Chance me : Phillips Exeter Academy

I am applying to Phillips Exeter Academy for 9th grade 2021-2022. I already had my interview and it went well I hope. I play the cello and I’m in the school orchestra and choir ( I’m the tenor lead). I am on the school swim team. I was the class president in 6th grade (you’re not allowed to repeat it in my schools). I am the community service club president, I am in the school art club and I am a very talented artist, the school drama club, and I’m on the school literature competition team ( we recently won a state competition). I did not do all of these at the same time. I was on The student representative council for 2 years. I have also won many awards such as community service awards, best in music, best conduct, I have started community service projects too and I won the community service club presidents award ( highest award you can get)and many more. I have average grades (3.0 GPA). I am not applying for financial aid. I am 13 years old, an international student from Nigeria and I am black. I also think my essay and recommendations were good too. I haven’t taken the SSAT yet but I am going to and if my score is good I’ll send it to them. What do you think my chances of getting into Phillips Exeter are. I really want to go to this school!!!

Without an SSAT score, it is more difficult to assess your chances for admission to Phillips Exeter Academy. Nevertheless, because your grades are just average, getting an offer of admission will be an uphill battle.

Having just average grades at your current school will make admission to Exeter, Andover, Groton, St. Paul’s School, Deerfield Academy, the Lawrenceville School, Hotchkiss School, & Choate-Rosemary Hall quite difficult. The good news, however, is that there are dozens of outstanding US prep boarding schools at which your odds of admission are very good.

Try to find other schools which are of interest to you which have higher rates of admission.

Mercersburg Academy & the Hill School in Pennsylvania might be reasonable options. The Kent School in Connecticut is another to consider.

I’m merely an applicant for the 2021-2022 school year, so
I can’t accurately chance you.
Your extracurriculars seem great, and your community service and student council roles will definitely help you out! However, one thing that concerns me is your grades. Typically, applicants have high grades and it’d be slightly challenging for you to compete. SSAT scores won’t help you a lot. In fact, a high SSAT score but average grades will make you seem lazy to the school (idk that’s what I’ve heard from alumni at Phillips Academy).
However, I do believe you can do it if you pour your heart and soul into your essays. Hopefully you talked about your passions!

Also, good luck on the SSAT! I could give you a few tips if you would like!

Overall, you’re a good candidate, and I can see you becoming successful in the future, but the applicant pool is fiercely competitive. I wish you the best of luck!

P.S.: I’m sorry if I made a mistake but I’m not a professional.

1 Like

yes, I would love you to give me some tips for the ssat.

Alright! I don’t know if these tips will work for you as they worked for me but here ya go:

  • Take a diagnostic practice SSAT first to see your weaknesses and strengths (for me, I struggled with the reading comprehension)

  • Get familiar with the SSAT format and buy an SSAT workbook (I recommend Ivy Global’s SSAT books)

  • Verbal is typically the hardest part for most, so I advise you to memorize 10 - 20 vocabulary cards a day (I did 30 but that’s because I sorta crammed my studying into two months)

  • Study common analogy relationships (this section is difficult as it requires you to have a wide net of vocabulary and good logic)

  • For math, study the different concepts. There will be Basic Algebra, Basic Geometry, and Probability on there. You can get the official ssat.org practice tests for the best practice.

  • For reading, I have a bunch of strategies that I used (which got me from a 62nd percentile to the 86th percentile):

  1. Skim questions before reading
  2. Underline places in the passage where specific questions ask so you can pay attention to the detail you need
  3. Recognize different types of reading questions
  4. Get familiar with types of reading passages

Hope some of this helped! Best of luck to you on your SSAT!!

about what you said. I go to a British international school so the grading system is much different whereas the highest GPA you could get is a 3.5 and 90% is an A star but in the American curriculum I know it is an A- or could sometimes be a b+. A b+ here is 75-79 and an a/a+ is 80 - 89.
So the grading system is much more different. Do you still think that would affect my chance? my raw GPA is about 3.4

Oh I see! No it won’t affect your chances then. The AO’s know that different people have different grading systems, and they will ask your school to understand it better.