I am applying to boarding schools as a 10th grader, I am East Asian and I currently live in the state of Delaware.
I have only had my Andover Interview which I think went pretty well.
I play the flute and have a small number (5ish) awards/accomplishments that i listed on the Candidate Profile.
I am also very invested in community service- especially in my local Korean community. I was an English teacher for children in Korea. I also volunteered in Korea recently.
I likely will not take the SSAT but I took the PSAT8/9 in 8th grade and got 99th percentile for math and 98 for reading (i put that in my CP)
I am still working on my essays but my writing skills are good if not great- the last essay i wrote, I got a perfect score.
Based on the info provided, do I have a good chance of getting into these schools? (Andover/Choate are my top choices!)
Hi! I think you have about the same shot as any other applicant. Your PSAT scores are relatively good so I’d assume you get mostly straight A’s if not completely straight A’s with decent/good teacher recommendations which makes you academically fine to get in any of these schools. I assume you take private lessons for flute and have a couple small awards here and there which is good but isn’t anything more than anyone else who has a hobby, takes lessons, and has a few accomplishments in it. The community service part is cool indeed, but also isn’t anything that would make you stand out in the pack. You don’t mention to be experienced in any sports, which is a big part of all of these schools’ culture and if I’m not mistaken, most if not all students play multiple sports competitively at these schools. There is kind of a lack of extracurriculars and things that would make you stand out from the large, large applicant pack even in the slightest way. Overall, there is nothing wrong with your application and I’m sure you’re a great person with great potential to do well at these schools, but you would definitely not get in to any of the schools you listed with these stats alone. I know plenty of people (Asians, in particular) even within my own community who had perfect SSAT, straight A/A+'s, and accomplishments in a variety of extracurriculars who got flat out rejected from the top schools. I think that if your essays were absolutely superb, it could pull you over the top and get you accepted somewhere. The schools you listed all have around 10-15% acceptance rates so I would say that is exactly your chance of getting in. Applying for financial aid will definitely decrease this number and being an Asian is not helpful either. If you are really set on going to a boarding school, then you definitely should have casted a wider net and applied to far less competitive schools along with those, but if you are fine with the current school you go to then that’s not an issue. Hope this helps!
hey! ur amazing by the way! i got into deerfield as a new sophmore and you have pretty good chances. it is true that admissions have dipped this year, its kind of ironic that during a pandemic a lot of parents are trying to send their kids out of their homes, but i guess it kind of makes sense since most boarding schools have less covid cases. i think u have a pretty good shot. its smart of you to talk abt ur psat i got exactly the same percentiles as u but im not sure if i included them. i hope u get in to ur schools!