<p>To all the GMT-bashers:
Look at GMT’s screen name…pretty sure that s/he is located in Asia — either expat or of Asian background. So it’s not like s/he’s unfamiliar with the challenges associated with ORM/International applications to the uber-selective schools. I think s/he’s going through the process with a second child this go-around.</p>
<p>Also, while I am not Korean, I equated his/her S/N Korean reference to someone suggesting that we move from NJ to ND to help my daughter’s chances.</p>
<p>Finally, the OP wrote the following (post #7) in response to GMT’s earlier, sound, and IMO well-intentioned advice: “You can say whatever you want”. </p>
<p>That, to my parent ears is pretty much a “Tell me what I want to hear, not what you really thing.” cue. And honestly, there’s very little that turns me off prospective posters (adult or child) than that sort of attitude.</p>
<p>Alright I’m not a little kid so don’t treat me like one @gmt was giving me resonable answers and I respect that. As I said, you can say whatever you want. @gmt, I am applying for 10th grade and I’m in 9th grade so I don’t think reapplying for 10th grade can exist here. And if I bump my grade up to 30, I have a possibility in hotchkiss, where there average SSAT is 85%. And let’s be realistic here, unless I study all night I won’t bump up my scores by 30. But who knows if I will study all night.</p>
<p>@ksj, sorry if i offended, but i meant well. What u have going for u over the tremendously huge number of applicants from SKorea is that u have ALREADY demonstrated that u can succeed in an american boarding school-- that makes u stand out!. U should play up that STRENGTH in your interviews, essays, parent statements. I suggest also submitting toefl scores to mitigate for your lower verbal/reading SSAT subscores.</p>
<p>If u do get your SSAT scores up in 3 weeks time, the other big challenge at the most elite u.s. boarding schools is that the china/skorea kids there are for the most part the offspring of high gov’t officials or offspring of corporate bigshots. The remaining ch/sk kids w/o those connections are academic/athletic/musical/artistic prodigies. A school like Hotchkiss has slots for ~2 boys from Skorea for the 10th grade-- u do the math; the odds are extremely ugly. My remark about defecting to NKorea was supposedly a light hearted way of saying your nationality is crippling u in the admissions race. Elite schools love the flood of applicants from ch/sk bcs it drives their admit rate way down and inflates their apparent selectivity. I estimate a fifth of applications to those schools are from ch+sk alone…</p>
<p>If it doesn’t work out for u in this admissions cycle, try applying next year as a repeat 10th grader and spend the year making a more PRAGMATIC list of schools and brushing up your reading & verbal skills.</p>
<p>Wow, that escalated pretty quickly. </p>
<p>@everyone: Everything that GMT said was true, and I think that s/he is just trying to help. </p>
<p>I’m from SK, and while I extremely dislike the chance-reducing being an ORM does to you, it’s part of the process. Also, that NK comment wasn’t offensive at all, it was hilarious.</p>
<p>You could apply with a 99 SSAT and still have a high chance of being rejected.
I hate to say it, but with a 50ish percentile SSAT, those schools probably won’t even look at you twice.</p>
<p>Honestly, people seem to really want to hear what they want to hear and not the truth.</p>