Curious about boarding schools

Prep School Admissions
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Hi! I’m starting to look into other boarding schools because I still believe it’s where I need to be to excel. I have all A’s and I’m on the honor roll but at a below-average public school. I don’t feel like my current school is helping me to draw out my passions/interests neither is it challenging me. I am currently a freshman and thinking about applying to schools in my sophomore year, maybe even as a repeat. I am considering different boarding schools

I have various questions:

Are my chances lower because I go to a lower rank highschool?

Are the bs listed above too many?

Do boarding schools look at past rejections and judge based on that?

What is the best way to lay my potential out on the table when applying?

How many times should I take the SSAT?

Your help would be greatly appreciated! It would also be nice to hear from those that were accepted this year and to get tips.

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Welcome to the board! Applying to BS is a super exciting time, and you are in the right place to gather a TON of info! My suggestion would be to start by settling in and doing a bunch of reading on these boards as a first step. But to answer your pressing question, the only school who can see your rejection is the one who rejected you.

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Welcome, and I agree - Research here and your questions will be answered, and past threads will probably give you ideas for more questions, too!

I don’t think the “rank” of your school matters too much. The schools are looking for kids with a certain kind of self-motivation. You have no control over where you live and the schools nearby. Kids who thrive in bs come from all sorts of schools.

The list of schools you are interested in is missing from your post. The general advice you will get here is “cast a wide net”. Hopefully you have a variety of schools in mind. If you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you need from a school, we can help you figure out some options.

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@CateCAParent Thanks for your reply! I have compiled a list of selective schools and less selective ones which include: Choate, Loomis Chaffee, Kent School, Taft, and others. I want to try and whittle it down to maybe 6 or 7. I actually applied to Hotchkiss and got rejected, but after rereading my application I discovered where I faulted. So I want to use the rejection to learn from my mistakes and whatnot. I am interested in medicine and possibly working as a pediatrician or pediatric nurse. I am planning on playing tennis next year as a sophomore and will be joining a Career program that deals with medicine in my current high school. I want a school that will push me out of my boundaries and one that has an involved environment. Since you are a bs parent maybe you could tell me what helped your child when applying to schools. Thanks for your help!

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@Calliemomofgirls Thank you! I wasn’t sure if I would be affected by it or not.

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@bsuperinterested In fact, many students go one to reapply at a school where they were rejected and they get in, if they can show growth in their applications.

Some things you may find helpful to search here would be the threads about repeating a year (it sounds like you are considering that?), getting in as a 10th grader (or 11th grader), how to pick a school, how to determine the right fit for a boarding school. Your list seems like a great start – do you know why you are picking them? Have you visited any BS before? Did you visit HK? Can you tell us what you liked and didn’t like? Also, you may want to consider widening the net on your list. The least selective school on your list is Kent and they run about a 30% admission rate. Otherwise, you can consider the entire list “reaches” for just about everyone who applies. (You might also want to read some of the M10 Freakout thread and the threads where people share their results to get a sense for competitiveness.)
None of this is to scare you away. Not at all! But it’s to help you now so you have a happy M10 in 2021!

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That is a great start - but I agree with @Calliemomofgirls you need some less reach-y schools on the list. Everyone does.

What makes you YOU? What would your best friend say are your defining qualities? Think about your “must haves”, “can’t haves” and “it would be nice if” lists. And Harkness tables or great STEM classes don’t count. Small discussion classes and great academics are a given at all of these schools. And don’t even go down the rabbit hole of “which one will get me admitted to an Ivy League school.” You get yourself into a college, the school doesn’t do it for you.

Not every school has tennis, so if that is a “must have”, that is good to know. Any of the schools on your list will be able to launch you toward a medical career, and probably inspire other options, too. So I don’t think that will help you distinguish one school from another. Do you have geographic or financial limitations? How do you feel about single-sex schools? How much independence do you want? How much will it bother you to have adults in your business all the time? How much of an isolated bubble do you want? Are you a kid who wants to dabble in everything or focus on your specialty? Do you thrive on competition, or do you enjoy a more collaborative environment?

Just those questions alone, once you know yourself, can give you a sense of what schools may fit you better than others. What do your parents think?

Keep the questions coming! If you have them, so do a bunch of other readers out there.

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Welcome to PSA! Boarding school is a great option for a specific type of student. If you feel you aren’t being challenged at your school and want an “out”, it might be a good option!


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Are my chances lower because I go to a lower rank highschool?

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No, not at all! I went to a very low-ranking high school before I applied as a sophomore (I’m a repeat sophomore now) and was accepted to a handful of very good schools! Your high school will not impact your application in any negative way; you cannot control that.


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Do boarding schools look at past rejections and judge based on that?

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No, unless you previously applied to said school, then they’ll see that you applied before. I’m not sure how much this affects your chances, however, as I applied in 2 cycles but none of the schools overlapped.


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What is the best way to lay my potential out on the table when applying?

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Just be the most genuine you. Talk about your real interests, your real skills. The AOs will be able to determine your academic potential and personality from your application, if done right. You want to be truly yourself; don’t inflate your accomplishments, don’t try to write just to impress them.


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How many times should I take the SSAT?

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Depends on what score you want, how you do the first time, etc. I took the SSAT once and was happy with my score. I have friends who took it 3 times before they got a score they were happy with. It also depends on the schools you’re applying to; whether your scores put you in a decent range. However, SSAT isn’t a huge measure of anything. If you don’t do perfectly, that’s 100% alright!

@CateCAParent brings up a WHOLE bunch of good questions to ask yourself! All of the boarding schools are so different. You want to find the schools that fit you. If you can tour, I highly recommend it.

Also, if you have any questions about Choate (cause I see you’re applying ;)) feel free to send me a message! I’m a current sophomore there and have absolutely loved it.

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Thank you all for your replies! @CavsFan2003 Thanks for answering all my questions, it was very helpful and I’ll be sure to ask you more questions about Choate later.
I will be doing more research on schools and take into consideration the questions that all of you said to ask to myself.

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@Calliemomofgirls I did visit the Hotchkiss campus and I thought it was great. I don’t think I will be reapplying since we made the mistake of applying to only that school last time we want to branch out more. I will definitely look for less selective schools that seem to be a good fit for me. And I took a look at the threads and it gave me an idea of the schools. So thank you very much for your advice!

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@CateCAParent Your questions that you said to consider are very helpful and I am using them to make a good list of schools that I think will work for me! Your advice comment on Ivy League schools was something I really needed to hear. Thank you very much!