My List II.

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>So I made another thread about this, but since then I've added a lot more schools. There's a few that are "maybe's," though, which is why I need help decided whether I should actually apply to them. Could you guys also "chance" me as well? Like.. do I even have a chance? I'll post my stats below.</p>

<p>Andover - Definitely</p>

<p>Exeter - Definitely</p>

<p>SPS - Definitely</p>

<p>Deerfield - Definitely</p>

<p>Hotchkiss - Not sure ? Tell me some things about Hotchkiss. (pros, cons, etc.)</p>

<p>Lawrenceville - Not sure...</p>

<p>Groton - I've heard only good things about Groton. The only thing I don't like about it is its small class sizes. Do they offer less classes because of this?</p>

<p>Middlesex (?) - Same with Groton.</p>

<p>Cate - Probably...tell me more.</p>

<p>Thacher - Seems great. Is the horse program thing mandatory?</p>

<p>Stevenson - It's right on the ocean! The academics seem pretty good as well, but not that great when compared to Andover, SPS, etc. Kind of a safety... ? looking for more of those.</p>

<p>Stats: </p>

<p>Caucasian male from Michigan. Rising 8th grader. Not applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>Grades:</p>

<p>Straight A's since forever. (My school is also a mediocre public school, so academics aren't that challenging).</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Yearbook Staff (Grade 7)</p>

<p>Soccer (9 years)</p>

<p>Competitive Swimming/Swim clubs - I'm joining another swim league this fall. It's pretty competitive. I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I'm not going to make it to the olympics. lol</p>

<p>Tennis - I'm just starting to get into this sport. I may be joining a league in the fall.</p>

<p>Cross Country - I'll probably join the school team in the fall.</p>

<p>Quiz Bowl - Strongest member</p>

<p>Spelling Bee - Grades 5, 6, and 7</p>

<p>Knowledge Master Open - had to take a test to qualify, top 5 students of the grade (120 students) Fall '05, Spring '06.</p>

<p>Alto saxophone - 5 years.</p>

<p>Piano - Just started taking lessons. I love it.</p>

<p>Two online classes this summer with APEX - Spanish 1 and Global Economics</p>

<p>Going to Japan this July. One of four students selected out of around 20 who returned the application.</p>

<p>Intensive one week writing course at a prestigious private school in Ottawa, Canada. (Ashbury College).</p>

<p>That's about it. Could you guys please tell me how good my chances are at those schools? BTW - I didn't take the SSAT yet, but I'm going to take the practice test in the Princeton Review SSAT prep book in a few days. I'm taking the real test sometime in the fall.</p>

<p>I think I should narrow down my list. 11 schools is a lot. I want to apply to seven or eight schools at the most. I don't want to bombard my teachers with recommendations, either. So .. what should I do?</p>

2

<p>Impossible to know chances w/o SSAT scores. Sorry.
I bombed them and as a result, saved lots of money by going to public school.</p>

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<p>I don't think it's impossible to know.</p>

<p>Just assume I got somewhere in the 80 - 95 range.</p>

<p>I'm pretty confident I can do well in math and reading. Verbal I think will be the killer. There were some really easy analogies in the beginning, but they get harder and harder. Hopefully, with process of elimination, I'll be able to get half those right ? lol.</p>

4

<p>Also, I was wondering how much of a difference there was when someone applies for financial aid and someone doesn't?</p>

<p>What's the admissions rate at schools that Andover for students that don't apply for aid? Are those statistics around somewhere?</p>

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<p>If you love the idea of going to school by the ocean, you might want to consider St. George's School, Portsmouth Abbey and Tabor Academy. Your top choice schools all have very low acceptance rates. Remember that in general people do not apply to a school unless they believe that they can get in. So you will be in a pool of very qualified candidates. I think it's fine to apply to many schools when you are applying to schools with low acceptance rates. There are 3 recommendations that they all ask for. For these, the teachers need only fill it out once and then send copies. When you visit schools, you will probably eliminate a few because they just don't feel right. Because of this, I think it's OK to have a longer list at first. After you start visiting, you will start to realize what your priorities are.</p>

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<p>I don't think I'm going to be able to visit.</p>

<p>So, how would the teachers send copies? I don't understand.</p>

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<p>Take a look at the application materials. They all ask for the School Report, English recommendation and Math recommendation. They all share a common form so it need only be filled out once. Some schools ask for additional recommendations. The forms used for a Special Interest (like arts or sports) are often different forms, but they tend to ask the same questions. You can probably download some application materials if you don't have hardcopy yet. Then you will see what I'm saying.</p>

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<p>St George's School in Newport, RI may possibly be the most beautiful setting I have seen for a prep. The architechture is amazing, the academics are very strong as well</p>

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<p>Burb Parent, so what do I do with the other applications? Once they fill out one I just copy what they said onto the other form? I don't get it.</p>

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<p>You don't copy nor do you send anything. What you will do is give your recommenders the form, envelope w/ postage and enough personal info about you on a resume' for them to compete questions. Is that more clear?</p>

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<p>Yes, but do I do that 8 times or however many schools I apply to?</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.schools.com/apply/forms.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.schools.com/apply/forms.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>easiest option of all.</p>

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<p>Yea, St. Georges is an awesome choice right by the water. It's a beautiful campus, and is not as selective as the schools you listed. Hotchkiss is a great school from what I know, the campus is very nice as well. However, it is a very selective school- I believe its acceptance rate is lower than Phillips Academy's. btw, the prep school forum has been littered by questions mainly from jonathan. isn't there anyone else interested in prep schools? lol</p>

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<p>Sorry for clogging the threads. I just have so many questions. I guess it'd be smarted to put them all in one thread from now on, but I have so many new questions.</p>

<p>I'm sure more people will come on this forum later in the year, closer to the decisions time. I remember last year there were quite a lot.</p>

<p>It sounds dorky, but has anyone every seen the show Zoey 101 on Nickelodeon? I'd love my boarding school to be like that. Cool, smart people. Awesome campus. etc. It's awesome. But I guess that's just a fantasy boarding school lol.</p>

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<p>St. George's is absolutely beautiful. Isn't 32% accept rate quite selective? Man we have some tough crowd on CC. By the way, I hear that when it's snowing and the wind is blowing, SGS on top of the hill can get quite nasty.</p>

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<p>JK, one other observation......... Your choices are wide and varied. It would be difficult to concieve that someone who like Groton/ or Middlesex, would have the same like for schools like Andover or Exeter. Of course I'm not speaking in terms of academics, I think they all do a fine job in category. I mean in terms of size. I think over time you'll decide what is most important to you and then you will narrow your choices rather than widen them. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>Honestly, I didn't like Groton or Middlesex from the beginning because of their small class size, but people on here kept telling me to consider those schools. I guess I have to stop having people on this board influence my decisions so much.</p>

<p>I'm crossing Groton and Middlesex off my list. I don't think I can go to a school with such a small size. I want a variety of people.</p>

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<p>JK, LOL there you go, you knocked two off quite quickly. JK, Have you spoken to Mom/Dad/Grandmother yet? You got to get with a plan young man, I hate to see you go gagaga over bs only to have parents/grandparents look at you like you hit your head or something. By the way, I wasn't trying to convince not to consider Groton or Middlesex, I only used them as an example because they were the smaller schools on your list. I guess it's better to have a larger list in the beginning, then you can cut it down over time. Please talk to the parents</p>

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<p>I talked to my dad. He said he'd pay for it. His words, "Anything to get your get out of that town."</p>

<p>So.. yeah. I guess that's taken care of.</p>

<p>I don't think I'm going to end up applying to Groton or Middlesex. It's too small for me.</p>

<p>Andover, Exeter, SPS, Deerfield, Stevenson, Cate, Thacher. Seven schools is enough, right? I think I should one or two more New England school and scratch off one California one.</p>

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<p>JK FYI Cate and Thacher are much smaller than Groton and Middlesex. Maybe cross out Cate and Thacher and go with Groton and Middlesex.</p>