Chance me for NYC schools + andover (repost - added information)

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Reposting - I forgot some information

Chance me for NYC day schools (horace mann and riverdale) + Phillips Academy Andover (100% not getting into this school)

8th grader applying to 9th

Demographics:

Asian Male, 500k+ income, very competitive Jr./Sr. High School

no hooks

Testing (ISEE):

Verbal - 58th percentile
Reading - 92nd percentile
Quantitative - 99th percentile, all questions correct
Mathematics Achievement - 99th percentile, all questions correct

(I will retake ISEE, hoping for 80+ percentile on verbal)

quick question, how much will a 5 on verbal affect my chances? is it an auto-reject?

Grades:

6th - idrk, there are no letter grades in 6th, its based on 1-4 scale, but mostly 4s
7th - all As or A+ except for one B+
8th - quarter one is all As or A+, don’t know for quarter 2

Extracurriculars/awards:

Published author of a book about the Myanmar refugee crisis

Raising money to help suffering refugees around the world

Model UN refugee conference

Piano (7 years), perfect score on NYSSMA level 6 (only 117 ppl got this score in state), ABRSM grade 8 distinction, 2nd prize at tri-state level music competition

Alto Saxophone (4 years), participant in All-county band

POTENTIALLY AIME QUAL (93 on 10b, literally crying lol i sillied 5 problems)

Co-founder and treasurer of Community Connect Club at my school

treasurer of Rubik’s cube club

one of main programmers at school’s FTC robotics team (made regionals once)

hopefully USACO silver (taking december comp)

3rd at school level hackathon (for grades 7-12)

Squash (3 years), keeping vague but ~3.5 rating, top 2 in many bronze level tournaments

Chess Club at school, 1400+ rating on chess.com (idk if I’ll include this)

John Hopkins CTY Grand Honor Award

Captain of school’s mathcounts team, 4th at chapter, didn’t make states :frowning: it’s a very competitive chapter tho, seeing as 2 people at our chapter made nats

Question: Riverdale only allows 10 extracurriculars, and Horace Mann only allows 3, which ones are my strongest to include?

Essays:

Horace Mann - essay about a fictional character I admire in world war 2, kinda mid 7/10

Riverdale - very strong essay about my advocacy for Myanmar refugees around the world 9/10

Andover - haven’t started essay yet, but I will probably make it similar to Riverdale Essay

LOR:

Great relations with core subject teachers, shouldn’t have to worry about this part but I have not asked them to write recommendation forms yet

Interview:

Have not done interviews yet, but should be quite strong (spending 2hrs/week prepping interview over the summer with a teacher outside of school)

Please critique my application and tell me what I need to improve, thanks!

2

Hola, I think you have a nice chance of getting into your schools! (I don’t know much about the day schools but I’m assuming they’re highly rated) Maybe broaden your net? Have you considered any other boarding schools? I wouldn’t say a 5 is an auto reject as reading and quantitative seem to be more important skills (imo since verbal is just something that you memorize/learn throughout school whereas reading and math are fundamental skills) As long as you don’t have mediocre essays and interviews and you are a good person I think you’d be seriously considered. Also, I would include the refugee crisis related activities in all school apps. Unique in my opinion and you could maybe group it under one extracurricular for Horace Mann. Just an 8th grader’s thinking, don’t rely on my novice knowledge too much!

3

Hmm, my parents don’t really like that I want to go to a boarding school, but I really liked Andover so they let me apply. Do you have any additional areas where I can improve my app?

4

If you’re in NYC there’s a lot more day schools like Trinity, Regis for boys…etc.

5

I actually don’t live in NYC, Horace Mann/Riverdale are only 15-20 minutes away from where I live, hence why I’m applying, while Trinity is over an hour away.

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6

I noticed you wrote that your essay was mid for one school. You still have time, maybe you should strengthen it to you best capability or, if it’s the topic, change the topic. remember to highlight your values/qualities as a person. Otherwise, just keep up all you dedications and yeah, a stronger verbal score will be optimal.

7

the prompts at horace mann are really hard to write off of…

8

These are the prompts for Horace Mann.

Topic 1: Tell us about a fictional character in literature, comic books, film or television that you admire. What are the traits that this individual exhibits that make them worthy of your admiration?

Topic 2: You’re writing the story of your life so far. What’s the title? Why?

Topic 3: If your family had its own flag, what would be on it? If you had your own personal flag, would it be different from your family’s flag? In what way?

Topic 4: Tell us about your best experience in school and your best experience out of school. What made each of them the best?

Topic 5: Describe something you’re hoping for, and discuss the obstacles or difficulties that must be overcome if this goal is to be achieved, either by you or by others.

Topic 6: Tell us about a scientific or mathematical discovery that you feel has had a significant impact on the world and why you believe its impact is significant.

Is there any way to incorporate my advocacy for refugees into these prompts?

9

Yes, in topic 5 and 6.

10

ohhh, 5 makes sense. can you elaborate on how i would incorporate this into prompt 6?

11

You might have read something about refugees or someone who was advocatin for them, so you can talk about that and they’ll know how you found that passion.

12

Alright, I think i will go with topic 5

13

IMO all of these topics can have you refugee advocacy incorporated in them in some way but I agree that topic 5 matches the most with what you’re going for.

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14

Alright, I’ve seen that topic 5’s wording is to say what must be done to achieve the goal, do you think it would be fine if i submit an essay about what I’ve done to try to achieve the goal?

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15

I think so,at least that’s what I did in one of my essays.

16

do you have any advice on what I can do to improve my application? (besides verbal)

17

You have good extracurriculars so write about them and on the interview be really passionate and nice!

18

if i do decide to apply to more boarding schools, which ones do you recommend as reaches?

19

That depends on what you want in a school

20

idk lol. i havent visited any schools besides horace mann, but ig i want a good school and a safe environment?