I’m attending an elite boarding school and my goal is to graduate cum laude. I want to be in the top 10% of the class. I know boarding schools are very competitive and it’s often difficult to beat your competition.
Can anyone give me advice on how to get to the top decile of an elite school like Deerfield, St. Paul’s, Hotchkiss, Andover etc?
By having the top 10% of grades. And for the schools that have Cum Laude Societies, or similar, the cut-off is often top 20%,with induction split between junior and senior years. But it varies by school. And really, in terms of honors, it’s low on the totem pole, IMO.
Any advice or study tips to get those grades? Will going to office hours help me get a better grade on my essay? Will reading ahead in the science textbook give me an edge over other students? etc.
My advice is to wait until you are actually on campus and sit in a classroom to worry about grades. When that time comes, almost every school has an academic support team to give you pointers.The key is going to be time management. I will tell you that reading ahead is, IMO, a waste of time strategy for just about every subject except possible English (and maybe history), but only for any fiction/non-fiction works on the syllabus.
At this point, I’d advise you to chill. 95%+ will not graduate with a 4.0. This may come as a shock to many people, but 50% of the graduating class will be in the bottom half of the class. Almost all of that cohort will go to fine schools. But also know that top 10% is not an automatic acceptance to whatever dream school you have.
Being in the top 10% of the class will give you many options however being in a lower decile will not necessarily limit your options. I have a kid at one of the above referenced schools and there were Ivy admits in every quintile of the class of 2019. Elite college admissions are holistic and many kids in elite boarding schools have special talents that make them stand out from the pack. Of course, some families have some special influence at a particular school as well. If your goal is elite college admissions, I’d focus on being in the top 30% and going deep in a special interest. It’ll be very challenging to be in the top 10% gpa at Andover and all grades and nothing else makes for an uninteresting application.
5.8+/6
Helpful note: I have friends who have graduated with around a 5.8/6 cumulative GPA from Andover(also while taking a rigorous courseload), and they did not get accepted to any Ivy+s. American meritocracy allows for star URMs, legacies, and athletes to beat out star scholars, and this shouldn’t be a surprise for you if you are matriculating to an “elite” boarding school, since by now you should be a pro in the “holistic” admissions game. Of course, taking mediocre classes will allow you to get 5.8+/6, but that definitely won’t help you in college admissions. And why would you attend so-called “elite” boarding schools when you’re not taking advantage of the resources there that allow for rigorous classes?