<p>EXACTLY, Sarum!</p>
<p>It’s the dumbing down of America!
(I don’t have to be PC! I have enough age and education to see where we’ve been and where we are going)</p>
<p>if it helps i got 97 on my ssat and i applied to exeter andover deerfield hotchkiss
I got into exeter, but got waitlisted everywhere else.
I’m asian btw, also I applied for 11th grade. Exeter was very generous with financial aid.</p>
<p>Sailor with those scores you must be quite the athlete or at least an under represented race. OR you could be a legacy with a huge potential for $$ for the endowment. Which one?</p>
<p>Some of you students are going to mislead others if you only point out your acceptances and SSAT scores without also indicating your hooks.</p>
<p>mpicz - URM and it sounds like a strong multi-sport athlete
sailor_chica - initially waitlisted @ SPS - legacy, multi-genrational I believe.</p>
<p>These things do have an impact on admissions. There are unhooked kids with SSATs in the 90s who won’t get accepted. The majority of students with lower SSAT scores will have one or more hooks.</p>
<p>There are hooked kids who get turned down as well. example: triple legacy at from a strong pre-prep with honor roll grades and two year CTY alumni plus 4year of MIT ESP classes. Rejected.</p>
<p>Legacy is about long-term endowment issues. Students who are just passing through are less likely to give to the school on an annual basis. Families who are emotionally linked to a school are more likely to send annual contributions even when they do not have a student enrolled. If a school turns down a legacy, the financial stream stops.</p>
<p>Ditto, that a hook does not equal acceptance. Some folks seem to think applying as a URM, regardless of SSAT’s and grades means acceptance. My d, who is African-American, had SSAT’s in the 90’s, 3.9 gpa, great recommendation, extensive volunteer act ivies etc., was rejected at two schools, Exeter and Andover, waitlisted at three, Mercersburg, Episcopal H.S. and Hotckiss. All of these rejections/wl, except Exeter, were at schools ABC referred her to. I also know of at least two other URM students, with similar stats as my d who were turned down by top tier schools. There are no guarantees in this process. I find it hard to believe that schools are accepting many URM’s with sub-par SSAT’s and grades when they are turning down students who are scoring in the 90’s. Maybe, just maybe Sarum, there are more URM’s achieving at high levels than you are aware of and the schools are not dumbing down on their accord. </p>
<p>And why would an 85% on the SSAT be considered low? That person scored higher than all but 15% of SSAT takers.</p>
<p>So many applicants…so few spots!</p>
<p>My brother is applying next year as a 9th grader, sadly he is not from underrepresented country (unless they consider the US one LOL). Just a white male who is indeed a great athlete and has won many awards and has a variety of ECs. He is very nervous for the SSATs, he took a practice test and got a 78% on verbal and the rest about 83%. He is EXTREMLY nervous, unfortunatly, he will need >75% FA. I think overall he is a good applicant, despite the SSAT scores. His dream is to attend Exeter, he knows nearly every fact about it and visits it’s website at least 3 times a day. The only thing possibly holding him back is the SSATs. Do you guys think he’ll have a chance even with an 75%-85% SSAT score? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Latinlad, I guess the question is how strong his academics are regardless how much he can score in SSAT, and whether he would feel comfortable among the exeter students most of whom are supposed to be highly competent academically. As for whether he can get in, as you have learned on this forum (your experience is actually pretty convincing), students with lower SSAT scores do get in. The need for FA is something that makes it harder.
(a note to emdee: I don’t think 85% is low, but I think people are saying it’s to the lower end in some of the schools that have average score of mid 90’s, which are not many schools of course.)</p>
<p>I would bet your brother took his last SSAT test without the benefit of any SSAT Prep class, only a practice test. Keep taking the practice tests.
Your over-represented/underperforming, extrememly nervous Caucasian brother can raise those SSAT scores considerably with a classes on SSAT taking. Everyone can.</p>
<p>Maybe not even with classes. The prep book from the SSAT’s own website is actually pretty good and, of course, contains two practice tests.</p>
<p>I’d say just take the practice tests you can find in bookstores. I don’t know what they can teach you in the prep class. Probably they’d just get you some tests (or compile them in a more effective way?) and explain to you what’s right what’s wrong.</p>
<p>Well I mean no matter how many “major” hooks you have you still need the grades, ECs, possibly community service…etc etc. I say just try your best on your SSATs, it’s not hard to raise the score if you actually try a little between tests. My interviewer could have just wanted me to feel special (SSATs got there by february after they e-mailed her asking if I had taken them again)…so I wouldn’t bank on getting anything lower than ummm 75 for a top tier school.</p>
<p>I didn’t study for the first one at all. Studied moderately for the second one just to familiarize myself with the test and got a MUCH better score. So I would study atleast a little, I know some people don’t study at all.</p>
<p>Yeah, mpicz is right. It’s really not the hard to raise one’s SSAT score fairly significantly. Plus, your brother would be taking them in October - December next academic year, so it’s not like he doesn’t have the time until then to sit down and study a little bit.</p>
<p>Oh ya and I would apply to atleast 4 if you want to go as a junior. I applied to A and E as a junior and not repeat sophomore and got waitlisted to E and rejected at A. Recruited athlete, URM, all A’s, major community service, average interview, and great essays. So ya, if your applying as a junior it’ll be a little harder…</p>
<p>latinlad…schools really do love the athletic hook. What sport does your brother play and how good is he? Will he have an immediate impact on varsity? If his grades at his current school are excellent and he has other activities like community service, leadership positions, etc, he has just as good a shot with an 85% as does a 99% candidate.</p>
<p>haha sarum-i was originally wait-listed
i play sports all 3 seasons 2 jv, 1 varsity
i am a huge legacy
and i do think my parents donate a lot to the school
(but they swear they did not bribe them to let me in!)</p>
<p>thats another way to i guess to be real:
4th generation legacy to sps wooo
didn’t get in WOOO
got in off the wait-listed and was forced/wanted to go WOOO</p>
<p>Damn 4th generation legacy and full pay and got wait listed at first? Well I mean sooner or later you seem to be bound to get in</p>
<p>sailor_chica, you sound like a great asset to the school on your own merits</p>