Chance Me?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hello! I’m applying for 10th grade at Exeter (waitlisted last year when applying to 9th, but this year I have a drastically different application) (If you’re wondering why just Exeter, it’s because I’m really into Classics and from what I’ve seen in the Junior Classical League and National Certamen (Latin Quizbowl competitions), Exeter is the only boarding school that consistently goes to these competitions and has a good team)

I’ve really wanted to go to Exeter for a long time (since middle of 7th grade when I discovered a whole new world of excellent boarding schools when I was bored and just browsing) because Exeter offers a really deep education. For example, at my school, if you really like history (which I do) and want to study the Reconstruction Era, the only way you could do that is take a giant American History course which spans over 400 years (also goes into pre-colonial American history) while at Exeter, you can take a class just to spend a semester studying Reconstruction. I also think I could do really well in the boarding school environment at Exeter and generally being responsible for myself. I am also drawn to the Harkness Method since my public school is mainly just lecturing.

About me: I’m really into Classics and this is something I’m heavily involved in. I also really love history, so Roman History is kind of my thing since it’s at the crossroads of both. I also enjoy rowing (not very good though + I’m really short) and Boy Scouts. I am a 9th grade Asian male in Georgia, USA, so a pretty banal place where they do get a few people.

SSAT: Took December 11th, awaiting scores, expect a high percentile (got 98% on SSAT last year and a 1460/1520 on regular PSAT in October which I know is different, but still)

Grades: All As (my school does not do A+ or A-, just plain A), 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.5 weighted GPA (many honors classes + AP + onlevel Latin) (taking a somewhat unusual class load with doubling up on science with both bio and chem)

Awards (very Classics-heavy):
n.b. Certamen is a quizbowl classics game that tests Roman History, Mythology, Latin, and Roman Culture. All the Certamen awards listed below are from national certamen tournaments simply because we dominate on the state-level and it’s not worth listing. I score 90+% of the points on my team and am captain. We’ve even played PEA a few times and won by large margins (most recently in November 2021 by around 150 points out of 400 points possible). If you’re wondering why we get a lot of 2nd and 3rd, it’s because Boston Latin School is really really good at Certamen (30 classics teachers vs. my school’s 1 latin teacher, latin is required there, they have a multitude of good talent, they start Latin in 6th/7th grade, we can’t start till 8th)

2nd at Yale Certamen in November 2021 (lost to BLS by a single question!)
2nd at Harvard Certamen in March 2021
3rd at Princeton Certamen in February 2021
3rd at Duke Certamen in February 2021
4th at National Convention in July 2021

1st in Roman History nationally in Latin I at NatCon 2021
2nd in Ancient Geography nationally in Latin I at NatCon 2021
3rd in Roman Culture nationally in Latin I at NatCon 2021
5th in Latin Reading Comprehension nationally at NatCon 2021
1st on National Roman Civilization Exam in Latin I in 2020-2021
Perfect Scores on National Latin Exam and Myth Exam in 2020-2021
Gold Medals on National Roman Civilization Exam, National Classical Etymology Exam, and National Latin Vocabulary Exam in Latin I in 2020-2021
(I expect another 1st on NRCE since I got a perfect score on that this year and golds on both NRCE and NCEE, looking at past cutoff scores and what scores I got)

Boy Scouts Star Scout (Pandemic really impeded this a ton as troop was generally unactive and couldn’t do much)
Has held positions of Patrol Leader and Instructor in Boy Scouts

ECs:
Rowing - in 3rd year (As I’ve said, not very good, 2 years were recreationally)
Latin Club - in 2nd year (began 8th grade, first year offered)
Model U.N. - this is my 1st year
Math Team - in 2nd year

So what has changed since last year that makes me think I have a better chance this year?

  1. My ECs and awards have drastically changed (last year had flute and robotics, both of which became untenable) (as you see, a lot of the more impressive Latin awards were in 2021 so they weren’t part of the resume last year. i.e. last year I didn’t have a ton of classics and now I do) (I do feel that my application can actually be weakened since I had a lot of leadership and awards on the robotics team and now I don’t really have them)

  2. My essays are far better written this year, last year they were kind of rushed and frankly, not well written. I am kind of stressed about how good my essays are this year though

  3. Interview was better: last year it was kind of incoherent and bumbling and I didn’t connect with the interviewer. This year was much better although I still feel like I didn’t connect with the interviewer as much as I wanted to

Thank you so much for your help and reviewing my application! Do you think I have a better chance this year or could make it? I really really really want to get in.

2

I think you have a better shot this year.

I’m not sure I agree with your reasoning for applying to only one school, but that’s not what you asked.

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Did you know Hotchkiss offers a classics diploma to those that want to focus on Classics? A decent percentage of students do (I’d guess around 20 - 25%?).

Ignore if not helpful to you; though I thought there’s a chance it will be.

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I know that this isn’t helpful for your boarding school application and off topic for this board, but have you heard of St John’s college (in Annapolis, Maryland and Santa Fe, New Mexico)?

It’s not for everyone, but it sounds like something that might be interesting for a student with interests like yours.

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Of course Exeter offers a wonderful breadth of options for someone with your interest in classics, but it isn’t the only boarding school that does. Given your apparent lack of an obvious admissions hook (legacy, athletics, music, URM, maybe celebrity kid/super wealthy), you should apply to more schools if you’d like to maximize your chance of acceptance at somewhere great.

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6

If you are a classics student you might want to look at Groton as well.

I can’t comment on your chances. Your application is different but “better” is very subjective. I’m guessing that it comes down to teacher recs as clearly it’s not about scores or awards.

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I do think my teacher recs will be better this year. I had 3 last year but this year I also got a special interest one. This year I also got to interact with my teachers more as last year it was online and you couldn’t really do that much. I think part of the problem is that it’s already too late in the school year to start applications to other schools and I don’t think the recommendations are linked whereas I can just use the same resumes and other materials for the other things. I also don’t get back to school till a week before the 1/15 deadline, so that would be really tight.

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I’m a currently exeter student and a latin student. This could be entirely wrong but Ive heard some speculation that our classics department may be struggling a teeny tiny bit. There aren’t a ton of freshman taking latin this year and the department is on the smaller side (though we have two new teachers this year!!) so being so classics focused/dedicated could be very beneficial to your application, as I believe exeter has been putting effort into boosting it back up. Good luck!!

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I think competitively in Certamen (think Latin quizbowl), at least on my level, Exeter could benefit from having me since when we played them just a month ago in November 2021, my team beat them by a very large margin with me scoring by far the majority of the points (like 90%), but idk if the admissions officers know that much about classics or would tell the Certamen coach or Latin head that I’m applying like they do with sports (i.e. the rowing coach contacted me asking for some information about myself, but I did not hear from any classics person)