<p>My name is Oluwadamilola. Just call me Dami. I am currently in the 8th grade. I am also a Nigerian/American so I am fluent is Yoruba and English. I live in a poverty town and a high crime rate town in New Jersey. I am in a top honors class. The highest class there is is an Algebra 1 class which is what I am in. I have also been told that I am the top student in my school and had the highest NJASK 7th grade scores in our school. I am applying to boarding school because I don't want to go to my local high school (have shootings like every 2 weeks) and I want to go to a school that is challenging for me and is very competitive. I also want to be with diverse backgrounds (my local high school is 80% African American, 10% Latino, and 10% Haitain/Jamaican) and learn from other cultures by living with them and to be a responsible young adult. I also want to be prepared for a good college. I am applying to Peddie School, Lawrenceville School, Blair Academy, Hun school of Princeton, and Pennington School. My dream school is Peddie and has been researching on the school for about 3 years. (I am a true stalker lol) I am known as a hard working determined student but also has a bubbly personality. My nickname is prodigy at school. :) </p>
<p>I am in the Student Ambassadors program and planning on going to China this year. I was also in The NJIT talent search and studied in the Medical Science criteria. In 5th grade I was in college for kids at essex county college and studied different college courses. </p>
<p>I didnt take the SSAT yet but took it last year and did pretty well. ( I was in the Wight Foundation but later got rejected) definitely not putting that in the application. But I am now in another boarding school program called A Better Chance. </p>
<p>Some more statistics
- Music (Clarinet) for about 7 years
- Dance. I did ballet and modern dance for about 3 years
- Gymnastics. Did that since I was about 5.
- Cheerleading. It's an after school activity did it about 4 years. Only all minority cheer squad travel at cheer competitions around New Jersey. Also has been a captain for 3 years and been an undefeated individual champion for 3 years. I got moves lol
- Girl Scouts. Been for 6 years and very involved with my community and helping the needy.
- In student council.
- Overall achiever.
- Does TAEBO. I love to exercise lol.
- Love to travel.
- Got letters from Marylawn School of Oranges and Oak Knoll schol in Summit. Private schools I guess that are interested in me. Probably something to fall back on if not accepted in boarding school.</p>
<p>I really want to do Tennis and Field Hockey. Also get into the acting area and do performing arts. Hopefully want to become a pediatrician and go back to Nigeria and help others around Africa.</p>
<p>Do I have a decent chance? Financial Aid is really a big part of me too. Not that wealthy but my family are willing to pay some money.</p>
<p>I have reason to believe that if your school performance is in the top echelon you would have a very good chance at Peddie which sounds exactly right for you. I would compete for the Annenberg award. Explore their mathematics and humanities programmes a bit more fully so you can tell them why Peddie is your top choice.</p>
<p>Yes, it certainly sounds like you have an excellent chance at the schools you want. The boarding population at Pennington and Hun is not that high, but if you plan to go home many weekends this may be fine. My son just started at Blair Academy last month, and so far I am very impressed with the school. If you decide to expand your search into Pennsylvania, you might consider The Hill and Mercersburg. Good luck!</p>
<p>I also wanted to go to Mercersburg because of their arts program. Blair and Hun basically are a fall back schools just in case. Do you think financial aid will affect their decision?</p>
<p>When you visit Blair, I think you will be impressed enough to consider it more than a fall back school. If you do a search of "Prep School Admissions" you will find discussions on financial aid. Bottom line -- it does seem to affect your chances. However, you seem well positioned for the schools you are interested in, so I think you have good chances. The people at A Better Chance can probably help you with that question too.</p>
<p>I don't know much about ABC, however, I do know that there are students at all the boarding schools that are a part of ABC. Therefore there should be no limitations to the schools you consider. It appears you're primarily interested in the MAPL. You have some very nice choices. You may also want to look at The Hill School. IMO, Blair is better than a back up, so with that in mind you should be positioned to attend a very nice school.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Just a little update. Yesterday I had my interview for ABC.
It was at the Hudson school. I came in a little early (My interview was scheduled atr 12:00 but we came in at 10:00 a.m.) There were already applicants sitting down waiting to be interviewed. The tension in the room was very hot. Two aluminies came in talking about there experience with ABC. One is a student at Newark Academy and another went to a community program (You live in a house with eight other boarders and go to the local high school taking all exceled courses) Waiting was very boring so I decided to talk to the other applicants. Alot are already in private/charter schools. I felt I had a little advantage coming from a public school. They finally called me to have my interview. The interviewer is an alumini from ABC and Choate. Seemed very nice. To me it wasn't an interview but more of a conversation lol. I told him where I lived. As soon as I said it, he was like "explain no more. I know where you come from" He did a summer job there and said he will never come back. I started to talk about my passions and interest for Peddie. I spent like 10 min. about the school he had to stop me and said your a real fan. :) He asked me also about the SSAT and I told him I am taking it next sunday. After some other questions he said good luck, "even though I know you're going to make it." I started to get excited. He said good luck with Peddie also. I was like "GO FALCONS!" lol. Overall I think I did great. Now it's the SSAT grr. I wonder...</p>
<p>You sound awesome. It's great you're looking at boarding schools.
I'm applying to Choate and Andover ... if you're interested in starting acting classes, or anything, you should look at Choate, because they are known for having the best arts courses in top-tier schools.</p>
<p>I know what it's like to be obsessed about a school, though. :) I think I've looked the Choate website backwards and forwards.</p>
<p>Last year I had ..
87% Verbal
90% Math
90% Reading</p>
<p>This year is
85% Verbal
80% Math
92% Reading</p>
<p>I say its pretty good coming from a town where they dont teach you anything up to date or something for our grade and not really preparing for the test.</p>