Heyyy I’m a 13 year old 8th grader currently applying to Exeter, Andover, Hotchkiss, Choate, and Middlesex (not planning to add on more because I live in a busy family and money is tight and all.) I understand that competition is EXTREMELY fierce so…chance me? + advice and tips?
Age:13
Race: Asian, Chinese
Grade:8th
Gender:Female
GPA: 1st quarter I received a 4.2 GPA, All A’s (A+ in Social Studies, Language Arts, Spanish, Band, Science; A- in Geometry, A in Design and Modeling.)I should mention that I’ve only received one B+ ( for the last quarter of Algebra 1 last year…dark times.) in my whole academic experience up to this point.
SSAT: About to take it on Nov. 12th. I’m excellent in Math (guessing I’ll get 93-99 percentile), Good in reading (maybe a 90-99) but my verbal is devastating (70 if I’m lucky).
[By the way, is there a way for me to get extra time for verbal? 30 minutes for 60 questions is going to kill me.]
Recommendations :
Reading: should be good, maybe a 8-10/10
Math: Should be okay…8/10
Guidance Counselor : She barely knows me and shouldn’t have anything against me, so maybe a 7/10. I recently moved so everything is unsteady and pretty empty at the moment.
Special Interest- Should be amazing! I asked my piano teacher to do it and we have a great relationship. 10/10
Personal: hasn’t requested yet. Can I do previous teachers? or do they have to be Current?
Essays: Haven’t started yet but I’ll get to work right after I finish the SSAT. The prompts seem so fun and I can’t wait!
(current) EC’s:
- Private lessons for Piano for 5 years
-Community service at local library, around 3 hours a week
- Art: Self taught but I attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp this summer
Because I’ve recently moved I was unable to sign up for EC’s that I would’ve joined. (ex: Student Gov, marching band). My school’s system is pretty messed up 
Former EC’s
- Junior teen institute (2 years, leadership organization)
-Jazz Band (1 year)(Alt.Sax.)
-Art Club (1 year)
- 2 years of swimming lessons and tennis lessons
- Tech Crew ( planning to continue at current school, 2 years( 1 stage 1 sound))
I should also mention that I play the Alto Saxophone, and have been for 4 years.
I’ve been in the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program and have taken 2 Exams ( Level 1: 85%, Level 3: 83%)
My personality is pretty outgoing and optimistic. I’ve got a lot of friends and love talking with adults and listening to them ( a trait I’ve had since I was little ). I can be shy around new people but I try to spark good conversation.
I’ve also won a variety of school awards and honor roll things. Basically: I’m artistic but not sporty, Academic but in a overrepresented minority, terrible at verbal, aaaand I’m pretty average compared to others.
Any advice? Tips? SSAT strategies? Chance me? Thanks 
I think that your test scores will be great, and the verbal thing is soooo relatable as I am taking the ISEE in 10 days and applying to Exeter, Andover, Choate and Deerfield. Your extracurriculars are ok, but I would definetly include any awards or recongnizatjons you have. Also, if you play any sports competitively that wil improve your chances. Also, I am Asian too and i heard that it is harder to get in if you are Asian might be a myth
@worriedaboutprepschool Thanks for the feedback! People say that being Asian lowers your chances but admission officers aren’t allowed to reject you because of your race so :/. I undertsand that my ECs suck but it’s because I just moved and I’m not offered many opportunities here in the countryside. Good luck with your admissions!
Oh!!! So happy to hear that being Asian doesn’t lower your chances-everyone says it does! Maybe you can include awards that you won before you moved-I’m including awards from when I was in 5th grade, so that was three years ago
I also play the alto sax(5yrs) won a lot of art related awards-my hook is that I am an art focused student, but also does dance conpetitively. The admissions office wants to see that your individuality and talent will improve the community of their school and diversity in ec’s, bu they also want to see your well rounded areas. So, I am including that I took hs level science courses over the summer and participate in student government. Hope this helps!!
@HhopefulFforSsuccess2021 @worriedaboutprepschool
Hi! I’m in the same boat as you two also (I’m Asian too and applying to Andover/Exeter). Unfortunately, there is such thing as ORM (over-represented minority) and URM (under-represented minority). Asians fall into the ORM category, and examples of URMs would be Hispanic and African-American. Although schools technically aren’t supposed to discriminate, many of them want to be able to say that they have a diverse student body (in terms of ethnicity), so they have to cut back on the number of ORMs they accept and accept more URMs (since more ORMs apply than URMs, usually).
However, this usually doesn’t affect applications drastically, so I believe that with a great application like you have, you should be fine.
Good luck in your applications!
livesk8dream
@worriedaboutprepschool @livesk8dream
Hii! I’m glad you two are here because it really helped support me mentally x). Thank you all for advice! Good Luck to you!
^^^^ good luck everyone!! I hope to se you guys on the Andover, Exeter, Choate or Deerfield campus in fall of 2017!!!
“Everybody” is right.
That statement is just naive. Admissions is a zero-sum game. If schools have a stated goal of increasing diversity by admitting X URM’s, then by definition that means -X non-URM’s will be admitted. An AO will never say why a particular applicant was rejected, but you should assume that the admissions rate for Asian applicants at the schools mentioned in the initial post will not be greater than the overall admit rate.
I understand, @skieurope, what you’re saying. Thank you.