<p>About DS - in Fall 2010, he applied to six schools for 9th grade admissions and was wait-listed and denied. In Fall 2011, he applied to five schools for 10th grade admissions and was admitted, wait-listed and denied. </p>
<p>His strategy was "Go big or stay home" as he was studying at a well known local high school. DS did in-campus interviews, so we did a lot of driving around the East Coast. </p>
<p>His SSAT were in mid-90. He played one sport for many years but not at any competitive level. He played one musical instrument with great difficulties. He was actively involved in various non-curricular activities at his school. I guess he could be considered as a high average kid but he's definitely not a peak performer. </p>
<p>We are not from those overly represented Asian countries. </p>
<p>Before Fall 2010, our knowledge of American BS was limited to a friend went to Andover many moons ago and a friend's DD enrolled at Choate in 2007. I found many useful information in this Forum.</p>
<p>Now, DS is a full pay 10th grade boarder at one of the "acronym" BS. And so far so good...</p>
<p>Int’lDad,</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing your family’s story. Kudos to your son for having the courage to dust himself off after the disappointments the first time and trying again!</p>
<p>GMT+7, many thanks. </p>
<p>The first round was a humbling, eye-opener experience. While we knew about the competition, we were confident that DS would be able to secure a place. </p>
<p>There were simply too many candidates for the limited spaces. Most (if not all) international Asian candidates aim for the popular schools (i.e. applying the same Go Big or Stay Home strategy). Thus, applying to six of these schools didn’t increase DS’s chances of acceptance. DS was against (more or less) the same batch of candidates in each of the schools. Some of these candidates were not “truly” Asian internationals as they were already in the US lower schools. Some of them also engaged consultants.</p>
<p>Looking back and knowing what we know now, we probably would have taken a different approach.</p>
<p>Having failed to ace the first round, we were more realistic on the second round. But we decided to stick with the Go Big or Stay Home strategy. We’re glad that DS had a happy outcome, and that we only have one child!</p>