My chances of getting into boarding schools/what ssat scores should I get

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hello, everyone

My name is Randy Lee. I’m originally from Korea (has been living in the US for 2 years), and I’m planning to apply to some of the top boarding schools as a sophomore. The schools I want to apply are Choate, Hotchkiss, Concord, Loomis Chaffee, Taft, and I’m still looking for more.

I enjoy playing the violin, as well as piano. I’ve won multiple competitions for both and I spend about 4 hrs a day practicing in total. Plus, I enjoy science (mostly physics and chemistry) and I have taken physics exams in Korea (I don’t know if that will count for the application). As with chemistry, I’m planning to participate in the Chemistry olympiad. Although I woundn’t say that I’m adept at math, I will participate in this year’s amc (I have gotten around 106 on practice tests). However, I don’t have much evidence to prove that these are true.

As for school, I’m taking Regular English/History, Hon precalc, Hon chem, physics, Spanish 1, and Jazz band. I currently am maintaining stable grades in all of them. I’m also participating in variety of clubs, such as chemistry olympiad, engineering, music society, speech and debate, and more.

Now for my biggest concern, the SSAT. My anxiety mostly lies on reading and verbal. I normally get 28-33 on reading, and 45-48 on verbal. I have about a month to practice and improve my score, yet I still am apprehensive about it.

If you have read this far, I’d appreciate some advice as to how I’m going to improve my ssat score, as well as some other thoughts. I acknowledge that I certainly am not a great applicant, but I am extremely passionate about attending boarding schools.

Thanks to all

Sincerely,

Randy Lee

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Hi @randylee0316
You are totally a great applicant! Don’t doubt yourself! I am a student at The Lawrenceville School. Lawrenceville does not seem to be on your list of school but I would still love to give you some advice.

Would you be applying to be a new sophomore or new junior?

I unfortunately did not take the SSAT, I took the ISEE, but I believe they are pretty similar so I would say maybe try reviewing some vocabulary on Khan Academy which is free!

For reading I would say after reading each paragraph write the Main Idea of the paragraph on the side this will help you understand the passages better and make you read more carefully. The main idea could be 2-3 words do NOT spend a lot of time writing notes read, understand, and answer the questions.

I would also say look at the questions before reading and if there are any that says “On line …” either put a star next to that line in the passage or somehow make note that it will be something you will be asked about.

Also the passages are not really meant to be interesting so try to be enthusiastic about them as much as you can… before you start reading try to get excited about it, this will get you to focus more and take more information from the passages.

Hope that helped at least a bit! Also I would highly suggest you look into Lawrenceville, you might like it!

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@hi2004
Thank you for the advice! I’m applying as a Sophomore, as I’m currently in 9th grade. Yes, I have looked at Lawrenceville and I will most likely put it on my list. Also, could you tell me how the boarding schools (Lawrenceville, in this case) is operating during the pandemic; are students allowed to live in the dorm?