Hi! I’m an incoming 9th grader (female) who is hoping to get into a private school (specifically Exeter, Andover, and Choate). My family income is about 100k a year, so I’m not sure if I will be able to get enough Financial Aid. I am usually able to test in the 99th percentile for standardized testing and I’m mostly interested in math and dance. (have several awards) My average during middle school was usually 97-98% though I heard my high school is much tougher. I was wondering if there were any Merit Scholarships (not connected to a specific school) that I could apply to. Thanks!
The two major merit scholarships that pay for high school (Jack Kent Cooke and Caroline C. Bradley) both require applications during the seventh grade year. Finalists are notify early in their 8th grade year so they can locate and plan for admission for ninth grade.
For threads in these boards, it seems like you have the credentials necessary for admission.
@JudiAU Unfortunately, I basically had no clue about private schools in 7th grade and it was something I found out in 8th grade so I wasn’t able to apply for those. However, any scholarship would be helpful, even if it is very minor. I did apply to Andover and Exeter last year, but got waitlisted on both, so I don’t know if/how that will affect things. Thanks for the information though! 
A family income of $100000 will qualify you for FA. Your family may need to pay something, but probably not a whole lot. I would definitely expand the search remembering that you are most likely to get the most generous FA from schools where you are a great fit. If you are at all interested in girls schools, some of those could be an option.
Mercersburg and George both have good FA and excellent academics, for example, but neither has the same vibe as the 3 you mentioned above.
All three schools you mentioned offer no merit scholarships, only need-based financial aid. They do meet 100% of your family’s demonstrated financial need as defined by them, however. Your family may qualify for some financial aid if you apply, but only Andover is completely need blind as of now so your FA application may adversely affect your admissions under certain situations.
@DaPenguin The vast majority of scholarship/FA money at the BS level is attached to the school. The two scholarship programs mentioned above do require application in 7th grade, and are so incredibly competitive that I would consider them a really tiny piece of the scholarship/FA picture.
Bottom line: you haven’t missed your big chance. It’s 99% connected to the school, and all of the schools you mentioned will absolutely have the resources to give you the FA you need if you are admitted.
Many (most?) schools have robust FA programs, so I would focus more on getting in at this point, and then come M10, you can compare FA packages. In general, I find people are very pleasantly surprised by the FA they receive, if they were smart about making their school list.
So the bigger issue is: Are you applying to more schools than those 3? I would strongly advise against applying only to 3 schools, especially if they are the most competitive category, and especially if you need to compare FA packages. We needed FA, and applied to 12 schools. DD got into 8, WL at 3 and rejected at 1. Of those 8, she got 7 FA/merit packages, and maybe half of those were incredibly generous and made it easy for us to say yes. So, that means about 8 of those schools were not really great options for us financially. Can you see how we really needed to apply to a larger number of schools in order to have options? I see over and over again kids posting on March 10 that they have no options, and it’s because frankly they applied to 4 schools or something small.
If you hear nothing hear this: applying to just a handful of schools is setting you up for potentially no options on March 10th. If you don’t mind not going to BS, that is fine. There are people every year who think they will be the exception and that they can just apply to a tiny handful, and it’s heartbreaking come March.
You totally CAN go to BS, and you CAN find a school that will make that possible financially. But current plan of 3 schools is likely not the path to that result.
@gardenstategal Thanks for your reply! I used Exeter’s financial aid calculator and it seems like I will be able to somewhere from 30,100-53,271, however it still is quite a lot of money and nothing is for sure, so just in case, I wanted to see if there were any other scholarship programs. I would love to apply to most schools, however I have had trouble finding ones that are a great fit and have generous financial aid as well. Many schools I found, like Lawrenceville, are very heavily centered around sports, and unfortunately, I am not a sports person.
@1NJParent Thanks for replying! I don’t believe that FA will have a impact at Exeter or Andover, however I’m not sure about Choate.
@Calliemomofgirls Thank you for replying! Currently, I am not applying to any other schools except for those three. I’m not actually sure what other schools would be a good fit for me and have great FA. I really love the Harkness method, as well as the general atmosphere at Exeter and Andover. I also heard great things about Choate. My current high school is pretty good except for the giant school size, so I’m not deadset on changing schools. I’m mostly just going to apply to schools that I really feel like would be a good fit for me. If you had any recommendations, it would be very helpful.
Choate is one of the schools that guarantees to meet 100% of demonstrated need for every student admitted. The sticky point is “demonstrated” need. Their opinion of what you need and your parent’s opinion may not be the same but, generally, they will make it happen.
Andover is the only school that claims to be need blind. For all others, FA does have an impact. Don’t choose which schools to apply to based on endowment sizes or your guesstimate of FA likelihood. A school may be need blind or have a huge endowment; that doesn’t help you if they don’t admit you or offer any of it to you. Conversely, there are many happy stories here of schools with very modest endowments that perfectly met the FA need.
My daughter is at Exeter. While we are full pay, the school seems to be extraordinarily generous with financial aid based upon my conversations with other families. You should definitely apply and see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised with a full aid, plus stipend package. Don’t let the calculator scare you away.
PS – It is a demanding school but definitely not the pressure cooker that some believe. My daughter loves it and can’t wait to get back to her friends.