May differ from location - for me it’s playing either soccer or lacrosse living in an upper middle class household. No arts, just athletics. People tend to study either business or communications where I live.
@prepschool2021, I get this, as a parent of a very math-y white boy. Though I think it is about boy jock culture generally, not necessarily just white boys. There is a lot of pressure of American boys to fit a particular mold.
Fwiw, there is a great book on it called Masterminds and Wingmen. My kid definitely experienced it in middle school, and it was one of the reasons he went the bs route.
It exists at bs too, but I think it is much easier for a boy to break the mold (embrace being a serious student without jeopardizing social status) in bs.
Not sure if it is something admissions offices think or talk about, though. I have always been curious about that. It is a delicate topic and one can’t lose sight of the historical privilege white boys have had in the prep school world (which in itself is the ground zero of privilege in many people’s eyes). It is complicated and it raises a lot of Big Questions.
But back to your issue - your academics sound great on paper, with or without the SSAT. If your scores are good, they will serve to validate your aptitude. But don’t confuse that with showing “what you learned”. The SSAT is about something different than what you learned in school.
2 Likes
Actually, like most stereotypes, it “may differ” from reality and is frankly offensive. And don’t try to sell that as representative of your geographic location. I’m from the south, and that portrayal is not accurate. Do yourself a favor - present your best self, don’t present yourself better than…
1 Like
Haha. It isn’t. (similar though, close guess).
Ps. it’s more of a suburban school(but still ranked similarly).
Idk maybe it’s just around where I personally live. But if you go into the middle and high schools around me, that’s all you see. A college AO even spoke to a day school near me about it.
I guess it would be jock culture, I said white boys only because I live in a generally white area that feels segregated in our schools. It isn’t harsh segregation, but it can still be classified so.
I was actually talking to my Exeter interviewer about the stereotypes at Exeter and if they are actually true. It inspired me to change one of my essays for Exeter, the one saying describe where you live and how it has influenced you, to talk about how I broke the stereotypes that I see around me.
While it’s one thing to say here (and that can be argued), do yourself a favor and refrain from discussing white boy stereotypes and jock culture with schools.
3 Likes
The stereotype I specifically used is more general for where I live, most people my age fit the stereotype and the essay was more of normalizing being able to help other people break the stereotype and try new things. Is that better? I’m not going to share the exact stereotype on here only because I don’t want someone to steal it.
It doesn’t deal with either the white boy or jock stereotypes. If anything, it’s more about two different cliques.
You’d be wise to completely steer clear of any references to stereotypes or the like. And steer clear of elevating your own image through comparison with a group that you are suggesting is homogenous and less worthy (nevermind, completely inaccurate, of course). Most words that characterize the latter behavior end in -ism and are not positive traits. In fact, the tactics you are taking may be the fastest way to kill your application, IMO.
2 Likes
I wrote about how I actively participate in two of the many different cliques at my school. Nothing had -ism in it. Is that fine?
My thoughts: applications across the board will be up, FP because BS is more attractive and maybe safer, FA up for those reasons but also because finances are an issue. Some returning students will need more help. Acceptances for both group will be down. How much each group changes will related to each school.
I have been very uneasy about TO. It felt like the schools were being forced into it, when they actually wanted or at least preferred the scores. Only 1/12 of our schools refused them. So my son took it seriously and we are submitting. Based on these boards, it seems like a lot of people who might not have average-scores-for-school are applying to those schools. I was worried that the absence of scores would be viewed that way.
Ultimately, I don’t think anyone here can know what is behind the closed doors. I do think applications are up which mean acceptances will be down. BS is an expensive choice. I’d guess families in the FP income range aren’t as financial stressed as lower income people.
Uh, no it’s not. As a parent my best advice to my sons, and to you, is that when you are already in a hole, stop digging. Before using any preamble such as white boy, imagine substituting something else like black boy, gay boy, Chinese boy, etc and then imagine the rightful blow back you might experience. I’m not suggesting any malice here on your part but rather some friendly advice to never use any stereotype descriptions as they really don’t serve any purpose in either a question or an argument you are trying to make. Just do your best to emphasize your own abilities and attributes in your application and that will be enough.
@prepschool2021, I understand what you are trying to convey. I also agree that your description is offensive.
The term you may be looking for is “dominant culture”. There are communities (and schools) in which the dominant culture is affluent, white, hetero, and sport-centric. It doesn’t mean everyone is this, but it does suggest that this group determines the norms and values. (The description above, btw, was from a study a college had done on itself as part of its work on diversity and inclusion.)
Operating outside of or in opposition to the dominant culture can be challenging. So in the example above, there might be an assumption that everyone could go home at breaks, afford to eat out in town, pay to store belongings over the summer, pay sorority dues, buy clothes for special events, or afford an unpaid internship.
Hard if you don’t have money! So it’s not a stereotype. Does that make sense?
Along the topic, has anyone ever considered the possibility that maybe by August COVID is not over? Would you go to BS if that’s the case? I think this is very unlikely so I’m still applying but sometimes wonder about that possibility too.
You all say to refrain far from stereotypes. Why not talk about ending up in two different cliques, which is fairly uncommon at my school. By this I mean writing about the experiences I’ve been able to get surrounding myself around a large group of people, getting experience with college professors, etc. all because I decided to be different then the rest. How would that be a problem?
@Jane90 Covid is a large role in why I want to go to BS. They’re handling it very well compared to the schools in my area. My decision to come to BS started in seventh grade with no signs of Covid.
I think that’s fine. I think it’s fine to say that your school, like any other, has cliques and that there is little overlap between most of them and that you have found a way to move between them based on your interests.
You might want to think about how the cliques formed and whether that should define people. In our town, kids who played certain sports tended to band together mostly because of their shared schedule – they were in the same place after school and on weekends, and they sometimes traveled together. How did that become more important than what they were interested in? Was it because they didn’t really talk to know of each other’s interests?
Not saying you should take it in this direction, but it’s a worthy thought as you frame your essay because it may explain why you are moving between cliques and others are not.
I talk about how uncommon it is because people are too afraid to try new things, is that what you mean?
Don’t talk about other people. It’ll come off better if you say that your interest made it worthwhile to take the risk of approaching kids you didn’t really know well.
That’s what a lot of it is, though. I talk about what I got because I met these new people. Here’s a mini “outline”
p1: intro
p2: talking about how I tried something new
p3: talking about a lot of ec1
p4: about ec2
p5: about ec3
p6: about what I gained from surrounding myself around a larger group of people
p7: about what I did at a college because of trying new things
p8: closing remarks
When talking about each EC, I say things about how meeting new people led me to both enjoy it more, and have experiences that I can carry on for the rest of my life.
1 Like