Hello,
Before I continue, in order to avoid confusion and dubiety, I would like to give background information on myself. I am a male, 13 year old boy with bad posture and who can’t seem to find my growth spurt. My family is in a not so great financial state and it is a boulder to me in me trying to engage in rigorous events and academics, hence why I decided to join the Boarding School adventure which ended for me on March 10th, 3:01 AM EST, or 12:01 in California. In my thread, which I hope comes works out well, I will discussing my acceptance into a school and some key components I found necessary for succession.
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First I will begin with something that many people focus on, but believe or not, students and parents, SSAT scores are not everything, you should not go crazy over them:
Quantitative - 93
Reading - 92
Verbal - 70
Total - 90th Percentile.
As you may have noticed, I did bad, in my non appreciative eyes. But! These were my final scores after taking the test 3 times.
My Second time looked like this:
Quantitative - 93
Reading - 38
Verbal - 39
Total - 66
Yes, surprising, after 1 month, I went from a 66th percentile to a 90th percentile which is crazy, but it shows me and proves to everyone else that if you put your mind to it, if you study, get rid of unnecessary activities such as playing XBOX or binge-watching the Flash, instead pick up flashcards, study them, make it a game, do your part of the process and you can and will succeed. If you didn’t believe you could do it, why did you join the train called the Boarding School Process.
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Next, I will talk about the interviewing process. My interviewers all but one showed interest in me, and believe it or not, it was the one school I loved the most and it was heartbreaking. As you may suspect, I got denied straight up to the school but after using what I knew, I didn’t care. I will list tips that really allow your interviewer to enjoy the interview but really remember you.
- Firm Handshake - It seems so subtle but believe it or not, a firm nice handshake can make a big difference.
- Eye Contact - Make sure to retain eye contact, make sure your interviewer knows that you are there for a reason.
- Confidence - Lastly is confidence, everyone is worth it, and so are you and I, walk into the interview with your chin up because they should know you are there for a reason.
I will talk about my favorite interview, and the school and interviewer will be noted at the end of the thread, but just to get on with it, it started like this. I was in an office nearby because the school flew up to interview a batch of New Jersey kids, of which I was one. I was sweating crazy before I even met my interviewer, and that was because this was my number one school on my list. However, understanding that I have qualities, I walked chin up first in order to make sure he knew I believed in myself as I did. He was throwing deep, meaningful questions and I answered with even deeper answers, surprising him as only one other person he remember had done that and that was 3 year ago. We had a lot of connections, he felt relaxed and even less interviewy and more friendly if that makes sense, and we both knew just then that I had done well. Then my father walked in and they talked for maybe 20 minutes and it was over, and that day I knew, even if I was denied I gained a very good piece of experience that will be useful later in my life.
From the story my main point is that, even if you are not admitted to your number one school, or any of them quite frankly, think about the knowledge you gained and think about the experience you know have for college and other job interviews. Towards parents, us children understand you are stressed up, we know you want the best for us and we respect that, but when we unintentionally mess up, we need your guidance even when we may try to push you away.
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Thirdly, I will talk about my final “advice” section of the thread which is after your interview:
Always make sure to send your interviewer and email either thanking them or a handwritten letter recognizing the time they took out of their day to meet with you and interview with you.
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So some of you may have been waiting for this, where I was accepted. I was accepted into the beautiful, recognicial, and accepting school on the west-coast, Cate School. This is the school I was talking about in my favorite interview section, and credits to him, my interviewer was Kyle Mason. To my suprise, Mr. Mason even went out of his way to call my parents the day of my acceptance to congratulate them and I. Cate School, to my surprise even gave me a full tuition financial aid grant which helped me and my father tremendously. Through kindness, openness, and having a 10/10 school, Cate made it on my Number One spot out of the 10 schools I applied to and they were the only ones to accept me.
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In conclusion, I don’t know where this thread steered off to but I am always here in the discussion comments for any questions, statements, even constructive criticism as it all helps and allows me to help you.
Thanks for Reading,
Cate '22