Accepted: Westover
Waitlisted: Miss Porter’s, St. Mark’s, Concord Academy, Putney, Middlesex, NMH, Brooks
Rejected: Hotchkiss
Attending: Westover '24!!
Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: I ended up submitting my 97%ile (I did take the SSAT this year but it ended up being worse than a 97%ile so I didn’t submit it)
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 4.0/4.5
• Rank: NA
• Other stats: NA
Subjective:
• Interviews:
One great (Putney), most were average, and a few that weren’t the greatest (Hotchkiss and Middlesex). Overall, I think they could have been better. My social skills have definitely deteriorated since the pandemic and I was much less charismatic that I might have been last year. I do think some of the stories I told were impressive, but they weren’t extraordinary or exceptional.
• Essays:
I put most of my energy towards these this year. And I think they turned out great! They weren’t the best writing, of course, but I feel that they represented who I am. A few days ago, I had to use some of my essays for a summer program I applied to and surprisingly, I wasn’t super embarrassed by what I had wrote (which I think says a lot). I had a few people look over them and got generally positive feedback. My only regret is leaving some of the editing for the last minute. Some of it ended up being rush but I don’t think it will have impacted the quality too much.
• Math Rec: Probably good! The way our math class is structured this year has very little teacher-student interactions, but I don’t think I’ve left a negative impression on my teacher.
• English Rec: Also probably good. At the time he submitted it, I hadn’t had the chance to talk in class and I don’t think I was too passionate about what we were learning. Still, I don’t think it was negative.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: I asked the same person I did last year and I think I know this recommender the best. So hopefully really good! I ended up asking one of my student council advisors.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: This year I asked my principal since I don’t know my guidance teacher at all. I think this one will be really good as well! She also acts as a student council advisor from time to time and I think she likes me.
• Sports (if any): None! My school doesn’t have any and club sports haven’t been an option.
• Instruments (if any): Recreational guitar
Other ECs (if any):
- Executive Council Member (by appointment; PR Outreach)
- Yearbook (by application)
- Mid-level administrative position on an online NPO
- Sewing projects
- Longboarding
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Autonomous Robotics Club
Location/Person:
• State or Country: NH, USA
• Current School Type: Public Charter
• Ethnicity: Asian American
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 10
• Age: 15
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Significant Financial Aid
Strengths: Definitely my essays and my stats.
Weaknesses: Mainly having a lot of average aspects of my application. Interviews, as I said before. My recommendations were definitely just average for people in the boarding school crowd. I think my extracurriculars were pretty average as well. And being an ORM and needing a lot of financial aid as a new sophomore was definitely a weakness.
Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Though I can’t be sure, I think my financial aid had a lot to do with my decisions. At Putney, I asked and they told me that they couldn’t afford to give many students large amounts of financial aid. I like to think that in a non-pandemic year, or if I was applying as a new freshman, that I might have had more choices because my above average essays could have pushed the rest of my average application into the accept pile. But maybe because I was applying for sophomore year in a crazy year for applications, the bar was raised and my need for financial aid brought my application further down. But really, who knows! This is just what I’ve been thinking.
Also, a part of my financial package for Westover included a few thousand dollars from a regional scholarship, which the other schools didn’t have. I thought that this scholarship might have made me a more likely candidate because they didn’t have to pay as much to get me to go? Again, who knows, just guessing.
Some advice:
Widen your net!!! Apply to a lot of schools!!! I spent months crafting my list, making sure that every school I would be happy at. Though I had some doubts later into the application process (particularly about Westover and Brooks), I’m very very VERY glad I kept them.
And I also think it’s important to focus a lot more on the personal aspects of your application, like your essays and your interview. Academically, I remember hearing from a Porter’s AO that they consider the teacher recommendations the most, then tests and grades. I don’t know if that’s true with other schools, but just in case it is (and even if it isn’t), make sure to be friends with your teachers!
Since March 10th, I’ve done a lot of research on Westover, visited the campus, and found a bunch of Westover Instagram meme accounts. Everything I find and learn furthers my enthusiasm for the school and I wholeheartedly believe I will love it there. I’m super super excited for the fall!
— to push me to work harder!)