<p>Hi! I'm a freshman at my public high school applying for the sophomore year at Peddie, Blair, Kent and NMH. I have a weighted GPA of 3.7, mostly A's, one A- and one B and I'm currently in 3 Honors Classes, one of which is a junior-level class (Latin II). I was previously at a private day school in New Canaan, from 5th to 8th grade, and I'm getting recs from my English and Math teachers there as well as from my old guidance counselor.
I row competitively, I received a maxima cum laude on the National Latin Exam and I'm 95% sure I'm an URM at these schools, but Indians in NJ are fairly common. I've been playing the piano for the past 5 years and I'll be headed off to a Chopin competition in March.
I interned at my music school and at my mom's culinary company as a summer intern/web designer.
I'm actually in the process of starting up a student-school relationship thinktank/crowdsourcing system which I think is fairly rare - I was inspired by a former PEA student!
I think my interviews at Peddie and Blair went fairly well - I'm still in contact with my AO at Blair - but one can never be sure! We spoke for about 35 minutes instead of what was supposed to be a 20 minute interview at Blair, so hopefully she liked me.
My current English and Math teachers promised me stellar recs, but my guidance counselor doesn't know me too well.
At my old school I was on the Social Committee (responsible for planning school dances and so on), the Blue White Day Committee (responsible for planning our field day), the Community Service Committee (which is in charge of the student service learning aspect of my old school) and I was a student ambassador, which is fairly self-explanatory - I spoke at Open Houses and toured new students.
My concern, however, is FA. My dad is on Wall Street and he makes about the median income for that industry (250-450k) but a large chunk of it goes to paying of debts of about 3.2m. That does mean that while he can afford to pay about 35k, there is a deficit - he's also paying full for a 37k day school for my brother. My mother on the other hand is somewhere in the 40k area, which for a divorced parent in Fairfield County isn't too great.
My concern is how much FA the schools would award me, considering that we fit neatly into the 1%, potential high donor category.
I took the SSATs in Nov, and scored 91% overall, 99% in verbal, 95% in reading, but a mere 54% in math. On my practice tests thereafter, I was more in the 98-97-76 range, but I retook them. In the event that I score about the same or lower, are my scores sufficient for the schools of my choice?
One note - at NMH, I have a cousin (mother's sister) who currently attends and is what you would call a big donor family - will this help at all?</p>
<p>Just an update and a bump: got the Dec 9. SSATs back.
Total: 2265 (93%)
Verbal: 800 (99%)
Quantitative: 719 (57%)
Reading: 746 (96%)</p>
<p>Bump! Any response would be great :)</p>
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<p>So, let me get this straight. You think Peddie/Blair/Kent/NMH should give you FA so your 1%-income family doesn’t have to cut back on its high-spending lifestyle?</p>
<p>Well, when you put it that way, no. But given the context of WHY those debts exist, each and every boarding school has been more than understanding of why we’re applying for FA.</p>
<p>If you really want to know, I can send you a PM. I’d rather not say in a thread.</p>
<p>Apart from that, however, how do you think my chances look?</p>
<p>Oh, dear. I just saw my post. That should be 32k, not m.</p>
<p>That explains your math SSAT score</p>
<p>U will not garner much sympathy for FA w a 32k debt for someone earning 250-450k per year. That’s peanuts in term of monthly payments. Middle class families have mortgages that are 10x that sum.</p>
<p>@ExAndKiss - Bwahaha! Probably part of it, another part of it would be I misheard my dad when I was asking about the FA situation
@GMTplus7 - The schools we are applying to are aware that the the debt will most likely be closed by the end of 2014, if not before. We’re applying for FA mostly as a precaution, in case things do go awry. We don’t need the full cost covered, just around 5k <em>if</em> things do go badly.</p>
<p>With that notwithstanding, what <em>are</em> my chances? :)</p>
<p>ExAndKiss that’s a good one!! gwichkid stop now!!!</p>
<p>gwichkid- Apply (if possible) as a FP student. If you live where I think you live you are competing against a HUGE (and highly competitive) group of kids. While it’s not uncommon for a school to take more than one student from this area, they can’t take everyone. All the schools you mentioned are becoming very, very popular. </p>
<p>Something for you and your folks to think about…</p>
<p>I would say for Blair, you are defiantly in the running but as PhotographerMom said, you are up against a lot of competition. I would also suggest applying to other schools, you sound perfect for Andover or Milton.</p>
<p>Where is blair?</p>
<p>[Blair</a> Academy: A private boarding & day school in New Jersey](<a href=“http://www.blair.edu/]Blair”>http://www.blair.edu/)</p>
<p>Andover and Milton are more competitive than Blair to get into.</p>
<p>Blair is a lovely school.</p>
<p>I think so, too.</p>
<p>Heya!
FP, unfortunately, is not an option at the moment. We have told the schools ambiguously that if our family’s situation improves, we will donate the FA amount to their respective funds for FA. With that said, I retook the SSAT in December and received the following:
Overall:2265 93% Verbal: 800 99% Math:719 57% Reading:746 96%
I’m pretty strong in everything BUT math - but my math grade is an A. What would this say to the AO?</p>
<p>Not sure, and don’t read me wrong here, but it could possibly be that your school has grade inflation. Or just that you had an off day in math.</p>
<p>Well, I peeked at my math recs and my math teacher marked me as “Truly Exceptional” or “Top 10% You Have Seen” or the equal.
Because of a stupid clerical error when I transferred from my private day school to my high school, I was placed in the crappy Algebra 1 class. My teacher noticed and has started giving me Honors Algebra 2 work.</p>