Demographics
International student
Currently in 10th Grade applying for 11th
Applying to Phillips Exeter & Andover
Indian
All India rank5 in the smart circuits competition out of 8000 students.
Played in CBSE clusters for track and athlete(National level)
The youngest member in ATL of school INITIATIVE of the Indian government
reached Phase 6 of the ATL marathon (you meet the prime minister upon qualifying to phase 7)
Techfest Semifinalist twice( Biggest technology fest of Asia)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Straight A’s consecutively for last 3 years with a mean of 95%
Class Rank: 1
SSAT score: R-638 Q-788 V-659
Extracurriculars
Part of the school student council for the past 5 years, consecutively.
School team track and athlete
Part of Atal Tinkering Labs
Programming & making embedded systems in my free time.
Essays/LORs/Other
Received LOR from the English teacher, math teacher, and the principal
Cost Constraints / Budget
Will be applying for financial AID
I am really good academically scoring at the top of my class in all subjects which include
math, physics, chem, biology, history, civ, geography, economics, and English.
My last year’s scores were:
Math: 98.83%
Science(It’s given overall): 85.5%
Social ( also given overall): 99%
English: 92%
I have Hindi as a 2nd language but I don’t think that really counts.
My optional subject is Computers and I have a 100% score on it.
I wanted to edit my thread but couldn’t do it so here is the revised post:
Demographics
International student
Currently in 10th Grade applying for 11th
Applying to Phillips Exeter & Andover
Indian
All India rank5 in the smart circuits competition out of 8000 students.
Played in CBSE clusters for track and athlete(National level)
The youngest member in ATL of school INITIATIVE of the Indian government
reached Phase 6 of the ATL marathon (you meet the prime minister upon qualifying to phase 7)
Techfest Semifinalist twice( Biggest technology fest of Asia)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Straight A’s consecutively for last 3 years with a mean of 95%
Class Rank: 1
SSAT score: R-638 Q-788 V-659
Extracurriculars
Part of the school student council for the past 5 years, consecutively.
School team track and athlete
Part of Atal Tinkering Labs
Programming & making embedded systems in my free time.
I was also a game developer for 2 years on roblox.
I have been tinkering and making projects with Arduino since 2016
I invented a few devices which are currently in the process of being patented
I started a company when I was 9 with the aim of making embedded system and made around 500$
I also started a model rocketry club 2 years ago
I prepared the previous year to give IOQM( International olympiad qualifier of mathematics) but couldn’t give it altho I plan to give it the following year.
I was given state rank 13 out of 80000 students alone in my state and was accepted into a top tier batch of one of the most reputed coaching institutions of India.
I am currently a merit scholarship holder in my school for the past 4 years Essays/LORs/Other
Received LOR from the English teacher, math teacher, and the principal
I had my interview with exeter that went really well and ended with a note of the interviewer hoping to see me in Exeter next fall.
My essays are a work in progress, I have shown them to my current English teacher and the remark was that she found them phenomenal.
Cost Constraints / Budget
Will be applying for financial AID
Although I’m not qualified to chance you, I would recommend applying as a repeat 4th former (10th grade) so you have a higher chance of getting in. Also the admissions rate at these schools for an international applicant are really low, so if you are really set on going to boarding school, I recommend that you apply to more schools with a higher admissions rate. You seem like a terrific applicant and I wish you good luck.
Thank you for the information @BSClass27
I have also applied to Groton and Deerfield altho it’s not possible for me to apply for a repeat 10th grade. Thank you for those kind words.
I would really caution you to try and find a way to repeat 10th grade. My understanding is that boarding schools only admit new juniors as athletic recruits, while sophomore year is a major entry point (my grade, for instance, received ~10 new juniors compared to ~70 new sophomores).
You’re already at a disadvantage for being international, especially given that India is generally overrepresented. While your profile is great, admissions are just so unpredictable at this point that you might want to make that choice to maximize your chances. Plus, you’ll get an extra year at the school, which will make for a much better experience!
Thank you for the reply @confusedaboutFA. I have applied for 11th grade in my application and moreover, I have my board exams starting in January and continuing into march which makes it difficult for me to find time to apply to more schools. Do you think I have higher chances at other schools? and if so which ones?
There are very few students from India who matriculate to US boarding schools. But there are loads of US Indian students who apply each year. So you are under-represented in one sense, but over-represented in another.
I know that Andover has a scholarship specifically for Indian students. Not sure about Exeter. The biggest issue I see is that you need financial aid. That will make things very difficult for you.
I agree with the others, you should try to recharacterize your application as 10th grade repeat. This will increase your chances.
I just looked at your SSAT scores again. You didn’t list the percentiles, but my guess is that your reading and verbal scores are close to the 50th percentile. Your math/quant score is quite high though.
What is your overall percentile? If its lower than mid 80s then I think you’ll have a difficult time at Exeter. They will wonder if you can handle the work, as US boarding schools focus heavily on reading/writing.
Ok thanks, that certainly puts into perspective. In that case, I agree with the others that the SSAT score might be a little low. Exeter has one of the highest mean SSAT scores in the US. Typically scores in the mid 80s (or low 90s) would be competitive. They do accept students with lower scores, but these students have some special hook (athlete, wealthy donors, legacy, etc).
You can also consider less competitive boarding schools. There are plenty of schools whose mean SSATs are lower. The only issue again is financial aid. Only a couple of boarding schools accept students without regards to financial aid (need-bleed). The rest take need into account when offering admission (need-aware). This means that students who are full-pay have an advantage.
You SSAT scores are hard to determine based on the overall score rather than the percentile which ranks you with others in the same grade who took the test as well as the same sex. You are not an 8th grader entering 9th, but for that year, these would be extremely low scores for reading and verbal. I think you need to take a TOEFL test as well, have you done this and what is that score?
Additionally what does a class rank of 1 mean without context? Nothing. Is it a class of 10 or a class of 1,500? BIG difference.
You may want to broaden your school search a bit based on test scores but remembering that it isn’t always about a single point like test scores. If your academics truly show long term success, that says a lot more than perhaps a single point in time exam. I would try to highlight the leadership and initiative in your EC list. I don’t know that “tinkering and making projects” really defines what you have done since 2016, you don’t want to sound like you’ve played video games and made crafts for the last 6 years. What about starting the rocket club? What is this about, is it 4 friends that hang out in the backyard shooting off rockets or have you grown a weekly club at school with 100 members who host a series of community events of rocket building and contests? Inventing a few devices that are in the process of being patented. What kinds of devices, who might they benefit, what will they do (help society?), and what stage of patent process are they in as there is a big difference of wanting to patent them, thinking about getting the process started, paperwork filed, waiting on the patent approval. Sell yourself, don’t just give a laundry list.
I was under the impression both Exeter and Andover are need-blind (and no other boarding schools are), and that said policy applies to domestic and international students alike. If not, then OP is demographically in the worst possible category, unfortunately enough.