I’m a 13 y/o girl in 8th grade, applying to the following schools (for ninth):
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Academy Andover
Choate Rosemary Hall
Blair Academy
Kent School
Tabor Academy
Westtown School
The Gunnery
Fountain Valley School of Colorado
My SSAT was in the 85th percentile, and my TOEFL score was 101.
I’ve been learning to play the violin for around a year. I paint and draw (I’m kinda good at it), and my overall average grade for each school year was never less than 96. I’d say most of my interviews were great, and my essays, too. I play tennis and run track at my school. I’ve won a nation-wide art contest two years in a row. I’m applying for a significant amount of financial aid.
I’m also applying to 9th grade at PA, PEA, and Choate, so if you want to talk about boarding school, I’d be happy too :)! From what I have heard, being an international student and needing financial aid will drop your chances, but other than that I think you are a pretty good applicant. Your SSAT score might be a little low for some of the schools, though. Do you have any awards from violin competitions or are you in any school clubs?
While an 85th% SSAT might be low for Exeter & Andover, it is considered an excellent score for your remaining schools (although probably within the range of expected scores for Choate).
Your chances seem pretty good! Although, like some people have already mentioned above, your SSAT scores are a little low for Exeter, Andover, and Choate, your extra curriculars are very good. Also, someone above mentioned that financial aid decreases your chances of getting accepted, but that’s not the case with many schools. With Exeter and Andover, I know that they have need blind admissions and will make their decision without looking at your financial situation.
@jkookie So needing financial aid won’t drop your chances? It was just something that I saw from other posts. I apologize if I have given any wrong information!
@GloriaC25 It will for most schools, but for schools like Exeter and Andover, they have such large endowment funds to pull from that they’re able to meet the full financial needs of all admitted students. Andover is the only boarding school that claims to be need-blind, but Exeter accepts the same percentage of students on financial aid and has been able to meet 100% of financial aid needs of admitted students, which makes them effectively need-blind.
And it’s no problem! What you said is true for all the other schools, but with schools that are able to give larger grants, needing financial aid doesn’t really affect your chances at all.
^Well Exeter (and a few others) could be considered need-blind as in they provide aid for all that require it. But only at Andover will applying for FA not decrease your chances. Applying for FA at all other schoools (except St Andrews) will decrease your chances
@jkookie Thank you for clearing that up so I won’t be telling others wrong information about financial aid! @brassarrow Please disregard anything I said about financial aid. You are a very good applicant!
Oh! And @jkookie our school has practically no extracurriculars, the only clubs available are for sports. I’m signing up for cheerleading and soccer, but they haven’t opened yet.
