<p>SSAT: 95% average
Grades at a good private day: B- average </p>
<p>How do admissions people look at this?</p>
<p>I’m not an AO, but in the absence of other data, I would think the student is an underachiever. This could play two ways, if not more:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the kid is not applying him/herself at his/her current school, what makes me think he/she would do that at Exoverhotch Academy?</p></li>
<li><p>Wow, after meeting the kid in person (at interview), I can understand how he/she might not test that well…but given the SSAT scores, it’s obvious they have potential so perhaps were take a chance on him/her.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think it would also make a difference if that B- average told a story like “stellar in Math and Science, but not so good at English and History.” If you have some As and some Cs, it tells a story of a student with real strengths and weaknesses. Boarding schools definitely take chances on kids like that. If it’s all B, B-, and C+ grades, most admissions offices would want to figure out why (school does not inflate grades, student has issues outside school to contend with, etc.)</p>
<p>Admissions people are trying to get as comprehensive a picture of each kid as possible, so they can figure out if that kid would thrive at their school and add something valuable to the community. Most often, rather than judging a less common situation “good” or “bad” they seek to find out why the grades and scores are what they are.</p>
<p><em>generally</em> I am told that they prefer to see things the other way around. That would indicate a person who got good grades through hard work and not necessarily a great mind.
Are there factors contributing to the relatively low grades at the day school?</p>
<p>Thanks, PPs. That’s what I thought. Mediocre grades and report card comments may be due to lack of enthusiasm for current school, exhaustion from very long hours of travel sport, some immaturity, some just goofing off. DS wants to do well, but never puts in 100%. Keep waiting for that to kick in!</p>
<p>If schools think the applicant has a strong potential that could further be boosted by motivation and they can provide motivation to the applicant, they will give you a chance. In this case, I think the interview and the teacher recommendation should play a very important role in assessing the student’s potential. A 95% is a great score and the school will try to find the missing link between the score and the grades. An essay may also be used to help AOs better understand that in a positive way. I wish you all the best!</p>
<p>
High SSAT + low grades is a red flag for lack of maturity.</p>
<p>The very academically rigorous schools (exover hotchfield) want evidence that maturity has already kicked in. They are selecting kids who can handle the time demands of a very heavy academic workload concurrently w a busy athletic schedule. BS kids have to travel a far distance to play their BS opponents and train every day except Sunday. </p>
<p>A less demanding BS may provide more support to students who need to develop maturity & time management skills. </p>
<p>This is part of what constitutes “fit”. </p>
<p>I personally wouldn’t put my kids in an uber competive environment to learn time management skills if they didn’t have the maturity to handle it independently. There is significant potential for them to crater, or at the very least, be unhappy.</p>
<p>Have u considered delaying his entry into BS to give him another year to develop maturity and bring up his grades? Showing an upward trajectory in grade performance will be viewed VERY positively by the AOs. And you could be more confident of him hitting the ground running.</p>
<p>A significant number if kids enter as a “repeat”. Have you considered that?</p>
<p>Remember that the objective for the child is not just to get admitted into the school.</p>
<p>Thanks GMT. He will be repeating next year. He is actually quite young for his grade right now. I agree about the uber competitive schools and we have shied away from them, but are still looking at hard schools. The school he attends right now is equally demanding and rigorous. He’s excited about repeating a year (completely his idea) and about boarding.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re on top of it! :)</p>
<p>In your parent statement, emphasize his enthusiasm & self-initiative to pursue BS.</p>
<p>What do you think is better? </p>
<p>A great SSAT score and ok grades(B’s)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>An ok SSAT score (80’s) and A grades?</p>
<p>great SSAT score and A grades</p>
<p>GMT+, you sound like the AO who answered As on AP classes to the question of A in regular class vs B in AP/Honor classes. :D</p>
<p>I think better grades would count more than the SSAT.
It takes more sustained efforts to keep the grades up for 2 years than a test on a single day.</p>