<p>I really dont think its necessary to score around a 90%. The average SSAT score at all of those schools range from the mid 80s to the low 90s. 50% of the students score at or above that level but also 50% score at or below that level. Also, having straights As isnt the utmost priority. They like to see students who demonstrate the academic capacity to handle the work and that doesnt always translate to straight As. A couple of Bs wont hurt. I agree that schools want well rounded students but they also can see through applicants who do activities just for the application. They want students who are truly passionate about what they are doing. They also want students with strong characters. </p>
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<p>The tuition at boarding schools doesnt even cover the full cost to educate a student. Contributions from alumni help reduce the price tag for all students. Boarding schools could probably fill their beds twice over with full paying students if they wanted to but they choose to create diverse classes of students. </p>
<p>And by a couple of kids from the boondoggles dont you mean about 20 50% of the student body? I think that may be a tad more than a couple of kids </p>
<p>Look, the majority of the Indian students are what stereotypes say they are - math and science geniuses. But they are people who have a closed personality and aren’t really extroverts. My interests lie in english literature, history, and econ. I love writing and history has been my favority subject for a long time. Public speaking has never been a problem, hence my participation in MUN and Speech. So technically, I don’t know if this will help my chance for these schools, but I would think a school would want someone from India who is different from the other million Indian students.</p>
<p>2010hopeful, you are clueless about the difficulty of asian kids to get into BS and colleges. Most asian kids have perfect grades and scores and they are limited to around 20% for the sake of building a diverse class. If they don’t limit them for diversity sake, they will be around 70% like at Stuyvesant HS in NYC. If you want to get an earful on this, please pm intrinsically. Don’t extrapolate stats for average white/aa/hispanic applicant’s stats to asians. It is tough for Asian Americans and worse for Asian internationals.</p>
<p>@Invent
Do they only look at students with straight As, etc.
Because my friend, a Korean, from my school, got into Exeter, with grades lower than me, an average GPA of around 3.6, and a grade in Honors math of C-.
That is far different from what you are stating.
In addition, he doesn’t focus on any specific sport.
The main reason I was interested in applying to these schools was because of his acceptance. Till then, I thought I wouldn’t have a shot with my struggle in math.</p>
<p>Did your Korean friend apply for FA? I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply. Most of these schools have 15% acceptance rate for all applicants and probably much less for international applicants who need FA.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if he did.
I don’t know about most schools, but Exeter offers a LOT of money for FA applicants.
Any family with an income under 75k is given a free education.
Even though the focus is for Americans, it must mean that international students are included too, right? I even sent them a mail, and they replied saying that FA for international applicants falls under the same category…
So, I’m not sure who’s right and wrong.</p>
<p>@student1996: None of us can truly know what goes on in an admission office but I think you should take a chance and apply to those 4 excellent schools - you may want to check out other schools with higher acceptance rates because admission for ANYONE is a crapshoot when less than 25% of students are granted admission. You will never know if you could have gotten in with the amount of financial aid you need if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>Do your best on the SSATs, strive for the highest possible grades, show your passion for the humanities in your interview and essays, and write about any other interesting passions, interests, or life experiences you may have. Grades and SSATs are important but they will not immediately put you of the running if they aren’t perfect. So just try your best, present yourself in the best light possible and see what happens!</p>
<p>@2010 Hopeful
Thanks for the advise!
For experiences, I was here in Tokyo during the major earthquake a few months ago. I’ve been writing a novelette, which is in progress. I don’t know if it matters, but just thought of sharing that, if it could help.
As far as life experiences go, there are a ton. My previous boarding school was in India. It had a completely different approach to education. We had face to face conversations with poverty stricken farmers. We noticed how families were starving to death because of alcoholic husbands. There were so many things I learned there. That might help too.</p>
<p>I second what 2010 hopeful says. People shouldn’t act like an admission expert just because they got in to a prep school because nobody knows what factors into admission decisions</p>
<p>Schools will encourage you to apply to get your money (appl fee) and to make their selectivity look better. That’s why these adcoms make rounds to a lot of countries to whip up the applicants into the frenzy of applying and 85% of them will get a WL/denied notice. If you are lucky and there are not many other applicants from India when you apply, you’ll have a chance. I have no idea how many apply to BS from India especially those that are full paying. As far as I know most of the FA info on school websites applies to citizens.</p>
<p>I think you have a great shot! At Choate, 30% of the sophomore students are new. International FA applicant do have it harder when it comes to admission, but its not impossible! good luck :D</p>
<p>How many of them are internationals from India needing FA. Probably zero, right? When I went to Choate visit, I saw very few Indian Americans/Inidans.</p>
<p>@student1996: The things that you’ve included in your recent post are really interesting but save all of that stuff for your essays and interviews. It will help set you apart from other cookie-cutter applicants. They want students who stand out from the crowd in different ways. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>@Invent:
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<p>It’s not necessary to crush other student’s aspirations. We should be encouraging student1996 to at least try and gain admission rather than telling him/her that he/she has zero chance.</p>
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<p>Schools offer applicants fee waivers for the SSAT registration or the application fee if the fees would present a burden to the applicant’s family. And these schools aren’t traveling around the world to decrease their accetance rate, they are doing it to attract the most qualified, interesting, and talented students who may not have considered applying due to the lack of information about the schools in various places. There’s no need to be so cynical.</p>