How to make my application better PLEASE

Prep School Admissions
1

Hello,

I’m biracial (indian and white), female, applying for 10th grade boarding. I live in Edison, New Jersey which is a pretty middle class area, along with my family. Our financial situation is so that we need to apply for FA.

Schools:
Exeter
Deerfield
Chaote
Loomis Chaffe
St. Paul’s
St. Mark’s
NMH School
Putney School

I am looking for ADVICE on how to make my application better and how to stand out! Literally anything is greatly apprecieated and needed. I’m in 8th grade applying for 10th grade, so I have a whole year to work on myself. (if you’re wondering why it’s bc i was literally so average in 7th grade there was no way) I am capable of taking up any new sports, instruments, clubs, and opening up community service hours into my schedule.

Academics:
MP 1: (8th grade just began for me so this is all I have. Promise it’ll only get better)
Honors English: A
Honors Math (Algebra): A
Science: A-
Social Studies: A+
Spanish: A
PE: A+
Family Consumer Science: A+
(I go to a public school which only offers honors english and math)

I’m doing the SSAT in a few weeks time just to see how it is, but I’ll be redoing it Decemeber 2023 and giving that score in. (tell me if this is a bad idea plz, like would saying i redid it lower my chances?)

  • I’ll also being doing the character skills snapshot in Dec 2023

Performing Arts:

  • Part of a theatre group (papermill playhouse in nj, famous for housing anne hathaway)
  • Lead in my school play
  • Participated in many reputible acting classes
  • Been with a private vocal tutor for 1 year and 3 months (i can sing, bascially)
  • 1 year of dance intraining (ballet) - essay topic on starting ballet so late

Instruments: (I will be adding instrument portfolio videos for all, each are played at an advanced level)

  • Clarinet, 5-6 years started in 4th grade, 1st chair
  • Bass Clarinet, 3 years, started in transition between 6-7th grade
  • Bass Guitar, 1.5 years
  • Acoustic Guitar, 1.5 years
  • Cello, 1.5 years

Visual Arts: will be submitting portfolio
Watercolor, 2 years
Traditional Pencil and Paper Art, 2.5-3 years

Athletics + Artistic Skating:

  • Rollerskating, 3 years, part of an artistic skating group - doing competitons soon
  • Ice skating, 2.5 years artistically
  • Ice Hockey, 2.5 years as well - did both side by side - going to tryout for hockey team outisde school with 99% certainty of getting in (jersey devils youth, princeton tiger lillies, or colonials)
  • Track, 2.5 years - potential essay topic on doing track with with asthma and other lung complications
  • Softball, 1 year, part of my schools team
  • Swimming, 6 years, quit due to lung issues - potential topic of my essay

Other Things:
Karate, 1.5 years
Taekwondo, 1 year
Wrote 500K word fanfiction on popular site (AO3) which has garnered immense popularity - yes i am trying to profit of my extremely well-written middle school fanfic leave me be :cry:
Skateboarded for 4 years, potential essay topic for negative stereotype placed on sb community
Speak English, Hindi, Gujarati, and Spanish fluently
Member of my school’s news channel as a host for 2 years (covid hit on my first year of middle school it was impossible)
Placed 1st in National History Day for group performance - topic was about Hollywood and I have a great love for the performing arts
Member of Unified Schools club - volunteer work for special needs children - potential essay topic

As for reccomendations, it all depends on my high school teachers.

Is there anything I should add and are my essay topics good?

THANK YOU !!! ( this means the world to me)

2

Why are you applying for 10th grade? I’m a bit confused here. You’re in 8th now?

The amount of financial aid is pretty important. If you need a massive amount that will make admissions difficult. Small amounts are less of a problem for the school.

Finally you might want to remove your actual name from the post.

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I’m not applying right now. I’ve decided to spend the year building up a respectable application so i can apply next year.

As for FA, I’m talking around 45%

ALSO HOW DO YOU EDIT THE POST I DONT KNOW HOW TO REMOVE MY NAME

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@helllohelohelo If you see a little pencil icon at the bottom of your post, you can use that to edit your post. However, I think there is a time limit for editing posts, and if you don’t see the pencil, that time limit may have expired.

@CC_Jon , can you help this user edit their post to remove their real name from the content of their first post?

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Hi! I was wondering why you wanted to go to a boarding school in the first place, and what kind you want to go to. There are some boarding schools that are better for STEM related students, and some that are better for humanities, so that’s why. It’s harder to see your interests from a middle school perspective with less clubs, ECs, awards, and such being offered to you.

Since you are planning to apply in 10th grade, luckily you will have all of 9th, and I would just try to get 97-100% in all of your classes and have a good EC list there. For your essay topics, I like the one about ballet (though for all, I’d try to keep them from being a sob story while also not unbelievably impactful). If you have anything that isn’t sports/activities related for an idea, that would introduce your character more, I would probably recommend that (also depending on how many essays you have). The stereotype topic also sounds good.

I think looking at the times, the only issue I can see from them is that the things you are currently doing haven’t lasted that long, and you have switched between a lot in the past. Again, though, you have over a year, so I would recommend really going for a few activities now (though it doesn’t matter as much as in college admissions).

I love the fanfiction part! That’s awesome. I used to want to go to a boarding school too, so I wish you the best of luck! A lot of those schools are really hard to get into, but definitely try to add a lot of passion to your essays and form good relationships with your teachers.

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Hey!

The reason I want to go to a BS is because of the opportunities that’ll open up, as well as the kinds of people and teachers I’ll meet. The highschool i’m supposed to go to, even the catholic one I’m applying to, is SUPER STEM BASED and it affects gpa by a lot. It’s just my area in general that’s like that. I’m more of a performing arts kind of person and I hope these schools can not only educate me but allow me to pursue a career in one. I don’t suck STEM, but my whole life would be centered around them. specifically math :frowning:
With the BS I can be given the same advanced math education while also placing priority on other aspects of my character. I’ll also meet people who think the same way.
It’s also for better college opportunites as I’ve seen the highschool-Rutgers chain with almost everyone (not saying rutgers sucks, just not my top school)

(sorry if tht was alot)
As for the times, yeah I can see why you say that. Once I learned of BS’ existence, I decided to get off my butt and start doing things I’d been putting off so that’s why :sob:

Thank you!

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7

It’s clear you’ve thought this through a lot which is great! Again, best of luck! I think you’ll do great at any of the boarding schools, there are so many good ones. Phillips Exeter Academy is a really good one (if that’s your top pick), and is great for people who have a ton of activities and other interests along with academics (which I’m sure you already know). Keep up the great work in 8th and 9th!

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I understand your reasoning for applying for tenth grade, but I think that you would have a better shot at some of the schools if you tried for ninth grade, particularly if you need financial aid. Your record is good enough now to be a competitive admit at all those schools. Would your parents be open to you putting in an application for 9th grade and seeing what happens including how the financial aid falls out? Would you be able to put together an application in the next six weeks. I am pretty sure that most of those schools have apps that are due between Jan 10 and Feb 1.

Finally, Putney sticks out on that list as pretty different to me than most of the other ones --more progressive and arts focused than the traditional prep school and less sports focused. Also, I think Putney has an ice skating pond, but I don’t think it participates in interscholastic hockey and in general there are fewer competitive sports there than the other schools on your list. I think of Putney as almost the opposite of Deerfield culturally and fairly different academically, but I don’t know either school well since my kids (so far) did not apply to eitherIf you are interested in both traditional schools and progressive ones, you might want to add a few others to your list to include schools like George School or Westtown or maybe Concord. I don’t know much about the west coast schools, but if you are open to them, I get the sense that Thacher has a nice blend of arts + stem + progressive education.

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I would apply but my family is also in a pretty bad situation right now and just the combined cost of all the application fees is too much to ask. I know they offer full tuition but I don’t wanna risk it.

About Putney, I understand. Their athletics did disappoint me as I’d have to take a break from hockey and most of my other sports. Thing is outside that, they’re a pretty good school with a comfortable acceptance rate in case none of my other schools takes me. Not a safety, just a refreshing top school.

Thanks for the recommendations by the way, The George School looks awesome ! Maybe it’s just schools with trees as their logo that draw me in :sweat_smile:

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Post edited

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@helllohelohelo , when I was reading about what you wanted, George School seemed like one you should definitely check out. Even if there weren’t a tree in the logo!

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you have a TON of extracurriculars (even if they might be kind of shallow) and basically straight a’s?? i dont see what the problem is here. BS really isnt the end all be all of anything. pls do not stress urself over with this literally a whole year in advance. also admission to 10th is more competitive and if you need FA that’s also harder, your stats are fine as they are now and at the end it could all come down to how much money they have to FA applicants. just dont try to do anything for admissions. youre like 13 and there is a lot more to life and you’ll look back at everything you wrote here and your essay topics and laugh a few years down the road. let your 8th grade year play out on its own and participate where you want to and if you still are super interested by next fall you can apply.

13

I’m applying in 9th grade because my family seriously cannot afford BS right now and don’t want to put that burden on them. We’ll be doing a lot better in a years time so I’m waiting for that. And I’m this dedicated to BS because the career path I want to pursue is super competitive (literally acting) and I need all the help I can get.

And as for the stress, no this is not controlling my whole life. I promise I’m not those kids who make BS their whole reason for living and know I still have opportunities if I get rejected. I really appreciate your advice though and it’s people like you who saved me from being the kids I mentioned above :blush::blush::blush:

(My ec are not shallow they are all things I have a passion for :frowning:)

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if you are actually passionate about your ecs then i would say you have an insane amount (way more than me) and don’t need to worry about anything, maybe drop some of them to focus on a few because if they see that many, admissions counselors almost always assume they’re shallow. im not sure how going to a BS is going to get u closer to acting? unless u want to go to film school or something straight out of high school? i was kinda in the same phase as u in 2019 and lowkey obessing over it and got into a couple and ultimately decided to not go and i’m def glad im over that phase bc for most people there’s really no reason to lose your last four years as a child at home to board but if in a years time you still really want to, id say youre in a good position!

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I want to go to the yale school of drama (super ambitious ik) so I was really hoping BS would be a good stepping stone. You are right though, my love for cello and taekwondo has waned and I completely forgot about that. In fact, I really doubt they count. I’ll take your advice and put more effort into my other ecs !

16

Not necessarily true. Most schools have fewer spots for 10th but also have fewer apps. I am not worried for OP on this front. Sounds like they have a plan that works for their situation.

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Hi! If FA is important, if not critical, to you, then Peddie & Mercersburg should be on your list as well. Please review your list, it’s somewhat top-heavy.

19

Hey,

the list I’ve provided is of my top schools. I’ll also be applying to CSW and looking into the Hidden Gems thread for more. I’ll check out the schools you’ve recommended, thanks!

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yes the acceptance rate for both grades are similar but the major difference is that in 10th grade you are competing with many students who come from junior boarding schools that end in 9th grade and NEED to get into a boarding high school for 10th, and they have a TON of counselling from their current boarding schools and most likely are very qualified (rich internationals from china) and put lots of effort into their apps, with their current counselors and teachers all very good at vouching for them to get into their first or second choices. so for an average student coming from a public school, it is harder. but yeah if op wants to apply for 10th thats fine i just made a very small comment about that. also im pretty sure yale school of drama is a graduate school?? like thats not related to where you go to hs bc that’s a whole different process almost 10 years from now (things change, too)

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