<p>Applying to Choate, Phillips Andover, Blair(safety), Hotchkiss, Saint George's, and Lawrenceville for sophmore year in 2008-2009. Chances for all 6 please :)</p>
<p>In 8th grade I had all B+ as final grades at end of the year (to low?). I test abnormally well. I got 94 on SSAT and taking Johns Hopkins course the summer after 8th grade. I have high essay scores and I am fluent and mature in interviews. Am I not good enough?</p>
<p>Do you have any ec's, leadership, sports and/or arts achievements? You will need some strengths. Is your B+ average in the top 10 - 20% of your class? Your class ranking is important, and your recommendations include rankings. Have you taken any advanced courses? While CTY and a 94% ssat are impressive, they are typical accomplishments for the vast majority of applicants at most of your schools. You should think about what you have to offer beyond that. The fact that you are fluent and mature in interviews is good. It has become very competitive. I think Choate, Andover, Hotchkiss and Lawrenceville are reaches for almost everyone. Of course, you should follow your dreams, but also realize the current competitive environment.</p>
<p>I would add a school with at least 30% or higher of candidates admitted.</p>
<p>Yeah, Blair's not really the best safety school...</p>
<p>Exactly you hit the nail on the head</p>
<p>Blair's admit rate is below 50% now, but it is certainly the highest admit rate of the above 6 schools. However, boarding schools (including Blair) like to know how you will contribute to the life of the school. Crickett -- Take a look at the Common Application <a href="http://www.schools.com/apply/forms.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.schools.com/apply/forms.html</a> and you will see the kinds of things boarding schools are looking for.<br>
By the way, 94% ssat and CTY are accomplishments that many applicants have, but perhaps the not the "vast majority." I was trying to make the point that you need more to stand out. As you search for schools, please remember that most people don't apply to a school unless they believe they can get in. As a result, the applicant pool is far more competitive than the general population.</p>
<p>Well, I'm basketball freshman team MVP and I do alot of social service at retirement homes. Are those good to put on?</p>
<p>What are you very passionate about?</p>
<p>My passion is community service. I accually enjoy being with senior citizens and hospital pacients.</p>
<p>Can you give more details about your community service? Those kind of passions are exactly what they look for in applicants.
I can't believe we already have chances threads for next year. I love chances threads. :)</p>
<p>Wazzapnin' Kitty. :D </p>
<p>Emphasize your passion for community service in your essays and your interview. You may want to describe particularly inspiring events and their effect on you in your essays.</p>
<p>Chaos! You're back! :)
Agree with Chaos. It's all about emphasizing your passions. Do what you love, tell them what you love, and you won't go far wrong.</p>
<p>Thanks :}</p>
<p>What are some good EC's that I can start to embellish my application? Artistic? Athletic? Scholastic?</p>
<p>Word of advice: Don't start doing a lot of new stuff for the sole sake of making your resume "look good". I for one, do not believe in joining clubs/athletics/ET's that a person isn't interested in. </p>
<p>Join in what you will. Focus on your interests, your passions, if you have any, and it will be much better in the long run. </p>
<p>But hey, if you feel it necessary to knock up fifty new activities to put on your application, then well, whatever floats your boat.</p>
<p>"abnormally well", lol....a great deal of people applying to similar schools, you'll find, have similar SSAT scores or higher. Besides, it doesn't count for much. I got a 96 percentile and got waitlisted by Hotchkiss, which means that probably it were other parts of my app. that weren't very good.</p>
<p>Oh, Crickett.... I'll emphasize that while my SSAT score was good (97), I have an average in school of about 94% (well 95 percent last quarter - 3.9 GPA) but a lot of these people applying to boarding school have 4.0 GPAs.</p>
<p>Andover's class of 2011 had an AVERAGE GPA of 4.0, which they posted on their website. Keep grades strong - that matters a lot!! I'm going to think of ECs for you. IM me!</p>
<p>I agree with IluvA and Olivia. Grades and ECs matter a lot, as well as that there are a lot of people with "abnormally good" test scores who don't get in. I had 99s across the board, and overall, and was waitlisted at Groton, St. Paul's, and Deerfield. Not that I'm complaining--I got into my top three, Exeter, Andover, and Milton--but it definitely shows that test scores aren't everything.</p>