more advice&critique?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>hey you all.
first off i wanna thank everyone for doing this for me, it means a lot.
so basically i'm applying as a day student to andover..just andover and if i don't get in i'll go to my local high school. i am applying for 9th grade and yes, lol i'm asian american. </p>

<p>my ssat scores;
98-math
98-reading
88-verbal
97-overall. </p>

<p>i've gotten all A<code>s +A+</code>s, no A-`s all of middle school except for art class in 6th grade where the teacher hated me! haha. </p>

<p>my recs should be pretty amazing because i had my chinese dance teacher who's known me for 3/4 of my life do it, and my russian piano teacher who i completely adooore. </p>

<p>EC's
piano; 6 years, 1st place at MA music teachers association competition for 2 years straight, 2nd place for one year. i played the beethoven pathetique sonata, and i'm currently working on a liszt hungarian rhapsody no. 11</p>

<p>dance; i have done chinese classical and chinese folk dance for 9 years at the american chinese art society, i've done at least 500+ community service hours over the past 7ish years. we perform all around the world including in shanghai, taiwan, hong kong, hawaii, disney world, disney land, and we got invited to perform at the carnival cruise this past summer&were invited to dance for the pre olympic events 2008. i've done jazz for a few years as well. i received 3rd place in the new england chinese dance competition in 2004. </p>

<p>academic bowl team; selected 8 members from 8th grade.</p>

<p>math team; member for 3 years, our school = 2nd best division in Intermediate math League of eastern MA</p>

<p>math counts; chosen as part of top 8 to represent our school at regionals, of which we won. </p>

<p>latin club; member for 2 years of its existence at our school</p>

<p>chinese school; many years, best student award for all years. (i can probably take chinese 520 at andover if i get in..very fluent, could ace AP chinese SAT)</p>

<p>sailing; i sail over thee summer, and have attained my solo, kayak, helmsman, and jib rating.</p>

<p>cello; i have played the cello for 4 years without ever taking lessons, principal cellist at my school orchestra, honorary middle school participant at the high school orchestra</p>

<p>zunc quartet; student-organized quartet of me and my friends and we are invited to play in our local school community, and around the merrimack river valley; received personal letters from superentindent of schools commenting on our excellent performance at andover's addison gallery. </p>

<p>newspaper; chief editor of school newspaper for 3 years..publish online editions as well every 2 months. called word. </p>

<p>school ambassador; chosen as guides to help around during social events to assist parents coming into the school, 6th grade new parents who have no idea what they're doing..that kind of stuff. </p>

<p>occupation; i have been invited to teach chinese dance at 2 chinese schools since last year, and have been doing so voluntarily. </p>

<p>i took spanish all of elementary school, latin all of middle, and i am fluent in chinese. </p>

<p>oh and if this helps, i was promoted from kindergarten to 1st grade..so yeah i'm a lot younger than some of the kids in my grade.</p>

<p>alright i think that's it. if anyone needs anymore info, let me know. ahaha well thanks again everyone, i really appreciate it. </p>

<p>and if you could please tell me if andover is high reach, reach, match..or something like that for me? thanks so much :)</p>

2

<p>You have great stats and ECs, but it's hard to say. Andover takes a limited number of day students and many are staff children. It's harder to get in as a day student than a border. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>i would advice you to apply as a boarding student and switch to day after a year</p>

4

<p>It's hard to get in as a day student, but you do have a chance, what with steller SSATs (your Verbal does not matter as long as your Reading is strong, with Verbal having words that change quite a lot and therefore no quarantee of getting them all), and your ECs. Your 88 in Verbal might hurt you a tiny, tiny little bit but Andover tries to recruit students who have stellar personal qualities. Try to express yourself completely in your interview, which will probably help if you are an outgoing/humanitarian/personal/independent individual.</p>

5

<p>Be careful. Some schools don't allow you to switch from day to boarder or vice-versa. I'm not sure that's a great "strategy" even if it's permitted. I hope it works out for you...you have very impressive credentials and in the event that the Andover admissions office can't find a place for you, I can see that it won't be because of anything about you or anything you left on the table. I can't see any reason you should have any regrets if that's the case...though I prefer to think that you'll just be all smiles from March 10, 2007 through graduation day 2011!</p>

6

<p>it works at hotchkiss, ask andover</p>

7

<p>Yes, you can switch at Andover as well. Our school president was a day student for 3 years and is now a boarder.</p>

8

<p>so apply as a boarder</p>

9

<p>ah but you see i have absolutely no $$$ for boarding..
and i have no choice but to apply as a day student.
unless i move somewhere else. </p>

<p>thanks guys :)</p>

10

<p>oh and i forgot.
the russian teacher at phillips was telling me that many of the faculty's students don't send their kids to PA..because they know the real deal about it. and it's not as good as they say it is apparently
otherwise the faculty would send all of their kids there..
but i know a lot of the faculty's kids go to my public school..so yeah.</p>

11

<p>You have fabulous stats, especially going to a school with lots of Andover teacher's kids! A teacher really said that? Go figure. When I interviewed at Exeter (ended up not applying) the interviewing teacher told me SPS was her favorite school!</p>

12

<p>apply for FA, andover is needblind...
and i dont think there's a big difference, at hotchkiss, to encourage boarding, i think day and boarding tuition is only like 1500 difference</p>

13

<p>Isn't Hotchkiss in the middle of nowhere?</p>

<p>At most schools the difference is over $10,000. Also, it's easier to go from day to boarder than the other way around because the schools have to limit day students because of traffic issues.</p>

<p>The best schools of course are 100% boarding!</p>

14

<p>ya..hotchkiss is en el medio de nada just like SPS XD....</p>