An international student applying to top boarding schools

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
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<p>Hi, guys :)</p>

<p>First, I'd like to say that I'm really to happy to have found this forum, 'cause it's full of useful information I'm interested in.</p>

<p>Secondly, sorry for any possible mistakes in my post, but English isn't my 1st language.</p>

<p>I’m applying for the 10th grade to Hotchkiss, Deerfeld, Exeter, SPS, Choate and Mercersburg (so basically all top schools with Mercersburg being an exception, but it’s also a very good school to me). </p>

<p>I live in a Central European country - I don't want to specify which one, I think it's enough to say that it's an underrepresented nationality at college-prep boarding schools.
I attend a public junior high school. Our education system is very different from an American one - I'm studying 13 subjects, they're all obligatory, we cannot choose subjects by ourselves.
My grades are all As and A+s (actually, more A+s than As).
My SSAT percentile was 90% and to be sincere, I considered it a very good result for an international student, but when I saw your impressive results (>90) I was like "OMG! You're so much better than me!" ;). I took TOEFL and I got 107/120 (the only part I'm not satisfied with is speaking; I was so distracted by other people speaking at the same time as me that I couldn’t concentrate at all).</p>

<p>My ECs... you know, it's so different here, our school basically doesn't offer anything interesting after regular classes, but I do my best to participate in some interesting activities outside school.
I belong to Geography Club and Biology Club. I’m also a member of Culture Club, where I’m an editor of a newspaper, I also occasionally write articles for our school newspaper.
I take part in Christian Club discussions and was a class leader for one year. I took part in two school plays (OK., I bet they’re waaaaaaay worse than the ones at boarding schools such as these I'm applying to, but my school just doesn’t have good facilities), I was dancing in a modern dance group for 2 years, but had to give it up. I can play a piano.
I participated in many contests (but their names surely don't mean anything to American people), my biggest achievement was the 3rd place in the country in an English language contest.</p>

<p>I’m a language freak – I’m learning English, German, Spanish and French on my own with pretty good results. That’s something what sets me apart from other applicants, ‘cause I suppose that most of them don’t study 4 languages on their own.</p>

<p>I had phone interviews with schools. All but Mercersburg and SPS went very well (an interview with Deerfield was particularly great). Mercersburg and SPS were OK., but I have an impression that my interviewer and I didn’t get along very well. And the thing I’m most worried about is that my 1st choice is SPS – I simply love it – but the interview was so-so (it was also my first interview).</p>

<p>Teacher recommendations should be very good. I don’t know how they will assess my essays, but I tried to write them as well as I could. I really love writing, although obviously I'm better at writing in my native language.</p>

<p>And the most important thing, which can hurt me a lot – I need a full financial aid package.
Otherwise I couldn’t attend.</p>

<p>Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>You sound like a great applicant to me. Good luck! =)</p>

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<p>You seem like an amazing applicant. </p>

<p>The only red flag I see is needing Financial Aid. If you read Exeter's "application procedures" it says that international applicants are given extremely little aid. If this is something that you seriously want, yet cannot go without money see how much your parents can contribute, get a few loans, and tell the schools any amount of money will be appreciated. I do not know much about how it works, but I do know that international students will have a lot harder time receiving aid.</p>

<p>If your country is very under rep. than that will help you a ton and push you towards getting slightly more aid.</p>

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<p>wow, you sound like you have a chance!
good luck, and by the way, your english is superb :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for your replies.
principalviola, I'm aware that it's very hard to receive full financial aid if you're international.<br>
I heard that Exeter had admitted 18 international students on full financial aid last year. For sure it's not a lot, but there's still a chance. I know one person on a nearly full scholarship at M'burg. I don't know anything about the others. xoxohersheykiss, thanks for a compliment :)</p>

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<p>Oh my my... Peeves :P, you're such a strong rival of me at Exeter.. I'm totally in love with E and you know.. I'm also international and need a full-ride to attend so basically we're on the same boat. Pretty tough huh? ;) Not that they admitted 18 int'l students last year but 18 is the number of total int'l on FA (returning plus new). I wish you good luck although you could totally ruin my chances at E :D! (I'm just kidding though)</p>

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<p>binhnguyen, I hope we will both get into our dream schools :)
BTW, where are you from? You don't have to specify which country (I didn't, so I won't force anyone to do so ;)), but at least say which region/continent/whatever ;)</p>

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<p>you will be more likely to get aid, in my opinion. the whole "we don't give money to internationals" really only regards those from east/southeast asia.</p>

<p>if you're an UNDERrepresented minority in an UNDER-represented country (because let's face it, less people apply from Europe than Asia), and if you have pretty good stats and seem like a decent person (which, just from your post, i would think you are) then your chance for aid is pretty nice right now</p>

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<p>Westcoast, that sounds optimistic :)
Anyway, I'm still waiting for other responses ;)</p>

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<p>Peeves that's so great!
Oops from what westcoast_ said I wouldn't probably get any FA... :( I come from Vietnam and it's in southeast asia. :D
Well I looked back at your post and realized that we're not rivals actually, since I'm applying for 11th grade! Anyway good luck!</p>

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<p>^ Actually, I think Vietnam is looking pretty good right now (I know that the int'l school kids there take up some space in admissions, right? I've heard that they aren't the most "providing/caretaking" schools, hence the int'l kids tend to apply out a lot. Or not?) or actually ever because I was really meaning the Eastern Asian countries like China, Korea, Japan, maybe Taiwan. Vietnam is the rank where if you can pay for your tuition and have decent stats, you're very likely in (sorry to generalize). You're not guaranteed for a spot regardless of FA or not, but it's better than being from Hong Kong or Korea :)</p>

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<p>Westcoast, for Vietnam it's the local schools that have the most kids applying, especially schools for the gifted. Int'l schools' students here usually don't care abt studying much...</p>

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<p>Just curious, are the minority Asian countries preferably those in South East Asia?</p>

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<p>Anyway thank you westcoast_ for that 'late' post! ;) It did put my mind at ease that at least I have some kind of chances. :)</p>