<p>But honestly, my parents are making me want to pull my hair out with all of this boarding school stuff.</p>
<p>I was so worried about my SSAT scores (I got an 89% but my math is 68% which literally lowered the whole score down.)
PLUS My mom kept lecturing me about how NONE of her friend's genius children ever got accepted into a GLADCHEMMS. AND my brother got about the same score as me on the SSAT, applied to The Hill School, and didn't get accepted. So obviously, I was constantly worrying. Not to mention that I'm an ORM; Boarding Schools must get thousands of applications from Asian girls. International students and ones from America.</p>
<p>But after reading some of the posts here on CC about how the SSATs are only one part of the application process, I had gotten calmed down a bit. Until I told my Mom everything about the SSAT stuff and she simply said "Those kids with SSAT scores that aren't at least 95% are probably rich and their parents probably donate a lot of money to the schools or they're George Bush's relative." I had been constantly hearing this Blab from my Mom and Dad, and now they're just making me even more upset.</p>
<p>They keep telling me how I "need something special" such as a special EC. And honestly, I think I have enough ECs! I'm not some girl who has won millions of piano competitions, or published 3 books, but that doesn't mean I'm "not special"! I KNOW I'm different than others. I'm not your typical Asian "Math Genius" I love poetry, photography, literature, and animals. I believe I have enough leadership and commitment in my current activities. I've been doing Girl Scouts since Kindergarten, I play 2 instruments, in string ensemble and the school orchestra, in Model UN, and I've played fencing for 3 years! I don't understand why she keeps comparing me to other Asian geniuses who got rejected! I'M DIFFERENT THAN THEM.</p>
<p>But what does my mother say? "You need to earn your Silver Award for Girl Scouts in order for that activity to even count!" And I HAVE been working really hard by sending tons of e-mails in order to achieve my award BEFORE next December. "You don't have enough activities! You're never going to get in!" "You need to win this fencing competition in order to get accepted!" "You got an 89% ON SSAT AND THIS PERSON GOT 97% ON SSAT AND THEY DIDN'T GET ACCEPTED!" And I know she's only saying it because she truly cares but to be honest, I'M ALWAYS GETTING MORE STRESSED OUT AND NOT TO MENTION I HAVE SCHOOL STUFF IN MY HANDS. AND MY MOM WANTS ME TO TAKE THE SATs IN 8TH GRADE SO SHE'S ALREADY PREPARING ME. I always feel like I'm going to crack and I have had nowhere to vent because I know no one personally who had ever gone through the same things I am going through.</p>
<p>Just please, help me elaborate more on my tough situation. That was a pretty loud vent post there but I just really needed to get that out of my system.</p>
<p>First I just wanted to discuss the comment about people who don’t get at least in the 95th percentile but still get in are just kids of wealthy parents who donate money…
My friend applied to hotchkiss this year, too. I got in, but she didn’t. Her parents donated thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of dollars to the school, but she was not accepted due to her grades, etc. She was alomst certain she would be accepted with her money, but the ecs and grades lacked… I wanted to include this to show that even rich kids sometimes can’t get into these schools. It truly is the most qualified kids, not the richest, getting accepted.</p>
<p>But anyways, I posted on another one of your posts that has the average ssat scores for accepted students to the top schools. All besides Exeter and Andover are below 90% percentile! Below! And those are just the averages! A good ssat score will boost your app, but a “bad one” wouldnt break it. (Bad in relative terms of course) Doing your silver award would help a lot, especially because you’ve been doing gs since kindergarten. This shows a lot of commitment, which they look for. You also said you did model un. EMPHASIZE THAT. Schools like to see kids involved getting involved in the world on a global stage.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you necessarily need to “win competitions” in fencing or poetry to make yourself stand out. I cant stress enough how much dedication matters. On the app, it will ask you how many hours a week you spend doing your ec’s. If you put up a big number there, they will be happy.</p>
<p>I wanted to back hotchkisshopes up on the money thing. I already told you I’m going to Hotchkiss and that my SSAT was 77%, but I didn’t tell you I applied for FA. I didn’t receive it, but my parents definitely did not donate money to any of the schools I applied to.</p>
<p>You are very true on that.
My parents are so stereotypical and I really hate how they assume that everything happens to all of one group of people.</p>
<p>Just YOLO man. Seriously. Although it’s very moronic to say such a thing, it defines everything that I want to tell you. By special EC’s, do something you like. Your mom is probably just trying to urge you to find a passion. Honestly, if you like collecting used paint tubes and recycle them and make a profit out of them do it. If you like building websites for people for free, do it. If you like organizing community events such as a massive recycling day, do it. I don’t care and no one else cares what you do, as long as it’s a passion you truthfully enjoy doing. How do you tell if it’s your passion? It should be something that makes you want to get out of bed on Sunday morning. I love drawing and I paint as soon as I wash up and eat breakfast. I also like wasting a lot of time reading news on tech start ups. Seriously, my parents are pretty much the same and I’m also Asian. Just because I’m Asian doesn’t mean I have to be stressed out all the time. Sit down with your parents and tell them, look I’m going to give it my all and if I don’t get in, I don’t get in. Nothing I can do nor you can do to change that fact. In the end, if you gave it your best, you can pat yourself on the back and say, I tried and I gave it my all. #YOLO#FellowAsian #IFeelYouBro</p>