Chances.

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I know I have another thread on this, but now it is clogged with other discussions. Some new things have happened this year; good and bad. There is also a lot of new people on CC so hopefully they can offer some insight.</p>

<p>I'm interested in applying to Andover, Exeter, SPS, and Deerfield. What do you think my chances are?</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Quiz Bowl, captain. (7,8 grades)</p></li>
<li><p>Knowledge Master Open (Fall '05, Spring '06)</p></li>
<li><p>Soccer for eight years. </p></li>
<li><p>Yearbook Club (2 years)</p></li>
<li><p>I can play the alto saxophone. (2nd chair. This is my fourth year. We won all 1's at the state and local competitions last year)</p></li>
<li><p>Student Government (5, 6, 7 grades).</p></li>
<li><p>Straight A's (4.0)</p></li>
<li><p>Geography Bee (1st place grade-wide, 2nd place, school-wide).</p></li>
<li><p>Accepted to go to Japan last summer. ( 4/25 applicants were accepted). I LOVED this experience. I will definitely incorporate it into one of my essays.</p></li>
<li><p>Self studying French</p></li>
<li><p>I'm a pretty good writer. I don't have any awards or anything, though. I haven't really heard of any contests for writers my age. I could send in some examples.</p></li>
<li><p>I attended a one week intensive writing course last summer at Ashbury College. </p></li>
<li><p>Spelling Bee (Won grade-wide 5 and 7 grades, 5th place, 2nd place school-wide).</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Other information:</p>

<p>I live in Michigan. I think this could help me a lot when applying to boarding schools since not a lot of students come from the midwest. </p>

<p>SSAT Scores (horrible)</p>

<p>Math: 31%
Reading: 50%
Verbal: 50%
Overall: 40%</p>

<p>As of now I am not retaking the SSAT. My mom said she isn't going to pay for another test because she thinks I did fine for admission to Greenhills because the average SSAT there isn't that high compared to schools like SPS, Andover, etc.</p>

<p>I am getting great recommendations and I am getting four in total. (Quiz Bowl coach, Algebra teacher, band instructor, and social studies teacher who is the teacher who went to Japan with me. All of them know me very well academically and as a person).</p>

<p>So.. what are my chances at:</p>

<p>Greenhills School (70% acceptance rate, applying for FA but I don't need much) <a href="http://www.greenhills.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.greenhills.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>St. Paul's School (I'm not even sure if I should both applying now. What do you guys think I should do?) <a href="http://www.sps.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.sps.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>uhm...are you applying to fincial aid?
that might change some things~ u know?
~if u did state whether or not you are going to, sorry i missed it =]P~</p>

3

<p>I'm applying for FA. I only need a few thousand from Greenhills and St. Paul's is need-blind so it doesn't really matter.</p>

4

<p>those ssat scores will not allow you admissions to sps, andover, exeter, or deerfield. did you take any practice tests? applying for 9th grade?</p>

5

<p>those SSATs get u nowhere unless u have extreme circumstances</p>

6

<p>you should take the SSATs again or maybe consider other schools too...have you got any safeties?</p>

7

<p>Not sure why you are posting this question. You have already stated that you are
1.) only applying to the local bs
2.) only applying to the local bs + SPS but need fa</p>

<p>At any rate your chances of being accepted to AESD are zero.</p>

8

<p>I know my SSAT scores suck. I don't know what happened. I consistently scored in the 85th percentile or better on the practice tests. I was EXTREMELY surprised with reading and verbal. I thought I would ace those. My national averages are pretty good. Verbal - 86% Math - 92% Reading - 90%.</p>

<p>My projected SAT scores match up with the average SAT scores to the private prep school I'm applying to.</p>

<p>I just wanted to know my chances at SPS for the heck of it. You guys can just chance me on Greenhills now.</p>

<p>BTW - I'm applying for ninth grade. If I apply to boarding school next year, at least the population from ninth grade to tenth grade almost doubles. It wouldn't be like I'm the only new student. </p>

<p>blairt, what schools are you applying to and what grade are you applying for?</p>

9

<p>The national average doesn't mean anything. Since you did so much better on the practice tests either a) maybe you are scoring the practice tests wrong and should try doing one more practice test scoring it exactly how the book explains or b)try to convince your mom to let you take the SSAT one more time since perhaps you were just having a fluke day or something.</p>

10

<p>Jonathan--If you really think you did better than you scores say, you can ask them to be hand-scored, in case the machine made a mistake.</p>

11

<p>I don't think anyone is immediately excluded because of their SSAT scores; standardized tests are not everyone's forte. I know many others have mentioned this, but you should try to convince your mother to let you take the test again. Sometimes the practice tests can go well, but once you are actually in the test environment, things don't go your way. Now that you have already taken the test once, maybe you will perform better under the conditions.</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
Jonathan--If you really think you did better than you scores say, you can ask them to be hand-scored, in case the machine made a mistake.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Does it cost extra? If so, how much?</p>

<p>I know I didn't score my practice tests incorrectly. I thought I did at first because I didn't think I really scored as high as I did so I gave the number of questions wrong, omitted, and correct to a few people on this site and they scored it for me and they came up with the same score. </p>

<p>On the paper that my scores were sent, it said how many questions I omitted, answered wrong, and answered incorrectly. It says on the math that I got more wrong on the math than I did right which I find VERY hard to believe. I felt very confident with my answers and I only omitted four, I believe.</p>

<p>Tell me more about this hand scoring thing... I can't seem to find it on their website.</p>

13

<p>jonathon.. this happened to me last year. i was so devastated. i did really well on the practice tests but when the test came i got a 56%!!!!!!!!! i was so devastated. i think it may just be because we're so excited baout going to boarding school and maybe we choked? i hope it doesn't happen to me again this year because i'm getting all but about 2 wrong on each section, so theres not much i can do to improve.. bu anyway, last year i had a horrible wake ip call that did start w/ those ssat scores. eve though i wa sin about the 94% nationally, i was only in the 56% for private school applicants, so i decided to study very very hard and not only catch up w/ people who have been preparing for this their whole lives and have had thier parents pushing them the entire way, but i wanted to get AHEAD of them.. and well, i guess i have now, after 8 months.. (though i still have a long way to go, starting w. actually GETTING IN to these schools...). it was a horrible wake up call but i am so damn happy that it happened, in retrospect (though i wish i was at andover right now... well, i actually didn't even apply there last year.. but i wish i lived at andover)... anyway.. i was always like, the smartest in my class and getting a's didn't require any effort, had a high iq, etc., but that wake up call told me that i WAS behind these kids who had b een preparing their whole lives.. i was too confident going in to take the test.. i thought it was like all the other standardized tests that i aced.. anyway, maybe the machine did mess up.. and i still sometimes think it did w/ mine (56%!!!!!).. but just maybe.. you should take this as motivation.. maybe. itu's just what happened to me. good luck. retake the practice test (note: strict timing like they do in the testing centers.. and simulate the testing conditions by sitting at a desk in a quiet pace like a library or something.) and consider the chances.</p>

<p>also:
is your book outdated? were the scores on a 350 or 800 scale?
you didn't take the lower level test did you?
are the verbal tests in your book easy? easier than on the test?
do you take standardized tests often? have you ever misplaced the bubble markings? (i did that with an entire test once)
did you choke? were you really excited or nervous or intimidated? did you cram the night before?</p>

<p>and, how old are you?? you might have scored in the worng percentile..</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
people who have been preparing for this their whole lives and have had thier parents pushing them the entire way

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What do you mean by that? Most people are self-achievers, and few actually have their parents as their main driving force. I've never asked my mom to help me with school, and she doesn't check my homework, etc.</p>

<p>You shouldn't say that as an excuse; self-achievers can get the same results and usually achieve more.</p>

15

<p>Jonathan, it does cost extra. I thought it was on their sight. It is a good option if you have serious doubt about the scoring, but if you don't, then it's a waste of money. What happens is that an actual human looks at your sheet, and scores it, instead of a computer.</p>

16

<p>Okay, I'll email SSAT later.</p>

<p>
[quote]
is your book outdated? were the scores on a 350 or 800 scale?
you didn't take the lower level test did you?
are the verbal tests in your book easy? easier than on the test?
do you take standardized tests often? have you ever misplaced the bubble markings? (i did that with an entire test once)
did you choke? were you really excited or nervous or intimidated? did you cram the night before?</p>

<p>and, how old are you?? you might have scored in the worng percentile..

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It was the 2006 edition, so it was on the 350 scale. I had prepparent convert the scores for me.</p>

<p>I took the upper level practice test.</p>

<p>I feel like the verbal tests were about the same level of difficulty as the real thing. </p>

<p>I made sure I lined up every question, so I don't think that's why I missed so many.</p>

<p>Yes, I was really nervous the day of the test. I was pretty much thinking if I don't ace this thing what will happen... stuff like that. I think it really effected my score.</p>

<p>I am thirteen and am in the eighth grade. </p>

<p>I think I shouldn't have guessed so much on the verbal section. I am so surprised with the math, though. I thought it was going to be the strongest part. And reading I was even more surprised with. </p>

<p>Ughh.. I still can't believe it.</p>

<p>Blairt, what grade are you in and what schools are you applying to?</p>

<p>I hope that next year I will be able to do the boarding school thing the right way. I should visit the schools in the fall and have an on-campus interview. I should study harder for the SSAT, and not just study for a few hours a week before the test. </p>

<p>Now I have the Greenhills application to focus on. My essays are coming quite well. All I need to do now is finish up a few questions on the application and get my teachers' recommendations.</p>

17

<p>i meant that most parents are the ones who actually came up w/ the idea to send their kids to boarding school and their parents have been paying tutors, pushing them to try new things, sending them off the enrichment camps, teaching them about the propriety of an interview, encouraging them to stick with a sport or activity.. you know, no three/five year old becomes motivated to play violin on their own. same w/ calculus before 9th grade. just doesn't happen. kids are not yet intrinsicly motivated.. that's why privelages are taken away when they get an F and awarded w/ allowance when they get on honor roll.. they've been sending their kids to the best schools they can get their hands on, etc. if the student later did become self-motivated after being taught to be, then they're stil wayyyyyy ahead some self-motivated kid w/ no parents to back them up or pay for tutoring lessons orprovide support. it really isn't fair and the truly motivated do suffer.. that's why a democracy isn't a meritocracy.</p>

18

<p>I agree. ^^</p>

19

<p>I disagree. With some noteable exceptions, a large percentage of my peers at Andover chose to apply to boarding school (and live their lives) without the parent micromanagement you described. The school looks very favorably on children who are of that mettle, and who would be able to take advantage of the resources the school has to offer on their own--those are the type of kids who do best at boarding schools. No one's going to be micromanaging your life when you live 1000 miles away.</p>

20

<p>Well, you're right about motivation affecting kids in different environments. I agree that a kid brought up in a low-income, third-world country will face more adversity than a kid brought up here. But if they're brought up in the same environment, then it's usually their interest and their motivation that drives them, not their parents'. I know parents who have oodles of money and are extremely brilliant people who do push their kids to get good grades, but the kids only reach the minimum grade because they are more interested in talking to their friends. And then there are the parents who are hardly involved in their children's lives whose children are at the top of the class. When you push a kid out into the real world, or boarding school, or college, it's all up to them. Some parents do TRAIN their kids to do well, which can carry on after college, but I don't believe in that kind of bureaucracy. </p>

<p>A lot of kids are self-motivated. It's just the kids who grow up watching TV with the parents who "mean well" who have to have their parents check their homework.</p>