Chance me for Andover, Exeter, Choate, Lawrenceville, and Peddie

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
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I’m an eighth grader applying for ninth grade. I’ve already submitted my apps but I just want to hear what anyone has to say.

Background info: White male, lives in New Jersey, fairly well ranked public middle school, full pay, and will be a boarder.

Grades
All A’s or A+, except for B+ in sixth grade advanced math.
I’ve taken the highest level classes that I could (Honors 7/8 English, Advanced 6/7 math + advanced algebra in eighth)

EC’s
I’ve swam competitively since fourth grade and at my beach club. (I was able to get a zoom meeting with all the coaches except for Choate. Wrote a thank you letter after the meeting to them all)
I’ve practiced karate since first grade (Currently brown belt).
Fishing camp since fifth grade

Volunteering
I’ve done some serious volunteering at a food charity started by a neighbor that’s raised over 12,000 tons of food
I’ve been volunteering at school and town events since fourth grade.
I’ve done beach cleanups on multiple beaches and helped plant plants on the beach.
I’ve got a stop sign put up on my street to make it safer since most kids bike to school.

SSAT
2285
94% percentile

Interviews
I think (hope) they went well except for Lawrenceville which was not terrible I just did not click at all with my interviewer.
In my interviews, I was able to explain how instead of filling my time with tons of EC’s (no shade) my friends and I would bike around town and spend our time at the dock, fishing, and swimming, or eating at the local restaurants and just staying active and outside since our town is so small and on the river and near the beach.
Also, I made sure to write handwritten notes of thanks to all the interviewers after I interviewed.

Essays
I think they are quite good. My mom’s friend who is a honors English teacher at another school helped me write them and review them. Her students get into the local vocational schools which are extremely selective and into the prep schools they apply to.

Recommendations
Math: Very good I believe, I get along very well with the teacher and he really likes me.

English: Alright, I don’t get along with her amazing, but I do participate and do well in the class.

Principal and Counselor: The principal likes me enough and knows my mom since she was PTA president and is heavily involved in the school. The counselor is new to the school this year and I met her like once, but the principal is basically filling her in on that so they should be fine.

Personal 1: Swim coach from my club. It should be pretty good. I’ve come a long way with my swimming and he has definitely recognized that.

Personal 2: Sixth-grade English teacher. She is the reason I’m applying to these schools and she really inspired me in my life. Many of my essays mention her. We had to submit it some weird way (don’t ask me, I don’t know) so my parents submitted it and they only showed it to me after I submitted everything and it is definitely very good.

Grateful for any feedback anyone has. Thanks!

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There is nothing in your profile that will keep you out, nor is there anything that’s going to make anyone say “definitely yes!”.

I would guess that you will have at least one acceptance. Having applied to larger schools, you may even have a choice.

If you are really determined to go to BS, you might want to get another app or two out to be on the safe side.

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I sure hope this isn’t what you meant to say.

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I’m actually pretty nervous about my son’s (on his own) essays because I see these types of statements so frequently.

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Honestly I think AOs know.

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I think more often than not this comment means “insert adult here” read and offered feedback. This is no different than what most probably get from a parent or a k-8 placement counselor.

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This is why some schools ask you to produce a writing sample as part of the interview or look at the sample in the SSAT. Fwiw, my kid’s were quite obviously entirely done independently and they were far from fabulous. I’d like to think that the AOs at least gave him points for “honesty”.

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Yes, I was glad there was a timed SSAT essay! That puts everyone on a level playing field, although I guess many are not submitting scores this year.

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My bad. I meant it more as her and I brainstormed together and she read them over, not that she did any actual writing. I also did submit the SSAT scores with the writing piece.

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There was a case last M10 of a parent actually replacing their child’s essay with one that the parent wrote on an entirely different topic. Irony: the only outright acceptance the kid got was at the school the parent didn’t replace the essay - the parent wasn’t impressed with that school, so didn’t meddle.

In other words: experienced AOs know.

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I vaguely remember this - the parent replaced a couple essays he thought were better and the kid got rejected from those schools. I can’t remember if he was allowed to go to the “lower tier” school at which he was accepted.

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His parents had him go abroad for BS rather than settle for where he got in domestically.

I’m sure, in the end, all were more satisfied with that solution.

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Wow! That’s bold! If I felt I had to write my child’s essays for them to get accepted, then how could I ever be confident they could succeed there? Acceptance is just the starting line - they still need to do the work at the school and graduate. Not to mention what that would do to my child’s self esteem and confidence… ugh

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