I graduated from ninth grade in this summer vacation（High school starts at 10 grade in where I live）.I want to use the tenth grade to apply for an American high school, and then repeat the tenth grade.
My target is a top30 boarding school (no green card or US citizenship) and I want to know if most schools in this class will accept students with my conditions.
If accepted, what is the best score for TOEFL and ssat.
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Personal conditions：Top10 bilingual school in China，Top3 in the grade，but no extracurricular specialty.
Yes, there are some openings for 10th graders at most schools. Certainly not as many as for 9th, definitely more than the openings available for 11th.
Not having a greencard or US citizenship is not an issue. After you are accepted at an accredited school, you need to apply for a student visa. A bigger issue is $. If your family can afford the tuition, great. (There is very little financial aid available for foreign nationals. Well, pretty much none.)
I guess the higher TOEFL and SSAT the better, but scores alone won’t get you in. Even scores and grades alone are not enough. There has to be something else in your application beyond grades and high test scores. You don’t participate in sports, play an instrument, or other extracurriculars, so what do you do when you aren’t studying? Do you have a hobby? Do you do volunteer work? You have to at least come up with something that makes you sound interesting and capable of contributing to the school community.
Also, think about what kind of school would match you best - size, formality, teaching philosophy, sports, etc. For example, if you’re completely disinterested in sports, a very sporty school would probably be a bad fit. Many schools require that you participate in a sport every season (fall, winter, spring), but there are some that allow you to substitute other activities.
Finally, think beyond the top 30 - “widen your net”.
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Thanks for your reply
Sorry for my lack of English，there may be some grammatical mistakes or a verbal offense.It was never my intention.
First of all，expense is not a problem of my family.
Second，as what you said，base on the difference between two cultures，we do think grade is everything ，therefore we spend all the time to achieve higher and higher score，it makes me a little ashamed.My only two hobbies are writing novels and digging into topics of mathematics.Except for uploading some videos for explaining mathematical Olympiad problems on platform and publishing original novels，I do not have that kind of special experiences，let alone the achievements.I wonder if these can help with my application.
In fact, I love sports, but I don’t have a specific sports specialty.
It seems to be due to cultural differences. Volunteers are very rare in our society. As a student in a bilingual school, I have learned about the idea of using volunteer activities to apply, but I have not found such opportunities. So if I want to get into a good boarding school, do I have to spend some time volunteering in the United States？
Finally，I really appreciate for your earnest answer.I‘m considering about your amazing advice.
Thanks for your reply.
Sorry for my lack of English，there may be some grammatical mistakes or a verbal offense.It was never my intention.
First of all，expense is not a problem of my family.
Second，as what you said，base on the difference between two cultures，we do think grade is everything ，therefore we spend all the time to achieve higher and higher score，it makes me a little ashamed.My only two hobbies are writing novels and digging into topics of mathematics.Except for uploading some videos for explaining mathematical Olympiad problems on platform and publishing original novels，I do not have that kind of special experiences，let alone the achievements.I wonder if these can help with my application.
In fact, I love sports, but I don’t have a specific sports specialty.
It seems to be due to cultural differences. Volunteers are very rare in our society. As a student in a bilingual school, I have learned about the idea of using volunteer activities to apply, but I have not found such opportunities. So if I want to get into a good boarding school, do I have to spend some time volunteering in the United States？
Finally，I really appreciate for your earnest answer.I‘m considering about your amazing advice.
One thing you should consider looking for in schools is creative writing programs.
Another thing you can look for is math clubs and math competition teams.
Or perhaps you are interested in improving your presentation skills for your videos.
Thinking about these interests will not only help you in finding the best schools for you to apply to - it may also help you with your essays and interview. It will show that you’ve actually looked at the culture of the school and how you think that you will fit into it, because there are activities there you would be enthusiastic about.
Schools are looking for all sorts of people, with all sorts of abilities unrelated to getting good grades or scoring well on standardized tests. You can have 99th percentile test scores and still not get in; you can be less that perfect and get in because admissions sees some sort of “spark” in you.
And yes, it is a cultural difference, so you have to be aware of it when applying if you want to be successful.
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If I were you, and this answer is only based on your answer… take the time to improve your English. At any American boarding school, the emphasis is placed on reading and writing, and even kids who are native English speakers struggle with this. With that said, a bit of advice we received straight from the head of admissions at Exeter: spend time on the free written response on the SSAT. To boarding schools, this is the most important piece of writing in your application because it’s the only writing that you did not receive help on. It is a true reflection of your ability. According to him, this can make or break an application.
Also, look through this forum to see the stats of other international kids from your country, their test scores, ECs, etc. It will give you a gauge as to what you should aim for and may give you some volunteering ideas. It does not have to be a specific program, you could help old ladies across the street, help carry their food home from the market, or help a kid who’s not at your international school with their homework. Then have someone take a picture of you doing this 2-3 days/week for X hours/day… something as simple as that. ‘Help your neighbor’ as we in the USA say. Just be a nice helpful person. Good luck!
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