<p>I applied to boarding school last year as an incoming sophomore and got wait listed at my dream school. I love my current competitive private high school but I'm looking for a change and my home life isn't really ideal for school right now. I like my school but I feel like the only thing that seems to matter to everyone is grades and friendship comes second in many cases. I also really want more diversity in class choice to do what I really love. It's really small but I don't feel comfortable going into college with 32 people in a grade to at least 2,000+ in the future. As a freshman, my grades were at about a B+ to B range with geometry and my poor scoring on finals (the majority of my A's were brought to B's with the midterms and finals). I play volleyball, softball, do science fair, Yearbook, Girl Scouts (I'm working on my Gold Award), Lit Mag (literature mag), and Model UN. I did about 90 hours of community service working with an environmental science center and helping the community in Mississippi with my church by painting and cleaning. Here are my classes this year:
Chemistry
AP Euro
Algebra II
British Literature
Economics/Global Issues in Latin America (normally for seniors and juniors only)
Spanish III
Currently my grades aren't that great because on three of my first tests, I managed to bomb them. But, I've been working really hard to bring them up and I'm sure that I can do well. I think that I can get into the National Honors Society as the average to get in is a 87 average and up (to put this in perspective for the jaw-dropping of some students, our salutatorian got in early-acceptance to Harvard last year with a 3.9 grade point average) and most of my teachers like me. I would absolutely love to go to the school I got wait listed to and any advice on application chances would be most appreciated. </p>
<p>Also, how do you feel an incoming junior would fit in? I don't want to be the awkward kid with no friends.</p>
<p>It is more challenging to integrate, not just socially, but academically in the junior year-- nevertheless, it is do-able. </p>
<p>Have you considered applying as a repeat sophomore? Your chances of being admitted as a sophomore and of integrating as a sophomore are probably greater than as a junior. The top schools had PLENTY, PLENTY, PLENTY of repeats, so you will not be alone in that. Discuss the option at your interview.</p>
<p>I’ve never thought about being a repeat sophomore because I’ve always considered myself pretty smart and I don’t think I’d feel comfortable doing it. The classes are very rigorous at my school and I don’t mind going the extra mile to prove myself, and not to repeat a grade. It may sound silly but repeating a grade just isn’t something I could see myself doing.</p>
<p>THERE IS NO STIGMA to repeating in an elite school. It is considered normal by the prep schools and by colleges. The top schools will assign you to classes according to your ability, not your grade. So you will not be repeating material.</p>
<p>As I suggested earlier, discuss it w the AO at your interview. Repeating could mean the difference between being admitted as a sophomore applicant or being rejected as a junior applicant. There are simply more spaces available for new sophomores.</p>
<p>You mention that your grades are brought down by test scores. Are you graded on things like homework or something? I would address this issue before anything else.</p>
<p>When a student does everything the teacher asks and then doesn’t do well on the exam, there is usually one of two things going on. Either the work the teacher is assigning isn’t helping the student learn the material, or there is a slow processing speed that prevents the student from completing the test on time. If you have plenty of time to complete the exams but just don’t know the material, then you need to start taking matters into your own hands. My daughter had this issue when she took chemistry. The material that the teacher was assigning was not helping her understand the concepts. Unfortunately, the review sheets and packets were a part of her grade so she had to do them, even though they didn’t help her. We have regents exams for core subjects that appear on transcripts in our state and she was really concerned about having a low score. Fortunately, her school had a policy that stated that if your regents exam score was higher than your class average (and above an 85), it would count as your final grade for the class. So my daughter made the decision to forego the unhelpful, but graded, assignments that were assigned during the last quarter and use that time to actually learn the material. Since she didn’t turn in all the review work, her class average was very low, but she scored in the 90s on the regents and that became her final grade. I tell you this story because sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do. Sometimes, the way a teacher presents things just doesn’t jibe with the way a student learns. Before you think about going to prep school, you need to fix this issue of not doing well on tests because if test scores are bringing your grades down now, they will even more in prep school because it’s likely that, 1) the tests won’t be easier than they are at your current school and 2) they will count for more of your overall grade.</p>
<p>If the issue isn’t that you don’t know the material, but that you just run out of time on the tests, then you should look into screening for a processing speed disorder that will grant you extra time on tests. But if your SSAT scores were high, this likely isn’t the case.</p>
<p>The low test grades really concern me, if you can’t tell. :)</p>
<p>As for your original question, would you be the awkward kid with no friends, that really depends on you. The returning kids are generally eager to get to know the “new kids” so all you really have to do is let them know you. I would worry more about the academics. Junior year is especially important for college applications and the admissions committee has to believe that you will be able to hit the ground running.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I had some personal (anxiety) and family issues this semester and I got two high C’s and the rest were B’s. I know I will do better this semester as it was because it was a circumstance thing. If I have all A’s next semester, do you think that applications offices will pass it off if I can explain the circumstances?
Any suggestions of what to do?</p>
<p>When I say tests, I mean finals. I have a lot of trouble with memorizing very specific information for a four month time period and while I can do general concepts, I have an especially hard time with finals because of the amount of information that we actually have to know. I don’t have volleyball after school anymore but my grades have been slowly improving (my highest grade is in Chemistry actually!). I’m doing better and my teachers understand a bit but I just am not warming up to my school like I thought I would.</p>
<p>Hey there! We have so much in common academically (at least in math) and through extracurricular volunteering etc! For freshman year I ended up with a 3.65 due to finals bringing me down too so I totally understand where your coming from. I recommend to show your absolute best qualities through your interview and get the absolute best people to write your recommendations take in consideration where they graduated from college too. Study study study for the ssats or psats and try your best in your classes 90s and above to bring up your gpa until you send in your transcript! If you do get rejected you will have no regrets or doubts because you not only tried again but gave it your all. I think you will be totally fine if you get accepted as a junior as long as you are aware of the many different backgrounds of the students on campus and are a very friendly open minded person. Prove to the admissions officers that your want to thrive at their school and maybe give them ideas or goals you want to accomplish on their campus to show your leadership. Or to show what you will contribute as a student. It’s totally nerve racking I know about the grades and stuff but there’s obviously more to you! And haha that person that recommended you should repeat 4th form said the same thing to me and I had the same response you had. Just apply as a junior. And think of brilliant questions to ask the admissions during the interview.</p>
<p>I wish you luck! (I’m going through the same process)</p>