Chance me for SPS/Andover

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi! I’m an 8th grade Indian female living in New England applying for 9th grade boarding at St. Paul’s and Andover. I currently attend public school and will be requiring full financial aid, based on the amount my family makes.

SSAT - 94th percentile overall, 93 verbal, 91 math, 91 reading

Grades - 6th grade GPA was a 3.7, 7th grade 3.9, first semester of 8th grade 3.6 (yikes!). I have all As in all my classes, except in math but I am taking Geometry and Algebra 2 at my local high school which means I will be taking Pre-calc as a freshman.

Courses - Physical Science, Spanish 1, Language Arts, American History, Geometry, Algebra 2.

ECs - Tennis for 4 years, alpine skiing for 4 years (recreational), trumpet for 5 years, tuba just for this year but I am TERRIBLE, cross country for 2 years but my mile time is a little under 9 minutes so it’s mostly for the exercise, math team for 2 years, robotics for 3 years, and cheerleading for 1 year however neither school offers so it won’t be of any use.

Achievements/honors - school wide spelling bee runner up 7th + 8th grade, school wide geography bee runner up 5th + 6th grade (they stopped offering it) 12th place nationally math kangaroo in 4th grade, student of the year for reading in 5th grade, student of the year for Social Studies in 6th grade

Recs - Very strong from my Language Arts teacher and my personal rec. Guidance counselor fair/pretty good, not sure about math as my teacher doesn’t know me that well.

Interview - Good for SPS, said that I was the type of person they were looking for and really bonded with my interviewer. Okay for Andover, but not quite as good.

Essays - Pretty good I’d say, not amazing but maybe I’m being overly critical.

Volunteering - Volunteer at a local daycare about once a week

Thank you for taking the time to read this, please please please tell me how much of a chance you think I have and be honest.

2

Do you have a good, local public school as a back up in case you aren’t admitted, or in case you are not offered all of the financial aid you need to attend?
If you do NOT have a good back up, I would encourage you to apply to additional schools. St. Mark’s School deadline is today. There may be others with deadlines tomorrow or this weekend.

You sound like a great kid who would do well at any boarding school, but the acceptance rates for kids needing a lot of financial aid are significantly lower than what you see published and many schools rely on ABC, SEEDS, and other programs to refer kids for those financial aid spots.

3

Not trying to be mean, this is just my opinion. Also not an expert so take this with a grain of salt

TBH I don’t think your chances are that great. You don’t have stellar grades, no awards (who cares about Spelling Bee or what you did in 4th grade?) You haven’t listed any impressive achievements so I’m assuming you don’t have any. You are well-rounded, but schools are looking for a well-rounded class, not a well-rounded applicant. If you don’t need FA your chances would be higher, but you do. I like what @CaliMex said. Apply to other schools if you don’t want a sad M9

Again, I’m not an expert, so you might get accepted if your essays are super good and the interview was too

Good luck

1 Like
4

Also, you’re an ORM (Indian) and probably from an overrepresented state. Those are added weaknesses

5

Sorry if that was kind of ~harsh~

6

If your family income is less than $125,000, then SPS will be free.

Admission is highly competitive for both schools. Your SSAT scores are great and your honest assessment of your tuba playing skills shows humility.

Nevertheless, even for gifted tuba players with a high 90s SSAT score, admission is not assured.

I hope that you are offered admission to both schools, and I hope that you have safety schools on your list as well.

7

Thank you for your honesty. I do have some safety schools, so it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t get in.

8

@sc2004 If you currently attend a school that is academically rigorous, those grades are understandable.

9

I know this is a bit delayed, but I think you do have a chance. @japgrn, actually winning two spelling bees and two geo bees are impressive, those are hard to win! Congrats! And you have robotics and math team, which are good. Not to mention, taking pre-cal as a freshman! Wow! You are obviously bright, and @CaliMex you’re right yes is is very good to have safety schools. Good luck! :slight_smile:

10

thank you!