Freaking Out. Please chance me for Andover.

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

<p>I've been caught up with exams lately so I JUST started my Andover online application, and all the stress combined is making me quite the worry worm. So someone please tell me my chances and please indicate what I should (or if I should) take out from my application. Thanks.</p>

<p>I go to an international school with a British IGCSE system, so some stuff might be odd, but its basically the same I imagine.</p>

<p>SSAT 96th Percentile Overall(cant be arsed to find the exact scores, but math and verbal were good, while reading was midhigh 80s)</p>

<p>-Mostly A's on report with exceptions:
Graphics and Design: C (I hope they understand I'm not the creative type)
PE: C (Everyone in our year got a C, the PE staff has no grading rubric...but it cant be helped I guess)
English Literature: B (I got an A in English Language though, which is a separate course from Literature)
Mandarin Chinese: B
History: A<em>(A star - Which is one tier above an A, I think the US equiv is A+?)
Mathematics: A</em></p>

<p>-Do voluntary community service every week:
Teaching English to poor Chinese citizens(I'm in China)
Taking care of the elderly and disabled</p>

<p>-Am 2-year member of Model United Nations club
Have participated in 2 large interschool conferences with schools from across the country</p>

<p>-Am 3-year member of Debating Society
Have participated in numerous conferences, and won "Best Speaker Award" at 2</p>

<p>-Have done cross-country for a year
-I take swimming lessons twice a week during the summer</p>

<p>-Annual commitment to a fast(no food 24hrs) in which we raise awareness for world hunger. This year, I alone raised over $500USD which will go to the impoverished in undeveloped villages all over China</p>

<p>-Member of Student Council since 2009</p>

<p>-Student Class Representative(methinks you guys call it class president or whatever?)</p>

<p>And every year, myself and some other members of the council will start fundraising events like concerts and bakesales, and this money goes towards an annual "China Week" trip, details below.</p>

<p>During China week, my entire year(grade) leaves school for a whole week and goes off to rural, impoverished, inland China to do community service. Items of service include stocking a village library, building restrooms for poor villages, installing a water system for the village, etc.</p>

<p>I myself have participated in landslide relief, clearing crucial roads blocked off by rockslides. I have also gone to a special school(idk any other name for it - the kind for the deaf and challenged) and renovated the entire school, painting walls and everything. I have taught English at these rural Chinese schools as well. </p>

<p>I'm also a fluent(native - as in fluent fluent) speaker of English, Mandarin Chinese and have taken 2 years of Spanish, so I'm also good with conversational Spanish; not academic Spanish. </p>

<p>I am an American citizen, and do not need FA. I've never really lived in America, just born there....have lived abroad my whole life - in Singapore and China. Does the international aspect get me an edge?</p>

<p>As you can see, I am wayyyy short on academic honors and awards and whatnot...but do the SSAT and community service get me a chance in to this hell of a school? May be in over my head here...most kids applying have 4.0 GPAs. My stupid British school doesn't even calculate GPAs. </p>

<p>Please be as mean as you want. I am looking for a realistic response. If you were an admissions officer, would you be even remotely impressed? Or am I sorta generic like the rest of the applicants?</p>

<p>SOMEONE PLEASE HELP. ANY RESPONSE WHATSOEVER WILL CALM ME DOWN. THIS IS THE EFFING SCHOOL OF MY DREAMS.</p>

2

<p>hmm wat grade r u?? im applying to andover and some other schools too so i understand y ur freaking out
i think ur pretty good so far but at the same time a lot of ppl who apply have descriptions like this
some stuff abt me:
im a ninth grader rite now im korean and i live on guam and im a us citizen
i go to the best school here and get straight a’s
i finished teaching myself precalculus in the beginning of this school year
i’ve been in mathcounts for my entire middle school years and made it to the nationals in 8th grade
i’ve also participated in nationals acb in 7th grade
i had a lot of leadership positions in middle school, captain of the acb team, vice president of a music honor society, etc. and i was also in national junior honor society
i can play piano, violin, viola, and handbells all pretty well
i luv to run and i was in the varsity xc team this school year and im thinking of joining track
i got into the 97th percentile in the ssat(i have to say im kinda ashamed of my score since i can do better on sats…)
i do community service with beach cleanups, the animal shelter, and guam symphony</p>

3

<p>oh and if ur looking for a realistic response then watch for how ur interviewer reacts when u tell him or her all this
have u had ur interview yet??</p>

4

<p>Already had interview. Didnt go that well. I did probably above average - I was well dressed in suit and tie and I spoke alot about this stuff. But I also was nervous so I asked alot of really stupid questions and the interview dragged on for like 2 hours so ■■■■ I THINK MY LIFE IS DONE.</p>

<p>If it helps, I went to the summer session and got top scores for both my courses (politics related)</p>

5

<p>Hey, I heard it was better when the interview lasted for longer! Did you interview at Andover or did you have an off campus interview?Oh, and what grade are you applying to?</p>

6

<p>I interviewed on campus during summer session. Oh, and I’m applying for 11th.</p>

7

<p>Well if it helps, your extra curriculars look pretty string. To be honest, the grades are a little low, but who knows, the admissions office might look past the grades in light of your extra curriculars, etc. By the way, do you think us applying for 11th grade will lower our chances for getting in? Did you only apply to Andover?</p>

8

<p>I saw a lot of different schools, and I find that Andover is actually the only one I’d be more happy at than at my current school. So yes, I only applied to Andover. I could always stay at my school and do the IB Diploma, but that’s a crap load of harder, extra un-necessary work compared to AP. And yes, 11th grade is one of the harder ones to get into, I hear.</p>

9

<p>That makes sense… Similarly, I only applied to Exeter… Good luck to you!</p>

10

<p>Andover accepts around 20 people for 11th grade. They accepted 19 last year. If you really wanna come to the USA and go to boarding school, you might as well apply to safety school too - Or you’ll be stuck doing the IB, which is a lot harder. I’m doing the IGCSE’s too but I’ll be changing school soon. Don’t they suck? I’m doing Cambridge btw.</p>

11

<p>@dubyawhy wow suit and tie… that reminds me of my interview
i was waiting in that room with some other kids waiting to be shown around… i felt a bit awkward since they were all wearing formal clothing while i wore casual… oh well thats the guam way~ hehe
andover was my first interview(i should have made it my second to last since its my second choice) and i did pretty badly on that
only lasted about 15 min… my exeter and deerfield were alot better tho
good luck to everyone~</p>

12

<p>Best of luck to you! I think your extracurriculars are pretty good, you seem well rounded, it’s not such a big problem that you don’t have any/many big time academic awards, debate and Model UN are almost as good. I myself am in similar situation, I have excellent extra curricular, am studying for math olympiad, and such but my grades are really pathetic.</p>

<p>F in art, 65 in hebrew studies, many B’s, :stuck_out_tongue: although i have 11 hour school days, X( also applying for uppers, just stay calm and the best of luck even though this is a neck to neck competition for 19 spots, :stuck_out_tongue: I have no idea if I have chance or IMPOSSIBLE, :P</p>

13

<p>I AM ALSO APPLYING FOR 11TH GRADE AT ANDOVER!!! :smiley: :D</p>

<p>there is also another dude I met here who is also applying, that makes three of us</p>

<p>The difference between me and u is that my grades are very high (for the french system) and urs arent, and my ssat scores are not that high</p>

<p>You can check my application out:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-chances/1073448-phillips-andover-full-application-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-chances/1073448-phillips-andover-full-application-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>i think you have a good chance. you have exemplary community service and great grade and SSAT scores</p>