Chance me for boarding school

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi, I am an Asian American currently located in a private school in the Bay Area. I used to go to an IB school in Beijing for 7 years. I’m applying to be a 9th-grade boarder at the Ten Schools and some other schools like Hill, Tafts, and Peddie.

  • My first semester grades haven’t come out yet, but I will be expecting mostly As and 2 Bs. In my previous IB school, I got all 7s.
  • I got a 113 on the TOEFL test.
  • I got a 2271 on the SSAT, which is a 95%.
  • My school has a curriculum that is a few years ahead of other schools, in which I am taking Geometry.

ECs:

  • Visual Arts (ten years), I do painting, sketching, and digital art. Won a lot of gold awards nationally in China. Submitting my art portfolio to the schools.
  • Piano (eight years). I’m doing ABRSM level 8.
  • Fencing for three years
  • Speech and Debate (two years). Competed in the World Scholar’s Cup Regional Round and got a top 10 for the Collaborative Writing section and one gold and a few silvers for the other sections. Sadly, we never moved up into the National round because of COVID restrictions in China.
  • Taekwondo (three years) green belt
  • Started a non-profit website with a club that promotes diversity and inclusion. We usually publish a few articles every now and then.
  • Track and field (five years) been in the school team and competed in Beijing with schools from ACAMIS. Won a few gold medals in the 100 m, 200 m, and relay races.

For the interviews, I would say they’re average since none of them were over an hour.
I’m not really confident about the teacher recommendations since they still haven’t started it, and I don’t know the teachers that well.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to hear some advice :slight_smile:

2

Same advice I give all strong students:
Your chances are as good as anyone else’s, which means you may get into any specific school and you may not. Cast a wide net, write strong essays, and fall in love with a school that loves you.

3

You have a much better chance of admission if the schools think you are a varsity athlete than if they don’t.

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4

Sadly, I don’t think I’m that competitive in sports, but I’m pretty professional in art. Will that increase my chances?

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5

A few things: One, Hill and Taft are both members of “Ten Schools,” which is a boarding school admissions association. Two, interviews rarely last more than 30 or 40 minutes, so don’t worry if yours didn’t go for an hour. Three, you pass the academic threshold for admission to members of the Ten Schools, but most other applicants to these schools do, too. Four, yes, high ability in visual art will help your chances; I think it will help a little, while some other veteran posters here may believe they will help more. Five, if the schools believe you have very high ability in debate, that would increase your chances of admission, provided you told them you wanted to participate in debate in high school.

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Thank you so much!