I have applied to Exeter, Choate, Emma Willard, Blair Academy, Miss Porter’s, Deerfield, and Northwood.
I am a white, female, visually impaired student who will need financial aid to cover a majority of expenses and tuition. I am in nearly all advanced classes, I am in 9th grade currently and I will have my credits for Algebra I, Algebra II and geometry by the end of this school year. I mainly get A’s, however, I have gotten B’s in some of the more advanced classes. Last year I had a reading module teacher who really hated me. She failed me and I recieved a D in her class. That was the worst grade I’ve ever gotten do you think This will effect my admissions chances?
I played trumpet for three years consecutively but quit in 7th grade. I have been a girl scout since first grade, and I have also been a presenter at many fairs. I would say my biggest accomplishment was making a speech to my local board of education. In addition, I have attended a summer camp that focused on lego robotics and served on a lego robotics team.
I think I will do very well in my interviews because I am very extroverted and charismatic.
I should do well on paper because I wrote several essays on obtaining my first job this year.
My safe schools are Northwood and Porters.
Do you think I have a decent chance of being accepted?
(Note: sorry if this is written weird im soooooo tired. Its 3 a.m here!)
Okay, I’m going to be honest with you.
Your extracurriculars aren’t outstanding because none of them are very consistent (besides Girl Scouts). You also don’t seem to have many achievements to help boost your application. Your grades are okay, but the D will probably affect your application.
My advice to you is to connect with the interviewers well, and to show that you’re passionate, curious, and motivated in your essays. Do your research. I believe that you’ll be able to get into at least one of those elite private schools if you really work on your essays, recs, and interviews.
Good luck!
Your chances are pretty bad if I’m going to be completely honest. Mostly A’s with some B’s and a D isn’t horrible but not exactly what they want. I’m assuming you are not submitting an SSAT because you did not mention it, so that doesn’t help either. No instrument, no sports- all big parts of these boarding schools so that is very, very detrimental. You did Girls Scouts for a long time but that isn’t exactly impressive and more of a thing where everyone can participate in. Basically no notable competitions or awards in anything. Presenting speeches locally is cool but in the bigger perspective still doesn’t show too much. Applying for FA makes it even harder to get in. Overall, you very likely will not get in Exeter, Choate, Emma Willard, or Deerfield unless some crazy miracle happens. I don’t know too much about Porters, Blair, and Northwood, but I would not call any of them your safety. You could possibly get in one of these but your chances probably won’t be very high. Good Luck!
Just wanted to pop in and say hello to my fellow girl scout. Have you completed the Silver Award?
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I agree that Exeter, Choate, and Blair would be very high reaches for you. Your EC’s are pretty “standard” for lack of a better term although that Board of Ed thing sounds interesting.
I know a little about Northwood and it’s an extremely winter-sports focused school. I know they have a pretty good robotics program but still if you don’t play a winter sport it may not be the best “fit”. Just something to consider and I’m sure you can still have a great experience nonetheless if accepted.
I would suggest that if you really want to go to BS you tack on a couple of lessser known but still amazing schools. As an FA kid you need to really have something compelling in your application. That isn’t good or even great grades because even for a school like Northwood I suspect that is a prerequisite for admission. Maybe that compelling bit in your application is a combination of varied EC’s or amazing essays. But looking at your resume I don’t see that “compelling” component. I can’t speak for your interviews or essays and they could very well be amazing but FA is a big obstacle that neccesitates a really special kind of kid.
Just my honest opinion and I wish you the best of luck!
Unfortunately I haven’t. My home life has been relatively unstable for a couple of years now.
Sorry to hear that. Sending positivity to you. I hope everything gets better and good luck!
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Have you checked to see how various schools would support your visual impairment?
Honestly, I think you have an excellent chance all schools.
I’m not sure how many folks have thought through the premise of having a visual impairment as it relates to ECs. Many will not be available. I had a dear friend in grad school who was blind and wrote their thesis on the ADA. It took a lot more to do research and compile using the various tools then available.
Good luck.
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@stuck_in_space
I apologize I just quickly glanced through your post and didn’t take into account that you have a disability. In retrospect I would take back my comments on EC’s as your visual impairment surely must have inhibited in you in many aspects. Thank you @Happytimes2001 for putting everything into perspective.
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@stuck_in_space I agree with @Happytimes2001, and wish you all the best this application season.
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I really appreciate the feedback and positivity! I’ve checked with a couple of these schools so far and it looks like they will make all of the accommodations I need. I’ll just have to to provide any additional technology I would need.
@stuck_in_space I apologize, I didn’t take your disability in consideration. I agree with @Happytimes2001. Good luck!
I think your profile could be very appealing to some of these schools! One thing to add – the D is a bit of a rough patch for sure. But how you talk about it is going to matter probably more than the grade itself. How you presented it here is probably the least helpful way to talk about it regarding your application. You might want to rethink the “teacher hated me and failed me” narrative, both for yourself and for admissions purposes. (Tip: teachers don’t usually randomly decide to hate one student and fail them out of spite.). That doesn’t mean there isn’t an extenuating circumstance that could give some context to the grade, but I think you might want to dig a little deeper here because I think your current narrative will be your biggest stumbling block, not the grades or the ECs.
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I totally agree, thanks for the pointers! There definitely is a better way to formally present the D. I was thinking of saying something about putting my best foot forward to accomplish great things and using my personal failures as building blocks that can only help me to improve as a whole.
That specific teacher was certainly not pleasant to work with. I unfortunately had her for three years and somehow we maintained a disconnect nearly the entire time.