Hi, I was hoping to get some opinions on what my admission chances are to some boarding schools I applied to. I’m just getting nervous since March is coming and I made myself even more nervous after reading some threads.
Schools: Miss Porters School, Choate Rosemary Hall, Harvard-Westlake, Emma Willard, and Dana Hall.
I’ve applied for 9th grade, and I do need financial aid.
Some information about me:
I’m thirteen years old and 8th grade. I am white, my family is low income, and I live in WV. The only thing really unique about my family is that my mom is a paraplegic. My mother became paralyzed when I was eight months old, she has a rare neurological disorder (acute transverse myelitis). It affects her from her waist down.
My school is small and doesn’t get a lot of funding. I’m mainly academic and arts focused. I’ve never gotten anything less than a B. Since 6th grade, I’ve been on the honor roll every semester. I took a placement test last year and because of it, my school let me take some high school classes. Starting in 7th grade, I took English 9 Honors and Algebra 1. This year I’m taking English 10 Honors, Algebra 2 Honors, and World History Honors. I’m also taking French 1 which is only given to 9th grade students.
I’ve been lucky to continue my extra-curriculars despite Covid. I play violin and have played since I was five. I’m a part of my school’s junior orchestra. I’m the concert master which means I’m the lead violinist. I have been that since 7th grade. I also play the piano.
When my school switched to remote learning, I came up with the idea of making our newspaper online. I helped design it and lead that. I also have my own column where I write about true crime. It won the most popular section last semester. I won secretary in our student council this year, too. Speaking of writing, I’ve won multiple writing competitions. In sixth grade, I won first place for my state in the Patriot Pal writing competition. Last year, I won a silver medal with distinction in the Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition.
Sports wise, I don’t have a lot. I’m playing on my schools’ tennis team this year, but it isn’t a competitive team. I also do dance but haven’t been able to compete because of Covid, so I don’t have much to offer. Which is why this is one of the parts I’m more nervous about.
I scored in the 90th percentile in on the SSAT. I wrote all my essays without the help of any admission officers or anything like that. I wrote different essays for each school, which was hard, but I really wanted them to be personalized. My English teacher reviewed them, and she said they were extremely good. I got recommendation letters from my English teacher, math teacher, counselor, and my violin teacher. I think my violin teacher gave the best recommendation because he’s worked with me since I was in 5th grade.
My interviews went really well. I think the best were probably Miss Porters School and Dana Hall. Especially with Miss Porters, the admission officer was really nice. We talked about my family, I played violin for her, and why I’d like to go to Miss Porters. Including what classes, I’m interested in (I’ve looked over their course catalog like a hundred times). She complimented me a lot and sent me a follow-up email the next day.
This is my first time applying for anything so I’m really nervous. I don’t have many people to help me with it as no one in my family has attended anything like this. I would greatly appreciate your honest thoughts and tips!
. I suspect you’ll have good results come M10. Also, I would not worry about the sports; the only time when sports would have any effect is if you’re good enough to be a recruited athlete or make an impact on their varsity teams.