Hmmm I’ll take a look at the George school. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it from friends and other people in my music community.
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OK. Keep in mind that with so many competitions out there, what matters much more than the competitions is how you play on the video. Make sure your playing on the video is as good as it can be, and that you are well dressed and well-groomed. Beyond that, try to include something in your applications that speaks to ensemble work, such as orchestral or chamber music. The schools want strong, collaborative musicians.
Also, assuming you are Asian, and especially if male, your SSAT is a little low. Don’t go crazy trying to get it higher, but learning some more vocab, etc., might be a low-cost way to raise your score potentially and put you in a slightly more competitive light. And it can’t hurt anyway.
Probably the best advice has already been offered by others: if you really want to go to boarding school, apply to more schools, including ones with less daunting admissions statistics.
What is your goal when you think about attending BS? Is it to be the best musician you can be? To be well rounded? To have a meaningful high school experience? Think about what you ultimately would like the next four
years to look like and expand your list accordingly. You picked only three schools and they are all very selective.
For music, you can think about Walnut Hill (and Rivers if it is commutable for you since you are in MA) or Interlocken.
To be well rounded, Peddie, George, Middlesex, St. Andrew’s, Deerfield, Concord Academy
For a meaningful experience, there are so many great “hidden gems” that would love someone with your combination of qualities and have higher admission rates than the schools you applied to. They probably will not provide the level of music instruction you are seeking, however.
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Regarding swimming, did you tell them why you stopped swimming competitively? Was it injury? Lack of time to practice? If you can’t pick up swimming quickly, it may not be helpful in coaches’ eyes. Those schools have large swim teams, but I guess the coaches will only recruit impact swimmers. Very limited number indeed, and you will have to compete with AG state record holders in many cases. This means a top 20 in NY, particularly not current, however impressive by itself may not be enough unfortunately. Or it could be the case that you are a breaststroker and the coach is looking for a flyer.
We are all guessing here. No one knows exactly why you are waitlisted. Just like no one knows why if you are admitted either. You are a wonderful student. As I said in your other thread, you are no worse or even better than many who are admitted. As long as you keep improving, chances are good next year.
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Usually their students have a ssat score of at least 2300-2350+, and what are your acceptances? A lot of my friends who eventually attended those three found it’s really difficult to get a perfect gpa in those three schools so it might be a positive result that you have to attend one of the less competitive high school.
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For the SSAT I submitted the wrong score. I got a 94 percentile for my 3rd try but when my parents submitted the score they accidentally submitted the 84 percentile one. We noticed a week before March 10th. I applied for 2 other schools (Andover and Choate) but got rejected from those. I thought I would get into Deerfield since I had connections with the staff there so I didn’t apply for other schools.
My goal for applying to bs is to be a more well rounded student. Walnut Hill and the other bs music schools aren’t really my type since I don’t really want to major solely in music in college. I’m planning to apply to safetys next year like Commonwealth or Bua.
The reason I stopped swimming competitively was because of the injuries I got swimming. As soon as I healed from the injuries I got another one almost immediately. I told them about my frequent injuries I faced while swimming and training competitively. I was a breastroker, and for a while when I was late 10 early 11, I was a top 100 breaststroker in the US but faced a knee injury soon after.
I took the SSAT 3 times and got a 94 percentile the 3rd time. My parents submitted the wrong score. We noticed a week before decision date. I know about the competitiveness of the schools, as most of my friends attended them, but I think I could get decent grades there.
My friends really liked schools like Mercersburg, Kent, The Hill, Westminster, Loomis etc. Those schools are a little less competitive and you might have more time to do things outside the classroom. I know a lot of people who scored 99th percentile or a perfect 2400 and still not getting into any of the top 10 boarding schools.
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FYI In past years kids on this list didn’t get into BUA or Commonwealth and did get into some top BS. While I do 100% agree their acceptance rates are likely quite a bit higher than the tippy top BS (though I have never seen them published)- considering them “safeties” may be an overstatement. And if they think you are using them as a safety, that will not help your case I am sure.
In part because they are so so small, they really need to craft a class carefully… I would wager most kids at both schools are highly qualified for most BS and just don’t want that experience. There are definitely off-the-charts smart talented kids at both. (This year BUA had 5 national merit semi-finalists out of ~50 seniors; Commonwealth 6 out of ~35. In comparison Andover had 11 out of 330).
I also know lots of kids who got into one, and not the other indicating it is not a given.
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OK. Well, it is very unlikely that the SSAT was the difference maker. However, this next suggestion, if you followed it, might be a future difference maker for you for college as much as for boarding school, assuming your hands are reasonable size (or larger):
Switch to Viola.
Good violinists are plentiful at any age, so it’s less of an advantage for admissions. I am sure most of the “top” boarding schools have at least a few. However, good violists are exceptionally rare so likely a much bigger advantage. Most boarding schools likely struggle to find any.
I would put BUA and CommonWealth as safeties for me because in my town at least 5-8 people get into one of these schools even with low SSAT scores and extra circular activities.
Yeah, I feel like sometimes the bs looks at how much they can contribute to the community or have some crazy extra circular activity instead of being academically crazy.
I already play viola. I play viola for BYSO and for school because they are lacking and the conductors sometimes let me help around since I have more experience than the giola mains.
Similarly to viola for violin, have you considered crew? It’s a relatively easy switch for swimmers. If you are tall and have good ERG time, you could attract attention from the coaches. Of course I don’t know anything about your injury, but crew uses some different muscles and you might be able to do it.
I think you’re missing @L_NewEngland 's point.
Apply to schools that you would want to go to. Safties are not safeties if they sense that you’re only applying to them as a safety.
What you can improve on is your understanding of yourself - your learning style, your personality, and what sort of environment you’ll thrive in, and craft your list accordingly.
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Often forgotten is the fact that many of these schools are looking for nice kids - kids who are going to be kind to and support others in the community. Consider how your essays, interviews, and letter of recommendation might highlight this quality.
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If you are applying to be a tenth grader, your “safety” list may look considerably different than it would as a ninth grade candidate. For smaller schools, there may be only a handful of seats (if even) for students entering as sophomores. And the acceptance rate might be much smaller than that of a large school (boarding or day) that historically tries to add a significant cohort in tenth grade.
While I don’t know the two schools, if one has a senior class of 50 and the other has a senior class of 35, they may be the sort that only admit to the upper grades if there has been attrition. Just call the admissions office and double check before assuming they will be safeties for you.
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I’m thinking of reapplying as a 9th grader, not applying as a 10th grader. They usually accept a lot of 9th graders and a few older kids from what I’m hearing from my friends in CommonWealth and BUA. For me I would consider them safeties because of the few amount of kids apply and kids accept. Their acceptance rates are at 40% and looking at the people who get accepted, they don’t have as much competition on whos getting accepted.