<p>IM, thanks for chiming in. my folks and i are leaning against taking it again but will discuss over the weekend.</p>
<p>The schools only see those scores you allow to release. So maybe take it again meantime you hold your course and stick to your guns.</p>
<p>testing posting</p>
<p>thanks. i have a long weekend of working on applications. i bet there are others in the same boat.</p>
<p>nh footballer,</p>
<p>You have inspired me to post---I usually just read on this board. I have worked with school admissions for many years, and I do feel that you have a very good chance at Exeter, Deerfield, etc.</p>
<p>From your writing, i can tell that you have great passion, determination, and motivation. You are a good writer and quite a thinker. These are all things that the schools are looking for. They are in hot pursuit of african american males, so you have that going for you, and on top of all that, you are an athlete. Football is the sport that sways admissions the most, so you even picked the winning sport, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Your score is good. People on here seem to get very high scores, and I don't know why that is. Most of the kids I see score between a 50-65% and go on to great schools. I have seen Deerfield and those schools accept many kids with scores at this level, provided they have something special going for them, which I think you do. I have a former student now at Choate who had a 39% SSAT and has a B average there. A score in the 50's shows that you can do the work---you just have to be willing to work hard and ask for help when needed.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about taking the SSAT again--scores rarely fluctuate much in a short time span. But what you should do is contact those football and lacrosse coaches! Email them, go to see a game or practice if you can, show your interest and get them interested in you. I knwo you said your coach will contact them, but you should contact them yourself too.</p>
<p>I think you will do fine in this process. Good luck and PM me if you have any questions for me.</p>
<p>Thank you newyorker for confirming about SSAT scores.<br>
I think being this time of year, we have a frenzy going over them. All the kids (my son included) are worried and frantic over their scores.<br>
It's nice to have someone with experience tell them all "it's ok."</p>
<p>I'm swimming against the stream here, but I would urge you to include schools outside the tippy-top of the rankings. How would you feel if you did not get into Andover, Exeter, and Milton? Would you be happy attending your local public school, or would you prefer a boarding school? Also, you may have your heart set on Exeter, but, hypothetically, if you had acceptance in hand from Exeter and Taft, it would give you more options.</p>
<p>It would also allow you to weigh your priorities for the next four years. Will you be happy dividing your time strictly between the playing field and the classroom? Some of your schools offer PG years. You may not develop into a star player in high school, because older, more mature players are recruited in each year. You may also be injured at some point, and not be able to play. Would you be happy at a school if you could not play sports?</p>
<p>I agree with Peri...
Also, the biggest schools don't always have the best sports teams. New England Champions 2 of the last 3 years in Football is Trinity-Pawling. Both years they won (including this year) they crushed Andover - a school almost three times their size and always considered to be a "better" school.</p>
<p>peri, i am not afraid of my local hs option. there are no day schools in my area worth it. that leaves boarding schools. i am going to search more wide but think i can do the work at deerfield and know their sports program is tops. newyorker gave me more hope. i realize my score is nothing to sneeze at. it puts me in the middle of the best but still top 10% of 8th graders. i will sell them on my personality, work habits and sports.</p>
<p>Consider Middlesex. they have top-notch sports teams and awesome academics. I visited the school and it had the most affable people of any school I went to. I think this is because it is a small school and they have a courtyard where everyone talks and meets during lunch in the summer months. Considering they have less than 400 students, they have very competitive sports team. I play Lacrosse, and the second highest goal scorer in the league couldn't make varsity in Middlesex, he barely started in JV, because some took his best position in JV. He's my friend who just got in Middlesex last year. As a sophomore, he loves it, especially the food.</p>
<p>Nhfootballer, Like you sports is a very important aspect in considering a school. However, a top- notch sports program won't make you top-notch. It's the effort, perseverance, and the ambitions that make you top-notch. I play football too and my team is..lets say not that good, but that doesn't make me a bad football player. My team is not competitive as me by a long shot, but I still managed to shatter two state records as a running back (759 rushing yards in one game, and most rushing yards in one season) and am hallowed as a cornerback (35 interceptions last season). Many say i'll make it to college or even NFL, but i'm not only looking at schools with top-notch sports programs. I'm not looking at schools with extremely bad sports teams either. Schools like Exeter, Andover, Middlesex may be the best teams in the league, but schools like St. georges, st. pauls, are just as good for me. They let my talent shine through; you'll shine brighter as an athlete in those schools. I particularly like St. George's school because they have the perfect mix of sports and academics. They have the comeliest campus around and wonderful sports facilities. Did i mention the beach is right down the road?</p>
<p>I agree with Periwinkle's advice -- which I think dovetails well with goaliedad's advice -- because it sounds like you're really in a position to leverage your athletic abilities to give you a great opportunity.</p>
<p>There was this basketball player at my college (Notre Dame) while I was there who was profiled in the school newspaper as the forgotten athlete. He was a top player coming out of NYC. But that same year Notre Dame had recruited several future NBA stars, including Orlando Woolridge, Kelly Tripucka and Tracy Jackson. The following year they recruited future Chicago Bulls player John Paxson for this guy's position. He went from highly sought-after player to a bench warmer. In the school paper he was asked if he regretted how things turned out and he said he had the last laugh. He got a free college education at the college he wanted to attend more than any other. He made amazing contacts. He was connected to a national alumni network. He achieved everything he wanted...even going to the Final Four. He wasn't a star. He didn't go on to the NBA -- as few players do. But he got exactly what he sought out to get. Basketball provided an opportunity, but he decided to create other, different opportunities for himself that would take him places long after basketball could do so.</p>
<p>I'll never forget that article. And I have kept track of Stan Wilcox over the years...which is an easy thing to do: he is a lawyer, was an Asst. Commissioner of the Big East Conference and is now one of the top people in the Notre Dame Dept. of Athletics.</p>
<p>He could have gone to any school he wanted to. He could have gone to better basketball schools, like Indiana or UCLA or North Carolina. He could have gone to better academic schools, like Harvard, Princeton or Stanford. But he was very deliberate about his choice and used his basketball hook to achieve long-term non-basketball goals that he had set for himself.</p>
<p>Different schools will present different opportunities for you. Periwinkle's advice is spot on: take a deep breath, consider your long-term goals, consider your short-term goals, see where your hooks can take you and try to identify a school that let's you have your cake and eat it too.</p>
<p>1st of all. I greatly admire you for persuing what you want, despite the potential set back of your scores.
2nd of all. You seem like a fab athlete, writer, and all around person. I read this board front to back. You've got stellar hooks and I think that you DO stand a shot because your E.C.s partially make up for you SSAT scores. Partially.
3rd: That been said, I think it wise to apply to Avon Old Farms, Salisbury, etc. Deerfield is an understandable 1st pick. Its DEERFIELD! Have you taken the time to look at other schools? What region are you in? Is driving distance an issue for your parents? Ugh, it is for mine. I wanted swim at Mercersburg but its about 5 1/2 hours away. Haha, ohwell. AOF is a potential brother school to me (I'm applying to MPS).
4th: I agree with newyorker on many levels. Your scores are your scores. They probably would go up a percent or two MAX. No worries. E-mail coaches. Do it. Now. Write them hand written letters. Do it. Now.</p>
<p>Relax and know that whatever happens happens. Try your best like the rest of us and I'll talk to you soon? PM?</p>
<p>crickett, i am trying to stay close to the boston area. deerfield is two hours away which is about my limit. my dad spoke to a friend of a friend at loomis. they are interested and sending materials. right now, i am looking at sps, exeter, deerfield, holderness, and milton. loomis sounds interesting and i will probably visit there next month. i will take the advice offered and write the coaches over the weekend. lots of work but worth it in the long run.</p>
<p>nhfootballer:
Loomis is one of my 5 that I'm applying to, as well. The boston area still holds many GREAT schools! If your interested in "Ivy League" prep schools have you considered Choate? I'm supprised Olivia567 has not yet intervened! She has nothing but positivity for Choate. Its only about 1/2 an hour away from Loomis.</p>
<p>And Windsor, CT (where Loomis is located) is pretty far from "the Boston area". Southwestern CT is hardly close to the Boston zipcodes :)</p>
<p>crickett, what did you like about loomis? what are your sports if any?</p>
<p>down in the nyc area for the weekend visiting grands right now. hartford took two hours in good traffic today. loomis is north of hartford and my guess is that it is also two hours from home. we drove through choate's town on the way as well. there are a lot of good schools out there.</p>
<p>nhfootballer:</p>
<p>HAHA! IF ANY?! I've got 2 letters already underneath my belt for the fall and winter season :) My sports are water pollo (no team at my high school), swimming (varsity swim team), basketball (unable to play varsity this year. Made JV. dislocated hip. bummer), and plans for freshman tennis.</p>
<p>Loomis was a little big for my taste but I'm learning to see through that. The major reason for me wanting to go to boarding school is the fact that a closer knit community would be available. My school has about 1300 kids so a school with 400-500 would be fab. Loomis has 700+ so I wasnt so sure. After looking at it closely, I realized that people ARE close but i still wont know for sure how I feel until after I visit.</p>
<p>back home from thanksgiving and working on applications. crickett, you are right. community is key. each school is different. you have to figure which one fits for you.</p>
<p>Linda,</p>
<p>Erickson teams have won the Class A football championship the last three years over Andover (T-P, Salisbury, T-P). Good league, a little top heavy as Loomis and Taft are just terrible, but AOF, Kent and Hotchkiss have pretty good programs. </p>
<p>The lacrosse skill level in New England West I (which all of these teams play in, then add Deerfield, Westy, NMH etc.) is off the charts, as are the colleges the better players go to.</p>
<p>For the record, T-P has over 300 boys and Andover has about 550.</p>
<p>T-P? </p>
<p>How unfortunate.</p>