A Piece of Advice for Future Applicants

Prep School Admissions
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Hello everyone! :smiley:

As things will be winding down soon in light of the recent M10 frenzy, I just wanted to leave a little bit of advice for the 2018-2019 applicants to read (it feels so weird writing this because I would’ve been reading a post like this less than a week ago)!

Now: I bet a ton of you applicants are applying to all of the TSAO schools, the Eight Schools Association schools, HADES, GLADCHEMMS, whatever. I want to offer up some advice, coming from my personal experience on M10. I am sure that many of you believe that you need perfect test scores, grades, and ECs to get into any of these schools, right? While those things do carry a certain weight in your application, there is a complete other half to the application that a ton of people forget about: your personality! You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to scream through the internet at applicants who say “I got a perfect SSAT score and grades and I am a world champion in swimming can I get into Exeter”. Honestly: these schools can afford to be selective enough to not let the perfect candidate in over one thing that they don’t like. While schools also want those star athletes/geniuses/whatever, they also want kids who have humility, and aren’t afraid to talk about their FULL self, not just their “application” selves. Rather than writing your essays about all of your amazing accomplishments, write an essay about something that you like, something that you hate, something that you are terrible at, or something that you’re good at. Talk about your quirks, what makes you unique? During your interview: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT PREPARE ANSWERS. It is totally ok to get a rough idea of what you want to say, but please please please don’t try to memorize anything. It puts stress on you, and you seem fake. Be your amazing self: joke around, be fun, be talkative, really try to show the best, most complete version of yourself. In my interviews, I talked about how even though I’m “smart”, I actually do really stupid things sometimes. Show them ALL of you; not just the award winning, A+ earning, star athlete, who also happens to be in every club in their school. I wrote an essay for Choate about how to deal with my Briggs-Myers personality type (INTJ), and I made it completely honest! I said that I have a dark sense of humor, sometimes I spend too much time in my head, I have some problems with relating to other people’s emotions
 They know that you’re not perfect, and you can use that to your advantage!

In summary: Show all of you, not just the perfect parts. Make your essays personal, don’t just highlight your accomplishments. Please trust me on this: I got accepted to six schools that I didn’t think I had a chance at. I have literally never won an award in my life, don’t play a sport, etc. You don’t need to be perfect: show them that you aren’t, the AO’s will definitely be interested.

Good luck to everyone: feel free to PM me in the future if you have anxiety, questions, or just want to rant about the application process :wink:

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Completely agree on this! Very well worded :slight_smile: I think that another thigh to think about is when you are talking about your flaws, put a positive spin on it. For example, I explained how I can be sensitive and sometimes that is bad because I get hurt easily by others but I also relate to people on a different level. Be authentic in your interview! Have a rough idea of what you want to say and bring up to highlight your accomplishments but don’t be scripted or fake. Best of luck to everybody who just got accepted to schools or is a prospective student honking of applying for schools :slight_smile: Don’t stress- everything will work it self out!

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Wise words from @Nico.campbell. In interviews and essays, it can be really, really hard to resist the temptation to tell the school what you think they want to hear. While scores matter at the most competitive schools, you ultimately get admitted based on what makes you different, not what makes you the same!

I echo the comments about not preparing answers verbatim. However, I do recommend thinking about how you would answer the standard interview questions. (Milton’s website has a good list of these.) The interview is a great opportunity to highlight what makes you different, and this isn’t easy for most 14 year-olds (or most 44-year-olds)! I can’t put it better than @Nico.campbell - “try to show the best, most complete version of yourself”.

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@bostonparent617 Thank you! Did your kid apply to Milton?

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Yes. Ended up on WL. (Probably not a huge factor, but didn’t help that it was the 1st interview! That said, the tips on the Milton website did give us a better idea what to expect.)

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This! Honestly, don’t present yourself as perfect, because AOs see right through it. Be yourself, because all schools want to choose students they know will fit in well. If you cherry pick the parts of yourself you want to present, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and the school.

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Thank you so much for this!! Even though I haven’t started the BS application process I’m still trying to get together my application :-S . Off topic, but I’m an INTJ too! Your description sounds exactly like me :slight_smile:

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Once again, wonderful advice from @Nico.campbell ! Hope you stay in the forums once you start BS.