I Need help deciding where to apply to. i am thinking about groton, choate, Northfield mount hermon, and The hotchkiss school. I got the 84th percentile for 8th grade males last test and i am taking the test. i have all a’s exept for one B. There is no doubt i will get good recommendations and I do A ton of extra curriculars including competing nationally in history bees. Can some students/faculty/alumnae Of these schools please tell me if i should aim higher or lower, or if i am looking at the right schools.
I think everyone here will tell you that applying for 4 boarding schools is too few, unless you have a strong back-up option with a local school.
@skieurope is giving you good advice. Please quickly expand your list to schools that have higher acceptance rates unless you are sure you will be happy next spring with your local option(s).
@levart do you have any suggestions for other schools?
Tell us a little bit about what you’re looking for in a school - what are your academic and extracurricular interests? Maybe consider Taft, Loomis Chaffee, Suffield, St. Mark’s, Berkshire…
Mercersburg is a great school
Without more information than your SSAT and the geographic area you seem to prefer it is difficult to give you a hand. You may just want to go to a site that lists schools by average SSAT and scroll down a bit to those with SSATs in say the 65-85 percentile zone. Here are a number of schools roughly in that zone in the general geographic area of the four schools on your list. I have no special knowledge of these schools and they are in no particular order: Hill School, Portsmouth Abby, Kent, St. George, Holderness, Berkshire (mentioned above), Millbrook, Tabor, Westtown.
@GMC2918 I am Really interested in history and English. I also really like foreign languages. I also really like playing chess. I am very skilled in history and English but i am not skilled at chess. I also love having an international community. i want a school that will help me with math and sciences.
@Elitheboarder Please check out boardingschoolreview.com. There is a very good “advanced search” tool that will suggest likely schools based on your own, specific wants and needs. Once you do that, then go to each school web site to see if any appeal. You can then return here to search for more specific details on the schools you have on your list. I want to reiterate what has already been said: admission to any of the top 30-50 schools is very competitive. You would be wise to apply to as many as possible to widen your chances.
Check out Berkshire! I am a current student so if you have any questions feel free to PM me…,