Chance Me For Boarding Schools Exeter, Groton, St. Paul's, etc

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

I’m in grade 8 and I am applying to a few boarding schools and just wanted to see how this is. The schools I’m applying to include:
Thatcher
St Paul’s
Exeter
Groton
Hotchkiss

I go to a private school in the bay area. Here’s some other stuff:

Stats:
Grades: All A’s
GPA:4.0

Sports: I’ve done dance/ethnic or Chinese Dance for 9 years (didn’t do competitions, only performances), JV for school basketball and volleyball which I had been doing for 4 years

Other ECs: Piano for 9 years, ABRSM grade 7 going to grade 8 (it was canceled ugh)
Student Council Member Last Year
Student Ambassador for my school (I basically did tours and things)
I’ve won second place in 2 city wide speech tournaments in English
I’ve won 3rd place twice in Chinese poetry
I am part of the yearbook and the ECO team at my school

Interviews (I’ve only done 2)
Exeter: I did it with an alumni and it was very nice. We talked for an hour or so and it was a good experience. These are subjective though so idkkk.
St. Paul’s: The man seemed pretty uninterested. He didn’t smile at me, only said “good” after my responses. He did laugh at one of my jokes though. The questions were a bit harder and he asked a lot of stuff that was already on my resume/gateway like academics and extracurriculars.

Recs:
Math: I’ve had my new teacher for only a few months, she doesn’t know me well but I do well in her class.
English: My teacher will definitely write a really good English recommendation for me. She is my advisor and student council teacher.
Principal: Although I’m having my principal write it, I don’t know her really well.
Personal Recommendation: One of my schools AO and admission director is writing it. i’ve Known him for 5 years and worked with him a lot too so he’d write a good one.

SSAT scores:
Reading:82 percentile (I’m taking it again this January)
Math:99
Verbal:98
Overall: 97-98 and 2300 or so raw score

I also am part of John Hopkins CTY course for both math and English. I’m fluent in Chinese and take French at my school. I also do flute which I’ve been doing for 4 years at my school band (doesn’t really mean anything though).

I’m an Asian female living in SF and from what I’ve read on here, I’m pretty average. I don’t have a lot of things that go to a professional level, I do well in many things but in my sports, I’m not like nationally placed 1rst or something.

I am also applying for financial aid. Oh and I also applied to Groton last year and got waitlisted if that means anything.

3

You are a well qualified applicant for all of your listed schools.

During interviews, it may be wise to indicate why you are interested in that particular school.

Boarding schools of this caliber are most interested in students with excellent academic qualifications who will engage with the community. You satisfy these standards. It is not necessary to be nationally ranked in any extracurricular activity (EC), but it is necessary to participate in ECs such as athletics, acting, student government, etc. Boarding schools need students to be actively involved in the school community.

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4

“From what I read on here, I’m pretty average”

One, never compare yourself to someone else’s idealized version of themselves!

Two, you are not “average”!! Average by definition is scoring in the 50th percentile.

You are a strong candidate, who brings a lot to any school. Plus you write well!

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5

you are very qualified for all those schools. my son is a senior at thacher so I have a sense of what they’re looking for. good luck!

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That’s so cool! How does he like it there? I found that Thacher really valued students’ mental health and they had the highest percentage of happy students there or something like that.

7

Ok I’m gonna say you have a pretty good chance. Tbh though, your SSAT scores are great!It’s not necessary to retake it because you should focus on your essays. Also, getting a 99 percentile vs a 98 or 97 makes absolutely NO difference. People above the 90th percentile get treated the same. Also for St. Paul’s School, what interviewer did you get? I feel like we got the same interviewer (smiled less than other interviewers, said “good” a lot).

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8

Hi! I think you have a good shot at all the schools listed!
This seems kinda late (if you finished all your interviews and essays), but a tip is to really focus on what YOU bring to the table. What makes you different from thousands of other applicants? What will you bring/contribute to the school?
I don’t really know a lot about Groton and their 8th-grade waitlist things, but I do know that A LOT of people apply for their 8th-grade so they reject and waitlist A BUNCH of people (they only take like 20 people, and most are siblings of alumni/current students). For other schools though, you do have a small advantage over other applicants if you applied before. If you don’t HAVE to get into a BS (unlike me) I say try your best, put everything you have into it, and since you seem like you have a decent back-up, you will be fine.
PS: a private school currently does help the application process a lot. Best of luck to you and everyone else applying!

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9

I just read your Chance Me and I feel like we have similar stats which is pretty cool! (Make sure to update me when results come out). I got Granados as an interviewer at SPS. I talked to someone at a Hotchkiss event and they also said he didn’t smile a lot.

10

Oh that’s very nice! I’ll be sure to update you when results come out (waiting for m10 is killing me).

Also, my interviewer for St. Paul’s was Mr. Vandersea. :smiley: I guess SPS interviews are serious in general lol (ngl tho, I love how concise SPS applications are).

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11

I think we have pretty similar stats especially with the Chinese poetry and piano. I think the only thing that could help your chances is if you tried to project your energy well during the interview. I think that is the only thing that could make a difference. Whether you showed your personality and had unique responses.

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