Am I good enough to get in to Exeter or Andover?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

I’m applying to both to see if I get in to either.

Stats:

SSAT score: I’m taking it in February, but my PSAT 8/9 score was a perfect 1440 and I have a fantastic (not to brag) vocabulary and am taking Calculus 2 right now so it’ll probably be 2300+

Middle school classes:
I went to middle school online and took a bunch of high school classes. I skipped 8th grade.

9th grade classes (my neighborhood public high school):
AP English Language
Calculus 1 and 2 through UF dual enrollment
AP Chemistry
AP Psychology
Debate 2 Honors
French 3 Honors
Studio Art: Drawing Honors
Rocketry 1 Honors
Introduction to Ethics through community college dual enrollment

GPA:
W: 4.88 (Foreign language classes and a Guitar 1 class have brought me down a lot)
UW: 4.0

Extracurriculars:
I went to middle school online so I don’t have very many. I danced and took art, music (ukulele, piano, and guitar. I’m pretty mediocre in piano, pretty good at ukulele, and pretty bad at guitar), and voice lessons (I do sing pretty well) and participated in a production of Heathers (ensemble though, I was one of the youngest people there, it was a high school production and I was in 6th grade).

I also took Debate 1 Honors last year and did LD debate, I got 6th place at the biggest middle school competition of the year (I should have gotten 1st or 2nd, it was stolen from me from this horribly rude person who slammed on my desk and scared me and then I almost started crying in round lol).

Last summer I went to a four-week French language immersion summer camp that gives high school credit and learned so much it was crazy, I love French now and am now one of the most advanced students in my French class.

I’m in Debate still, I still take art lessons (I’m planning on submitting a 6-piece portfolio), but because of my crazy academic schedule I don’t really have time for music or theater stuff.

I’m in Debate club, Rocketry club, and Mu Alpha Theta. I would have been in a few more but Debate is Wednesday and Thursday from 2:40-4:00 ish and basically every club is Wednesday or Thursday- and if we miss even one meeting, we aren’t allowed to go to the next competition (I was absent for two days and my coach dropped my from Sunvitational, the biggest local because she was mad I missed meeting lol)

2

Bump

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Edit: I forgot to include that I read, bake pastries, and have study parties and bake pastries with my friends in my free time

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Edit again: I also forgot to include that I’m a member of two Jewish youth groups that do community service projects

5

I see all these views but no replies ;(

6

Are you applying to 9th grade? I wonder if you are young for 9th grade, especially since you skipped 8th?

I suppose you have a fair shot. It is hard to say without an SSAT score. Are you in 9th grade now at your local public highschool?

Just a glancing impression that you may be a bit on the young side for these schools and possibly not be so happy if you end up at one.

7

I’m applying for 10th, I’ve taken practice tests and I’m expected to do quite well on the SSAT.

8

I am coming back to this because I wanted to share some things I have learned from having two kids in boarding school and watching my kids and others navigate the first few years. I think you have a good shot. Your resume is very solid.

If you are a year young for your grade I strongly urge you to repeat 9th grade. My kids are both “normal” age for their grades but I have watched kids who were either somewhat immature or just young for their grade struggle socially. (I myself went to college young and I think it made the experience less valuable and harder for me)

Depending on the schools that you get into there may be a full third of your class that is a year older than average. The normal age range of a class at many top schools is 2 full years. So if you are already young and someone else is a repeat that leads to a large social difference. It might be less of a factor at the larger schools because there may be more young kids but I really think it is something to consider.

9

I could not agree more with @one1ofeach. And I don’t think it is less of a factor at the larger schools, in fact it may be more because they tend to run more like a college and there is a lot less handholding and oversight. If you are not mature enough to deal with it all the boarding school experience may not be what you envision it to be. Yes there are young for grade kids, and they tend to be extremely academically precocious but not necessarily well adjusted socially. At our school they seem to be mostly day students with serious ECs outside of school so the limited social life at school is not that much of an issue for them. But for the few that are boarding students it is quite hard, and they are lonely. It can be hard even for kids who are the right age, I just fielded a ‘mom I really want to leave and go to a normal HS’ from my kid, and it feels beyond terrible (BS was entirely the kid’s idea btw). The students are expected to handle a ton and there is not a lot of support when things are not going great and you are utterly miserable. So pushing ahead to be with older kids could well backfire, as good close friends are the only saving grace my kid has at the moment.

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@417WHB
Hugs, that is a hard phone call to take. I hope it’s a blip.

11

I would be fine repeating 9th, but my family would be full-pay. My parents retirement fund would be decimated if I go at all, and adding another $60,000+ to the expense doesn’t seem like the best idea.
Besides the age, do you think I can get in? Also I have horrible dental issues and will be in braces for the next two years, how do braces work in boarding school?

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Also I have my Andover interview on thursday, and will have about 5 teeth in my mouth because of said dental issues (very very dentally delayed, I’m getting every baby tooth left in my mouth pulled today so I probably won’t be able to talk very well, lol but not really lol), should I clarify that I’m not a meth addict or just let my interviewer assume?

13

This makes me think Andover is not a good choice for your family. Is your public school terrible? Have your parents considered applying for financial aid?

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My public school is okay, but the teachers are all pretty terrible, we have very few clubs, and I’m about to run out of classes. My parents don’t have a huge income (very low end of “rich,” we wouldn’t qualify for aid), but they have a lot of assets because they used to make more money. Our house is like 1.3 mil, but they have a mortgage and that’s (I assume) where a lot of their money is going. Also I have 4 younger siblings, so they need to save money for their college.

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Also, not decimated really, just injured kinda badly

16

To piggyback on @one1ofeach and @417WHB I also recommend repeating the grade. DD was very young for her grade due to having attended school abroad. When we applied for middle sch every school advised her to repeat the grade. I was reluctant because she was an A student, independent and mature. However, realizing that it was less about academics and more about socializing with peers, we relented. It was the BEST thing that could have happened to DD. We did not even realize some of the struggles she had gone through being nearly two years younger in some cases than her peers.

Fast forward to now and applying for BS I cannot imagine if she had been applying last year for 9th which would have been the case coupled with the fact that BS has lot’s of repeats is ‘away’ from home etc.

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I’m on the older side for my grade, and I’d rather be with older kids anyway I think. Also every time I think about repeating I get really upset because I feel like its giving up everything I’ve worked for my whole life, not very rational but I think i would have a mental breakdown if I repeated

18

My concern is that you might not be able to handle the rigors and social pressures of attending boarding school if you truly believe you might have a nervous breakdown if you were to repeat a grade, especially since even as a “repeater”, you would have classmates who were older and perhaps even more accomplished. The fact that you would consider it “giving up” and that you fear it would trigger a breakdown is a big red flag for me.

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Lol, i was half joking. It would be upsetting but I would live. I thrive under pressure, basically the more the better, and true competition would be exhilarating.

20

Academically you seem qualified, based on your GPA and assuming you get 95% or better on SSAT. But for the schools you are applying (PA and PEA), academic qualification would only put your foot on the door. That is the only problem. They seem to demand a very strong hook. In order for an academic to be a hook, you need to win some unusual recognition beyond the usual such as doing well in school and acing tests, since almost every apolicant is an A student. Ask this to yourself: why should they accept me? Why am I a compelling candidate? “Compelling” is the key, since 90% of applicants get rejected from those schools.

I am sure you know that the schools you applied are not the only good schools. In fact, I would think, out of the whole, very limited profiles of students would be great matches in those places. There are many many choices between the public school whose resources you seem to have exhausted and the two schools you are applying; it’s not an either-or proposition. Have you thought about other schools too?

That said, since you must have applied already, there is little reason to get nervous about it. And I would definitely apply for FA - especially since there are 4 kids in your family. In calculating your family contribution amount, they take that into account. It has always been my belief that no school is worth going while breaking someone’s back.