Chance me for Boarding Schools

Okay here we go…
Basic Stats:Applying as Male Repeat 10th Boarding from CA at Andover, Exeter, St. Paul’s, Choate, Deerfield, Milton, Loomis, Lawrenceville, NMH, Peddie, Taft, Hill, WRA, Mercersburg, Kent:

SSAT:
Verbal- 749. 89th percentile
Quantitative- 785. 93rd percentile
Reading- 731 95th percentile
Total- 2265 97th percentile

Courses:
I am not going to reveal which AP’s I am taking as I believe the course load would potentially reveal my identity to AOs

10th grade 1st semester:

AP class 1 (English) Grade: A-
AP class 2 (History) Grade: A-
AP class 3 (Elective) Grade: A
AP class 4 (Elective) Grade: A
Honors Chem Grade: B+ (yes, I know it bad)
Honors French 4 Grade: A
Precalculus: B+ (Yes, also aware that its bad)
Elective-A+

9th grade 1st semester
English- A
Algebra 2-B+ (By now I’m sure you can tell that I am bad at math)
Biology- A
World history- A
French 3- A-
Art- A
Elective-A+

9th grade 2nd semester
English- A
Algebra 2- B+
Biology- A+
World History- A
French 3-A
Art- A
Elective-A+

ECs:

I started my schools student newspaper which is very active club at our school.
Theater for over 9 years (contacted theater directors at most schools).
Swimming for over 9 years ( not great, but definitely on Varsity at all schools, maybe not Peddie) also contacted almost all the swimming directors at most schools.
Debate for 3 years

(Not a lot but I am very active in all my ECs which I think my interviewers/AOs appreciated.

Essays:
10/10 (subjective, obviously).

Recs:
English-10/10
Math-8-9/10
Counselor-no clue she doesn’t know me that well
Personal-10/10

Interviews:
I think all my interviews, except for probably St. Paul’s and Taft, went extremely well
On another note a specific AO at a BS definitively said “I’ve been doing this for several years and believe me your chances are very very strong for acceptance.” Isn’t this a little too direct for an interview as I know they want us to feel wanted during the interview but I thought this was a little above just the basic feeling of acceptance. I might be reading into it a lot. Any thoughts?

Without seeing how you come across in interviews and without reading your essays, I would guess you are likely to have several options on M9. You have a number of schools that are different enough from one another that it seems you may still not be sure what exactly you are looking for in terms of “fit”, and if that is so, the schools may also pick up on that and do some deciding for you. But I think you will be fine!

Thanks @gardenstategal I am actually pretty sure which schools I feel I fit in as last year I applied to Choate, Deerfield, Milton, St.Paul’s, and Andover and was waitlisted at all of them. This year I just really want an acceptance letter from at least one school.

Not sure why a sophomore who has taken so many APs would apply as a repeat?

@CaliMex that was an original worry I had when I was applying, however, the Admissions officers were really supportive of me repeating because they felt I would be able to take more of an advantage of the opportunities that the schools have to offer. I personally, don’t believe that 2 years at boarding school is enough to truly experience boarding school and also coming in as a junior will mean you will immediately jump into the college process which can be hard at a new school. I have also heard from both AOs and people on CC that most new juniors are repeat 11th graders? I am not sure how accurate this is does anyone have any information on that.

I assume you are full pay, too, so the schools are probably more encouraging.

If you do not get the result you want, you should check out United World Colleges (UWC), a global boarding school program that seeks to ID the most promising students in each country and then have them live and study together in one of 12+ boarding schools around the world. It is a two year program for either Junior and Senior year, or perhaps more commonly, for Senior year plus one Post Grad year. Most of the UWC kids we’ve known over the years ended up at Ivy League universities. It is an incredible experience and opportunity and heavily subsidized financially for US students.

https://www.uwc.org/

Thank you so much @CaliMex I will definitely look into it as I do know a couple kids who went to UWC, however, it will probably be a hard sell to my parents because most of UWC boarding schools are outside of the US and getting them to agree to allow me to apply to schools on the other side of America was already a big leap for them.

There are three UWC schools that aren’t that far away: One in Canada, one in the United States, and another one in Costa Rica.

Does anyone know if being from California would be geographic diversity or is CA well represented at boarding schools in NE.

Coming from CA will not be considered geo-diversity. California is well represented in the NE.

Bump. I would love to hear some other opinions as well… I’m a little worried about how the B+s will effect my application. Will I be ruled out of the process at some of the more selective schools because of them?

B+s are fine if you are at an academically rigorous school

@CC4life Believe me, if you are rejected/waitlisted, it definitely will not be because of one or two B+'s. Unless you were dead set on one specific school, I suspect you will not be disappointed M9/10. If I had to guess, I think you’ll be admitted to AT LEAST 8 of the schools you applied to, given your theater and swimming background, and especially if your essays and interviews were stand-outs.