Hi guys!
Schools I’m applying to:
Andover
Choate
Hotchkiss
Middlesex
Taft
NMH
Milton
Berkshire
I am in 8th grade, and am currently applying to all of the schools listed above (in hindsight, eight schools was probably a little crazy).
If you could chance me based on some of this info, that would be great! Also, if you’re applying too and wanted to rant together, just hit me up and we can have a pity party!
OK this is going to be a very very thorough description. I read all of these discussions of kids being like “I got 99% SSAT and swim can I go to Exeter” and I kinda want to be a little bit more informative than that. I’ll also post where I got in on M10 so future applicants can use all of this info.
GENERAL INFO:
I’m a male
I’m in 8th grade at a private day school in Colorado (an under-represented state at boarding schools).
I don’t need FA
I’m caucasian
I grew up in London, England, which is a thing I am always sure to bring up in my application
EC’S:
I consider myself to be pretty good at piano. The thing that differentiates me is that I initially was self-taught through youtube videos because my parents wanted me to prove that I had a passion for it. I always bring this up in interviews. I now take lessons, and have submitted multimedia to all schools.
I am in MathCounts
I am in Math Club
I am an above-average skier because I am from Colorado
I did cross country this year, but I was terrible. I usually bring it up to talk about new experiences and moving out of my comfort zone during interviews.
I started a food donation system at my school where leftovers are donated to local homeless shelters at the end of the day.
I travel to Jamaica for a weekend every year to volunteer for Books4Kids Jamaica, a nonprofit that supplies books and pencils to kids in the public school system over there.
This isn’t an EC, but my family had a Jamaican student live with us for a year, and I talk a lot in my essays about the lessons I learned from the experience.
I do peer tutoring
I read a TON and they’re all pretty high-level books (Hawking, Neil DeGrass Tyson, lots of science)
SSAT/GRADES/STANDARDIZED TESTING:
All of my grades since 6th grade are majority A’s with maybe one or two B+'s in sixth and seventh.
My SSAT info: My first test, I scored a 2208 scaled score (I heard that they look at that more than percentiles), with a 95% in verbal, 91% in reading, and a 77% in math (ugh ikr), and 92% overall. I took it again, and scored a 2223, with 98% verbal, 75% in reading (I have no idea what happened this time), and 87% math, and an overall % of 93%. I believe that my “super scored” test score is a 2253, but I don’t have their percentile-formula so I can’t calculate my overall %. I’m guessing that it will be 94-95.
My principal included my school-sanctioned standardized testing scores in my recommendation, and I have scored a 97% + on pretty much everything since 1st grade (not trying to sound annoying I swear).
ESSAY THEMES:
In at least one essay for every school, I bring up my love for learning, appreciation for diversity, community service, and interesting stories and lessons such as the Jamaican student listed above, or how I taught myself piano for a while.
RECOMMENATIONS:
My math recommendation is definitely great. My math teacher loves me and literally sent me her recommendations after she finished them. She talked a lot about my maturity and enthusiasm in the classroom.
English will most likely be good. She likes me, doesn’t love me.
Principal should also be good. I don’t really know her, but she is nice enough and we have talked a couple of times.
I also asked my piano teacher to do a special interest recommendation, which should be very good because he’s really nice and chill.
INTERVIEWS:
I’ve had the majority of my interviews over Skype with the exception of Choate, Taft, and Andover.
Choate went EXTREMELY well. The guy and I were practically besties by the end I swear. He was so great and so nice and he seemed to be really into me. He wrote me an email immediately after.
Ok Andover was a really really strange interview; the guy pretty much asked me my age, full name, and birthday. Then he went on to ask me how I felt for the presidential race, and then asked if I had any questions for him. It was so bizarre; he wore a hoodie with black joggers and sneakers. I don’t have any problem with that I mean I wear joggers every day but I thought we were supposed to dress up? The entire thing lasted about 5 minutes.
Other than this, they all went well, but those two were certainly standouts. I am always sure to bring up the story of how I kind of taught myself math, too. I pretty much was really bad at math for a bit of 6th grade and ended up reaching out to my teacher for help a lot and watched a lot of youtube tutorials. From what I can see, the interviewers love this story. I also talk a lot about how this entire boarding school thing is completely self-driven, and how I’ve done virtually everything by myself.
EXTRA INFO:
I have reached out to every admissions officer that interviews me at least twice since our interviews, I usually ask a question, followed by something like “I am immensely excited about the opportunity of a future at ****”
I also reached out to every director of community service at all of the schools, just because I figure it wouldn’t hurt.
I also reached out to music instructors with information on my musical experience.
SKETCHY ESSAY TOPICS:
Ok so you guys may think I’m crazy, but for my Andover and Hotchkiss essays I wrote about some pretty edgy stuff; ill probably either be really admired or hated; either way, I sure am memorable now.
For Hotchkiss, I was asked what I would un-invent: I said organized religion. HEAR ME OUT: I made it super duper PC and never actually brought up a religion. I dedicated the first paragraph to talking about how I admire everyone’s beliefs, and that this is not meant to be derogatory in any way. I talked about sexism, divisiveness, and how organized religion often blocks its followers from following intellectual pursuits that may stray from the religion’s core beliefs. I did a really really good job of remaining as PC as possible. Hopefully they’ll see it as intellectual or thoughtful or risky.
For Andover, I was asked to talk about something that changed my mind on a certain topic. I wrote about how I changed my mind on medical marijuana usage after my dog got cancer. Pretty much, my dog had a two week life expectancy, then were gave her special marijuana oil drops, she stopped being in pain, and the cancer slowly shrank away with no other medicines being taken. I also made this one super PC, and mentioned a couple of times how I don’t condone the use of recreational drugs. Again; they’ll either love me for taking the risk, or think I’m a stoner. I’m excited to see how they felt about it.
What are your opinions on these two essays? Too much?
Obviously, the schools I’m applying (Maybe barring Berkshire and NMH) are extremely extremely competitive, so I’m really trying not to get my hopes up too much. I would say my top choices are Choate (1) and Andover (2). I would probably go to Andover before Choate, but I am putting it in second because I know I won’t get in haha.
Ok so to rap this up; what are my chances overall at these schools? What do you think of my sketchy essay topics? Also; how do I see decisions on M10 (I don’t think Im gonna be sleeping on the night of March. 9 TBH, I’ll probably stay up until 4:30 am my time when decisions are released at 6:30 east coast time)? And also, if anybody wants some type of support buddy for when decisions come closer, I am totally up for that! Maybe we will even get into some of the same places.
Thanks everybody!