Chances of Boarding schools (Choate, St.Pauls, Andover, Taft)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m applying for Choate, St. Pauls, Andover, and Taft for next year (applying for 10th grade, currently in 9th grade) and I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on my rough chances of getting into these schools, and be honest, no need to sugarcoat things!

I got in the 89th percentile the first time taking the SSATs, I plan on taking it again however to increase my score
Overall percentile: 89
Verbal: 81
Quantative: 92
Reading: 78

I go to a competitive and fairly highly ranked public school currently.

For grades, all throughout middle school I had all A+s and some As. This year, I have all 4.0s in all classes except for math, which is actually my best subject, where I unfortunately have around a 3.0, due to the difficulty of my class. The class I am in is the most advanced math class I can be in my grade at my school, it is an honors class, but honors classes are not weighted at my school. The course I am taking currently covers both geometry and algebra 2 in a single year, I took algebra 1 last year and had a high 4.0, doing very well on the regents for that course (99), both go on my high school transcript. I am not sure how my math recommendation would be, it would probably tell of the rigorous nature of the course, but I am receiving a fairly low grade so I don’t know what my math teacher will say about that. I also have a 3.8 in English, which I can probably raise to a 4.0. I am taking 2 languages, French and Spanish, I am taking French at an accelerated rate (this is my 5th year taking it), and I am taking Spanish 1, this is my first year taking it. I am not accelerated in any other courses, as freshmen at my school cannot be accelerated in any course except for math and language.

Extracurricular sports I have are lacrosse during the Spring, a sport I have been playing for 6 years, and field hockey during the fall, a sport I started this year, but practiced for 15 hours a week on my school’s junior varsity team during the season. During the winter, I will either be participating in track or skiing with my school, I am not positive yet.
I have played soccer for the past 6 years but am not playing this year, is that something I should put on applications?

Other extracurriculars are my school’s math society club, that will be participating in math competitions, and I am also a member of a charity type club with my school, through which I will be helping ESL kids around my area learn English, and I will also be helping make prepared meals for the hungry.

I will be applying for financial aid at all schools.

I’m not sure if family connections or legacies help much, but I have a lot of family that went to Choate (parent, aunt and uncle, grandparent), which is my first choice of schools. Another grandparent of mine attended St. Pauls. A distant relative of mine attended Andover, a parent’s cousin. No family I am aware of attended Taft.

Any responses are appreciated, please be honest about your response, I want to hear all opinions!

2

I also go to sleep away camp for the entire Summer, something I plan to share with the schools to show them that I am prepared to be away from home, and I am familiar with that closeness I experience at camp with my peers that would be similar to the feeling of a roommate and dorms at boarding school.

3

I think you have a very good chance but the key to ensure your spot is to find what makes you different from everyone else. Think about it, many students like you will have similar attributes and scores but what boarding schools most want is someone independent and extremely curious about their studies. That’s only one thing you need to fix and I guarantee you will get in…just a thought, maybe repeat 9th grade as you may be behind curriculum for 10th. Overall, great application… I am jelly…lol. You really have nothing to worry about, everything is excellent. I myself am applying to a school called St. Stephens(#47) just a few below Taft on the Niche scale. Plus, your ssat’s are a bit above average as Taft’s average ssat percentile is 75%-85%… ur good on that so make sure ur interview, essay, portray your personality…i was wondering if u could rate my chances… at St. Stephens
-boarding school, proud about their diversity, I am Albanian( look it up don’t know lol),in 9th grade rn, repeating does that give me an advantage? cuz I’m going to be 15 in 9th grade
-My ssat are so bad… I only had two chances at it… and my parents told me about it in late October…overall 72%…i am ashamed

  • my school grades are excellent for 8th grade, 97.3 year GPA… 96 so far for high school… not very high ranking schools tho
    -I am in stu gov, played soccer since 6 or 7, captain at 10+, mvp for middle school year
    -many awards, I earned the Social Studies, French, Science, Mathematics, Peer Tutoring, 1st Place in the Persuasive Speech Challenge, National Top Scorer for Newsbowl USA, Perfect Attendance, Completion of 7th and 8th grade of Project Explorer, and the President’s Education Awards Program award in my 7th and 8th grade years.
    -excellent teacher recommandations, so-so for English, interview was good,realized I had a lot more to say, so don’t prepare urself, let the ideas flow,