Chance me for Exeter/Andover/Choate/Lawrenceville, etc.

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi all,

I’m currently applying for 12 boarding schools: Exeter, Andover, Choate, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, Concord Academy, Milton Academy, St. Paul’s, Kent, Middlesex, Deerfield, and Groton. I’m applying for a repeat sophomore year. If you guys could chance me, that would be great.

Here are my stats and extracurriculars:

I am Asian-American and a female. In freshman year, I had an unweighted GPA of 4.0 and a waited GPA of 4.5 at a VERY competitive high school (I took all honors classes except for journalism and another required non-honors course).

I’m more of a humanities person, so I believe my short answer questions are going to be written quite well. My teacher recommendations should also be strong because I received a few special school awards from the teachers who are writing my recs at my old school (each teacher can nominate up to 5 students). I’m also preparing for the SSAT right now.

I was supposed to be the Copy Editor and founder of a satire column for my nationally recognized school newspaper, but unfortunately, I had to move states to a newly-founded public school, where I’m currently taking all honors and AP’s.

I’ve been heavily invested in creative writing, art, and classics as well. I’ve gotten my writing published in several journals and I’ve won a lot of JCL awards (NJCL advanced certamen team member, state JCL 2nd place certamen, 1st at a lot of NJCL tests, gold NLE x2, gold NLVE, gold NLEE), as well as served as the historian for my school’s JCL chapter.

I attached a portfolio showcasing my art, creative writing, and journalism. I mentioned in the essays that I’m particularly interested in the arts concentration, because that’ll grant me more time to focus on my passion. I’ve been doing art for 12 years now and I plan on entering more competitions throughout high school.

Though I quit piano, in seventh grade, I performed at Carnegie Hall after winning 2nd place in the American Protege International Competition and also won a bunch more competitions that I’m not going to list.

My main concern is that compared to other applicants who have already won national awards in a lot of areas and developed their spikes a lot, I fall weak. Also, the school I’m currently enrolled in is newly founded, as I said before, so it doesn’t have the prestige and recognition that my old school does just yet. It’s not a big deal though because I think the moving and adapting process has made me a much more mature person.

Thank you all so much for your time!

2

I think you are a strong candidate.

Just a couple thoughts - you mention an “arts concentration” - what is that? Do you mean you want to take a lot of art classes? Have you looked at the requirements for these schools? There is not a lot of time for extra art classes. Also, what national awards do you think most 14 year olds have won?? I will answer - almost none! I don’t know to whom you are comparing yourself but kid, you must stop!!

3

oh my god! thank you so much!!

i meant the arts concentration for choate :slight_smile: appreciate your answer

4

bump

5

I would second what @one1ofeach said. You seem like a strong candidate with some impressive, interesting stuff in your background.

Nonetheless, some food for thought: think about expanding or changing the list of schools you’re applying to.

To my knowledge, only a single school on your list has anything approaching a “high” admit rate, and that’s Kent at 38% (assuming niche data is accurate).

And in fact the rest are low or very low. Though you seem like a great candidate, there is a non-zero chance that come March 10 you won’t have any BS options if you leave your list as-is. If you’re okay with your current school as a fall back then maybe that’s an okay plan. If not, maybe broaden the list a touch?

You’re an ORM so the odds start out longer for you. You didn’t mention whether you’ll need FA but if so that would make the odds longer still.

I’d also point out that you have some schools on your list that are very different from one another including very large (PA and PEA) and very small (Groton). I somewhat understanding being size agnostic. Somewhat. Some have meaningful % of day students, others hardly any. Again, I could see being somewhat agnostic in that regard. But the bigger concern is that your list seems made up based on reputation/name value rather than on research and a sense of fit for you.

I might be wrong about that! But thought it worth mentioning.

Good luck!

6

Yes, this does seem like a list plucked from a “top list of New England boarding schools” I’d agree that these schools are quite different in the vibe you get from them.

7

All of the BS schools asked my kids what other schools they were applying to during the interviews. For the most part, their lists were similar. So, if you have a laundry list of “top schools”, it’s likely the schools could make the assumption that you haven’t done your homework or dug deeply into what they offer. It’s great to visit ( and even interview). But you should also do your homework. Groton and Concord Academy, for example, are night and day in terms of most things.

8

Thanks, guys! I have modified my list accordingly and cut down the number of schools to 5 that I see myself going to.