Am I fit for Prep School?

Prep School Admissions
1

I currently attend a private school in the greater Houston area and I was admitted into Deerfield, Choate, and Hotchkiss for my Junior year.

Currently I have an unweighted GPA of 4.0, which I have worked very hard for during my freshman and sophomore year (Through these years I have taken five honors classes (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, and Algebra II), but my school does not weigh them). I wouldn’t say that my school is easy as we get two to three hours of somewhat difficult homework per night, but it is quite far from the rigor I am expecting at boarding school.

My extracurricular activities are plentiful, as I participate in many clubs (Lemelson MIT Inventeam, Entrepreneurs Club, School Newspaper, Ethics Bowl, National Honor Society) As well as a few community service groups (UNICEF, Green Club, Math for Cancer) yet my true passion lies in debate as I am Junior Captain of my school team and the highest scorer on the team, I ranked 60th at the Texas state Championships (Houston, Austin, and Dallas are all powerhouses for Debate making the Texas state tournament among the hardest to win in the country.) and I made top 20 at the Oklahoma state championship. Another passion of mine is government and economics, I have taken one official year of economics at my school (my economics teacher let me sit into the IB class both this year and last and submit the work alongside the students, but due to school policy I couldn’t actually be in the class.), I have also studied economics independently for a little over a year, I am quite familiar with the generally accepted basics but I still have difficulty with all of the schools of economic thought (there are dozens), which is what I am trying to acquire knowledge on currently through books. I am also very interested in politics as I am in a Republican Club and have interned for my local congressman, I also wrote an essay that won me admission into a Rubio rally earlier in the year.

Although I do have some above level skill in debate and knowledge in government/economics, I wouldn’t dare call myself an expert in either. I feel as if I am simply not special or smart enough to survive in the boarding school environment, especially as a junior (11th grade is supposed to be the hardest). When I was applying I met many other applicants who were gifted artists, talented musicians, and aficionados in math and science. I am none of these things.

In fact I fear that my GPA may fall apart as well as I attend these schools, as I don’t believe I am all that intelligent either. Aside from that I am quite sure that I will not be anywhere near top scorer on the debate team at these schools, I fear I may never even become captain again.

Although I love rigor and the idea of boarding school and independence and the amenities and everything else, I just feel as if I am not cut out for it. I wouldn’t mind being a gifted mind among other gifted minds, but I would hate to be put in a situation in which I fall far behind my peers and graduate at the bottom of my class.

This has all been stressing me a lot, especially considering how rare it is to get strong grades at these schools.

2

Earlier this year my DD naively said to me “mom, if I go to one of these schools I’m not certain I’ll have a shot at being valedictorian…” My response, was there would not be a strong chance (my wording was stronger…) of that happening but there’s a lot more to the experience than grades!

Based on your love for debate, I assume that Hotchkiss is at the top of your list.

3

IME achievers want to achieve, but you seem to have a real love of learning for its own sake. Go to the school that best serves your passions and continued growth, and try to let the scorekeeper in your head go.

4

You’ll do fine. Boarding schools are just high schools. These schools accepted you because they were sure you would do well. You are not going to be anywhere near the bottom of your class.

5

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You wouldn’t have gotten accepted if the admissions committee thought you weren’t capable.

Not too many kids get an opportunity like you. Even if you fall, there will be plenty of people to help pick you up.

6

I would suggest hiring a college consultant. At this point a well regarded consultant should be able to weigh the pro’s and con’s of how your college application would look after your Jr. year. For example, they would be able to judge whether staying and gaining leaderships roles in your EC would better/worse than spending a year or two at a top BS. They might also be able to tell you if the BS have a stronger relationship than your present school with the college of choice

7

No one wants to be in that situation, but I doubt you will find yourself at the very bottom of the class. The record you describe in your post shows you to be motivated, determined, and accomplished which will serve you well at whichever school you choose. Just keep doing what you’re already doing.

Also, it is not rare to get strong grades at BS, just rare to get all As. (Only on CC does “B” = “Bad”) Strong grades (including “Bs”) will not keep you out of fine colleges. If you choose BS, you will not need a college consultant as excellent college counseling is part of what you get at BS. If those schools accepted you, they know you can do well and they know they can do well by you in the college game. You have fine choices and no need to worry. Hugs and good luck.

8

I agree their is no need to hire the college consultant once you have enrolled into BS. However, I think there is a lot of value hiring one now and walking through what your Jr. year would be at both schools.

9

I’m assuming the OP doesn’t need a consultant to know what his/her Jr. year will look like at thecurrent school. The current school is known, no? And how will a consultant know what the OP’s Jr. year will look like at BS? How does anyone know that?

10

Those schools would not have accepted you if they didn’t think you’d thrive there. Because, as other posters have noted, you’re truly interested in learning, this is the PERFECT time to let go of thinking about your worth in terms of how you rate against others and do what your really love. It sounds like you’d like having intellectual peers and a challenge in the classroom. And think about the downside – If you “fail” by being in the middle (or even lower) of your BS class, you’ll have learned that there’s nothing to fear in failure because I assure you, you’ll still have amazing options available to you. The other thing you should know about BS is that if you feel like you’re falling behind (and most BS students experience this at some point), there are lots of ways to deal with that – consultations with teachers, peer tutoring, etc. And if you’re going to succeed in life, one of the key skills to develop is knowing when and how to ask for help. At all these schools, they’ll make it easy.

Honestly, I think you sound like you’ll be right at home. You just need to pick one!

11

The consultants I am aware of lay out your HS path often in the 8th - 9th grade. They plan your path so I would hope for the money they charge they know what your future college app is going to look like.

Specifically, I think they can make a strong guess at what potential classes, sports and EC you will be able to have at the new school in conjunction with the student’s interest.

And then they would compare and contrast the two outcomes to help guide you.

But I think the bottom line is that you have to believe that a consultant is a value-add proposition that can help you get into the college of your choice.

12

The competition to get in to these top tier boarding schools is nearly as tough as is getting into top colleges and where you have been accepted to THREE schools, you clearly are qualified and have the confidence of the staff at each school. Don’t question your qualifications. You can do it. You will work hard, and you may or may not earn the same grades that you are used to, but colleges recognize that the students coming out of these schools are talented and motivated.

My daughter is a sophomore (lower mid) at Hotchkiss and would be happy to answer questions for you. Hotchkiss has a great debate team and I know of at least one other person coming in who is strong in debate so the school is definitely continuing to build their strength there. My daughter is a board member and the only girl in the Republican Club so she would love to welcome you in to that as well. She is an admissions ambassador and will be helping with revisits. I know she is taking someone around tomorrow (Thursday) and next Tuesday. Are you going for a visit? If you want to connect with her to ask questions you might have, PM me and I will share her contact information with you. You have three great choices. Good luck making your decision!

13

My guess is, with your record, you will be near the top at boarding school also. You just may not be at the top in every subject. Ie, the true Math/Science kids may be ahead of you in those subjects. But, I would think as a debater, you are strong in English/History/Gvt classes and surely your debate strenghts will come in handy with the small, discussion oriented classes in BS.

Btw, I have heard that not everyone is super smart…some are just from wealthy families and can afford BS. I doubt any are on the low end…but not everyone will be over-the-top smart…someone can correct me if I’m wrong…just my hunch.

Is there any financial issue (ie, PS = free; BS = $$$)? If not, then I’d say go to BS. You truly love learning, it’s evident in your post. Congrats and happy choosing! You will do great!

14

The biggest battles we often fight are with ourselves. :slight_smile:

I don’t know you, but based on your maturity shown and achievements thus far in your young life, I cannot imagine you “failing” anywhere as long as you remember to set realistic standards and be kind to yourself.

Academically, I imagine you will do very, very well. I can’t speak as to whether it will improve your chances in college acceptance to certain schools - I have no idea.

My encouragement to you is to look inside yourself and try to figure out where you will be happiest. You have some amazing opportunities being offered to you. If you are happy, you will thrive. Only you can do the research and answer those questions, but try not to let any second guessing of yourself get in the way.

Best of luck,

PLD

15

@Imyhyder I kind of feel like this is one of the stories about the extremely beautiful woman asking her boyfriend if he thinks she is beautiful . Of course you are fit for it. No one would or will say you are not. Based on your stats you are an exemplary candidate. We don’t know your test scores or what they would be but I doubt they would be anything but strong or very strong.

16

This is a good example of a feeling called “impostor syndrome” which can affect very talented, high achieving people. I know many people who feel this way, even after they have career success. I sometimes feel this way too. It was a huge weight in grad school and even still pops up occasionally after a fairly successful 18 year career in cancer research. Basically, it’s feeling that despite a good history of high performance, you are just a step away from everyone realizing that you are not really that smart or talented and you will be discovered as an impostor or suddenly take a nosedive at school, work etc. Here is a great illustration of it (although it does have a bad word in it so not sure I can post here).

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinchirico/13-charts-that-will-make-total-sense-to-people-with-impostor

To the OP, don’t worry, you are going to be fine at prep school and wouldn’t be admitted to 3 amazing schools if they didn’t think you were highly qualified!