<p>I agree with goaliedad...and not just because I'm enamored of the long-winded style he adopted in that post!</p>
<p>Naturally, I would add to that the fact that grades/SSAT speak to ability to achieve from 8 to 3 p.m., but I would emphasize the importance of ECs...because a BS needs to know that the kid will be happy (better still: thrive) from 3 pm until it's time to get back to studies in the evening.</p>
<p>Teacher recs speak to academic success as well as an applicant's "well-roundedness." The interview gets into this, too. All these factors overlap like some crazy Venn diagram on a bad acid trip and I can't see how they would be ranked. </p>
<p>That said, I do think that the SSAT doesn't play as significant a role in BS admissions as we like to think. Once the AdCom is satisfied that a student will be able to handle the academic workload at the school, that box is checked off and the specific SSAT scores are all but forgotten. They're not quibbling over 85% versus 99% if they believe both students are going to succeed academically.</p>
<p>One BS Dean of Admission told me that this year alone his school turned down 250 perfect 800 scores (that's not 250 applicants, because some people can have 3 800s). Clearly, there's something more important if you've got the highest SSAT score and people are leaping ahead of you.</p>
<p>I don't want to get into a debate about SSAT scores, and I agree with D'yer I don't think that a school is going to turn a kid away for an 85% SSAT, but if SSATs really aren't as important as some of you would like to believe, then why is it that I think you would be hard pressed to find many kids at Exeter or Andover who scored 60% on their SSATs. I understand that many people don't like standardized tests, but until you can find a better way to compare students from many different schools with many different teachers who grade in many different ways it one of the many valuable tools that schools have to evaluate their applicants.</p>
<p>lintball, no problem. I'd venture to say that you'll find some 60's even at andover and exeter. However, it may also be that these high scoring students have the other wow factors.</p>
<p>This is a very interesting thread. I think that many of these schools claim that they have no bottom for the SSAT but I don't believe that to be true. Just taking a look at their own statistics will convince you of that. Some of us might be surprised to learn just how much kids practice for these tests. And I mean really practice vocabulary etc. So what are we really measuring? How much someone has prepared? The SAT is the same way. Kids take course after course and work like crazy to get these high scores. Sure there are kids who are able to ace these tests on their own, but that number is probably fewer than we think. These tests measure speed most of all and just because someone may not be such a quick thinker does not mean they will not be successful. Is success in science measured in speed? So, the slower but perhaps more careful learner may not do as well. Also I don't believe that these tests truly can measure academic success. I know plenty of wiz kids with a weak work ethic who might not survive such academic rigor. While I'm happy that my kids have done well on these tests, I continue to stress to them that their academic success will largely depend on what they put into their learning experiences. Give me a kid with a strong work ethic any day. Also, these tests do not measure what is most important about any child. Many of the greatest people who have ever lived could not do well on a standardized test. Are they less valuable? Are they failures? How do you measure emotional intelligence? How do you measure what an emotionally intelligent child can give to any academic community? Many schools could use a few in that field. We all have gifts and some are more measurable than others. I think the interview counts tremendously and it is significant to all participants. Just my thoughts.</p>
<p>At places like A&E I think you would be shocked by the 30% or so of students on almost full financial aid that have never prepped for a test. They often come from weak public schools in what can only be described as "jacked" up areas, be it rural (cultural wasteland) or urban (ghetto). They score high 90's on the SSAT and have a multitude of talents with almost none of the advantages given to parochial/day school suburban kids. The qualified applicants have great EC's,recs, interview well (personable) and yes they score high on the SSAT. I believe that your assumption about a "bottom" score on the SSAT is correct for all except that awesome three sport athlete that is a concert violinist. Those whiz kids with a weak work ethic tend to be found out through a time tested weeding out process. The schools have been doing it for 225 years in some cases.Yes, they still overlook seemingly more deserving candidates. It's an art not a science. Excellent thoughts on emotional intelligence etc. Keep in mind that the interview is entirely subjective as well considering that human beings don't always appreciate one other as everyone's filter is different. Your post made me consider some things I hadn't before, thanks.</p>
<p>This has been a most interesting discussion. I have been amazed at all the posts on this board and am sitting here wondering how in the world my S ever was accepted at BS.</p>
<p>He decided on his own to pursue this path last fall. We went to the Ten School meeting in our area and he picked 2 to visit. He wrote his own essays, with no input other than spell-check, asked teachers and coaches for rec's and went for his interview. All along I told him not to get his hopes up, the whole thing was a learning experience, etc., etc. Plus, he had to remember that he would need SIGNIFICANT financial aid. I would say that I spent more time dashing his dream than supporting it - trying to bring a hint of reality to temper what I felt was the inevitable dissapointment.</p>
<p>Darned if he doesn't get accepted with a very generous package at the only school he applied to.</p>
<p>He does have a strong sport, 98% 9th grade average, 99th percentile SSAT and some good EC's. Other than that he had no hook, no legacy, no former alumni to write a letter, etc.</p>
<p>Either he is very lucky, filled a void the school needed or it really is true that this particular school looks at the whole student and is, in fact, need blind.</p>
<p>So, for anyone out there with the ambition, interest and drive to look into and apply to BS, I want you to know that there are happy outcomes!</p>
<p>I agree, cecil, that in the course of delivering our reality check spelling out the difficulty of getting accepted at schools like Exeter, we fail to acknowledge that there are people who seem to throw in their applications over the transom and hit the jackpot.</p>
<p>When kids come here on-line and discuss their dreams I'm generally reluctant to lecture them about their dreaming and lack of realism. I figure that's for their parents to do. They should be allowed to reach and dream.</p>
<p>However, at this stage of the cycle, the board -- and this thread -- is mostly driven by parent-to-parent conversations. And it's precisely because I think the parents of the kids who post here should deliver tempered reality (the kind you were providing to your son) to those kids, I think this is a good time (and thread) to keep the reality message on point.</p>
<p>Yes, miracles do happen. I believe in miracles myself. But the best plan for success is not to toss one in over the transom and see what shakes out. That's not useful advice; but it is a useful reminder to us to become a bit more centered when the conversation pendulum swings too far in the direction that has everyone presenting the application process as an exercise in futility. So I appreciate what you're saying on that level.</p>
<p>I'm curious...and this seems like a relevant thread for this question: what factors did your son go by in deciding that Exeter was the school for him and that he had a shot at being admitted?</p>
<p>Not knowing much about BS until my son brought the topic up, I was, and still am to some extent, skepitcal about the entire thing. Another parent sent me the link to this website and by the time I had read several posts, I was convinced that there was little hope (i.e. nothing for me to worry about) my S going away to school. </p>
<p>I would not characterize his decision to apply as "tossing one in over the transom" though. He did all the work by himself, figured out the process, talked to kids he knew, or kids that other kids knew, who had gone to BS in both Canada and the US. He looked at all the websites. He looked at who the alumni were. BUT, he did this with little or no parental or teacher help. Why he came down to Exeter as his top choice is because, especially after the campus visit last fall, he felt he could see himself at the school, at a harkness table and that he had found a place where he would fit in. </p>
<p>My advice would not be to toss in an application. I don't believe that is what happened in our case. BUT, I think my S's story shows that regular people can still be accepted.</p>
<p>cecil - your son sounds like the "perfect" candidate to me - self-motivated, great student, great test scores, strong in a sport and good ec's. Obviously, he's independent and mature based on your description of how he pursued the boarding school idea/process on his own. He sounds like a wonderful applicant and I am not surprised in the least that Exeter accepted him. </p>
<p>Independence/maturity is definitely something these schools desire in an applicant.</p>
<p>cecil "Independence/maturity is definitely something these schools desire in an applicant" </p>
<p>This is so true and right on..........scores and GPA aside which are probably qualifiers more thn anything, independence/maturity/athletic ability............... this is the formula for procuring a spot on a bs roster.</p>
<p>I applied boarding school this year and was accepted to all the schools I applied to. I am now going to attend one of the AESDCH schools in the fall. After going through the process I cannot add any insight to this board. I don't know what is the most important. I am unaware of how the AC decides. What I took from the process is that it really all depends on if you "fit" at the school. Boarding schools try to create a community. If you have a 4.0, 99 on SSAT, great teacher recs etc. that is not a guarentee that you will be accepted. It all depends on how you fit in the puzzle.</p>
<p>The average for Andover is 93%, as stated in the Admissions section of their website. I don't know what it is for the other schools. I believe that anything over 85% will show these schools that you are capable of doing the work. I don't really think that a score of 91 or 99 really is that different to them. On the other hand, I am sure that there are some students who DO get admitted with scores lower than 80%, but they probably have something else special that makes the schools want them.</p>