Hello, I’m a new member but I’ve read many threads here and found that it would help me out so much to ask questions here. I am an international student from South Korea, male, and its been like 4 years since I came here, so my English is almost as good as my other friends. I am in 9th trying out for 10th, and I live around Philadelphia area (if this matters). I went to a Catholic gradeschool and I am in a Catholic high school now. I recently had an interview at Hill and the one for Choate is coming up in few days! Here are my stats and please chance me for theses schools…
SSAT 89%
Math 92% ( Im pretty sure)
Verbal about 70%
Reading about high 70s%
I earned current High School Scholarship
9th grade 1st quarter - Distinguished Honors
Bio 99
8th grade overall grades - As
Sports Participation
Current High School Wrestling JV Team
8th grade Basketball
8th grade Baseball
Few School Volunteers
Toys for Tots
Operation Santa Claus 2014
etc…
Outside school community services, I am an assistant teacher at Korean School.
Im able to play clarinet, although never won any awards, and I love drawing (again, no awards)
I think my weakness is that I have never earned as much awards or recognition as other applicants and my nationality.
Im able to speak fluent Korean, English, and I take Spanish at my school as 3rd language. Please chance me!
Your stats are basically flawless. As long as your interview, your recommendations, and your essays are good, I say, you get in. And please, take a look at my recent chance. I’m applying too!
@joebspy5 where are you basing this opinion off? OP, I know that the application deadline is long gone by now, but youe PSAT scores are concerning (most students applying to these schools earn 90%+ on all tests, and that’s including those from feeder middle schools. Hence if you are coming from a catholic school and want to stand out, you should be getting 95%+). You should emphasize certain extracurriculars that are unique more in your essays. Your extracurriculars seem too weak imo to do much with, but if you can take an alternative route such as discussing philosophical ponderings to demonstrate the depth of your thought and maturity in your essays, you have a slim chance of pulling it off.
espcially for choate, pa, and lville, unless you have great essays, I don’t believe they are the best fit. Even if you are accepted, you may have a hard time earning satisfactory grades which may inhibit the range of colleges you can later apply to.
If you plan on applying again next year, I recommend you work on getting some recognition or involvement in your extracurriculars. Good luck through the process. Don’t hang around college confidential so much at this age - it can dress you out more than you need it
Chill big boy I’m right your wrong. You have no idea what your doing. For all of those schools, the average ssat score is 85th percentile. They want A students, and he fits those categories very well. And he didn’t even take the PSAT so chill out fam
I agree with @joebspy5. Though your list of EC is brief, your GPA and SSAT are both very solid and in range. If you don’t get an acceptance on M10, it will most likely be due to the limited 10th grade spots available.
@joebspy5 don’t mean to be picky but it’s you’re not your. Also the international pool is a lot more selective especially from South Korea which is one of the most competitive pools
@joebspy5 from your tone of voice I’m guessing you are a middle schoole student. I feel like as an upperclassman attending a school in the league of those above-mentioned boarding schools I think am less likely to “have no idea what I’m doing” than you. I don’t want to instigate an argument and I’m sorry if you interpreted what I said like that - I realize my tone was a bit confrontational, but I meant my question as a genuine remark. On the other hand, I think giving advice on this thread is less about “having each other’s back” and more about trying to be honest and helpful so that the OP has a better sense of what to do from now on. Constructive criticism, if the reciever is ready for it, can in fact be beneficial and from the fact that the OP has put their self out here, I am assuming they are ready for this aid.
Also sorry for the slip up; I meant SSAT not PSAT, though if OP applies again next year he/she/zhe may be taking the PSAT in the fall