<p>hi,
i am going to be a freshman in the fall, and i was wondering if applying to boarding school is a good idea. I have good grades i am in the top 5 in my class my 8th grade grades were nothing below a B+. That may sound like its not as good as others, but i go to the best school in my state, so a B+ and all As/A-s are not easy to get.
in each class my grades look like
Math A-
History A
Spanish A-
Science B+/A-
English B+/A-
Art A
Band A
P.E. A</p>
<p>I did basketball, tae kwon do, piano lessons last year but this coming year i have more opportunities for sports, ect. so i am doing swimming, lacrosse, student government, vollyball, cross country, the young democrats, and the spanish club.</p>
<p>what do you think my chances for getting into a good boarding school are?</p>
<p>what schools are you looking into? some schools accept very few sophomores… so thats my reason for asking.</p>
<p>Im looking at Andover, Exeter, Cate, Portsmouth Abbey, St. Georges, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, Taft, Thatcher, St. Pauls, Loomis Chaffe</p>
<p>Hmm… I applied as a sophomore this year to Andover, Exeter, Hotchkiss, and Taft out of those. They all do accept a fair amount of sophomores. Andover and Exeter accept the most just because they have a bigger community. Hotchkiss and Taft probably accept around 50-60 new students as sophomores, and in a perfect world, 50% boys 50% girls. It also depends on your housing situation too. If you apply as a day student, it might be more difficult to be accepted because, although i hate to say it, the schools want money. </p>
<p>Have you looked at Choate?</p>
<p>Thanks for the info…i actually got the info packet for Choate today so i’m now strongly considering it as one of my top choices Im also trying to balance out my choices of schools so i know it wont be too hard to get in (none of them are EASY to get in, I know but i just want to make sure i can get in somewhere)</p>
<p>you should definitely consider choate. i thought i liked Andover the most, until I revisited Choate on revisit day. I absolutely loved it! It’s a wonderful music school too.</p>
<p>@fignewtons,
Your school list is great! Are you playing any sports on a school team?</p>
<p>@brandonnnbsc</p>
<p>I also applied as a sophomore this year. I can tell you that Hotchkiss looks to enroll about 40-50 new sophomores (meaning that the probably accept about 80-90). Also Taft tries to enroll about 60 new sophomores and the AO at Loomis Chaffee told me they accept about 25% of their graduating class as sophomores (I don’t know what figure that works out to). Lawrenceville is really tough to get in as a sophomore. A friend I know there said that is the hardest grade to get accepted for. Also, a teacher I know that used to work at Lawrenceville said they don’t take that many 10th graders. To respond to brandonnbsc, I would agree with you that schools do not take that many 10th grade day students, but not because of money. From what I heard, boarding school admissions try imitate local day schools when they accept day students (if this makes any sense). Days schools generally do not take that many if any new students after ninth grade unless someone leaves. The AO at Loomis Chaffee told me that is what they do. Honestly, boarding tuition is a lot more reasonable than day tuition at boarding schools (in my opinion). It is usually only about 6K-10K extra. Not that much if you factor in if you are getting housing, food, and all the other expenses associated with boarding. BS probably have to take more money out of their endowments per boarding than per day student. Put some, the tuiton gap between boarder and day student is probably a lot narrower than the actual expense between boarder and day students. Just look at Hotchkiss. The tuition for borders is about 43K and 37K for day students. Close if you ask me, and day students are paying a ton!</p>
<p>@ifax108 I played basketball for my school last year and Im doing school cross country in the fall, volleyball, swimming, and basketball again next year.</p>
<p>@prepschooler2011: thanks for the info. I think I may cross Lawrenceville and Loomis Chaffee off of my list since I already have a rather sizable one, but I may still look at them but i might just not send in an application if I feel that I have a better shot at another school ( which by what you described about both schools, is probably possible)</p>
<p>I also recommend choate because about 30% of the sophomore class are new incoming students… I got into Cate for frosh and while researching, found out that they accept VERY FEW students for sophomore… some years none at all!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t cross Lawrenceville and Loomis Chaffee off you list so fast. LC accepts about 25% of their graduating class as sophomores. Though percentage wise this may seem low, their school has a large student population. I am preety sure that the acceptance rate for 10th graders was about the same as the overall acceptance rate. Lawrenceville on the other hand is definitely very hard to get into as a 10th grader, but it is possible. In fact, I met two students (when I visited the school) that entered as 10th graders. By the way, are you male or female? I ask this because it is more difficult to get into certain schools depending on your sex. For example, it is more difficult to get into Lawrenceville as a female.</p>
<p>@prepschooler2011, I am a female…but thats good to know. I think I will check out Lawrenceville anyway because I think it is a great school even if its hard to get in I think its worth while to look into anyway.
@Bronxkid: I am also still going to look into Cate because Its a more convenient commute from where I live</p>
<p>@fignewtons,
It’s great you’ve played school sports! Definitely contact coaches and such; that will really help your application. Try to get a Varsity letter in XC next year, that will really help you. Good luck.</p>