<p>Apply for aid if you need it, definitely. Schools will sometimes let you in anyway, even if they don't give out aid, and you can always apply for aid the next year (or show different FA offers from other schools to try and up the ante, but don't go overboard with that). </p>
<p>Perhaps the higher percentage of non-FA admits has to do with higher percentage of legacy applicants who don't need aid??</p>
<p>Jonathan: In response to a question you asked "How much would admission officers care if I did an on-line course in Greek? I don't know about any other schools but I do know that St. Paul's wants to recruit students with some competence in Latin and Greek. If I were you, I would look very hard at applying for the classical honours programme at St. Paul's. Even if you do not get the classical honours entrance scholarship, it will influence how competitive you are for admission and for school FA.</p>
<p>It is, to my certain knowledge, quite easy to learn enough latin on your own to be eligible for admission to the Classical Honours Scholarship. The most brilliant self teaching latin course available is the The Nature Method Institutes "Lingua Latina" part 1 which you can find at alibris or somewhere under the author Hans Oerberg for about $20-30 if you are lucky. If you find someone to tutor you a little bit--perhaps your dad?--you can probably mount quite a credible application to St. Paul's, Groton or Andover in the Fall. From my perspective, which is quite simpathetic to your zeal by the way, you need to stop obsessing about things in the application process that you cannot control and focus on those you can--the essay and establishing a credible portfolio of what you bring to the place academically. Again, the surest way not to get in is not to apply. Go for it.</p>
<p>i remember it was around this time last year when my mom asked me to consider going to boarding school...i said yes because i've always sort of wanted to go to boarding school. wow jonathan k, in reality you are taking two years to apply, since you were asking questions already when the soon-to-be-freshmen were applying.</p>
<p>apply to all the schools you want, but remember that it's a huge headache filling out all those applications. very worrisome, and the essays were rather stressful for me, partly because some of them were repetetive (i admit i used the same essay more than once, which is fine). but good luck! u'll be on tenterhooks. i remember in jan. i marked each week as "so-and-so days/weeks until march 10...or was the date march 10? losing my memory. </p>
<p>remember, dont get overconfident, there are thousands out there with the same GPA/ets that you have, but dont beat yourself out either. (i remember this girl from last year's applicants who suggested being pessimistic so you wouldnt be as disappointed if they rejected you, lol)</p>
<p>IluvA's, funny you say that, I remember as the accept notices got closer and closer the bravado weakened. Then the accepts came,and most everyone was on top of the world. When prospective preps did not get notices when others had,they again became pessimistic. Even as a parent it was difficult. There was a sense of wanting to protect our children from rejection. Reality says soon or later we will face some type of rejection, but it's still difficult. Such is the life of a prep wannabe.</p>
<p>I believe it was last year, the Boston Gobe had an article on bs's shortly after the March 10 time. They had interviewed a number of adcoms from various bs, speaking of the difficulty many parents had with kid rejection. There were some horror stories. Parents calling to attempt to buy thr way in, or saying you apparently have made a mistake. Foul language and other negative stuff.</p>
<p>paleozoic, I'm self-studying Modern Greek, not ancient. Would it still be of any significance to them?</p>
<p>Yes, of course. The key to admissions is a genuine and demonstrated interest in something. I am not sure whether modern greek will enable you to sit the Classical Honours scholarship exam but it will confirm an interest in classical languages if indeed you say you have this interest.</p>
<p>The reason why I'm learning it is because half my family is Greek. I'd like to learn everything about my heritage that I can, specifically the language.</p>
<p>When I got SPS' viewbook and application in the mail, they had something about the Classical Honors program. It looked really interesting. Maybe I'll try it...</p>
<p>The problem is that there are just so many foreign languages I want to learn. During high school, I'd like to take two languages at school (French and Spanish), and continue my self study of Greek.</p>
<p>If half your family is Greek why not play to strength and suggest to them that reading classical greek would be a wonderful way for you to embrace your heritage. I have yet to meet the first Greek grandparent who would not sink half the family fortune into the grandchildren in order to maintain rootedness in greek culture. </p>
<p>What you needed all along is a plausible focus for your desire to go to prepschool and a storyline to convince your parents to sink some money into this venture. Ergo, build your application around classical honours and both your problems are solved. For pedagogical reasons it is pretty tough to do classical Greek without some base in latin grammar. Coincidentally,the schools to which you most want to go believe that first year classical latin gives students you the best possible education there is. French and Spanish are pretty simple stuff after that and you can easily pick them up at university once you have some basis in latin. Your challenge right now is to get into a good prep school and classical honours would seem to give you a significant advantage in this respect. In my opinion, any of Andover, Exeter, Groton or St. Paul's would easily outshine Harvard or Princeton as the educational experience of a lifetime. Go for it!</p>
<p>So what you're telling me is that I should talk about my interests in Classical Greek, then if they like that and I am accepted then I should take Latin at the school?</p>
<p>The thing is, I want to learn a modern language. A language that I can actually communicate with people in. Millions of people. </p>
<p>The only thing that I can do in Greek is read. And that's Modern Greek. The alphabet is the same, though, isn't it? </p>
<p>Wouldn't they want someone who has been studying Latin all their life at some private school?</p>
<p>What paleozoic is arguing makes sense. You use the Greek story line to demonstrate both your desire to go to prep school and to convince your parents for finances, and you use the study of Latin as a gateway to the 1). Modern languages you want to learn and 2). Ancient Greek--->Modern Greek. At Andover, our introductory Greek course is extremely difficult without some previous experience in Latin.</p>
<p>So, right now, should I be trying to learn Latin and/or Ancient Greek?</p>
<p>At Andover and SPS, can students take more than one foreign language?</p>
<p>I really want to learn at least one foreign language while in high school. I was planning on taking two in school (Spanish and French) and trying to learn modern greek on my own during my high school years.</p>
<p>JK, I thought you were already taking Latin in school. Wow, I was confused.... Are you going to drop your current language. My 2nd d was thinking about Japanese, but she's entering 8th grade ad her 2nd year of Latin. Like I said to her, why give up 2 years of Latin when she enters high school. I hope you continue with your current language.</p>
<p>My public school doesn't offer a foreign language during middle school. They only offer it in high school. I don't know anything about Latin. lol.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>Jonathan:The only thing you can do with any language at a high school level is read. You are competing for a place in an elite school many of whose applicants already know two or three languages. for purposes of getting in you want to convince an admission officer that you have a passion for languages? (Remember at least half the other applicants will be saying the same thing) Ok which which languages? Half your family is Greek, can you speak and read Greek? Why not? Not much of a passion if you cannot even speak to your grandparents? Won't work will it?</p>
<p>I've told you a dozen times already. As a garden variety applicant you're all over the place and the only strong point in your favour is that you really want to go. Now tell them WHY you want to go. I thought classical honours would give you a "hook"--make you stand out from the pack. For what it is worth both my children knew two foreign languages fluently, had 99 percentile SSAT scores, straight A averages and still got rejected at several schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ok which which languages? Half your family is Greek, can you speak and read Greek? Why not? Not much of a passion if you cannot even speak to your grandparents? Won't work will it?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Let's see...</p>
<p>My dad's side of the family is Greek. My parents got divorced when I was two, thus losing the opportunity to learn Greek. </p>
<p>I don't know any other languages because I go to a mediocre public school in suburban Michigan with no foreign language opportunities. Hopefully by going to a school like Andover, Deerfield, or SPS would be great for learning a new language.</p>
<p>You said that at least half the people will be saying they have a passion for foreign languages...my passion is like... HUGE. I can't even explain it. I could just watch BBC all day and read a French instruction book. These other kids' "passion" for foreign languages doesn't even come close to mine. I hope I can make the interviewer realize this. </p>
<p>I need a hook, I know, but I can't really come up with anything...</p>
<p>Yes, going to any of those places would be great to learn a language. So would Peddie who has a strong international affairs focus and some scholarship money. I was'n trying to be snarky when I said you were all over the place. You need a focus as well as a hook. French and Spanish are very strong at St. Paul's as they are at Peddie or Andover. They all have deserving FA applicants with a "passion for languages ' coming out of their ears. You have to give them some reason to pick you rather than somebody else. Passion counts. The best hook I could think of was latin. Easy to do, gives a good base for French or Spanish, plus an entrance into Greek. As I told you before, if I were a Greek grandparent, I would fall all over myself to provide a grandson of mine with an entree to classical greek culture. Your dad is still wondering why St.Paul's rather than Ashbury--which from his perspective must be a fantastic school. The reason is St. Paul's can, and Ashbury cannot provide you with an entree into classical culture which he may not wear all that lightly on his sleeve. </p>
<p>My suggestion flat out is to sit the classical honours scholarship exam if you need it to make the financial wheels go roung but to do latin and French or Spanish. Both my kids carried two languages at St. Paul's. Since all your languages would be romance languages you could probably carry three: latin, french. spanish. Piece of cake.</p>
<p>Three languages at once? Wow... Wouldn't colleges look down on that?</p>
<p>So should I just pick up some latin books at the library and learn a bit of the language, then during my interview I should say I'm self-studying Latin and am interested in the classical honors program? I'm still a little confused...sorry.</p>
<p>Jonathan: I'm confused too and am beginning to feel that this conversation is beginning to resemble two squirrels going around a tree. I don't know in how many different ways I have to tell you this: you want to be admitted to Andover ostensibly because of your passion for languages and international affairs. You have available to you Ashbury College in Ottawa which has about the finest French programme in Canada plus a summer programme in France. Your parents, grandparents can obviously afford the fees to Ashbury ($16,000 day, $35,000 board) but they are going to plead poverty at Andover and you think miraculously that this would not affect your chances for admission. Get real. Tell your parents/grandparents that you want an education of a type that is only available to you at Andover/St. Paul's/Exeter and that you want to go there for the right reasons. If those reasons are languages, your dad will wonder why French at Andover would be so much better or different than French at Ashbury. If you tell him you are passionate about humanities and international affairs, he will probably tell you--he is Greek after all--that Greek culture lies at the heart of a true humanistic education and that you might avail yourself of a few snippets. Ok. that drops Ashbury from the equation and you are looking at Andover, St. Paul's, St. Marks Groton etc etc, in short the high end of the American preparatory schools. So for you, under your particular circumstances, the way into prep school is to do do latin in third form (grade nine). To my certain knowledge you can combine latin and french all the way through third to sixth form. Why would colleges look down on that? Lots of kids do two languages in prep school along with a full performance programme in music and AP standard mathematics and science. The standard is demonstrate that you made the most of your opportunities to educate yourself (plus of course a 1500+ SAT and outstanding recommendations from your teachers). Your problem right now is to focus on demonstrating in your application that you have both the passion to dream and the selfdiscipline to realize a dream.</p>
<p>Yes, but I don't want to lie on my application and say that I have an interest in Latin, because I don't.</p>
<p>I agree with you. Ashbury is a great school. What I will probably do is, if I don't get into any of the boarding schools with enough aid, then I will go to Ashbury or Greenhills.</p>
<p>Are you Canadian? If so, where do you live in Canada?</p>
<p>If you have no interest in Latin, I cannot see you having much of a hook as an FA applicant. For the record, two languages is relatively common at St. Paul's so French and Spanish or German and Latin or Chinese and Latin can easily be accommodated in the programme. It has become more common for Canadian students to transfer into St. Paul's from grade nine i.e., into fourth form. This is probably available to you at Andover or Exeter as well and gives you a year at Ashbury which is really a very good school</p>