Chances.

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hey all,

I am an 8th grade asian boy from Chicago. I want to go to Exeter, Choate or Andover, how do I fare?
SSAT: 91% Grade/Gender(Q 97, R 84, V 83)
GPA: 3.7(4.2 Weighted)
Current Courses: Adv. Algebra II/ PreCalc; Adv. Bio; English; French I; Photography
Homeschooled, so I don’t know where that puts me in the admission process.
Essays: Good/Excellent; about a 8 or a 9 out of 10?
Teacher Recs: Written by my parents, since they teach me. Their answers were very unbiased.
Interviews: Andover was 30 mins; this was my first interview ever. Need I say more? As for Exeter and Choate, I am yet to schedule them.
Extracurriculars: Wrestling(IL State Qualifier, HS Varsity starter as an 8th), T&F(Team co-captain, IL State 10th Place in Shot Put), Soccer(Club team member); I believe I am an impact athlete. As for instruments, I play the piano, and in the arts, I am sending in a portfolio demonstrating my skill in photography. Over the summer, I interned at a local broadcasting station to further my interests in Journalism-- the Department Director wrote me an extracurricular recommendation. I’m not sure this matters, but I am also a member of MENSA.
Demographics: While I am living in Chicago, I am technically an international applicant from Korea(citizenship).
F/A: I need full F/A to attend.
Hook: Impact athlete, Journalism
Weakness: No awards(in other words, no proven academic success), due to my being homeschooled; ORM

What do you guys think?
Let me know, and thank you so much for your time.

2

I personally think you have a good chance at being admitted to all three school. Your SSAT scores combined with your impact athlete status and other ECs make you a strong candidate. Hopefully you have been in contact with coaches at these schools as their input in the admissions process can make the difference. I am not sure how your homeschooled status will be viewed by admissions, but I would think your SSAT scores and interview would carry more weight than your grades and recs. The only issue I see and it is a big one is your need for full FA combined with being an international student. Not sure if these schools give FA to international students, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I will also chime in. Best of luck.

3

Thank you for the kind words. However, when I tried to contact the coaches at the schools(via email), I am yet to receive a response. Maybe it’s because Wrestling isn’t “big” enough?

4

If you haven’t scheduled these yet, please do not delay! The Exeter website specifically states that interviews must be scheduled by January 15.

5

I have completed my Exeter and Choate interviews. Exeter was more than an hour long; I feel that this was my best interview. Choate, however, was about 40 minutes. How are my chances now that my apps are finally complete?