Hi everyone,
I am in 8th grade and I am applying out to several boarding high schools: Deerfield Academy, The Hotchkiss School, Loomis, Chaffee, Phillips Academy Andover, Westminster School. I took the October SSAT and received 79th%tile for quantitative, 80 for verbal, and 71 for reading with an 80th overall percentile. I retook the SSAT in November and got 63 for verbal, 87 for math, and 59 for reading with a 74th overall percentile. I believe all the schools super score except for Deerfield. I plan on taking it again in December. Is my score good enough for any of the schools I’m applying to?
Thank you.
Bro i feel you man, on the scores stuff. (ahaha my scores pale in comparison to some of the geniuses on this site :’’))
but yeah, i’d say you have a shot. Tbh it depends on other factors as well, some that you can control and some that you can’t.
Also? your math is greAT, maybe before you retake work on that english stuff. That’s raise your chances, I think, but idk, I’m def not an expert haha.
Also, you should check out the testinnovator’s ssat thingamajig, the site that tells you scores that help/hurt you in admissions for certain schools. Idk if it’s totally accurate, but it gives you something to shoot for, ya know?
https://ssatpracticetest.com/content/schools#China
^idk if that link’ll work or not, dm me if it doesnt?
Your scores are low for those schools. If the rest of your application is stellar, or you have some sort of hook you could very well be accepted, but none of us know.
If boarding school is very important id add some schools to your list that have ssat scores more in line with yours.
We found the online practice tests on ssat.org to be the most useful.
Good luck!
@TheHappinessFund I used test innovators as well and it raised my score almost 10%, so I would definitely recommend that. The SSAT is very important, but its not everything so as long as the rest of your application is strong you have a decent chance!
I really want to apply for test innovators but not having the money to sign up.Now,what can I do to raise my scores?
Thank you for your insight. I took it again in January and scored an 88% tile overall. 96 in math, 70 verbal, and 80 reading. They still weren’t as high as I originally hoped, but much better. I got waitlisted at Deerfield, Loomis, Hotchkiss, and rejected at Andover. What are the chances it’s because of my SSAT? I really do believe my application as a whole was quite strong.
@traderjoeseltzer I do not believe it was because of your SSAT. 88th percentile would be a very solid score for schools like these and most of these schools accept students with scores not as high. These schools simply just had a limited amount of spaces for thousands of applicants. If you are interested I suggest you can apply for these schools next year. You might have a decent chance of admission due to your experience of doing applications this year and schools often are impressed with these types of applicants. I wish you the best of luck with your high school career and I hope you succeed in all of your future endeavors.
While those scores appear to be a little bit low, there are tons of kids who get into the top schools with lower scores than the norm. Many are from underrepresented states ( outside of New England and NY) , are URM, have unique skills, are top athletes or legacy and many other factors. So there is clearly room for kids who below the average score. I also think that the schools accept a range of students. They know when building a class that not everyone is going to be mainly an academic kid. Many will have multiple attributes.
If there are many other kids who might be similar to you in other respects you will have to be the best in that particular pile to gain admittance.
Having a solid score is a component of the application but not the only portion.
@traderjoeseltzer I’m going to disagree with any notion that your scores are low. They are very competitive scores. But it sounds like you applied to 4 schools? I’ve said this before elsewhere but I think it’s worth mentioning it to you that my DD had the exact same results as you: 3 WL and 1 rejection. But, she applied to 12 schools. So she also had 8 acceptances. (She scored an 80%-ile.) Just for reference – not to be obnoxious at all – she had acceptances at all 4 of the schools you applied to, and she is not hooked. So I say this so you really really can believe: 88 is NOT a low score.
Last I knew, Hotchkiss’ average was the 86th percentile, so your scores are most definitely not low, at least for Hotchkiss they are above average. So your SSATs were good! Schools look at much more than just board scores; they have many more excellent students applying than they can admit.
Thank you, I completely understand that the SSAT is not everyone and knew what I was getting myself into by applying to only a few very competitive schools. I will be attending Westminster next fall, and possibly trying again.