Chance me! (Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, St. Pauls, and Groton)

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 80%- ish from practice tests
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 4.0/4.5

Subjective:
• Interviews:
Phillips Exeter - 9/10; I think the interviewer and I really clicked. She told me about some of her experiences here and I shared what I wanted to do at Exeter. She seemed impressed, a little at least.
Phillips Andover - 6/10; This was my first interview and I was not confident in any way. The interviewer seemed uninterested and kinda bored. I also accidentally called Andover Exeter…
St. Pauls - 7.5/10; The interviewer seemed slightly interested, no real extremes, just in between the two I mentioned before. We seemed to connect more that I did with the Andover interviewer, though.

• Math Rec: I’m gonna say 8.5/10 since I’m one of the top students in my class and my teacher seems to like me.

• English Rec: I’m not sure yet, since this teacher treats everyone the same and shows no biases. It’s good, but then again I have no idea how he’s going to write the recommendation

• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: 9/10; I asked one of the student council advisors who I’ve gotten to know pretty well and I think she’s really proud of me so far. I also asked my art club advisor who I’ve worked closely with for two years now. I was really confident initially, but she seemed kinda hesitant, so I’m considering asking my Latin teacher instead. Thoughts on that?

• Principal/Counselor Rec: Maybe 8/10? We don’t talk very often, except I got to know him pretty well in 6th grade. Haven’t talked since, but I think he has a good impression of me.

• Sports (if any): Cross country, and noncompetitively ski and volleyball

• Instruments (if any): Self-taught guitar, used to be in an orchestra, currently teaching myself piano

Other ECs (if any): Student Council for three years, started an art club last year, Math Counts team two years in a row, FIRST Robotics Club for the first year, I have this personal project that I’ve mentioned and seems to impress the interviewers

Location/Person:
• State or Country: NH, USA
• Current School Type: Public Charter
• Ethnicity: Asian American
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 9
• Age: 14
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Financial Aid

2

OMG you like Latin and art too? MEEEE!

you have good ECs! better than mine haha

Is there a reason you quit orch? and did you have to explain that?

I think you have a good chance, but maybe apply to a safety or two, those schools get like 3k apps a year and tbh we’re in the most competitive pool. do you have a hook?

gooood luck!
-merc =)

3

AYYYYY we love ourselves a good classic nerd

anyways i just didnt enjoy it as much as I did when I first started, and I didn’t think it was necessary to explain. should i?

and no hook definitely. I mean, im the first in my family to go to school in america, and even though they went to top universities in Korea, i dont think that’s going to help me. maybe my passionate love for learning?

thank you for your response!! im thinking of applying to concord academy as a safety, but i actually love their school. at least from their website. where do you plan on applying for as a safety?

4

I’m going to say too close to call due to the SSATs (an 82% vs an 88% on the actual test could make a big difference) and lack of leadership in the ECs…member is one thing vs president of Student Council. Starting an Art Club and your personal project could be interesting. So, my (keyboard warrior and what do I really know) advice is your application essays will be key to sell yourself as an interesting member of the new class. Your stats a good but average for the pool you are jumping in. Everyone is an A student also involved in school activities. What about you will stand out? What makes you unique? You will need to sell yourself and not your resume, IMO. Good luck.

5

You need an actual SSAT score before constructing a list of target boarding schools. For example, if your SSAT score is an 80 or in the low 80s, then this list is not realistic.

Andover & Exeter seem to love high SSAT scores.

Your strengths are your GPA & student council membership. Achievements in robotics could help.

6

You should definitely have some other schools in the mix. Take a look at some of the schools in NJ & PA like Peddie & Mercersburg, especially if you need financial aid.

7

You sound like an interesting kid. I’m sorry to say I agree with @Publisher and @PrepDad2018. Not because I’m sorry to agree with them but because I agree that you are going to have a hard time with that list and an 80% ssat. On top of that concord academy is not a safety school by any stretch if your ssat is 80%.

My advice is to prep for the ssat. We liked the online ssat prep package, especially for dealing with the analogies (this was more useful than the vocab quizlets I see all the kids studying here). Mine took the ssat twice, doing only the ssat prep in between, and raised both his English scores more than the original tests predicted was possible. Plan to take the ssat twice. Nerves may come into play the first time. Time is getting short so register now for a second go.

After ssat prep, your essays need to be stellar. Highlighting the special project you alluded to.

Please also expand your list of schools. I want to really emphasize that the schools you have listed (my kid attends one and has several friends at others) are a GRIND. The workload is immense and harder than anything you have experienced. Every kid my son goes to school with got straight A’s for the most part. Many of them are literally failing classes or have B’s and C’s in everything.

I get you have a love of learning. Most kids who self select to go to these schools do too, it no longer makes you unique as it did in your old school. You want to end up at a school where you can be challenged but also do well academically and have time for ec’s. An 80% ssat is an indication that some of those schools may be exhausting and frustrating for you. Even if it’s just an indication of how well you can study and test under pressure.

(I don’t want to fight with anyone about this. Yes we’ve all known kids who were better students than their ssat scores, but the test does give some indication).

Please don’t read anything I’ve written as harsh or discouraging. I just want to be realistic so you don’t miss your chance at BS. Expand your list a bit and I think you will absolutely be successful somewhere. If you keep it to pea, paa, groton, sps I fear you will be disappointed.

*if you take the ssat and come back with a 95% then I think you’ll have a solid chance BUT still remember, with acceptance rates of 12% at some of those schools luck plays into it so you’d still need a bigger list.

8

@PrepDad2018 Unfortunately, my school is a 6 through 12 school meaning most leadership positions go to high schoolers. Do you have any advice for how I can make my essays really good?

@springfield18 I’m living in NH, so I’m looking at schools near Massachusetts, but thank you for your reccomendations!

@one1ofeach Ah, I understand. Thank you for your honesty. I’ll definitely work on getting my SSAT score up, but do you have any schools that I could apply for with an 80% SSAT?

9

If you want to stay in MA here are my recs:

Keep Concord Academy on the list (I think this might be a really good school for you but the average ssat is 86% so it’s not a Safety)
Thayer (More urban environment, cool school)
Tabor (on the coast, absolutely gorgeous)
Lawrence Academy (in groton, gorgeous school, possibly more of a safety school for you but still excellent education)
Brooks
Governors
St Marks

Some of those have average ssat below 80% which makes them a good match because you need financial aid.

We are lucky in this area to have an amazing variety of excellent schools.

10

That’s so true; New England is beautiful!

I also found these schools with the SSAT range to look at along with your recommendations. What do you think?

Holderness
Avenues
Buckingham Browne & Nichols

11

BB&N isn’t a boarding school and I imagine the commute from NH would be terrible.

I don’t know anything about holderness. It seems very outdoorsy - is that something you love? I think it’s important to find a school where you fit more than just academically.

Isn’t avenues a nyc day school?

I suggest you check out boarding school review. It’s got info on a lot of schools so you can get a feel for the vibe of schools.

12

Northfield Mount Hermon?

13

@mondaydevil Well first, wait until your actual testing comes through. My own son’s scores turned out much better than expected based on his relative struggle prepping for Math. So, many of us are assuming you will be in the low 80s but could be very wrong.

For the essays, my take is they want students engaged with their peers as much as academic learning and output (which is also important). I’d certainly mention the unique 6-12 structure and how that limited some opportunities. But it all needs to come from what you really want to do in these environments.

14

I think you really need to have scores first. There is a big difference between some of those schools mentioned above. Some are much easier than others in terms of acceptance. The schools are likely to know your school. Have other students been accepted in recent years? That will tell you something.
While I don’t agree that any school is a grind unless a child is wired that way, I do agree that going to a school where things are going to come very easily to many kids and having to work 3x as hard isn’t a good fit. Much like sending a person who isn’t good in math to become an Engineer. There are many kids at many boarding schools who are drowning. They have been tutored and groomed since birth and here they meet kids for whom it comes easily and there is not enough time in the day. Can make for a stressful environment for some.

The schools you mentioned normally have kids with super high grades, many with amazing EC’s even in 8th grade and also high test scores. I think the test scores are the least important factor. But as a parent, I would not let my kids apply to a school to which they are likely not in the same mean as others.
Check out the schools mentioned. Some of them are good suggestions. Also, figure out which schools appeal to you AFTER a visit.

15

@one1ofeach Oops, I think I was too quick too put those schools on my list purely of SSAT ranges. Sorry about that, I’ll check out the website you mentioned. How’s Choate Rosemary Hall?

@PrepDad2018 I definitely will. Unfortunately, I’ve already begun my applications to the schools mentioned before. Right now, I’ll just work on bringing my score up.

@Happytimes2001 Yep, I should have applied after visiting. I suppose it’s a good thing that I’ve fallen in love with Phillips Exeter, Andover, and St. Pauls after visiting them. Thank you for your advice! As far as I know, one’s been excepted at Bishop Guertin, one at Phillips Exeter, and Phillips Andover that I’ve known. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Also, after re-checking my notes on my practice tests, I realized that I got 81% of the problems correct, but a 90%-ile. Did I make a mistake while calculating?

Math - 47/50 - 790
Reading - 32/40 - 711
Verbal - 44/60 - 741
Composite - 123/150 - 2192 or a 90% apparently

16

A 90% is very different than an 80% as it would put you in decent contention at most schools.

17

@Happytimes2001 That’s a relief. Thanks for clarifying!

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@mondaydevil Yes, if you are practicing low 90%s, you can disregard some of the previous advice. Now, even perfect applicants are still no better than a 20% chance, but a 90% would put you in a much better pool for that consideration.

19

Big difference! Good luck on the actual test.

Because you need financial aid you may still want to apply to a few more schools. Hopefully you can find some you’d love to attend.

20

If you’re from NH, would you be a day student at PEA? Being a day student increases your chances of getting in. I was accepted as a day student, but 98% SSAT.