing to squat and catch baseballs). This is one of the reasons I want to go to boarding school.

Recommendations:

English: I think this one will be relatively good.

Math: This one will be really good. My math teacher really likes me and said I’m one of her best students.

Personal: I had a close family friend write this because she is an exceptionally good writer. She wrote a lot about my love for politics.

Other Academic: I had my science teacher and science fair advisor write this. This is my best class so I think it’ll be strong

Special Interest: I was going to have my band teacher write this but he caught Covid and was unable to. That was really unfortunate and I really hope it won’t affect my application too much.

Essays:

I think my essays will be relatively good. I can write well, though creative writing is definitely my strongest. I do think some were definitely better than others. I wrote about the importance of not making flash judgments, my relationship with my brother, by favorite books and songs, my ECs, and how alienating it feels to grow up biracial, Buddhist, and gay (trust me it does) but how it helps me be more tolerant and kind.

Interviews:

Just like my essays, some interviews were better than others. Even though I may not have gotten every point across since my dream is to be a politician I was at least able to push across passionate, enthusiastic and of course charismatic. The only weird interview was the one at Middlesex because I was interviewed by a sports coach. He told my mom that once at field day there was this boy who was the worst athlete he’d ever seen, yet he was the best piano player he had ever heard. I found that somewhat embarrassing.

Sorry that this is so long, thanks so much for reading this

2

From what I’ve heard in the forums, because of the special circumstances this year or something like that, a lot of boarding schools will be taking in less 10th graders in than previous years (so keep that in mind). However, you do seem to have a competitive application. I don’t know much about prestigious private/boarding schools, but I wish you all the best!

3

I can’t chance you, as I am an applicant this year too. I am also an female from MA, but applying for grade 9. The schools on your list are all great schools, and you are a very strong candidate. But you may know ORM may be soemthing concerning. Hope you will get options in M10. Good luck!

4

Is Asian/white considered as Asian, or white, or a separate category in admission? Not sure if he/she is considered ORM.

5

Really interesting profile and it passes the “would I want to have coffee with this person and learn more” test for me.
You have only very low-admit schools so without a wider net being cast, I’d say it could go either way. Know that if you don’t have any options in M10, it’s not because there is something wrong with you specifically — it’s simply the fact that you chose all schools where frankly most qualified applicants get rejected. Would that happen 9 times? Maybe not but it could.

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6

Well, Eurasians usually aren’t counted as white - at least, my Eurasian relatives don’t pass as white.

And either way, white or Asian applicants aren’t underrepresented, so neither are mixes. All this mean is that whatever @BugsBunny1 's hook might be considered to be, her ethnicity is not going to be perceived to increase class diversity.

@BugsBunny1 : you sound like a nice kid, with a fun sense of humor. The only real thing I see amiss with your application is that you’ve limited yourself to low admit schools and you’re not into athletics. I believe most of these schools require that you participate in team sports every season.

I hope you let your sense of humor comes out in your applications, as I imagine that you’re a really fun person to have around.

If M10 doesn’t work out, I suggest you look into schools with rolling admissions.

7

You seem qualified. However, being a Red Sox fan would do it for me if I was an AO. (I’m just kidding lol i’m a yankees fan from NY so that’s to be expected)

8

I would definitely increase the number of higher admit BS schools. This does not make them less outstanding and they often prove to be the best fit for a student for many reasons. Our son absolutely thrived at the school he chose. The best students at his school, including him, were accepted to the best colleges. There is value at being near the top of the class at a higher admit school vs the middle of the pack in the low admit schools, especially when applying to colleges.

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9

You are strong, and your schools are difficult in a difficult year. The big wild cards are 10th grade and actual available spots and whether the COVID-driven influx of applications will prove to be a bunch of pretenders. Did you decide that if you can’t get into a very top school, you would rather not go? There are some good ones in your area that are just a 1/2 level down. Curious, at your school, is accelerated or honors the higher class or does that just depend on the class? Good luck! A bright spot for you may be that boarding schools will not get the number of applicants this year because of a slow return to normalcy. The day schools in your area are up between 10 and 50% depending on the school - Nobles, Rivers, BB&N.

10

Thanks for responding! I definitely wish I could’ve applied to a broader range of schools but I go to the #2 public school in a good state so my parents wouldn’t allow it. Also the only school close enough to be a day school near me is SAS and as a Buddhist any school with St. in there name isn’t for me. Also the honors classes are your typical harder class and the accelerated are one class in half a year.

11

Got it. For what is worth, I think you get into 1 or more. Hard to say which one and why though.

12

Yeah I’m pretty sure Asian/White is considered an ORM, however I’m Buddhist (about 1% of Americans) and gay (about 3.5% of Americans) which means about 0.035% of Americans are gay Buddhists while about 62% are straight Christians (if it was random which it somewhat is) so perhaps that will do something for diversity

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13

@michaeluwill
Not to be a Debbie downer here, but the prevailing word on the street is that applications are much HIGHER this year, not lower, due to covid.
@BugsBunny1 I love your gay Buddhist identity and think it does add to you being interesting and having a different point of view. So perhaps that isn’t a real “hook,” but I do think it’s rich and interesting, assuming this identity has shaped who you are and how you see the world. (Also, just FYI, SAS doesn’t accept day students anyway. – a rare 100% boarding community – so you haven’t lost anything by not considering them for day school.). No sports at all – maybe not the best thing ever, but I’m assuming you found ways to express interest and willingness to try/be involved in some sports while at BS?

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14

I know about applications being higher, but if they are COVID-apps - will families run back to their strong public schools if things are back to normal by Summer?

15

Hard to tell how many of the increase is due to dissatisfaction with public schools or just simply the test optional change to admission requirements. The latter will not go back if Covid improves.

16

At my son’s MA school, they did not go test optional. I know about 1/3 of the peer schools did. We will see about your last comment. Some people have short memories.