<p>Hey guys, recently i have been discussing things with my family and I really want to try to get into a top boarding school. It has been my dream for a while to go to Andover but I decided to just stick to my public high school in chicago.</p>
<p>Sorry… pressed enter on accident im going to edit my first post and will be done soon</p>
<p>Ok… i can’t edit so i’ll just post it all here…</p>
<p>I kind of decided that i wanted to apply a little while ago but realized I couldn’t apply for sophomore year because that ended in February. So now im going to apply next year and try to get in for 11th grade. So here’s what I have…</p>
<p>Well… first semester was HORRIBLE… I ended up with my first c, (adv algebra) 3 bs (french,english), and two As(bio,history) (Im in regular english,history,french and honors biology and math) </p>
<p>this is completely unusual for me, I just wasn’t really sure what to expect in highschool and it seems like it really punched me in the face lol. It’ll probably really hurt my chances.
This semester I have straight As </p>
<p>Next year i will be in honors: english,pre calc, chemistry AP: History and Regular: French : (
Probably will get all As next year too since thats what I usually receive and have gotten almost all of middle school.</p>
<p>Aside from that:</p>
<p>Very good debater won a couple tournaments and placed nationally, hope to continue that next year (our school is like a debate super power, we win state and nationals every couple of years and are ranked one of the best teams in the nation)
3 years of guitar, play in jazz ensemble
4 years of piano, won a couple competitions, I’d say i am very good at piano
8 years violin, play in school orchestra
Up and coming tennis player?(lol) I’ve played tennis for a couple years but am at the top of my team, have a trainer that I am working 3 days a week with and am hoping to receive a state rank by next year
Compete in Ball room, and other forms of dancing
In a couple clubs… Key club, Stand(protests genocide), Jewish club, trying to start a ski/snowboard club at my school which heads to the local mountain or even big trips to big mountains and at the moment looks like it’s going to happen
Big snowboarder… started only 2 years ago but absolutely love it and snowboard almost every weekend in the winter. Trying to improve so i could start entering myself into competitions, but atm not exactly the best at it! (not sure how much this could help…lol)
do community service when ever I can around the town (soup kitchen, hospital) and i also volunteer every week at the local synagogue
hoping to do some summer internships, possibly go to russia or ukraine to do community service</p>
<p>By the way I am russian/American… speak fluent russian. My parents immigrated around 15 years ago from ukraine and started from nothing. As of now we are middle-upper middle class. I don’t know how this could help at all… other then writing an essay about hardships my parents faced to make a good life for me or something of the sorts. Could this possibly make me stand out?</p>
<p>I’d say i’m a great writer and my essays will probably be outstanding</p>
<p>Anyway… What do you guys think… be completely truthful
I wont be applying for around another year so this is kind of just trying to get a feel for my chances. Andover is my dream school but i’ll also apply to exeter, and deerfield probably</p>
<p>You’re in the running. I don’t see anything that would make the adcom rush into Jane Fried’s office yelling at her to read the application. That is not a bad thing, many people do not have this luxury, but it certainly helps. Where lies your passion?</p>
<p>
While I am just a little grain in a beach, it would be my sincere advise not to write about this. Write about your passion and who you are. Your essay should play a movie of who you are in your adcom’s head. When he sees you on the grounds he should be like “oh yeah, I know that personality…” I, for a while, was thinking about writing something similar, but how does that define who I am? It defines who my parents may be, but what defines me lays somewhere else/</p>
<p>First of all, thanks for the advice I definitely see your point when you discuss the essay. Secondly, my passion… hmm I am not really sure. Honestly, I love music, I love tennis, I love dancing butt… Honestly, I didn’t want to discuss it much because it isn’t exactly “orthodox” when it comes to people that apply to these kinds of schools, and that im not AMAZING or even great in it, i’d say im good, is snowboarding. </p>
<p>It’s funny because outside from all the other things i love to do when i snowboard I feel like i’m so free… I don’t know any other activity in the world where you can get the same feeling. It’s just so great, i feel like all my troubles just vanish when i snowboard and i just focus on having fun and enjoying the day. I love it! haha… I just don’t know how they feel when it comes to things like this, and it’s not like everything else is just thrown in the trash because i love all the things I do. Its hard to explain… but I think you kind of understand what I am trying to say? yes no maybe? lol</p>
<p>The main problem with that is that I have all these things that I am really good at and have done for so long like music, and if I say my main passion is snowboard the admission officers would think im nuts because it isn’t something that i do all the time or work my butt off in like music or tennis, it’s just kind of a “recreational activity” that i really like a lot. Im trying to make it more then just a “recreational activity” though by trying to enter into some competitions but… eh… I don’t know… i guess i have many passions and i want to better myself in all of them :D</p>