For my application I have a fair amount of reach schools, and one safety school (NMH), but what would some match schools for me be? Any schools should be in MA, and maybe North CT and South NH, ('m from CT, but for family reasons I need to be there).
I have straight A’s in my middle school, and am in the highest level classes I can be in. My teachers like me, so the Recs should be pretty good. I am applying for ninth grade, not as a repeat, and I am a female from CT.
My SSAT’s are 99% for math and reading, and 94% for verbal with a 99% overall. I will not need any FA. I am very interested in science, math, and social science. I haven’t had any interviews yet, but they will probably be ok.
ECs I have been swimming for six years, and I am pretty good (just placed first in my meet for a 50 fly). I also take extracurricular math at the honors level (my school’s math is pretty boring because I already know it, and the classes challenge me). I also am in a Spanish Club, The Yearbook Club, and a book club.
Community Service I have not done any traditional community service, but I have experience helping the community during my years of being a foster family. Thank you so much. If I’m missing anything just tell me!
Have you tried searching via sites like boardingschoolreview? First use tools like that to try to get an idea of what sort of school appeals to you, then come back on CC if you have additional questions about any particular school. Feel free to browse through the CC archives. This question has been asked (and answered) many (many) times before.
Also, NMH and Concord (I don’t know enough about Governor’s to comment) should NOT be considered safety schools. I would advise more research to find a saftey school that fits you best.
Concord and gov’s do not have swim. It is actually hard to find schools with swim. Most smaller schools do not have teams. Some schools to think about could be Suffield and Loomis.
If swimming is important, also be aware while searching that many schools do not offer. My son primary sport is swimming, so it’s a deal breaker for him. There are many helpful related threads here. My family had learned a lot by searching archives.
He also has searched to see how his times compare to possible future teammates. First place in a 50 FLY–congrats!-- needs context. You could place first with a Slower than B, or with an AAAA time. His times are neither extreme, but he was a bit taken aback to realize he’s already faster at 12 than many preps. So, if he wants to improve as a swimmer, he needs to adjust plans accordingly. If he decides he wants to swim more for fun and fitness, it’s less of a factor.
the OP should go to www.boardingschoolreview.com where she can search for schools in the states she is interested in and further limit her search by schools with swimming programs, or whatever other search criteria is important to her. The site will then spit out a list of schools that match her criteria. It really is a wonderful tool. Once she has identified the schools she is most interested in and researched them on line, coming to a place like this for personal experiences and anecdotes might be helpful. Doing your search in the reverse order is counter-intuitive.
In my opinion as the mom of a swimmer, the easiest way to see if swimming “might” help would be to look at the conference results for last year. If your swimmer would score points, then there’s a good chance the coach would be initially interested. The New England prep school swimming site is www.nepssa.org. A quick review of last year’s results would seem to indicate that the top heat for any given event would need to be about a AAA swimmer (refer to usaswimming.org ). Ability to contribute to relays is certainly a plus and the 50 fly is important for the 200 medley relay; however, I imagine more depth is necessary.
Easterns is an all prep school meet with several boarding schools in attendance. At last year’s Easterns, Reece Whitley broke the 100 breast high school record.
@AppleNotFar very helpful. There are some nice times there! No danger of my son touching that breaststroke record. He’s a gangly, big footed kid who jokingly insists “giraffes” are built for backstroke. Ha! “Clean your room Son, or I’m entering you in the 200 BR.”
