Elite Schools (Transfer)

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I applied last year to two boarding schools, PA Andover and PA Exeter as an 11th grade transfer student. Although it is most selective in the 11th grade applicant pool, and I chose not to attend, I was accepted to both of the schools. My application stats were as follows:</p>

<p>A little over 200 on the PSAT as a sophomore (~98 percentile or so)
No legacy
Strong teacher recommendations
Lived abroad for over 10 years in England and Switzerland
No notable sports
Volunteer experiences in Kolkata, India and the Masai Mara of Kenya for several months
Very strong essays (better than most college essays)
Very strong EC's: advisor for congresswoman, model UN, mock trial, etc
Very strong on-campus interview (lasted like 2 hrs at Exeter --the longer the better b/c it went by quickly!!!)</p>

<p>Out of the two schools, I found Exeter to be the more competitive and academically elite (although Andover seemed fun). I visited and had interviews at both schools on-campus. Just so you know how hard it is to get in as a transfer student, one of my good friends who got an 800 on the Math SAT as a 7th grader was rejected from Exeter (but now attends Andover).</p>

<p>So, it's not easy to get in, but it can be done.</p>

2

<p>Why did you choose not to attend last year?</p>

3

<p>My current school already gets roughly 30 percent of the class into Stanford, where I probably want to go, so I decided it wasn't worth leaving. Also, Exeter is too high stressed (lots of ppl there were on prozac to get better grades)</p>

4

<p>Just saying that you got in with X stats is meaningless. I've come to understand that things like connections, status, background, geography and other non academic stats matter much more at preps than at colleges.</p>

5

<p>how did you mention that you lived abroad? i've lived all over and traveling has really shaped my personality but i'm not sure how to mention it (i'd rather not in the essay because i alreayd have another topic picked out). did you need financial aid? i missed the date to take the PSAT's and will have to take the SSAT's and ISEE's (they said thats fine, but would rather the PSAT's or SAT's).. do you have any advice, becaus i'm applying for 11th grade and i'm very.. nervous/skeptical/hesitant regarding my chances</p>