<p>I will be a freshman repeat with low ssat scores but straight A's at a public school in Virginia. I am a recruited Football, Hockey and Lacrosse player. </p>
<p>I scored a 55% on the test, but coaches still seem to talk. </p>
<p>-VP of National Junior Honor Society
-Varsity level football hockey lacrosse
- 2 foreign languages
- father went to deerfield
- very diverse public high school
- great recs
-member of key club </p>
<p>what are my chances?</p>
<p>This belongs on the Chances forum.</p>
<p>This indeed isn’t the chances forum but still, a few things:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>high school hockey in virginia is a joke, if you are not a tier 1 elite player or have not gone to national camp, you are unlikely to play hockey at the varsity level at Deerfield, Choate, SPS, Taft or Hotchkiss. Maybe L-ville or Hill but even there will be tough. And even playing AAA doesn’t guarantee anything. Hockey there is much much more competitive.</p></li>
<li><p>your legacy status helps at Deerfield (but has your dad given money conistently)</p></li>
<li><p>55% is well below the average scores at all of these schools. Some might look the other way given your grades and sports, but unclear. Especially since athletic recruits are typically the guys coming in above you (into 10th, 11th or PGs).</p></li>
<li><p>“Coaches talk” does not mean much, the fact that they have been nice to you or received you when you visited doesn’t mean you are recruited necessarily. The fact you play all 3 sports is great but are you better at one of them? It is that coach which may have to go to bat for you.</p></li>
<li><p>Not to be overly negative, but with those scores, are you certain you can handle the workload? You have applied to some very competitive schools and they are very different from a alrge public suburban high school.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>@prepboy, I don’t want to sound harsh, but with a 55, your only chance is really hill. If you contacted the Deerfield coaches, they say benchmark ssat scores are an 85, even for athletes. NEPSAC sports are a completely different league than sports in Virginia. Varsity in Virginia could be JV at NEPSAC schools. I know that if your a legacy, benchmark at deerfield is a 70. I know this cause one of my friends applying has a bro at Deerfield and his dad is a huge donor and on the b.o.t. When you say “recruited athlete”, this means the coaches will vie for you. The coaches meet with probably around 60 or more student athletes per year. Only a hand few, if any, they will vie for. All of this said, we also can’t read the minds of AOs. If they really want you they will pick you. Out of 2377, they accepted 321. Another thing that AOs use the SSAT for is comparing schools. Straight a’s at your school could be a straight b student at a new england prep middle school. Hope I didnt sound harsh, but its the truth.</p>
<p>Taft states that the minimum SSAT requirement for admission is 50%. You might have a chance. And Hill too.</p>
<p>The scores may hurt you - but really, it depends on you and how well you interview. Not every bright kid scores well on a pressure cooker test and the few who are admitted at the schools above do just fine - if not very well once on campus.</p>
<p>I won’t lie though - the operative word is “very few.” the school would need to be convinced that the test is an anomaly and that you can do the work on their campus. Coaches count for a lot - but you still have to be able to do the work.</p>
<p>@Prepboy - be careful about stats people quote. Taft does not have a minimum of 50%. I don’t want people flooding the school with applications that have no chance of passing muster based on what someone posts here. 55% is still low for their requirements. I know - because I spoke to a coach/recruiter who told me how low they go for an athlete and those scores are much higher than that. Still - they are widely independent and often break convention if they think a student has potential. But in those cases it is extremely rare for them to do so given how big the candidate pool is. I usually tell students to aim for schools that are less selective to improve their chances.</p>
<p>The best you can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best. Sometimes dreams do come true.</p>
<p>“Taft does not have a minimum of 50%.”</p>
<p>I applied to Taft last year and did my research. The 50% threshold is stated somewhere on their website.</p>
<p>Threshold…their average is an 84. One 50, would need a lot of 99s to get a 83 average</p>
<p>Depends on your definition of “a lot.” They only need 2 99s for every 50 to get a 83 average.</p>
<p>That urban legend gets repeated over and over again on CC - in language that is verbatim. Cite your source. Perhaps you confused with the $50 fee to apply?</p>
<p>There are rare occasions - at all schools - when they realize a gifted student does well academically but not on a standardized test. But instances of taking a student in the 50’s are as rare as finding a needle in a field of haystacks and its cruel to give false hopes - even when coaches are saying the minimums they are recruiting is much much higher.</p>
<p>“Perhaps you confused with the $50 fee to apply?”
You edited your comment just to add this to the post? Totally unnecessary, but okay.</p>
<p>The only link I could find is this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/594196-can-i-get-into-good-school-low-ssat-score.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/594196-can-i-get-into-good-school-low-ssat-score.html</a>
Post #6. But you’ll probably dismiss it anyway since it goes on talking about how Taft is not in the same tier as some other schools.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/636013-taft.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/636013-taft.html</a>
Post #3.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/698929-why-taft-not-bsr.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/698929-why-taft-not-bsr.html</a>
Post #11.</p>
<p>I asked you to cite the Taft website source you claimed to have used, not give links to other unsubstantiated claims (in verbatim language) on the CC from other anonymous applicants who clone their information from yet another anonymous applicant. Saying something false multiple times isn’t going to make it even truer.</p>
<p>You said:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You either have a source directly from Taft’s material or you don’t. </p>
<p>The original poster asked a sincere question. He deserved a sincere answer from a credible source.</p>
<p>@mbv you are arguing with @exie who by his posts on cc seems to have much, much more experience than you. When you make your 99 argument, you are forgetting about how many applicants get that score.</p>
<p>I can’t be bothered to look through the Taft website to find the pdf that states so, but I’m sure I did read about it. There’s no reason for me to lie. Everyone knows Taft is a great school; you should stop with the snarky insecurity.</p>
<p>Also, if you actually read the third link, you would know that the threshold wasn’t wild speculation or “urban legend.” The poster quoted the information from a source (Peterson’s, I personally don’t know what that is).</p>
<p>@baseball25: I’m not sure what your argument is. Not all 99ths are recruited athletes.</p>
<p>I’m not saying a 55th percentile is enough for Taft to overlook his SSAT scores. The minimum requirement simply means if you’re >50th percentile, your application will not be immediately tossed into the trash bin without a second thought. Are his chances high? I don’t know, depending on how good he is at the sports he’s going to be recruited for.</p>
<p>As a prep schooler, let me give you the truth. Of course, admission officers look for students with high test scores, great grades, extra curriculars, etc. in your case, you seem not to be very happy with your test scores. I understand. When I applied to prep schools, my test scores were unacceptable because I was coming from a public school. I applied to 3 amazing boarding schools and was accepted to every school. Truth is, if a you’re a great person who really can rock an interview with an admission officer, they MIGHT turn the other way when it comes to grades. My advice? A) Don’t get your hopes up and B) focus on your strongest qualities like sports. Sports. Sports. Talk all about 'em and good luck!</p>
<p>-orangesrule108</p>
<p>This is a good story for everyone to read and remember. It isn’t all about grades, scores, etc.</p>
<p>did you get into taft???</p>