<p>hey i am applying to andover, exeter, deerfield, and lawrenceville.</p>
<p>i am positive my recommendations were really good
my essays were really good
i have ALOT of community service hours
play volleyball
my interviews went amazing
student council and so on and so on.....
good grades</p>
<p>everything was really really really great except my ssat scores they were low
will that count much towards my acceptance</p>
<p>i heard it does not count very much at all.
on my tours the girls said they did horrible and they still were accepted
so i just wanna know your opinions on the ssat</p>
<p>From what I’ve been told ssat are used to divide the applicants. For schoos like Andover they take let’s say 100 kids from 90-99 catch my drift. Unless u have a hook (volleyball doesn’t count unless ur being recruited)</p>
<p>The ssat is what allows the top-tier boarding schools to compare its applicants to one another in terms of aptitude. It also shows how much everyone’s grades mean. For example a person may gets A+'s in both english and math, but then gets in the 60th percentile on the ssat. However, another person may get B+'s in english and math, but then get in the 90th percentile on their ssat. The admission committee will then value the B+'s scored by the latter person more than the A+'s scored by the former person.</p>
<p>So, to answer your questions, yes, the SSAT scores are important. Not only do they show how you rank compared to everyone else, but they show if some of your grades mean anything. But, even if your SSAT scores are low (75th percentile and above), you still have a chance if you are well-rounded, which is what you are. If your SSAT scores are lower than that, though, your chance is small</p>