<p>Similar to y’all, I won’t be home for March 10th either. D: I will be at an MUN conference from the 8th to the 11th and I will probably check my email about every 30 minutes while I’m there. xD I was rejected last year too though (waitlisted), so I’m used to the pain. I hope it doesn’t affect me if I am. KNOCKING ON WOOD! :P</p>
<p>I hope your reapplying goes well! Wow, everyone seems to have something on March 10th. I think I do too… darn.</p>
<p>Just want to say good luck to all you potential students, and to not let rejections/waitlists bring your spirits down. There are plenty of very qualified students who get rejected. I remember Ms. Chase told us at our first All School Meeting that, “…We chose you not because you were the smartest, most athletic, or the nicest, but because you would most benefit from an Andover experience.” So that basically means if you aren’t accepted, it may not meant that you aren’t able to succeed in a BS environment, but that you don NEED one to succeed. And for all of you guys out there, hope your parents don’t pull the prank that you go rejected from the school, go to the bathroom, open the cabinet, and then see the acceptance letter there: it was not funny :D</p>
<p>haha, they really did that to you! Did you start screaming?</p>
<p>OMG! How sad but funny at the same time. I would’ve been really mad though lol</p>
<p>I may not be at home on March 10th either. Fortunately, I live on the West Coast, so I’ll be getting my notifications on March 9th at 9:00PM! So excited! </p>
<p>Swimdude006: I could see my dad doing something like that… ha!</p>
<p>YAY! I don’t have anything on M10. I’m so happy about the date arrangement this year, because my school district has Spring Break the week after, which gives me time to either celebrate or mourn. Plus it’s the weekend, which means none of us have to go through the should-I-skip-school thing some had to last year.</p>
<p>Speaking of ECs… I just got back from the first Nationals competition of my sport. We didn’t win first- second place… I’ve never won a Nationals champion title yet, but the way it is right now we’ll have two more this season, so I’m pretty satisfied. Good luck to all of you in your upcoming EC activities! :)</p>
<p>@CherryRose - omg congrats on second place! we’re training hard for competitions soon as well :D!</p>
<p>Oh, just curious, but when did you guys start considering boarding school and why? :)</p>
<p>I had the idea of boarding school in my mind ever since I first moved to China, the summer before 3rd grade, because I knew that I wanted to go back to America for high school. Ashamed to say, I was also intrigued by the idea of boarding school in those Mary Kate & Ashley chapter books I used to read. xD But I started seriously considering it the spring of sixth grade and started researching boarding schools, signed up for a summer SSAT course - I was at an advantage here, my close friend was also applying for boarding school, so we did much of this together, and I wasn’t lonely. 
She now goes to an acronym school that I also applied to last year, but her sister already goes there and we have EXTREMELY similar stats… so yeah. Anyway, I got off topic…</p>
<p>As for why, this is a really personal topic and I might seem incredibly snobby and stuck-up but oh it’s just an online forum, you guys can all look down on my snobbishness if you want. Completely honestly, I am so determined to go to boarding school because I know that I cannot live the rest of my high school life with my parents breathing down my neck 24/7. I have suffered briefly with depression and have considered suicide multiple times (I seem so optimistic though, as you can see, almost no one can tell ) and my parents are the main cause of this - they laughed in my face when I tried to tell them I was getting depressed and told me to get over it. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my parents and respect them and am INCREDIBLY thankful for everything they’ve done for me, but they are just so judgmental and uptight and stereotypical Asian that it suffocates me, literally. They are incredibly racist and close-minded, and though they preach their (in my opinion) wrong opinions to me, whenever I try to defend my opinion, I get yelled at. Nothing I do is ever good enough, they don’t even try to understand what I’m going through, and I regularly am severely scolded for trivial things. Basically, right now is only my freshman year and I’m already screaming for a way out - it will only get worse as I get older and more independent - so I am desperate for a way out, and boarding school seems to be the best solution. Unfortunately, my parents, being the stereotypical Asians they are, are only allowing me to apply to the TOP schools, according to our list of average 2009 SAT scores, so while many of you have a choice in which schools and fits you want to apply to, I have no choice outside of those 15 schools. Nevertheless, I persisted with my goal, and though I was rejected last year, what I have overcome this year has only made me even more determined to go to boarding school, and here I am applying again. Gah, I feel so old. :P</p>
<p>I know this may just seem like simple teenage rebellion and brat-like & spoiled hatred for my parents, and it’s really not, I promise you. I have been feeling like this for long before my teenage years, I just didn’t know how to express it and how to deal with it. Sorry for the incredibly long and rambly post to a simple question, but it feels nice to vent. :)</p>
<p>@aaralyn - ahh did you know you’re really brave to try again and apply to boarding school? :’) hope you get in! 
i know i can’t just tell you to tough it out, i don’t have stereotypically asian parents though i’m chinese, but i know what being stuck in rigidity and getting stifled and stymied (omg learned that word on big bang theory hehehe) and being controlled feels like. for me it’s school - the system is crazy rigid, and i realize that i’m being deprived of so many opportunities that it’s almost hilarious. just aching to leave for somewhere with a little more space and support to develop my interests (most of my current ones were developed out of school lol), and to try new stuff. <3</p>
<p>@blehjoints; Aw, thank you. My plan was to tough it out, back in middle school, but it just got worse. xD Wow, I don’t ven know what stymied means… I should go watch BBT! See the logic there? 
Anyway, yeah, I relate to that too! Boarding school, even though I know it will be hard and require all of my effort and I will be super stressed, seems to have so many opportunities and supporting classmates and it just seems cool. :D</p>
<p>30 days left!!! :D</p>
<p>@aaralyn - yeah ive wanted to go since i started watching Zoe 101 in like the first grade!! even though I love the schools im applying to, I would rather to PCA with Zoe and her friends!</p>
<p>OMG!!! IT IS ONLY THIRTY DAYS AWAY! TO QUICK! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT IS ALMOST HERE!</p>
<p>Sorry about the sentences above, I think I just had an understanding of how far/close the date is. To me it felt so far away, but the counter really brought it to perspective. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!</p>
<p>it would be such a blessing to get in to my school of choice. i literally dot know what im going to do if i dont get in. but hey, FAITH, guys!!! :)</p>
<p>Looking at this thread makes me more nervous. Gotta quit CC for a while and return in March.</p>
<p>Yeah, have faith guys But also, don’t get your hopes up. Last year, I was all but 100% positive I would get into a school - I mean, why not? I’m a straight A student, I play a couple instruments, top of my grade… Yeah, it didn’t work out like that. Just have faith, but be prepared at the same time. :)</p>
<p>&Ehphant; I LOVE ZOEY 101 OMGZ. :D</p>
<p>@aaralyn and @Ehphant - OMG ZOEY 101. i used to think PCA was a real school when i was in elementary school :(</p>
<p>All:</p>
<p>Remember, there are a myriad of paths through life, not a single path. We cannot predict what March 10 will bring for anyone, and there is a large amount of chance in the process.</p>
<p>My life has been a constant up and down roller-coaster. When things go down, you dust yourself off and try again. I’ve had several major highs in my career, and a number of lows. The subsequent highs would not have happened had I not continued the journey.</p>
<p>One way I’ve viewed my career is that the hard work gets you to the gambling table (most of which you don’t even know about, as you may be approached for an opportunity only after a decision has been made); but that you don’t know what the roll of the dice will get you. That the dice are often/usually against you in the rolls isn’t what determines your long term outcome: it’s the work that gets you to the table for the chance. Given enough of them, eventually you win.</p>
<p>For me personally, the value of Andover was learning to work hard, and that the world was full of others of a wide variety of backgrounds different than me who I’d be competing/collaborating with/working with my whole career. I learned I couldn’t just glide through life, but had to work hard for my accomplishments and opportunities. I probably learned this 3 years earlier than I would otherwise have done. That was its value: but I could have learned the same in many other ways than boarding school.</p>
<p>Your hard work will be rewarded: not necessarily March 10, but over years of consistent effort, the rewards will come. There are many paths to a good education and life that do not involve prep schools: most of those attending the best colleges did not get there via the BS path, and often have had just as rewarding a secondary school experience. And if you get the BS opportunity, it isn’t the opportunity that matters, it is what you make of the opportunity…</p>
<p>In any case, best of luck to all (and to my son, who is waiting with you).</p>
<p>Well said, and great advice, very timely, Thank you! BusterDad</p>