13-year-old 8th grader
Grades:
Spanish: 87%
Math (Honors Algebra 1) 97%
Art 100%
Computer Science 97%
English 93%
History 95%
PE 100%
Science 93%
Extracurricular
Tennis (really just for fun, haven’t done any competition or anything, around 2 years)
Book Club
Instrumental Ensemble (Clarinet, have done concerts here and there but again, no awards)
Joining a Debate/Public speaking club & a geography club
Joining diversity club at my school
Have done multiple different classes over the summer (Website building, story writing, data and decisions)
Planning on volunteering at a nearby library
Attempting to make a service club at my school, however it is not working out
Reason for going to boarding school
Better academics, learning how to live & take care of myself
Past years have been mostly all a’s, except 1 b
I know i’ve also scored very well on state testing, been asked to join some gifted math club
I know I probably do not have much of a chance, no real showing of leadership skills or anything but do you guys know any ways to improve my chances?
Remember, you are going into 9th grade. Many kids your age have not had many opportunities to be in leadership positions. Don’t sweat it. Boarding schools look for motivated, engaged students. Shoot for good SSAT scores and well-written essays. You have as much of a shot as anyone.
I’m not super qualified to respond to this, but I think your status looks pretty good. Your clubs and grades are great. I just think, not to sound mean or anything, that you look like every other applicant. I know it sounds harsh but people I know who are applying to Peddie have basically the same stuff on paper. I’d first figure out what makes up you as a character and how you are different from other applicants, and use that to your advantage. Maybe use that as your essay topics, or do activities concerning that and then emphasize them in your interview. On the leadership part, I agree with the previous commenter in how just the EC you are doing can speak for your leadership abilities.
That’s just how I feel I’m not like a alumni of Peddie or smthing.
Your stats look fine!
I’ll say something from a place of love that I would say to my own kids if they posted what you posted: what is going to hold you back is your attitude. In one quick post you managed to speak negatively about yourself at least 3 times. As you decide to apply to boarding schools, maybe it’s time for you to look at your profile, and start to acknowledge what you DO bring to the table. It sounds like maybe you are thinking you sound “humble” when you speak negatively about yourself. You do not. Humility isn’t that. “I probably suck so I don’t know why I should even try…” is NOT humility. If you bring this energy into your interviews, I do not think it will help you. I think it might suck out the air from the room.
Do you know why you default to this way of speaking?
Can you maybe try to be aware of it, and stop it in its tracks?
and the bigger question: is it merely a habit? OR do you actually believe these things?
You are a kid! You aren’t expected to have done adult-level leadership stuff.
You have a great profile, but it will be YOUR job to communicate about it in a way that doesn’t make the other person work hard to see past your cloudy grey lens. That will be your challenge here as I see it: teeing up what you DO offer so that it’s easy for the other person to “get” you and your wonderfulness! (which is totally there!!). If you can do this, I think you will have a successful application season!!
The reason I probably default to this way of speaking is probably because my confidence was lowered after I saw other posts about people applying to Peddie with like tons of awards and a bunch of EC’s
Honestly, these comments have boosted by confidence a lot
Peddie is a great school and has a very nice community feel. It looks like you plan to board, so you can – and should – expand your list if this is important to you.
Mercersberg, George, and Westtown are also “nice” BS (as in kind, connected community) with strong academics, all relatively nearby in PA. It’s not too late to look at these and apply if you like them. There are others if you are interested, btw, but these leap to mind. It’s not to say you won’t get into Peddie, but it’s good to have a back-up plan.