hiya! i’m gwacklegirl and i’m a seventh grader. i’d love some help understanding my chances for some of my schools as i am totally inexperienced with this stuff, lol. my top schools are: thacher, cate, putney, choate, andover, and buxton.
i am a white ashkenazi jewish female. i live in oregon, though within three months my family will be taking the long road trip to move to interior alaska. i will require financial aid, and very few students in my area (i am currently counting interior alaska as my area) will be applying for boarding schools.
grades
i go to a school that doesn’t give out letter grades, but i’ve received perfect grades in every class i’ve been in for at least the past two years. i really excel in math, and i’m currently taking algebra ii.
test scores
i have not taken the ssat or isee yet but i took an official practice test and scored in about the 88th percentile. i don’t have access to my standardized test scores, but if i remember correctly i did really well.
extracurriculars
i play the french horn and i’m on a swim team but i have swam for a long time. i engage in a lot of volunteer work, especially environmental. i’ve been partaking in a regional math competition for about 4 years now, and in fifth grade i made it to the masters, which means my team beat out about 60 others to go to the statewide version. i’ve been in a few other clubs, but i don’t have many extracurriculars to speak of mainly because i live in a rural area and go to a very small school.
hobbies and etc.
i’ve been teaching myself spanish since fourth grade, and am at an intermediate level. i also recently started teaching myself japanese, and i am at a basic-ish level. i run almost every day.
i’d consider myself a very artistic person. i spend much of my time buried in my sketchbooks, and i mostly draw, i enjoy dabbling in sculpture and fashion as well. i am an audiophile and one of my biggest passions is in music. i listen to it constantly and write reviews of albums online. i would love to become a producer or music critic, at least part time.
my other passions are mainly in marine biology and architecture. i am especially enamored with the study of dolphins and the effect of climate change on marine environments. i’m also very interested in architecture and have devoted a lot of time to studying it.
yes, i know this was long-winded! i apologize for making you read the whole thing :] please be honest about what you think my chances are.
p.s. if you have any school recommendations, i’d love to hear them!!
You sound like a very interesting kid and I think you have a fair shot. The schools you’ve listed are on the smaller side so their acceptance rates are small. Check out the hidden gems thread for some other schools to round out your list.
My one piece of advice is to resist describing everything you are interested in as a passion. Having 5 “passions” means they aren’t passions, they’re hobbies or things you dabble in. You don’t need to sell so hard.
I could be wrong about this but being Jewish isn’t a bump for most BS.
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Yes, you sound very interesting! Plus you are an excellent writer. I strongly suggest you read the threads from this year’s admissions cycle. You will see that it is imperative for you (or anyone) to apply to schools with high acceptance rates especially if you need financial aid. Virtually every school factors in financial need when deciding whether to offer a spot. So include schools where you are one of the strongest applicants they see.
You are smart to start researching now. Good luck, and please do post questions etc as you go through the process.
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Geographical scale isn’t too much of a factor, but I believe by living in a rural area where not many others are applying puts you on edge for that factor, as opposed to me applying from the east coast.
You seem like a very compelling young person. A couple of things: while being Jewish isn’t a factor on its own, being a practicing Jew in rural Oregon or Alaska could be! Pretty rare! And two, there are few good horn players, so if you can get really proficient, play Mozart, Richard Strauss and/or Haydn well, for example, you’d probably have a great chance!
Would you be into single-sex schools? Many of them are easier to get into and have amazing academics. Also, what section on the SSAT practice test did you struggle in the most? Someone here can probably give you tips for that section.
Your chances are 12% or 15% or 20%. Check out the school’s acceptance rates and that is pretty much your chance. It seriously depends on the schools and what they are looking for, which is why it is important to have a few in there with higher acceptance rates. My DD was accepted at one school with FA, for an upper grade- both of which lower chances. She pretty much has had one extra-curricular passion for the past 10 years. So having a lot of activities is not necessary if you have one thing you excel at that the school wants. There is no way to really know though. There is lots of great advice on here! Just do your research about the schools and don’t just go by name recognition. And good luck!
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You sound more like a Putney person than an Andover person, if one looks at the educational style that you seem to be used to.
However, you also have activities that you seem to enjoy and want to continue (swimming and math competition), that are more an Andover thing than Putney.
What do you really want in a school? In what sort of educational setting do you believe that you thrive the most? Is the loosey goosely no grades thing working for you, giving you the space to explore deeply, or do you sense that you really would benefit from a more structured environment? Do you drive yourself to succeed or do you need competition to push yourself? There are no wrong answers to these questions. The goal should be to determine what teaching philosophy is a fit, and then make a list of schools that fit in with your educational wish list.
What activities do you definitely want to continue, and at what level? Make sure the schools that you apply to offer them - in the way that you want them.
i would be totally fine with a single-sex school, yes! do you have any recommendations? also, i struggled most on the section surrounding vocab- i can’t exactly remember what it’s called.
Single-Sex schools are great! Here’s a basic list of some to check out.
Emma Willard
Chatham Hall
Westover
Madeira
Miss Porter’s
For the verbal section, look up SSAT verbal vocabulary and there should be a few quizlets. Studying these will let you learn many new words and their meanings. Also, read advanced books. Reading new books helped me when I was studying since you can really get a much greater vocabulary.
thanks so much! i will definitely check those out.
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