<p>Hello. As of this year, I will be a female 9th grader at a fairly well regarded public school (75th percentile). I was wondering if someone could give me some feedback on what I am currently doing now and how I could improve to increase my chances of, hopefully, getting accepted into one of the country's top prep schools. Some examples would be Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter, Hotchkiss, and Lawrenceville. Preferably, I would like to attend Andover or Exeter, but, all four of the schools listed above are extremely good and within 4 hours of my home. To wrap this up quickly, I'll just tell you what I've done. </p>
<p>I realize that they prefer to have people not do tons of things kind of well, and rather have you do a few things very well (circle vs. square). As my passions have developed, I've learned that these points have turned to: </p>
<p>Tennis (sport)
Singing/Piano (music)
Writing (academic) </p>
<p>As a tennis player I have played since I was about 5, but I started playing competitively as a 7th grader in USTA tournaments. I expect to third singles as a freshman on my varsity team and to excel well considering I beat a girl who played third as a senior and only lost twice that year. </p>
<p>I have been doing chorus my entire life and was recently accepted into an exclusive singing group in my high school. My main strength in music is piano though, considering I have been playing for 10 years and have entered many rigorous competitions. </p>
<p>For writing, I've won many easy competitions like Creative Communication and such, so those aren't very noteworthy. However, as an 8th grader, I won a national silver medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Regarding this competition, it is the most prestigious art and writing competition in the United States. This last year, 250,000 entered and only 1,800 won national awards. I was one of them. This achievement is especially outstanding, considering the majority of national winners were artists.</p>
<p>My academics are all A's and A+'s and I plan to get a 97% overall on the SSAT or better, and in 6th grade I went to CTY for writing, which might also help boost my chances of getting in.</p>
<p>I also am not going to apply for any financial aid. This is not to sound snotty, but there is the sad fact that those who DO need to apply for a full scholarship due to financial problems generally have less chances of getting in.</p>
<p>Furthermore, as of this summer and 9th grade, I am planning to do lots of community service such as volunteering at my local animal shelter, and, hopefully, setting up something at my school in which our students would collect items to make care bags for soldiers. I have seen something similar to this done on a show before, and because one of the people I'm closest to in my life, my father, was a nurse in the army during residency, this surely hits home.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input.</p>
I would bring a copy of your writing to the interviewer and also submit a digital copy with the application if it has room. Meet with an English teacher if you can! Good luck! :D</p>
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