Hi,
I am completely new to this process and need help! My son was asked during camp at a private school if we had thought about applying to the school. I was completely taken by surprise and had about 2 weeks to run around gathering necessary materials and 3 days to look through ssat practice tests. My son is in middle school and excels in sports. Grades are A-/B+ with great recommendations. Only problem… Total Ssat score came out to 44th percentile and super low in quant section: 15th percentile (something everyone knew as his weakness so no surprise). What are his chances?
To note, this is NOT for one of the top prep schools that others have mentioned but still a locally reputable school.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I should clarify that by “top prep schools” I am referring to Exeter, etc
This is almsot what happened to me exactly, I was new to this process, had terrible SSAT scores, and was mainly looked at for sports… My advice would be to connect with as many of the coaches as possible as you are applying. Any sports your son is playing, try to communicate with that coach as much as possible, try to go to games, talk with players, go to practice (maybe even participate), try to form a bond with that school as much as possible because that would help extremely. What schools is he applying to? Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.
Well it’s the head of the varsity boys coach that contacted us as well as the overall athletic director and head of admissions so we are in touch. This test score was a huge blow to him. All this just really happened and they are considering him for this year (I mean in a month). We were called in for a meeting with director or admissions. He’s not applying for any other schools since we hadn’t intended to until high school (he just finished 6th grade). I’m kicking myself for making him go through the process now without proper prep. I know the school is not especially known for sports so I suspect they maybe looking at him to kick start the process.
I’m being super paranoid about posting any school names at this point but let’s say it’s a really good school just not the exeter and andover of the world. It’s not a boarding school.
I know this all sounds crazy and believe me I’m not trying to boast it’s just that I have never in a million years this would happen and I have Zero clue how this all works.
Do you think that the coach has a big influence on the admission or somewhat limited?
Thank you so much for your insight I truly appreciate it.
A couple of thoughts:
- How good is your son at the sport he went to camp for? If he is truly a "game changer" and the coach is the one who did the asking, then I'd say his chances of admission are good. The test score are only one component and if his recs and GPA are strong, IMO the admissions folks will cut him some slack.
- If math/quant is his weakness, keep in mind that he might feel overwhelmed when it comes to actual classes...which may affect his play and even his eligibility to play. A good question to ask is what resources would be available to your son (tutors, learning center, etc.) if he struggles in the math classes.
- Is your son excited about the opportunity to go to this school? That's a key question...because if he's not, then I think his on field and in class performance will be adversely affected.
Best of luck and please circle back with the outcome so people in similar situations going forward can learn from your experience.
If a coach wants you bad enough, he will try his best to make sure you attend. The hard part is figuring out financial aid and the amount they can give you, if any.
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The coach can have a big influence on admission.
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As he’s been participating at a camp at the school, they’ve had time to get a feeling for his character. That’s very important. I would even say that at such a young age, it may be more important than test scores.
A certain number of camp counselors may teach at the school. If so, the school has a much better picture of your son than they would garner from an application.
- As to test scores, I assume your son is in a public school. The SSAT is a test for kids applying to independent schools. Most of these students come from independent day schools. Such schools follow a different curriculum than the public schools. I have heard from friends that students changing from public to private have found the private schools to be about a year ahead in the material covered. Most independent schools offer smaller classes, which means that a child with difficulties is less likely to be ignored. And then many families do pay for prep classes for their children.
The 15th percentile on the math likely dragged the overall percentage down.
Here’s a link to the SSAT site’s description of the middle level SSAT exam: http://www.ssat.org/test-prep/whats-on-test/ml-test-format. If your public middle school does not cover topics from algebra and geometry by the sixth grade, your son’s performance may not be a good reflection of his real talent for math.
- If you are interested, your son is interested, the school has a good reputation locally, and your family can afford it, I would say you should go for it.
If this school accepts students from the local public schools, they should be able to give you guidance as to how they would handle your son’s math education. I would ask that question before committing to anything. Will he need to do extra tutoring to catch up?
However, even if you don’t decide he should switch schools, you will need to get him help for math. If he is an A-/B+ student at his present school, his current public school may not see a need for tutoring or remediation for him.
thanks all for your help! It’s given me a better insight into the process. I will keep you posted on the result.
To answer some questions…yes he is very good and have been told that he’d play varsity and outside coaches think he’ll be a D1 player (at least a look). Being so young, coaches see more potential. But in my mind he is young and you just never know!
He had a tutor and his math grades went up significantly last year so that is evident on the transcript. Hope to hear back soon either way!
44th percentile is not that low! It’s a very select group.
Also, it is a very tight bell curve, and a few missed questions (especially on quant) can make a big difference. I would do everything mentioned above, but also engage a good ssat tutor and commit to a study program. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a significant jump.
Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all the information. We just found out that he was accepted to the school despite the score! They were willing to give him a chance. I’m glad that the school consider everything and not just the score. I will be sure to go through extensive tutoring before any test next go around!!
Congrats!
Congratulation!