My child is applying for 7th grade next year and I am wondering what scores he should aim at? I, myself, have a theatre background and have a very hard time navigating the waters of competitive prep school admission. A few parents I have talked to, pretty much implied to me not to bother applying with scores below 8s or 9s (regarding top tier schools). At this point, my son has scored 2 9s, but sadly he also has a 5 and a 7. I am wondering whether we just wasted time applying to schools. If we reapply again next year, what scores should he aim at? I realize we live in a competitive world, but it would be nice to shelter my child from facing failure at twelve years of age if chances are more than likely that he will be rejected. Overall credentials - he has decent grades at school, some very high, some average. He has a sea of extra curricular activities, but by no means is a top of the line student with 4 9s and 4.0 GPA. If anyone has some advice, or has gone through a similar experience with their child, I would greatly appreciate all and any input.
I would not be discouraged from trying, one highly academic school told us they wonder about fit below (or maybe at?) a 5. Assuming the two high scores are in the same area (math versus verbal) all you need to do is concentrate on the other area, plus many kids have lopsided scores. In your shoes I assume you will need to be prepared to ask very pointed questions about what the school can do to accommodate a child with super high scores in the area(s) of strength.
Are you talking about day or boarding? I’m assuming day. It’s hard to answer your question because boarding schools publish a lot of this data but day school seem not to. So probably talking to friends and neighbors is more productive because they will be familiar with the local days schools. There’s no harm in actually reaching out to the schools you’re interested in as well to get a feel from them.