Hello! I have started the application process for the following schools:
Choate Rosemary Hall
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Andover Academy
Middlesex School
Loomis Chaffee School
Westminster School
I am struggling to determine whether I have a chance at these prestigious and highly competitive schools. Here is what my candidate profile pretty much looks like.
ACADEMICS
Have a 94% between all of my classes (all of my grades are A- and above except for one B+)
Was chosen by my science teacher for a science research program
Took a summer course in Reading & Study Skills at Choate and got the highest grade possible and a great review.
ATHLETICS
Was a level 7 TOPS competitive gymnast for 8 years but quit a couple of years ago due to injury and mental blocks
Play soccer on a selective club team and town A team
Did dance for 5 years
ARTS
Do theatre at my school and have landed several leading roles
Did my town’s children’s theatre once
Did a two-week camp intensive a couple of years ago
Did a theatre workshop during my quarantine
COMMUNITY SERVICE
volunteer teacher at my local Hebrew school
organized and ran a food drive at my school for a local homeless shelter
often do soup kitchens a couple of times a week before COVID
You seem to qualify for most of these schools. That being said, you are still against a lot of other qualified candidates also applying for FA. I think you should look into more schools and expand your list. Loomis is definitely a school you should keep on that list, seeing as you have a good amount of ECs I think you would like it there. Honestly, it is always very hard to chance people. I can’t determine your exact chances but one thing I can confidently say is that you should expand your list a lot. If you want to go to BS, you should apply to some “hidden gem” schools. They provide a great education and can be similar to the schools you named, but they have higher admit rates. If BS isn’t important to you, maybe just apply to the schools you want to go to. But if you want to go to BS(and I can’t stress this enough) broaden your list.
^^ well, kinda, but not completely! I know a girl who was a nationally ranked gymnast who was able to quite genuinely articulate how she had just given up gymnastics and was seeking a “normal” high school life and how BS would allow/encourage her to get the balance her previous life did not. She also had demonstrated she had grit and discipline to have achieved at such a high level in her sport.
So while technically, she was not bringing her gymnastics to BS, she was bringing the person with that experience to BS. Agree there’s no hook in achieving in a sport the school doesn’t have, but it can help differentiate you from the applicant pool.
you have very good academic and extra curriculars. Like others said it will be good to add more schools which had more acceptance rate just in case as these are high competitive schools with lower acceptance rate.
Except for the fact that this advice is completely wrong, and the OP should be careful taking advice from young teens who, as a group, don’t yet know how much they don’t know.
Past activities shape a person, whether or not the applicant continues.