Chances For Applicant Applying For 10th Grade

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hello! I’m a 9th grader applying for 10th grade at these schools:

Phillips Andover Academy (rejected last year lol; I definitely don’t think I’m getting in this year but meh)
Phillips Exeter Academy (waitlisted last year)
St. Paul’s School (waitlisted last year)
The Groton School
Milton Academy
Nobles and Greenough School
Commonwealth School
St. Mark’s School
Middlesex School

Basic Stats:
Gender - Female
Ethnicity - Asian-American
Current School - Public High School
Financial Aid - Full pay

I’m also a bit young for my grade.

SSAT scores: Math - 800 (99th percentile), Reading - 737 (93rd percentile), Verbal - 794 (97th percentile), Total - 2331 (97th percentile)

Last year I got a 2313 with 98th percentile.

Grades:
These are my Quarter 1 grades
Algebra/Geometry 2 Honors - 105% (A+; full score on everything + extra credit)
English Honors - 98% (A+)
Biology Honors - 99% (A+)
World Civilization - 100% (A+)
Orchestra - 100% (A+)
Intermediate Spanish 2 - 95% (A :sob:)
Health - 100% (A+)
Gym - 100% (A+; practically just participating)

Extracurriculars:

Violin - have been playing the violin for 8 years; lessons twice a week; current member of Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (REP level)

Math - student at Russian School of Mathematics honors level for precalculus and trig

Volunteering - an online tutor for foreign students for english; on the Community Service Advisory Board at my school (a board where students are elected to manage volunteering opportunities)

Clubs - Computer, Club, STAR Club, Badminton Club

I planned on joining the Ski Team for my school this year but because of conflicts in my schedule, I was unable to.

Achievements:

Violin:

  • Youngest member of local youth orchestra at age 9 in orchestra meant for ages 11-14 (2017-2018)
  • Concertmaster of local orchestra (2018-2019)
  • Concertmaster in school orchestra
  • Member of Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (2020-2021 Junior Repertory Orchestra, 2021-2022 Repertory Orchestra)

I plan on participating in violin competitions this year.

Math:

  • Advanced Math in Middle School (2017-2020)
  • AMC8 with score 17 (2019; yeah I know it wasn’t a great score)
  • Silver Pin MOEMS (2019-2020; the last round got cancelled cuz COVID-19 and I got 17/20)
  • Math Kangaroo 8th Place National with 110/120 (2020)
  • Math SAT score of 57/58 (790 SAT Score; 8th grade, arghhhh)

General:

  • Elected for CSLAB (Community Service Learning Advisory Board)
  • SAT Score 1480 in 8th Grade (not a 1500 but I put it on the Candidate Profile)

I feel like I’m missing some awards but I’ll think of them later.

I’m just wondering if I potentially have a chance since I’m not exactly a strong candidate because of my lack of sports and leadership roles (didn’t start a club, not on student council, etc.). Soooo yeah, thanks for reading 🥲

2

Why do you think you weren’t admitted last year and what have you done differently this year? You have only barely expanded your list of schools. Adding Groton, which has the lowest admit rate on your list, doesn’t help you widen your net.

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3

Hello @one1ofeach . Thank you for responding to my post! First of all, this year I’ve decided to localize my selection of schools around Massachusetts so that I can continue participating in BYSO. I believe I wasn’t admitted to the schools because:

  1. The huge surge in applicants in last year’s application season and the fact that I am ORM. We’ll have to see if the same surge occurs this year.
  2. My essays were rushed and not of great quality. Additionally, they lacked emotion and a sense of being. This year, I started my essays earlier (I’m still writing them…) and plan to gain advice from some great essay-writers.
  3. Last year, I overprepared for my interviews and now that I look back, I came off as artificial. So far, I’ve only done one interview (SPS) but I believe I went quite well.
  4. Although violin was one of my main extracurriculars, I did not focus on it during the application process. This year, I’m planning to get more involved in violin since my new teacher plans to introduce me to various violin competitions.
  5. Lack of leadership roles. Unfortunately, my highschool does not offer many leadership opportunities for freshman since we are on the bottom of the “food chain”. However, I have taken a role in the Service Board which I have already mentioned above.
  6. There were numerous errors in my Candidate Profile and things that I left out.
  7. Lack of displayed interest and failure to contact heads of departments because of underestimation of importance. I will work to attend more events and contact the orchestra directors at the schools.
  8. My awards are not impressive, I am not especially gifted, and I do not play any sports competitively. There is not much I can do about this. I’ll just work my hardest to win those violin competitions, and keep my grades up.

Last year, I only applied to 4 schools so I am not used to the workload of applying to 9 schools and keeping up my grades in high school (high school has been especially rough with the numerous tests and projects). I already know my net is not wide and I do not plan to widen it because 9 schools is enough to manage. I have looked through these schools with my parents and these are the schools I would like to go to. To be honest, I don’t mind staying at my normal public high school and I am not going to apply to other schools for the sake of raising my chance of acceptance.

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4

Assume the surge will be the same this year. The amount of times I have heard “we never thought about sending our child to boarding school until Covid happened” during this application cycle is mind boggling.

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5

DD was in similar situation last year, so I understand why you pick these schools. My only suggestion is to reach out to your friends who go to these schools for ideas. Your school is well represented at the BSs on your list. Many ORMs as well. Now that they have spent a few months in the new schools and known many who made it this year, they may have a better sense of who gets in and why.

6

Which raises the question: has the number of applicants to the more competitive schools ever decreased year over year, ever? Or in the last say 15-20 years?

If you said no I’d believe you.

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7

@Jasmino1233

Reading your original post I get a strong sense that you do not have a solid understanding of what gets kids admitted to these schools. Not knowing you I cannot help you but your resume reads very off target to me. Do you know anyone in real life who’s done this? Maybe find a consultant and do one session to focus your resume before you apply.

You can relax about leadership positions. Very few middle schools have any kind of meaningful leadership. Where leadership can come through is in your teacher recommendations which will say “she’s a leader in the classroom” or “I can always count on her to lead discussion.”

You can also relax about remembering all your awards. You have great scores and great grades and didn’t get in. It wasn’t because you left off an award or two.

I wish I could give you more advice for what to do but not actually knowing you it’s hard.

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8

You are obviously academically qualified.

I think what all of these schools will want to know is how you will contribute to their boarding school community, not only what you want to get out of the experience.

Also, even though you aren’t an active athlete, what sport(s) do you want to participate in, whether on the JV or Thirds teams? This can be important.

Good luck!

9

I hear that the surge in applications is continuing this year.

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10

This kind of says it all.

You are missing the point: “widen the net” does not mean that you have to apply to a ridiculous number of schools.

I’m not getting from your list that you have really thought about why you are applying. You need to think a little more deeply about why you’re even bothering to apply, other than vanity/prestige.

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11

There are a couple of things that stood out to me.

Since you’re a “bit young”, you would probably do better applying as a repeat 9th grader. Also, I’d be very wary about trying to jump ahead in the math sequence so much. You run the risk of being bored in your regular school math classes and developing holes in your math understanding.

Also:

Do proofread your applications. That would be the one thing that may have got you waitlisted or rejected. It showed that you weren’t very invested in applying to the school. Don’t contact the orchestra teacher unless prompted by the admissions officer.

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12

  1. I’ve been in RSM for 6 years and (as i’ve been told) I’m one of the top students in my RSM class. I appreciate the concern but I’m going to stay in the program. Math is one of my strengths, and I do in fact feel bored in my math classes at school. One of the reasons I would like to go to boarding school is in order to be able to pursue math and other activities at a higher level without the restrictions of my current high school.

  2. I’m completely fine with staying in my local public school (although the educational system in my school is questionable…). I am not willing to stay back a grade because I do not want to hinder my education by one year. I do appreciate the suggestion though.

  3. Lastly, my biggest error in the application last year was that it was mainly driven by my parents. My parents did the candidate profile without telling me so many of my achievements and extracurriculars were left out. Additionally, there were errors in the application. This year, I’ve taken the reins.

  4. I was prompted by the admissions officer to contact the orchestra director.

The reason why I am not applying to safeties is because I am COMPLETELY FINE with being rejected and staying at my current school. However, if I don’t apply this year, I will regret missing this opportunity to take my experiences from last year and improve my application. I know the chances are extremely low for me, but I’m still going to try anyway.

Additionally, I’m not applying for the vanity/prestige. I’m applying for the experience, the competitive environment, the vast course selection, the collaborative academic environment, the close community, the independence, etc. I know there are many other schools that provide these things too but it’s already December and I’m not applying to any other schools. Plus, application fees were paid, interviews were scheduled, and I still have to write my essays. Also, I have highschool tests and my extracurriculars I need to handle.

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13

Try to play as best you can on the violin recording you send the admissions committee. For example, if you can play a difficult movement of a major concerto well, send it in. If the music director wants you, it will really improve your chances.

14

I don’t know if this helps, but I won first place in the Elite International Music Competition recently and I was invited to play at Carnegie Hall.

My interviewer also told me that the orchestra director was impressed by my video and that he would love to have me in the orchestra. He was probably just being nice though.

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15

I think that probably does help. But how impressed the music director/conductor is matters more than any awards. I’m sure it also helps if you’ve been a leader of a section, or have played chamber music successfully. What did you play on the video you are submitting to the boarding schools?

16

I submitted a video of me playing the 1st movement of the Bruch Concerto in G Minor in my candidate profile. This was the same video I sent to the violin competition in October (I got a 29/30 rating). Currently, I’m playing Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto in B Minor (1st and 3rd movements).

My interviewer also told me to email the orchestra director so I should probably do that too.

17

That’s good, advanced repertoire, especially the Saint-Saens. If you can play that well, you have an excellent chance at all of those schools, given your strong academics. In fact, unless you would be a day student, you should check out who would likely be your teacher for private violin lessons on campus. For my own child, an advanced cellist, the private-teacher issue ended up being super important post-acceptances. We ended up choosing the school that had the best cello teacher, in our opinion.