<p>If money is an issue (you mentioned it regarding SSAT), improving your test scores probably would be a good thing for FA purposes. Better academic credentials with outstanding athletic achievement goes a long way to make FA easier to award. If you think you can move your percentile up 15 to 20, it is could be worth your time and effort.</p>
<p>I'm not sure why you didn't score better on the SSAT and I'm not sure if the books will address that reason or not. If you know the material (did any questions or vocabulary seem to be beyond your knowledge to the point you were guessing?), your issue may either be time management (did you get all the questions answered?) or test taking strategies (knowing how to quickly eliminate wrong answers + identifying the trick answer is the key to success on most multiple guess tests) may be your need.</p>
<p>I know at the college level there are lots of SAT prep courses where they teach the non-academic (time management/question analysis) part of test taking. I don't know if there are SSAT equivalents.</p>
<p>spoke to my guidance counselor today. she has placed kids in exeter and deerfield among other top schools. according to her my chances have much to do with what each school needs this year. if they need tuba players, then i am out. i am lucky to play football and lacrosse. both sports need lots of students. feeling better today thanks to lots of good advice and encouragement. i will write some good essays and make sure my recommendations are good. plus, my coaches are going to make contact. keeping my fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Why not check with the coach at the schools you are interested in? He will tell you how the scores stack up in terms of athletic recruits. </p>
<p>In my experience even top preps give wide latitude to SSAT scores. Recently Son#2
was interviewing at a top Prep in New England--they are recruiting him for ice hockey. He is an excellent student in all honors courses with about a 4.0
His SSAT scores are not consistent with his grades. When I met with the adcom I did ask about the SSAT score issue and his response was--"Well, if he scored in single digits, we might have a problem, so don't worry about his score". At another top prep, they told me--"SSAT scores are the last thing we look at--they are just not that important"</p>
<p>Ask the coaches, ask the ad coms--they will tell you how seriously they look at SSAT scores</p>
<p>Not to say that Taft does not accept kids in the 50th percentile it is by no means a measure of the aptitude of the average Taffy. I believe that if taffies were previewing this thread they would be all over Icy like a bad rash. With that said, Taft may very well be a great choice for footballer. God knows they need a football team. Now the taffies may get all over me like a cheap Russian suit but come on, I know big bucks holding back until the Rhinos start winning some football games. Taft is most certainly a top school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Milton was the school that told my son they do not consider SSAT scores important in assessing a student's potential for Milton
[/quote]
That's interesting as when they were at my son's school to "recruit" they were the only school that made a really big deal out of the fact that their average SSAT score is over 90%. My son said the admissions guy said it over and over. Tells you the difference between admissions and athlethlics. That, and our school is small and not known for athletics.</p>
<p>Taft has published that it's "minimum SSAT score accepted is generally 50. Most entering students test between 75 and 99". Many students at Taft scored in the 50s and 60s on the SSAT. Taft's college placement does not place it in the top 15 boarding schools. I would welcome anybody to prove otherwise. I have offered Taft the chance to do so and they refused. Milton's publicly available median SSAT is 90. So, to Momof2Sons, I don't doubt that you were told not to stress out over SSAT scores by a Milton rep., especially when your athletically talented son had a 4.0 straight "A" average, but it is quite an important part of Milton's evaluation of applicants. Again, I am not trying to disparage The Taft School, but I maintain that a student scoring in the 50s on the SSAT will be in a more appropriate academic environment at Taft than at Andover or Milton Academy.</p>
<p>TO nhfootballer: The median SSAT score means that half (50%) of the students accepted by a particular school had SSAT scores above the median score of, for example, 90 at Milton Academy, and half of the accepted students had below a 90 SSAT score. The average SSAT score simply adds up all 200 accepted students scores and divides by 200. Both the average and the median scores, when stated alone, can be misleading. I prefer to know both the average SSAT score and the median SSAT score of a class if it is available. The terms "average" and "mean" are interchangeable, and calculated differently than the "median". In my post #12 above in this thread, I referred to students at elite boarding schools that had a 90 SSAT or high 80s SSAT and finished in the bottom half of their class. This verified to a certain extent the validity of the SSAT as an academic predictor at elite boarding schools as all of these schools had a median SSAT score of 90 or above for those classes. Many schools also release median SSAT scores of matriculated students (enrolled students) in addition to accepted students median SSAT. If you apply to a boarding school with a median SSAT of 90, it is likely that your GPA and grades will receive heavy scrutiny by the admissions committee if your SSAT is substantially below the school's median SSAT.</p>
<p>If you are serious about wanting to attend a boarding school, then you should ask your school counselor for a copy of the TABS 2007-2008 Boarding School Directory. This has a wealth of information including listings of approximately 300 boarding schools, the vast majority of which are located in the United States and in New England. Many New England and Middle Atlantic region boarding schools have median SSATs well below those of Milton, Andover and Deerfield while providing an outstanding education to its students. While I don't doubt that many elite boarding schools may make substantial concessions to a recruited athlete, I wonder whether that would be in your best interests with respect to your education and self esteem. Your reported SSAT scores average out to almost a 48 out of a possible 99. Your composite score is then about a 50 SSAT. Please look at Peddie and some others. Even Taft, which is a very fine school, may not accept even a recruited athlete with a 50 or lower SSAT. Consider Culver Academies. Good Luck!</p>
<p>icy9ff8: thanks. you make good points. no need to worry about my education or self esteem. teddy roosevelt once wrote that it is better to try and fail rather than not try at all. better people than me have flunked out of deerfield. i figure if i mess it up then i am no worse than the others. many of them went on to great careers in business or whatever.</p>
<p>tom brady shows the difference between a winner and a loser. the loser throws two picks and quits. a winner does the same but comes off the bench ready to play the next time his offense goes on the field. schools value sports for a reason. it is one important way that many learn key lessons. i once threw two pics but came back later to make a key defensive play then throw a td pass for the game winner. this may not matter at deerfield but it does on wall street which is where i am headed someday regardless of whether i prep or stay home.</p>
<p>My vote for Most Likely to Succeed goes to you, nhfootballer. I can see you contributing to any school community through your maturity, determination and ability to articulate your thoughts and of course, your athletic ability. Whichever school you end up at would be lucky to get you and I know you will have a great future. Good luck and keep us posted!</p>
<p>icy9ff8, you are way too mired in the numbers.</p>
<p>First, here's proof that NONE of the schools we're talking about here -- including the TSAO schools that developed the SSAT -- look exclusively at the SSAT like you're doing: they all ask students to submit a ton of other materials. And, unless you've got some bombshell news for us, they look at the applications.</p>
<p>Yes, as a rule -- on average -- the SSAT is an accurate predictor. It's not accurate in every case -- as your example of kids in the 90s struggling at Andover and Milton attests. As I said -- and as I'm quite sure the admissions officers at these schools would say -- we need more information. This kid's got some good hooks. And I can't ignore the fact that he's more eloquent than you and more concise than I could ever hope to be. I'd have to put my head in the sand to say, "Nah, he can't cut it at a top school." He has a lot to offer and before I'd ignore what he could offer, I'd want to look at more than his SSAT scores.</p>
<p>Your point about Andover and Milton going through the material faster than Taft and Peddie is ridiculous. If I were to concede -- for the sake of argument -- that that's true when we're talking about these schools' respective honors' courses, there's no way that you can say with a straight face that every section at Andover and Milton goes through the material faster than every section of the corresponding course at Taft and Peddie. You totally ignore the concept of "placement" at these schools.</p>
<p>In the end, I'm not saying that your conclusion isn't correct. Taft and Peddie may very well be better fits for nhfootballer. I'm just saying that it's crazy to reach that conclusion exclusively on the basis of the SSAT scores we saw.</p>
<p>But if you like BS by the numbers as much as you say you do...I've got some killer software for you that's available through my web mall at a great discount!</p>
<p>One thing I found interesting about Milton's curriculum as opposed to other private schools my sons have looked at was that many of the subjects
have 3 levels offered--For example, Algebra I is offered at at "foundations", regular and honors level--this type of tracking looks to be fairly consistent throughout the math curriculum. I noticed the same levels in language classes
Later on, there is an AP level added</p>
<p>The admissions folks explained to us that this allows the student to select a level a a proper pace for them....</p>
<p>nhfootballer, I think you are receiving some great advice here (as well as from your high school guidance counselor.) If you think your scores were an anomaly, and that by taking them again you can raise them by 15-20 points, then, you should definitely take the test again. Now that you are familiar with the test--perhaps your scores will improve.</p>
<p>From the way you present yourself on this thread, it appears you would be an asset to any school. SSAT scores are only one factor the schools look at--and from our experience, it is not the most important criteria. If it were, a lot of the kids who were on this forum last year would have been accepted into the "tier 1" schools, as many of them had scores in the 95+ percentile and high GPA's. </p>
<p>I think MomOf2sons gave you excellent advice--check with the coaches at the schools that you are interested in attending. They will be able to tell you what is required at their schools. In addition, it will give you a chance to make an impression on the coach, and gives you the opportunity to check him out as well.</p>
<p>Everyone here is just being an armchair quarterback...we truly don't know if your scores are too low for you to be considered. However, the majority of us have had kids go through this process and know there are many factors that play into the decision. As your counselor said, a lot depends on whether they are looking for a football or lacrosse player next year. </p>
<p>You certainly have some great hooks: URM, Football, Lacrosse, good GPA, and you appear quite articulate. All of this will help your application.</p>
<p>nhfootballer, don't let anyone talk you out of applying to Deerfield. If staying home is an option, there is nothing to lose by applying to the schools you think are right for you!</p>
<p>I won't pretend to predict your chances at the schools. All of the pieces of the application count, but the degree to which they count or what scores are "good enough" to keep you in the running are not the same for every student. </p>
<p>However, you should definitely take the SSAT again because you have nothing to lose. Are you really satisfied with those scores? Using your football game analogy, you should get in there and try again, but between now and then look at the results of your first outing and brush up on your weak areas. </p>