<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>My younger cousin is a bright, motivated girl from an inner city area in NJ, where I also live. According to my aunt, she really wants to learn but she can't concentrate at her house because of random visitors. My mom suggested she go away and asked me to talk to her about some schools she should look at. Problems and questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I went to a private day school and I now go to an Ivy so the only schools I know are HADES, a few others like Choate, Milton, Miss Porter's, Groton, and Lawrenceville. I'm not sure if her grades are up to par for these schools, though she does receive top grades at schools. </p></li>
<li><p>It's now early January. She's in 8th grade. Is it too late for her to apply for 9th grade? Would it better to wait to apply for 10th grade?</p></li>
<li><p>She's going to need money. Her parents aren't married (her father is my first cousin) but her mother has a live in boyfriend and now has three other kids. I'm sure her income is less than 40K a year. I know the HADES schools have college sized endowments and can afford to give full scholarships but are there other schools that can do the same?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'm basically lost and can't really ask my boarding school friends at school because they all went to the same 5 schools.</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Check out A Better Chance, which may well operate in your cousin’s city. It’ll be too late for this year, but now would be the time to get hooked up with them for next year. There are other programs that help inner city kids into prep school–others could probably help.</p>
<ol>
<li>"I’m not sure if her grades are up to par for these schools, though she does receive top grades at schools. "</li>
</ol>
<p>if she receives top grades, then it should be fine. exeter asks for more A’s than Bs.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>it’s really really late, so i would advise waiting until next year – the ssat deadline is over and you’d need to take it standby, which costs a lot more than the normal testing and there’s no guarantee that space will be available.</p></li>
<li><p>yes! if she’s not international and she’s qualified, other schools will give her a scholarship. do look for schools with endowments over 100 mil though, i think that’d be easier. a family of 5 or 6 with a 40k income definitely qualifies for full aid imho, unless they’re hiding millions in a bank somewhere…</p></li>
</ol>
<p>just my two cents. best of luck!
ooh, and yes. take classicalmama’s advice, look into abc</p>
<p>ABC is only for minority children so if the OP’s cousin is white, they won’t help her.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick responses everyone! and yes my cousin is a minority so I will look into that. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I would suggest looking at [Boarding</a> School Review - College-Prep & Jr. Boarding Schools](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5DBoarding”>http://www.boardingschoolreview.com) and looking at schools with high endowments if you’re concerned about financial aid. A few I could suggest for you to look at would be: Emma Willard (I’ve just gotta say that cause I go there and love it), Northfield Mount Hermon, Blair, Mercersburg, Middlesex, Peddie, Kent, Taft…and the list goes on. </p>
<p>As for entering in 10th grade, that’s what I did and it worked out fine for me. You’re behind socially and academically, but we all really catch up quick and within a month everything was fine. If she’s concerned about too much of a shock with the sudden workload or being too behind socially, you could consider repeating freshman year. I know a lot of students who repeat and it’s pretty common and helps those students adjust and get ahead to some extent. </p>
<p>Hope this helped 
Good luck</p>
<p>I looked at some the school receptions Blair (NJ) attends [Blair</a> Academy - Admission](<a href=“http://www.blair.edu/Admissions/ad_on_the_road.shtm]Blair”>http://www.blair.edu/Admissions/ad_on_the_road.shtm). In addition to ABC, find out more about NJ SEEDS [NJ</a> Seeds](<a href=“Home - SEEDS – Access Changes Everything”>Home - SEEDS – Access Changes Everything) and the Wight Foundation [The</a> Wight Foundation : Home Page](<a href=“http://www.wightfoundation.org/Default.aspx]The”>http://www.wightfoundation.org/Default.aspx) It might only apply to 7th graders, but you can also investigate Oliver Scholars [Oliver</a> Scholars Program](<a href=“http://oliverscholars.org/]Oliver”>http://oliverscholars.org/)</p>
<p>Many schools have a 2/1 application deadline, so she could still apply to some. Financial aid is very hard to get with a late application. Some schools will accept the Feb. SSAT even if it is after the deadline. She should visit and interview. Because she is seeking financial aid, it would be best to include some schools that place her in the top 25% of applicants.</p>
<p>Thank you so much everyone! This is really helpful.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I work with The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS for short), a non-profit with more than 300 member schools in both North America and abroad. I read your post about schools for your cousin and thought you might be interested in checking out TABS at <a href=“http://www.boardingschools.com%5B/url%5D”>www.boardingschools.com</a>. </p>
<p>One of the best ways to check out different boarding schools is to use TABS School Browser. You can enter the school name if you have a particular school in mind, or search by zip code, and even view an A-Z listing of nearly 300 member schools. Each school has its own page and profile with lots of key information, and you can request info from multiple schools at once. Its quite the time-saver! </p>
<p>Also, the TABS Guided Search tool lets you refine your search even more. You can search by gender, specialty, grade levels, and location. You can even add more targeted criteria including courses, arts, and athletic interests. Its perfect for those who know what they wantand helps those who dont to figure it out. </p>
<p>Check out both at [Find</a> the Right Boarding School For You - The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS)](<a href=“http://www.boardingschools.com/find-a-school.aspx]Find”>Find A School Tool | BoardingSchools.com)</p>