<p>There's a lot of good news here today, but also a lot of folks who are left wondering if FA need is the reason for being waitlisted or rejected. I thought it might be helpful to see results for kids whose families have similar financial situations. Please post results only if your FA need was at least 50% of tuition. Thanks!</p>
<p>We have not received any FA award info yet… maybe it will be in today’s mail?</p>
<p>Our FA need was about 50%.</p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter, SPS, The Hill, NMH</p>
<p>Still waiting for Loomis, Governors, Hotchkiss and Deerfield</p>
<p>Son rejected from Exeter. Needed considerable FA (much more than 50%). Still waiting on Andover. We came in very late in the game (didn’t decide to apply to BS until mid-Dec) and only applied to Exeter and Andover.</p>
<p>For comparison, son has high 90’s SSAT; A’s at top school in the state (according to US News and World Report); pretty stellar and unusual EC’s (just judging from what I’ve seen on CC); lots of arts awards and roles in plays, musicals and commercials; and national awards in both math and science. Oh, and we live in URM state. Still crossing fingers for Andover, but it looks like a bad year for FA.</p>
<p>FA >75%, SSAT >95%</p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter</p>
<p>Don’t Know Yet: Andover</p>
<p>FA >50%, SSAT >90 (Please add an SSAT range if you feel comfortable)</p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter</p>
<p>Waitlisted: Lawrenceville</p>
<p>Don’t know yet: Andover, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, Choate, Taft</p>
<p>How do you figure how much FA you “need”? The SSS form was pretty much a joke as they do not take into consideration any of the notes. Ours figured we could afford BS no problem if we liquidated the 529s and sold our house. Another scam from ETS.</p>
<p>happykidsmom, from the experience of ours and others on this forum, Exeter and Andover rarely accept the same student. (dont’ know how they manage to do that. My S is waitlisted in Exeter and accepted in Andover). So don’t give up hope. Your S sounds like a strong candidate.</p>
<p>LOL, Boarding Dad. Thanks. I needed that. I’m just estimating how much we could actually afford…which is, not much at this time. But, yeah. (still laughing…)</p>
<p>I sent our notes to the school (because the school does ask to be made aware of special circumstances).
I know that in the past NMH would accept without fa. They did it last year and the year before. They actually sent me a letter a few days before March 10th saying my son had been accepted, but no fa at all and did I still want them to send the acceptance packet to my son.</p>
<p>BoardingDad,</p>
<p>I’m basing our “need” as calculated by SSS since that’s what the schools use. It’s really tough that everything that goes into each of our financial situations is not considered. Sorry, I guess I should have been more clear.</p>
<p>Oh no need to apologize. Your’s was a great question. Until I hear from our schools, though, I’ll be exasperated with SSS which in our case seemed to take the narrowest view of things possible. (I should mention that my wife, who works in college admissions, says that FAF is equally misleading.)</p>
<p>FA>75% (based on SSS)</p>
<p>SSAT = 94% </p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter, Lawrenceville</p>
<p>Waitlisted: SPS</p>
<p>still waiting to hear from Peddie</p>
<p>Our FA need was about 50%.</p>
<p>SSAT >83%</p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter, SPS, The Hill, NMH</p>
<p>Still waiting for Loomis, Governors, Hotchkiss and Deerfield.</p>
<p>Still no news on the last 4. We live in Wisconsin so I am hoping it’s just slow mail. But I am very worried.</p>
<p>Im a student btw</p>
<p>We needed way more than 50%</p>
<p>Accepted: SPS
Waitlist: Exeter.</p>
<p>Needed Financial Aid: 75%
SSAT: 92%</p>
<p>Rejected at Lawrenceville.
Waiting for Peddie.</p>
<p>Our FA need was greater than 50% more like 75% – Our daughter was rejected at Choate (only boarding school she applied for). Rejection letter was very kind and thoughtful – stated clearly that the decision was due to need for FA and not her credentials. The letter she would have been offered a spot if it weren’t for the need for aid. Ended with a sorry and that it was their loss. We feel proud of our daughter and the disssappointing news was easier to handle with such a nice rejection letter.</p>
<p>Bump.</p>
<p>This thread is very interesting, I hope more financial aid applicants respond as the actual letters start arriving.</p>
<p>Me too. A lot of stuff on CC is rumor (especially before March 10th.) But this is very helpful. Knowledge is Power, as they say.</p>
<p>I know that this is a thread for >50% FA, but I think perhaps that any sort of FA request puts people in a disadvantaged position this year, so I’ll give my stats-</p>
<p>Requested aid of about 15%. We offered to pay much more than the SSS indicated (SSS indicated we should expect to pay about 50%). We’re ex-pats and my H’s company will contribute… this left the small balance. All this was very clearly stated on the SSS, plus I attached a letter stating the circumstances (which was acknowledged by all FA officers).</p>
<p>SSAT’s: 98% (2280)
Grades: A’s and B’s at a magnet school for Advanced Studies. A = 95 - 100% and B = 90 - 94%</p>
<p>Assume recs were great. Daughter is well-liked
Sparse on EC’s… just 2 years saxophone, 2 years engineering club, 2 years robotics, church related charity work. 27 on ACT at 12 years old (Duke Talent Search national recognition). Conversational in French.</p>
<p>Hooks- who knows. Lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. D had roof blown off her bedroom… lost all her stuff. Got through it stronger. Moved recently to Canada. She thinks her interviews went well. She’s a witty, pragmatic 13 year old who is well-read, loves to debate, and is comfortable in her own skin.</p>
<p>Exeter - rejected
Groton - rejected
SPS - waitlisted</p>
<p>here’s our update.</p>
<p>FA>75% (based on SSS)</p>
<p>SSAT = 94% </p>
<p>Rejected: Exeter, Lawrenceville</p>
<p>Waitlisted: SPS; Peddie</p>