Chance me for private boarding schools (Lawrenceville, Peddie, Newark Academy, Pingry)

Prep School Admissions
1

Hi, if someone could tell me my chances of getting into Lawrenceville/Peddie/Pingry/Newark, I’d greatly appreciate it!

some background info: I am a 13-year-old Asian-American female applying to 9th grade for boarding.

Sports:
Swimming and taekwondo, I did a little bit of tennis but never really went anywhere with that so I’m not going to include that on my application.

SWIMMING for 6 years, competitive swimmer, 8th in the New Jersey Swimming Championships 50-yard Breaststroke, 3rd in the New Jersey YMCA Swimming Championships 200-yard Medley Relay, some other awards I got but those are just at local meets and not really significant at all, should I include those since there’s a lot but they’re all really easy to get.

TAEKWONDO for 5 years and I’m getting my black belt soon, I was 1st and 2nd in ATA Taekwondo Tournament Forms and Sparring respectively, going to help others and become an instructor at the local YMCA I do taekwondo at, I’m worried that this might not be a strong point for me since I haven’t won many awards as so many other talented people have

academics:
all As and A+s except for one B+ in sixth grade Spanish
I’m really passionate about writing and write a lot of short stories, entered a non-profit writing competition and got 2nd place out of 60 or so pieces, wrote a speech about cleaning up a local park in 2nd grade and spoke to the mayor about it in front of hundreds

at school I am finalizing the logistics for a speech and debate club focusing on congressional debate and public forum and hopefully that will be finished by November.
I am also a member of my schools Student Government and part of the executive board as the Philanthropist (the president position was not available to 7th graders so I will be running for president this year!), as philanthropist raised around $1500 for boo grams for cancer charities like American Red Cross, also did a bake sale for raising money for Ukraine during the war

I have not taken the SSAT yet but hope my percentile will be somewhere above 90 (wish me luck!)

I believe my essays and short answer questions (especially for Lawrenceville) were pretty good and I tried to personalize it to each school which wasn’t that hard to do considering I was only applying to 4 schools. About my essays though, I feel like I might come across as conceited or arrogant, how would I show my accomplishments and personality without… bragging? Suggestions are very much appreciated!

If you could give feedback on my application from your point of view, that would be extremely helpful! I love constructive criticism so don’t go easy on me :slight_smile:

2

Pingry and Newark Academy are not boarding schools

1 Like
3

It looks like you are qualified so it will be a matter of whether the school sees you as a good fit. Talk to the swim coaches - if they are keen to have you in their program, they may advocate for you with admissions.

Only two of your schools offer boarding. If that’s what you want, you may want to expand your list a bit. George School is about 15-20 minutes from L’ville and also has good swimming (and a year round team at their pool.) Blair and Hill are both a little further out, but not that far.

You don’t say whether you need FA. If you do, you will almost certainly want to expand your list as that makes this more competitive.

4

Lawrenceville senior here. If you applied when I did (2018), I’d say you’d probably get in, but admissions has become so wildly competitive at this point that I can’t even tell.

Make sure to ace your interview—it’s your one chance to make a direct impression on the person who will eventually be advocating for you in committee. And yes, the financial aid question is important; unfortunate, none of your schools are need blind.

If you have any questions about Lville, let me know!

1 Like
5

It sounds like you live in the NJ area. How far away from Lawrenceville do you live? If its less than 45 min away, then you might be better off applying as a Day student.

How much financial aid do you need?

1 Like
6

I don’t think I need any financial aid… I live around an hour away from Lawrenceville

7

Thank you so much!! Do you have any tips on acing my interview?

8

Thank you so much for the suggestion! I’ll try to apply to George School as well. How do you recommend I talk to the swim coaches?

9

I believe day student spots are significantly more competitive at L’ville.

If you plan to continue swimming at the club level Peddie provides the best opportunity and school/swim life balance since the varsity team practices all 3 seasons and participates in USA Swimming.

10

I do plan to continue but I’m worried that my swimming awards aren’t good enough for Peddie but I’ll still try, thanks for your suggestions!

11

Definitely board then. It’s honestly not worth being a day student here if you live more than 20 minutes away.

Honestly, besides the generic “be yourself,” not really. It sounds cliché, but it works. The intent of the interview is for the AO to figure out who exactly you are and how you’d fit into the community—you need to show them that for it to work.

And don’t worry about embarrassing yourself. They know you’re nervous. During my interview, I told my AO that I would stay at the K-8 school I went to at the time if it had a high school, and I left my phone in his office (after which I awkwardly had to go back up to retrieve it). They know you’re a person, too :slight_smile:

2 Likes
12

Usually, if you go to the school website and click on the team page, there will be info on the coach, often with an email. You can send an email, tell them you are interested in applying and want to learn more about their program. Include your times. Ask what would be the best way to do that. They may offer a call. Also, your can let them know when you are coming to visit and ask if you can meet with them then.

13

There is a wide range of swimmers on the team and if you have Gold Times you will certainly contribute to the team, which is a very young right now. I’d suggest you email the coach and see about checking out a practice.

14

Thanks, I realize that. Just pointing out that students who live within a certain radius are expected to apply as Day students. Unless there is a good reason. I have first hand experience with this.

1 Like
15

For anyone else reading this, George does the same. But it is not the swimmer powerhouse Peddie is.

16

I did not know that, but I will say that the coach is extremely nice.

1 Like
17

Thank you so much!!

18

Wait, another question about acing my interview: should I try to emphasize certain aspects or ask a lot of questions?

19

Figure out what you want them to know about you. If this doesn’t come up in the interview, introduce it BUT yhink about how you can incorporate it naturally. If you have questions, ask them.

But mostly, think about this as a conversation. That sounds hard, but they are evaluating fit, so they just want to see who you are.

2 Likes
20

Thank you so much for the awesome advice!!