Chance me for prep school

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
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Hi, I’m applying to Andover, Exeter, trinity, and Choate in the fall. For the past two years, I wasn’t aware of BS and had no idea it was an option to go to one. And for that reason, my EC’s are a bit lacking.

I’m a first gen Bengali female and I currently reside in NYC. I’m going to 8th grade in the fall. Also, I will need a LOT of FA.

6th grade:
Student leadership team, one of only 4 members
Chess club
Gardening club
Part of my school broadcasting club, we made news-report-like videos that were broadcasted to the whole school
Co-Ed volleyball
Debate team, placed 38/200 in msqi championship (highest our school placed)
Graduated with 3.9 gpa, highest gpa in the grade
Had high honor through all semesters
4.17 state Ela score, 4.5 (perfect score) state math score

7th:
Student leadership team, one of 2 student members
Junior Varsity Speech and debate team, placed 6/104 for individual public speaking. 3rd in city championships as well as about 10 other miscellaneous awards here.
school broadcasting team, very heavily involved in video editing. Recruited new members as well as funding for the club (got about $1500). Taught the new members to how to edit.
Competition concert band, played saxophone, competition band rated excellent at a regional competition. I was also one of the only 7th graders play there as at my school, 7th grade is the first year we can take band. The competition band has never had a 7th grader play before. It also happened to be the first year we were rated excellent soooo hehe.
Chess team, our school won first place at a local tournament.
School play, very last minute thing
Girls volleyball team manger
Started own club, kindness crusaders where we promoted kindness in our school community. It was an exclusive club with 10 members that partnered with the PTA and student leadership team. I am planning to build a website for it as well as run social media accounts for it as a way to highlight my digital and social media marketing skills (Im certified).
Graduated with 3.9 gpa, top 5%
High honor through all semesters

Unfortunately I have no community service hours, but I will figure something out soon and I aim to have somewhere around a hundred hours by November.

Throughout the summer Ive been taking pre calculus at CCNY as well as participating in the youth council of a non profit organization. I’ve also been accepted into a youth theatre program at CUNY. I don’t have many awards and that is scaring me quite a lot. My school is a very new school and because of that, the programs are extremely limited. I did whatever there was available (aside from a few sports) and I really tried to max out my resources here. I have amazing relationships with all of my teachers so recommendation letters should be good. I also have a good relationship with a Business director from Columbia who I plan to use for one of my letters.

My mother is quite severely physically disabled and my father was not present in my childhood, so it was me primarily me taking care of her throughout my life. Now I know this isn’t an excuse for the lack of community service, but taking care of her took up a lot of my time (not trying to paint her as a burden here, I love my mom sm). I was wondering if there was anyway to make this clear in my application. Thank you!

Also as regard to ssat scores, Im planning to take the test in December/January. Im currently preparing to take the shsat, which people have been telling me is harder than the ssat and I average around a 90% there. With a few prep books, Im sure I can raise my score in the upcoming 5 months.

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You sound awesome and I’m sure any school will be lucky to have you… don’t worry about the awards, as I believe your CCNY classes more than makeup for it. and do mention taking care of your mom b/c that’s the ultimate community service. You can make that clear in the many essays you will have to write for your apps. Do make sure you have a trusted teacher/mentor look over your essays.
The most important thing about the SSAT (as I have said many times on CC that I heard directly from the head of admissions from Exeter) is the essay portion of the test, as it’s the only writing sample they have of an applicant that is for sure 100% the applicant. With that said, you have many options for studying and taking the SSAT. One is at home (or school). You can take it over and over and you only have to send the test score you want. When you register it will ask you to type in the school code where you want to score sent: DON’T DO IT! You can wait and send your best score later… LIke after you submitted your application! They are flexible.
Also, the best studying you can do is through the SSAT. It’s $135 and you have many many online REAL questions online, plus 4-5 full practice tests as well as section tests. Best money we ever spent. If you need help financially with the test fee or study materials, reach out to the SSAT folks and they can help. Just ask. You can keep taking it and taking it until you get the score you want. Start early… like November. (Why are you taking the SHSAT? If there’s no reason for this, just focus on the SSAT IMO).
Last: interview in person and go visit if possible!!! I can’t stress this enough. You can talk about your situation, your mom, everything you do, etc. They all have folks that come to NYC for interviews. You should call (yes, on the phone… NO EMAIL). Ask to speak to the head of admissions (Jeff Beaton is the head of Choate’s, look the rest up). They will put you through because they will be able to tell you’re a kid and they love when kids take the initiative and call). If they don’t talk to you, leave a message. Have your questions ready about the school, and ask if they have some kind of program that will help you get to the school for a visit/in-person interview. OR: have your teacher/principal call and ask for you (it’s their job to do stuff like this). All admissions folks will call your principal at some point, so get him/her involved in this process early. You’re in! I can feel it! This might be of help too:

Good luck!

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OP, I don’t know what the timing is for applying, but check out programs like A Better Chance and Prep for Prep. They have some great resources and many schools coordinate with them to work with their students.

Because you need a lot of FA, cast your net a bit wider. The list @DrPrimo provided has some other options on it you may also want to consider.

You look like a strong candidate, so give this your all! I also hope you are taking the tests for the NYC magnet schools so that you can consider those as well.

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How badly do you want to go to boarding school. WHile you seem like an EXCELLENT candidate for any school, it is also important to cast a wide net. Especially if you was going to be seeking financial aid. Maybe add a few more schools to your list? You can call and try to get the application fee waived if that’s an issue.

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These are not easy schools to get into. “Cast a wider net” = also apply to some higher admit schools. Like, apply to some schools that admit over 30% of applicants (as opposed to less than 10%).

There are some excellent all-girls schools that you should consider. (Not that I could convince my own kid to.)

This is especially important, since you will need a lot of FA, and most boarding schools are not need blind.

DO ask for application fee waivers.

Have you participated in NYSSMA?

Um… I think most schools would view this as community service.

It would be worth noting this on the financial aid application under “additional information”, and your mother might mention this in the parent portion of the application.

Take it earlier.

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Thank you so much for all of the ssat stuff and the article, really helps!!!

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Im in 8th grade so prep for prep isn’t an option anymore but I’m looking into A better Chance, thank you!!

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The competition we attend was a NYSSMA thing and I had no idea taking care of my mom counted as community service so thank you for that info!!! I’ll be sure to put that under additional info for the FA application aswell :slight_smile: If you ignore the FA part, would you say I have a strong application?

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I have a friend who’s helping me get application waivers so that’s taken care of. Would you or anyone be able to recommend me a school with a greater than 30% acceptance rate that has a good stem program, preferably in NYC?

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I don’t think I can answer you questions specifically about each school but that list of schools is worth looking into. You are starting at the exact right time. Go to each school website and take a look around and sign up for their updates. They should have their nyc visit/interview schedule up in a few weeks if not already. And like I said… call!
Read and reread each school’s mission statement. It will tell you a lot about their culture and what they value. That might help narrow down your choices. Keep us posted!!

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Apply to Bronx Science! Take a look at George School in PA. Easy train ride to NYC, great STEM, excellent FA, and less competitive to grt into than those on your list. There’s a lot in your background that would “fit” there.

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Not in NYC, but Emma Willard if you would do all girls. You would be a very strong candidate.