I’ve realized that I really want to go to a boarding school, but my parents have paid the fees to Exeter, Andover, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, and Choate and won’t allow me to apply to any more schools because they think it is too much and aren’t willing to pay for any other schools. Is there anything that I can do to improve this situation?
I can only observe that that your list is exclusively low admit schools, in a year with more applicants.
You need to add some schools that have a higher admit rate. Explain that you might have a better chance of getting in, and be considered more desirable (financial aid).
Also, ask for application fee waivers, based on your financial need. Your parents can’t complain about additional cost if there is none. 
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Find a way to earn the money yourself, or earn the equivalent by doing chores around the house, taking care of a younger sibling, etc.
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@ameridad @stalecookies Thank you for the information but the problem isn’t just financial. My parents are very adamant about the fact that I can only apply to the best boarding schools and they don’t want me applying to more than six because they don’t believe that boarding school is important enough to spend so much time on it. I don’t think there is a way to convince them as I have already brought it up, so I was wondering if there was any way to improve my chances. Sorry for the unclarity!
Define “best”.
Oh wait, they’re going for “best known”. Yeah, part of the low admit rate is that 90% of prep school applicants apply to at least 2 of the “top 10” schools - or at least it sometimes feels that way.
Different boarding schools serve different purposes, and are the “best” for different people.
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How about this: Take a step bac, address their concerns first before trying to argue with them that their idea of only applying to the best schools is wrong. Maybe they’re concerned that you’re just trying to run away from them so that you’re applying to whichever boarding school that you can get into? Maybe they think the local school’s quality is pretty good that going to a 2nd rate boarding school is a worse option than going to the local school for you? Then pick one additional boarding school that you really want to apply and lay out why that school is the best fit for you - maybe they have the best sports team that you’re good at, or the best academic program you’re good at, and then lay out why you think the chance of you get into that school is also the best. Maybe that would work a bit better for you? Good luck!
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She’s only applying to boarding schools that are near impossible to get into.
If she were applying to “whichever boarding school that (she could) get into” there’d be schools with a 50% admit rate on her list.
While it may be that their reasoning is that the local/current school is good, I would really like you and @pearlescentrose to rethink what is a “2nd rate boarding school”, because frankly you’re getting a bit offensive.
Many of these “second rate schools” offer as high quality educational opportunities as the “best” schools - and in some cases, even better opportunities, depending on the applicant.
And as some have pointed out, going to these “best” schools does not necessarily give you an advantage when you apply to Harvard. (Not that Harvard is a goal for my child. Thank goodness, or we’d have to disown the kid.)
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Thanks for your perspective Stalecookies! Honestly I don’t know about schools well either and in fact I need lots of help in my own applications too so please don’t feel offended by my comments; always appreciated your suggestions and advices.
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I think it’s a good idea to keep in mind that her parents think that she can only apply to the “best” schools. @pearlescentrose does not think these are the “best” schools.
@pearlescentrose has been on the forum for a good couple of months and I’m sure she already knows that rankings and popularity aren’t good measures of a good school or a good fit school. I don’t this was the advice she were looking for.
It seems really difficult to improve your chances quickly without adding higher-accept schools. Maybe you could ask your parents why they don’t want you to apply to more schools if it isn’t financial?
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@pearlescentrose I love that you are driving the process and that you are committed enough to be making this happen for yourself!
I can’t quite tell when you say you want to “improve your chances” what you mean? Do you mean improve your chances of getting into that list of schools? Or improve your chances to get your parents to allow more applications?
Assuming it’s the latter –
If it’s not financial, but about the time to apply, then I think you can make a very strong case for dropping a few of the low-admit schools and finding a few higher admit schools that are on SAO, since that would be one application more, but you could send it to multiple schools super easily.
Also, something you said is jumping out to my ears - that your parents don’t think boarding school is worth a lot of time. It makes me wonder if there is going to be a bigger issue here with the amount of time and other resources it will take if you actually do go to boarding school. The application process is a piece of cake compared to what comes next.
I don’t want to sound like a Debby downer here, but ultimately I think what happened is that you might have jumped the gun and picked the wrong schools if you are only applying to a few.
That is in the past and this is where you are now, so your job now is to decide what is the next right thing to do. In my mind, it’s either: 1. drop a couple of schools and do a few higher admit schools through SAO or 2. keep the schools, and add a few higher admit schools through SAO. (Option 3: apply to that list as-is and accept the real risk that you will not have options come march 10th and it will NOT be because you aren’t awesome, but because you didn’t cast the net wide enough.)
In your corner!
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