<p>I'm a Caucasian girl in eighth grade at a public middle school
Potential day student
Would need FA</p>
<p>Academics
4.2 current GPA
A+s in English, History, Science, Spanish, Health, and Band
A's in Honors Algebra 1 (only honors class my school offers 😒) and STEM
Received gold award for academic achievement last spring (6 A+'s as yearly averages)
All A's and A+'s every year</p>
<p>SSAT (Nov.)
97%ile overall
92% math
94% verbal
98% reading</p>
<p>Should have really good rec for English
Good rec for Math- my teacher has a lot of students and doesn't know me as well as my English teacher
My English teacher has used my writing as examples to the class more than once, so I think my essays will turn out fine.</p>
<p>EC's
Piano- 9 years (mostly classical, some jazz and popular music)
Alto Saxophone- 4 years
Jazz Band- 2 years (piano)
Advanced Chorus- 3 years- I've performed in NYC, Baltimore, DC, Montreal, Gillette Stadium, MA State House (by invitation), King's Chapel Boston, and Old Sturbridge Village with this group
Destination Imagination- 9 years- advanced as far as 3rd place in state tournament last year in a very competitive category
Peer Leader- 2 years (teacher-selected students to educate younger kids on bullying and anti-defamation)
Tennis- on and off since about the age of 5- I've gotten to about a high intermediate level
Basketball- 5 years
Planning to maybe restart soccer in high school (I stopped playing in 6th grade)
I do community service through the youth group at my church- cooking and serving meals, volunteering at charities, making care packages for children in Africa, hosting holiday parties at family shelters</p>
<p>Before anyone tells me, I know that "it depends" and it's virtually impossible for anyone but an AO to give someone a definite idea of their chances, but please just try to give a general picture based on what you know of the schools I listed- which ones are big reaches, good possibility, impossible, etc. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>The admission process is somewhat of a game. You have an established track record that make you academically admissible to all of the schools that you have listed. 75% of the kids who apply to Andover are academically admissible. The real questions comes down to what do you offer in terms of talent that will help round out the freshman class. If your piano skills are outstanding, then record a performance and post it on youtube so the music department can view it. If you are a stand out tennis player, fill out a prospective athlete form and talk to the coach. I believe recommendations from current teachers are very important because they reveal who you are as a student. I am not an admission officer so these are just my observations from my experience with my son last year. Do your best to present who you really are, not who you think they want you to be and you will end up in the right place.</p>
<p>I think you have an excellent chance at all those schools. When you visit the smaller schools, Middlesex, Concord and Brooks, try to figure out if you could imagine yourself on campus with the students you see. I think the smaller schools see themselves as a family and they look for students who would fit in to the school’s culture as well as stand out as individuals. Overall, I think the smaller schools give students the opportunity to participate in more aspects of school life and if you are able to convey your many interests, you should be a great candidate.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I’ve heard some people mention that applicants who need FA have a harder time being accepted than full-pay applicants. Does anyone know if this is true? It’s making me nervous.</p>
<p>It varies by school. Concord is need blind, which means they don’t look at FA until after making admissions decisions. However, if they don’t have enough money in the FA budget to meet the full need of all admitted FA applicants, some of them will be put on a FA wait list. The details of how this works are in the FAQ on the FA section of the web site.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I’m a middlesex student right now, you have a high chance a Middlesex. I had 90% SSAT, 4.4 GPA public school. People here are just like you, there was a kid at Middlesex that got into Phillips Academy too with similar grades and he won volunteer of the year in MA, so you have a high chance there too. You will have many choices, at Middlesex the best thing that no one else offers here is an English program, I came here because my math was good and wanted to improve my english and writing skills due to its importance in college applications. Although you said that you were a great English student, I was too, but this changed my perspective. Hope this helped and Good Luck! At Middlesex 30% need FA, kids that are smart enough come there are kids from the projects, they will accept you based on your credentials. Also, as long as you don’t talk or let your parents takeover, you will be fine for the interview and tour, because secret is out as I’m a tourguide myself, people with bad tours get either waitlisted or rejected.</p>