Chance me

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hello!
I am an 8th grader applying to Boarding Schools (and a day school, but that is beside the point) for a 9th grade spot.

I am applying to: L’ville, Peddie, Groton, St. Andrews, and Deerfield. (Yes, these are all very competitive, but the day school I am applying to is also a great option for me. It is quite STEM focused.)

Personal Information:
Age: 13
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Legacy to St. Andrews (both siblings go there)

Stats:
SSAT: 95%
GPA/ 4.0 (all A+ last year)
Current Math Level: Algebra 2

Sports:
I have done competitive gymnastics for 5 years, with 8 years of experience in total
I advanced to a high level and competed at regionals against several states and placed second. I also have a few state golds. I trained 10 hours a week and went to a few gymnastics “boot camps”

Other ECs:
JHU CTY Program: AL1 and Geometry
Editor in Chief of my school newspaper/politics section
Chorus+Piano (not at high levels, just for fun)
Creative Writing Club
(not going to reveal the name) A (blank) mentor which was a leadership/volunteer position at my school
Several Years of animal fostering and advocacy in my city

Awards and Honors:
First place at the regional science fair for environmental science
I also won two additional prizes, one for critical thinking and another for strides in the environmental science field
I also got an honorable mention at the DE Valley Science Fair
I submitted to Broadcom Masters, but didn’t get far

JHU High Honors

My school’s declamation society (public speaking event finalist)

Gold + Silver Medal for the National French Competition

I was a finalist for a national poetry competition for middle-high school students

I also won two really reputable awards at my camp, for students who exemplify the key elements of camp. This seems weird, but they are regarded very highly to people at the camp and likely are on an application as well.

Writing Supplement:
Research Paper

2

You seem like a really strong candidate. No one could ever know for sure anyone’s chances, but with two siblings already at St. Andrew’s and your stats solidly above theirs, it would seem pretty surprising if you didn’t get in there.

One small thing: you may want to think about how to frame up the deep gymnastics EC as being something that will help you in boarding schools, since there is no gymnastics. Meaning, you don’t want boarding schools to think that you are planning on continuing (I’m guessing you aren’t?), if you are, just for example, planning on turning all that skill into joining the diving team (or whatever).

3

Thanks!
Yes, that was what I was planning on doing. Potentially dance, diving, or swimming. I especially want to do diving since it translates well from gymnastics.

4

Do all those schools have diving teams? Just make sure you check that - my kid goes to one you mentioned and I have zero idea about diving.

I would be absolutely shocked if you didn’t get into at least SAS.

Some schools are going to look and gymnastics and think “not helpful for our school” even though it shows dedication. So I wouldn’t focus on gymnastics in your app. You need to figure out how you are going to shine at those schools and focus on that.

5

Yah, I agree. I would bring up my ability to contribute to a dance/diving team, but I would definitely put more emphasis on my historical research (writing supplement) or interest in environmental/earth sciences. I am not sure which one yet, but they both have a lot of interest to me.

I don’t have one cohesive theme yet, but I think it was valuable to use my time in middle school to branch out and try new things.

6

I think you are a solid candidate at any of those schools and would be very surprised if you weren’t granted admission to SAS. Just a word of caution, Groton does not have a dive team. They have a swim team but it is not very competitive so you might want to play up one, or more, of your other accomplishments when applying there.