Help me find good boarding schools with rolling!

Prep School Admissions
1

Due to a number of factors (unchallenging non-math subjects in school, shitty and complicated family situation, not fitting in with peers after moving back to my home country, lack of active clubs suited to my interests at my current public school), I’ve decided to apply for boarding schools in the US and in Canada (preferably the U.S., because I seem to be much better adjusted for American/west coast/Silicon Valley culture than that of Toronto’s). However, as you all know, the application deadlines for the best schools have long passed. I’d be interested in finding some “underdog” schools that accept int applicants on a rolling basis. I probably will not apply for financial aid (my two-member household makes ~90k CAD a year and my dad supports me and my mom), but I will be applying for merit scholarships.

Criteria: I’d like to go to a school with strong academics, welcoming peers, and preferably programs that accommodate for independent study/independent projects/internships. Electives and/or active student organizations in economics, human geography, international relations, and other social sciences (i.e. sociology) are important, though strong internship/independent study programs may be substituted if such options are limited at such schools. An IB program would be a nice bonus. Location-wise, northeastern/Mideast schools would be preferable, but west coast (specifically California) is also good. Proximity to a metropolitan city will be considered. I’m looking for both all-girls and co-Ed schools – I don’t have a preference for either.

Me: Up until a month ago, I went to a competitive public school in the Silicon Valley (top 5% of American schools in USNews, top 1% according to Niche). I had a 3.9 unweighted GPA (4.3 weighted). I’m in tenth grade. I interned for a local environmental advocacy group on improving apartment waste policy (though the effort had to be abandoned halfway due to a sudden move), which would be my most prominent extracurricular activity other than choir, a cappella, drawing (I participate in competitions), and MUN. I read texts and take MOOCs in economics, development, education, and diplomacy in my spare time. Last summer, I took a class in social theory at Brown and my prof gave me extremely high recs, though I’m not sure if that would help any of my apps. I didn’t take the SSAT yet, though I plan to do so in the next three weeks. I consider myself to be academically gifted – I also have my IEP papers to prove that, and I’m much more specialized than many other high schoolers (as mentioned above, in the social sciences), though I’m far from the traditional competitive applicant – a school with other talented children and with strong support for students like me would be preferred. If it helps, I’m east asian and female.

I did look at the list of boarding schools with rolling admission on boarding schools review, but I understand that there are schools that, though are not explicitly “rolling”, accept competitive applicants past their deadline. It’s those schools I’m looking for.

So far, I’m considering the Madeira School in VA, the Stoneleigh-Burningham school in MA, and Branksome Hall in Toronto (though it is a top school here, an American school would be preferred). I understand that the former two are not exactly top tier schools, and Madeira doesn’t offer any classes in economics, my main field of interest, so I’m a bit worried about the academic support they offer.

Any advice would be great.

2

I’m a little biased, but I would check out Emma Willard if are considering an all-girls school. Emma has an AP Economics class. Mercersburg is also nice if you prefer to go to a coed school. Both of them have business clubs as well if you’re interested. Emma is ranked 27th by Business Insider, and Mercersburg has the 12th largest endowment.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-elite-boarding-schools-in-the-us-2014-12#27-emma-willard-school–troy-new-york-24
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-boarding-schools-in-the-us-2015-2

Good luck on finding a school!

3

Wyoming Seminary

4

St. Timothy’s in Maryland has IB.

5

I am not sure about the rolling part but George School has IB as well

6

Thanks to all! My master school list now looks like this:

Reach: Mercersburg, Emma Willard, (maybe) Peddie
Match: Branksome Hall, (maybe) the Madeira School
Safety: Stoneleigh-Burnham

7

Ridley College in Canada won’t work for you? Full pay in the US helps offset some of your late application disadvantage. They can only say no, so go ahead! Hockaday in Dallas has about 100 boarders and is worth a try. You may not have heard of it (it gets lumped in with day schools), but it is hands down the best girls school in the USA and among the top ten of all prep schools.

8

Have you actually picked up the phone and called these schools to ask if they’re willing to accept late applications? While schools that don’t have rolling admissions do sometimes accept late applications, it’s far from the norm and wouldn’t necessarily be accepted every year. Schools with a very competitive admissions process like Peddie and Mercersburg have just given offers of admission to the number of students that, based on their yield expectations, will fill all the available spots they have. If they miscalculate on their yield and don’t end up being fully enrolled after April 10, they would then consider going to their waitlist. It’s at that point that you potentially have a shot – if you seem to be a stronger candidate to them than everyone on their waitlist, then they might be willing to take you instead. But if they’re over- or completely enrolled, then they’re not going to be interested in looking at any new applications, unless perhaps the late applicant has won a Nobel Prize.

9

Sorry, I didn’t notice that Peddie and Mercersburg didn’t have rolling deadlines. I’ve just checked their websites, and only Peddie accepts late applicants on a rolling basis. I’ll call Mercersburg later tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder! @soxmom

10

No, all the Canadian boarding schools I’ve looked at don’t offer flexible academic programs like independent study, so I will only apply to the one closest to home :smile: Thanks, though! I’ll check out Hockaday. @makennacompton

11

You really need to contact each school individually and ask them to be HONEST about whether there are really any vacancies. You can try searching using this search tool
http://www.ssat.org/member-search

You MUST select the semester u desire to enter in the search filter box labelled “Schools Currently Considering Applicants (SCCA)”. I will warn u that many elite school names will pop up which will indeed “take” your application, but unless u are a mega development case (able to donate a 20 million dollar dorm wing), at this late stage your name will jusr get thrown on the Wait List at the elite schools.

There are still many lesser known schools that might welcome a full pay applicant. Typically, the lesser known the school, the smaller its endowment will be, and the less likely it is able to afford to give out scholarships. Your expectation of a “merit scholarship” this late in the game is totally unrealistic. All scholarship money will already have been awarded to the applicants who applied in the regular admissions round.

If u have not yet taken the SSAT, then u better hurry up:
http://www.ssat.org/test/special-accommodations/test-dates-and-deadlines

For someone who has missed the application deadlines, you are awfully picky about all the qualities the school must. You are not in a good position now to be making demands.

12

@GMTplus7 I’m trying to be as selective as possible about the schools I’m applying to because all boarding schools in Canada admit on a rolling basis, so if I do not get into a great boarding school I can always just apply to a good one in Canada. As I’ve mentioned in my first post, I’d prefer to go to an American boarding school because I prefer the culture there. Furthermore, my mom has offered to send me back to my old Californian public school if there aren’t any options that would get me the “most bang for the buck”.

I don’t strictly require FA, but some assistance would be nice.

13

Assuming you were at Gunn or Paly - come back next fall and do Junior year here, and apply properly for good boarding schools to repeat your junior year in the next admission cycle. Your grades sound amazing, so I assume you will be a competitive applicant. It just seems you don’t have a solid plan right now, and it’s nearly April. Boarding school is a huge planning and decision process. My gut says schools won’t take you seriously for next fall.

14

@Leafyseadragon‌ haha, I went to Homestead! If I go back, though, I’ll probably do middle college and not apply to any boarding schools at all. I’d like to minimize the number of transfers I do and I really want to avoid repeating a year because I don’t want my parents to spend money on something that will only marginally improve my chances for college admissions. If I go back, there will be much more opportunities for involvement anyway, so I’m not so worried :slight_smile:

15

That was my 3rd guess… After I posted that, I remembered that those 2 schools have have 4 suicides in the past 6 months - and I changed my mind about suggesting you go back.
You have options, which is a great thing. So many kids come here and bemoan how awful their school is, and they think their only hope is some long shot BS they have romanticized in their minds. Use your resources wisely (internet, parents, school counselor) and come up with a plan. Good luck!

16

George School (PA) has IB econ, AP econ and a business club. I don’t know if it is advertised, but they usually accept late admissions.

17

Update: After reviewing my list and going over how prepared I was for each school’s curriculum, as well as the social scenes at the schools I was considering, I’ve revised my school list to the following schools:
Branksome Hall, Emma Willard, Stoneleigh-Burnham, Westtown, and the George School.

Again, thanks to all those who have recommended schools to me! I’ve registered for the SSAT on Apr 18, so wish me luck!

18

Good luck. Break a leg (or maybe a pencil :wink: )

19

Yayee for the Quaker schools!

20

Very good school!