<p>hey. im an international student and i just wanna know my chances at some boarding schools, since i'll be needing significant amount of FA (grants, not loans). also, what are the benefits of hiring an edu consultant? is this really necessary?
facts:
-current 9th grader
-top 2% of the batch (6th out of 252)
-grades range from 93-100, average of 96.2
-class treasurer for 2 years
-chair of classroom safety committee
-chair of classroom order committee
-some community service (usually with kids)
-sports not really on the competetive side (can play badminton, volleyball, table tennis, tennis, kickball, swimming and for recreational - bowling, rock climbing, dance...) we dont really have much sports teams on the varsity level
-photography and photoshop as a hobby
-lots of chinese language awards (mostly 1st and 3rd)
-awards on various subject areas (inter level competition)
-contributions to the literary magazine
-cheerleading competition, 2nd place
-piano for 5 years, guitar for 1 1/2
-unesco club member, book club member</p>
<p>thats all i can remember right now. these are from my 8th and 9th year, so theres probably more since i just started 9th last june. the schools i really want to go to are hotchkiss, cate, choate, sps, peddie. conserve, loomis, baylor, tabor, indian springs, holderness, st. george's are okay. any suggestions are welcome.
thanks :D</p>
<p>no Exeter/Andover cate_intl? You can't sayyour applying for the top boarding schools if you don't apply to the #1 and #2, repectively :).</p>
<p>What year would you be applying for, and how many kids from the phillipines (if you know) plan on applying to some of the same boarding schools that you do? Most boarding schools have a limited number of students that they can accept from one country.</p>
<p>hey.
i didnt really want a big boarding school like exeter/andover. exept for choate though. its too good to pass :) and im considering schools that i can actually get in to. unlike andover/exeter, where you have to be super good to get in, much less get FA. by the way, do you think anyone has gotten in AEDSCH with a lot of grant even if they are not an athlete, legacy, best of the best with 1st place awards and being ranked internationally?
i dont really know how many people from the philippines will be applying, but i think there's not much. coz based from the stats in the websites, there arent much schools that have students in the philippines, most have none at all. maybe no one ever tried applying.or maybe thats just coz they werent accepted. im hoping for the first :)</p>
<p>Hey cate_intl, I am an international student (lived in China my whole life), and I'm going to Choate this year.
If you have any questions PM me.</p>
<p>can anyone tell me additional info on hotchkiss, choate and cate (my top 3), probably from experience of from what they heard from people who go there? esp on how international students are treated, if they are outsiders or fit in good enough. also, any idea how to make myself look good in the essays and also be honest. i dont think i should cut out all the bad parts, coz according to my friends, some of my supposedly "bad" parts are what makes me unique and interesting. :) (dunno if the last part makes sense) and lastly, how can i make sure my teachers give in good recs? coz i am certain they have never written one,since they're young, fresh out of college, etc. plus, not many of the students in my school apply to schools abroad, except for college. thanks :D</p>
<p>
[quote]
except for choate though. it's too good to pass :)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I love hearing that !I'm going to CRH next year and like Helen, I'll be a freshman. I'm not international though, but you can still PM me. ;) </p>
<p>The thing is that the top schools can give the most FA because they have the biggest endowment. So that's quite a conundrum, because it's also the most competitive to get FA from there with all the other qualified candidates.</p>
<p>"by the way, do you think anyone has gotten in AEDSCH with a lot of grant even if they are not an athlete, legacy, best of the best with 1st place awards and being ranked internationally?"
I did, so I guess it's possible. I wasn't ranked internationally in anything at all, that I know of. :) Some other people on here did that, as well. I think Tommeister did, though he might have had some awards in something. Can't remember.
By the way, being a legacy wouldn't help you get FA, because oftentimes the reason they take legacies is because of money donated to the school (or a hope for donation).</p>
<p>Admissions offices are sometimes a bit skeptical about international applications (I used to know what the going rate was to have someone else take your TOEFL exam in China) and, as you say, the quality of the recommendation letters vary a lot. For those reasons, you may want to work through an agency. I know that at the school where I work we are much more likely to accept a student on the advice of an agency with which we are familiar (and won't take students from some places without an agency involved). The agencies can also be very helpful when it comes time to make visa arrangements. If an agency is not in your budget, you might want to seek out Phillipine alumni of the schools to which you are applying whom you could use as personal references.</p>
<p>How do the international students fit in? It varies from school to school and from student to student. Again my observations at my school (St. Andrew's-Sewanee, in case you want to add one to your list - sasweb.org) suggest that international students who take one step towards the student population (by being involved in extracurricular activities and not congregating with just folks from home) are very much welcomed into the life of the school. This is easier if the international population constitutes a minority of the students (as it does at all the schools where you are applying) and if there are not too many students from your home country.</p>
<p>I am SOOOO thankful for sbergman and edconsultant participating in this forum! It's nice for us blind people to be led by the sighted every now and then.</p>
<p>sbergman - "St. Andrew's-Sewanee, in case you want to add one to your list - sasweb.org"
Thats a great school. Thing is, it doesn't award aid to internationals.
Any recommended agency? What is the price range-exactly?</p>
<p>cate_intl
Did you already screen your selected schools to be sure that they award aid to internationals? That is a good thing to do because I have been following this board for more than a year, and I've read that aid to internationals is very difficult to get. Someone mentioned an agency that identifies a limited number of internationals and helps place them. I think it was in a thread from someone from Vietnam. Her name was something like "GALfromVIETNM" -- that's not it, so you will have to search.<br>
There is an educational consultant who sometimes posts on this board with a name like "educonsultant22." You can send him/her a private message to get more information.<br>
Some people on this board have mentioned United World Colleges as a wonderful opportunity for international students. You might want to investigate that as well.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks all of you!! I'd be needing all the help that I could get!!
So this is the list of schools I am now considering:
reaches - cate, choate, hotchkiss, andover (no idea if I can get in)
matches - loomis, baylor, SAS*, taft, tabor, st. george's
safety - conserve, gould, portsmouth abbey, holderness
*SAS offers aid after all. :)
any comments? suggestions? i need help narrowing it down to about 7 schools.</p>
<p>My only small change to your list would be classifying some schools as more of a low reach/high match. The schools I would do this for would probably be Taft and St. George's, which are both very impressive schools and are probably highly sought after by international students. </p>
<p>If you need to narrow your list, I would personally suggest removing Gould, based off what I've heard of the school, but this is just my opinion. If you want any more suggestions of what to remove, maybe you could give us an idea of things you would really want or strongly dislike in a school. You have a great list so far! :) </p>
<p>Sorry if this wasn't too helpful. Feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>I am an International student too. I am considering : Andover,Hotchkiss, Middlesex,Peddie, Loomis, Williston and The Masters.</p>
<p>What do you think about my stats and my list ? What is my chance at each school ?</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>9th grade average score: 8.0/10
10th grade average score : 9.0/10</p>
<p>Extra curricular:</p>
<p>Athletic team: Grade 5
Badminton team of City:Grade 4,5
Badminton club: Grade 3,4,5,6,7,8
Table tennis club:Grade 6,7
Football team of class: 6,7,8,9,10
AFCVN football club: grade 10
News translator for <a href="http://www.arsenal.com.vn:%5B/url%5D">http://www.arsenal.com.vn:</a> grade 8,9,10
Young leader club:grade 10
Singing club:grade 4,5,10
Tennis team of district:4,5,6
Table tennis club:6,7,8
Piano class:8 years
ACCESS conference 2007:grade 11
Member of Advertising team of VESA conference 2007: grade 11</p>
<p>Awards:
Best GPA at school : Grade 10
Best final exams record: Grade 10
First Prize at School's English Olympiad: Grade 10
Victoria scholarship: Grade 10</p>
<p>Leadership: Head of School's Youth Union:From Grade 10</p>
<p>Cinnamon
What have you heard about Gould?
What I like in schools:
-good academics (esp. science and history, lots of APs)
-good college matriculation
-diverse, but not too many internationals
-school year abroad program
-30% or more on aid
-high percentage of students are boarding
-the formal dinner thing, where you have assigned seating to meet more people (I don't know much about this, so additional info is welcome :) )
-great location
What I don't like:
-not much courses to choose from
-school is more for day students
-no thirds in sports (only varsity and JV teams)
-bad food
-not much clubs
-students are too stressed and academic-oriented
-bad facilities
-cliques</p>
<p>nns91
Wow, impressive. Based on what I've read, I don't think you're supposed to list those ECs that you're not participating in anymore. (Ask others about this, I'm also new here.)
Where are you from?</p>
<p>to all:
Do you think I should add more ECs? How important are ECs? Or should I just try to do well in the interview and essay? Speaking of which, what exactly makes a good essay? Also, I have a feeling my math recommendation won't be stellar, since I usually don't show that I exert much effort (though I do get good grades). What do you think? </p>
<p>cate_intl
The little I have heard about Holderness is that it has a very large snow sports culture. Perhaps someone on this board can correct me if I am wrong. As someone from the Philippines, this may not be a very enjoyable place to be in winter.<br>
I like the fact that you have broadened your search to include a variety of schools. I agree with Cinnamon about the level of Taft and St. George's. Because you are looking for financial aid and are international, I suspect (but don't know) that your level of competition will be much higher than a full-pay US applicant. I like the fact that you have included a few school outside of New England. My suggestion is to consider a few more outside of New England, perhaps with large endowments, that give aid to internationals. Drop some of your New England reach schools in favor of these schools. You might also look at some of the girls only (assuming you are a girl) schools which offer a great education, but are not as popular right now. The same is true for the boys only schools, but they tend to have a strong athletic focus. Don't rely exclusively on the numbers from boardingschoolreview. It is a great tool, but often incorrect. Good luck!</p>
<p>Burb Parent
Why is snow not enjoyable? I never really got the reason why some people hate it, esp. if you come from a tropical country. It seems nice to me... </p>
<p>I am having a hard time looking for schools that has a large endowment outside of New England and offers aid to internationals. Do you have any suggestions? And yes, I am a girl. I am trying to contact Foxcroft but I haven't heard from them yet. </p>
<p>Which schools do you think I should drop? I really liked Choate, Hotchkiss and Cate but they are all so hard to get in to. Does anyone know anything about Episcopal High, Emma Willard, Williston Northhampton or Westtown?</p>
<p>Of course snow is enjoyable to many people. What I was trying to say is that serious skiers, snowboarders, and ice hockey players are attracted to Holderness (I think). I think their ski team is especially competitive. It just might not be fun for someone who has never played any of these sports. </p>
<p>I cannot advise you on which schools to drop because I don't know you, and I have no idea about aid to internationals. If you have a way of finding out which schools offer generous aid to internationals, you would want to keep those schools. </p>
<p>I did a quick search on endowment on boardingschoolreview. Here are some schools with relatively large endowments that are not in New England: Peddie, Mercersburg, Cranbrook, St. Andrews, DE, Culver Academies, Espiscopal, Hill, Thacher, Western Reserve Academy and Wyoming Seminary. There are others. I have no idea whether or not they would be a good match for you or if they give financial aid to internationals. The only reason I suggested looking beyond New England is that there may be fewer international applicants looking outside New England. </p>
<p>Choate is awesome. :) Apply and PM me if you have questions... I'm going there next year!</p>
<p>I say, if you're serious about applying to a school (don't just use schools as a way of applying but don't really want to get in) .... then do it, no matter the competition, at least if you're qualified.</p>