I know March 10 is well away, but I couldn’t resist making a “chance me” thread. As many of you can tell from the title, I’ll be applying to I am applying For Exeter, Groton, Andover, and St.Paul.
Gender/Ethnicity/School/Financial Status:
Male, Asian, Public School, Full FA
Applying for:
Grade 9
SSAT:
89 percentile overall. 800 in math (99%), 710 in Verbal(75%), 692 in Reading(75%)
Haven’t done interview yet
Essays were genuine and no one else typed a single letter so I know that my own voice came through. I may have been too impersonal though.
Grades:
All 97 and above
Recommendations/School Report:
I do well in English and I don’t get in the teacher’s nerves. As for math, I do extremely well and often impress the teacher with perfect marks. I’m unsure about the principal recommendation because we don’t talk often.
Extracurriculars/Achievements:
Boy Scout (Rank Life)
Community Service Club President
Basketball for 6 years
-I have a 1st-degree black belt in Martial Arts
Member of Math Club and Debate Club
-Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholar (60 chosen out of 2300+)
-Violin for 2 years
-Hundreds of volunteer hours
-Academic Pentathlon for 2 years
I feel a bit unqualified reading all the other threads ;(
You will. Since all your grades are the highest they really can be you only need to get a 85+ percentile on the ssat. With your extracurricular activities you totally will get in.
@Knocker379 Hi! Your grades & ec’s are very impressive and your 89% SSAT is pretty good. I actually think you’re very qualified for a top boarding school.
However, on regards to @CommunityMember 's comment, be aware that nobody can “totally get in”, especially at top schools like Exeter, Groton, Andover, and St. Paul. Students with perfect SSATs or took AP Calculus BC in like fourth grade (exaggeration) sometimes get rejected from these schools. The only way to increase chances of admission are to really grind at what you do and make sure everything is done to the best of your ability.
Another word of advice, don’t get too absorbed into chancing threads. I’ve made this mistake, and it really made me underestimate myself. Going into the admissions process with no self confidence is no bueno. Chancing and results threads are good for ballpark estimates, but once you’re in that ballpark, I wouldn’t recommend going too deep. On the other hand, one may see someone they think is inferior to them. This creates unhealthy predilections that may be shattered come March 10.
Anyways, here are some tips that will, hopefully, be helpful.
If you’re passionate about violin, you should send in a video recording. I’m sure that most boarding schools love videos and pictures. Even if you’re not a child prodigy, send in a video! (PM me for music suggestions) This shows you’re passionate about your instrument.
It’s great that your essays are genuine! Like you said, maybe try to not be so impersonal. These ao’s are really trying to get to know you for you, so adding some emotion or humor (that reflects you) won’t hurt.
I hope this helped! Good luck!
10-20% at all these schools. Most candidates have similar( or better) stats. The FA will not help as much as full pay.
If you were my kid I would expand the list a lot to schools with higher acceptqnce rates.
The Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship is a Big Deal. Congratulations!
Still – no one is a sure thing, and there are kids who have gotten the scholarship and not gotten into these schools. So like everyone, the odds aren’t in your favor. It isn’t anything personal – the schools just can’t take everyone who deserves a place. You have named four of the most competitive schools possible – there are some other great options out there worthy of your consideration. Please consider applying to a few others.
Agree with @Happytimes2001. Your application is solid for consideration at those schools, but also really average for the pool (excluding a few reaches without a shot). Full aid hurts a bit accept at Andover. I’d chance you at their averages, about 20%. With those odds M10 is too close to call. Hopefully one of your ECs is meant to continue at the boarding schools and you made that clear in your application; that you have something to offer outside the classrooms. My own DS had mixed SSATs similar to yours (flip math w ELA) and it worked out with the needed aid, BUT it only worked out at one school. He could have easily been rejected across the board. Now it is a painful waiting game. Best of luck.
After I wrote this comment I noted no interviews yet? PRACTICE. Google generic interview questions and practice with an adult. You aren’t trying to memorize answers, just practice getting your resume out in a conversation. That can be hard and awkward the first time, even with Mom or Dad, which is a good thing. This will be important since your excellent app is average for the schools listed.
Side note…the “interviews” are really a friendly conversation. Nothing to stress over, not a game of gotcha. Very easy prompts. Your job is to fill out the details and avoid single sentence responses. Confident and engaged. You know all the “answers” already because it is about you. Just be ready to share.
Yes, eye contact and graciousness are important. It’s important to convey confidence with zero attitude/arrogance. Also, some AO’s are easy to speak to and some are not. Hopefully, you will get one whose style fits your own. If not, still answer the questions and be interested in the conversation.
These schools have a lot of top candidates and most believe they will be accepted as they are the top from their town. They have no idea that most of the other applicants are similar.
Lol. It is not down to 1%. For FA your chances are usually at the acceptance rate. For FP your chances might double from the acceptance rate. Was it @CaliMex who broke it down last year (sorry if I’m remembering incorrectly).
I would seriously doubt acceptance rates double for full pay. Most schools have a glut of highly prepared kids who have been groomed since birth for prep schools ( at least in NE). FA will definitely make it harder depending on the school ( but PEA, PA and Groton have large coffers)
Many FA applicants also fill another bucket often URM, athletics. And not all competitive kids who can’t pay apply to BS.
It’s competitive for all. And More competitive for FA.
@kid9999 Great info for Thacher. PEA and PA are “need blind” read site for exact terms. If they want a kid it’s unlikely they won’t accept due to FA ( for the right kid)
Granted most schools need to watch full pay v. FA quite carefully. Others have huge endowments. Applicants should look carefully at the average award and % on FA.
RE: Endowments and “average award” information… Our actual FA offers from various schools did NOT align with what we expected based on what we saw posted online in terms of endowment size and average awards.
Also chance of admittance with FA depends on a number of factors: pools of applicants (FP vs. FA and how much) , GPA and SSAT scores of the applicants in the pools, what the individual applicant brings to the school, so it’s difficult to guess. Say if Andover wants to maintain the GPA of the admits at 4.0 and SSAT at 93%, an applicant at 99% SSAT needing full FA is better than 6 applicants needing minimum $10K with scores of 90%. Same money out for FA but lowering SSAT of the school. Just one of the factor. A good rule of thumb is : if you need FA and all else equal, your academic stats should be above average. If all the FP get 93% or better, there is no need for FA.
Same as Ivy colleges, even with need blind you need 98,99% academically to get in.
Haha I’m reading all of these people saying he has a 1% chance, or a 9% chance and that it’s ‘probably under 10%’, and I just came from his other post where he says he got into all of them.
I know this was posted awhile ago, but I’m currently stressing out about the admissions process and therefore looking through other people’s ‘chance me’ posts. It’s now become clear that people don’t really know what they are talking about when they give you percentages in these online forums
Congratulations on your success!
