Reapply as a sophomore instead of junior? increase chance or decrease it?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I'm an international student at some private school in Maine. I'm going to be a sophomore this Fall.</p>

<p>Here is some of my information on my freshman year
. Got straight A's
. The classes I took are all honors class
. I'm in a varsity tennis team
. I play piano for at least 10 years
. I play violin, guitar, and traditional instruments
. I'm take AP Calculus (that's my strong point)
. Join math team...qualified to compete in state meet, got a gold medal
. Photography is my hobby</p>

<p>My SSAT percentile sucks (below 50%) but I'm dying to get into Hotchkiss, so I would do anything to increase my chance, even just a little.
My question is would this increase my chance of getting in if I apply next year as a sophomore, instead of applying as a junior as I should be? I know that the acceptance rate for junior is very low. I need some advice. I applied there once...was wait-listed. Should I reapply as a junior to show them my confidence? Or should I repeat my sophomore year? Personally, I don't think being a sophomore or junior matters much once you are accepted into the school, because you can take any course you want after all. What do you think?</p>

<p>There are tons of school I might apply alongside Hotchkiss.
- Westminster
- Loomis Chaffee
- Blair Academy
- Emma Willard
- Deerfield
- Tabor
- Dana Hall
- Middlesex
- Worcester
- Governer's Academy
- Brooks School
- Pomfret
- Miss Porter's School
- Northfield Mount Hermon
I know most of these schools are second-tier or lower.
I just need some help listing them in order from the easiest to get in to the hardest.
I have totally no idea what rank they are in. What I'm basically looking for is the one with strong math program, support math team, and has a good tennis court.
I don't know which of them could be considered as my "safety" so PLEASE help me point them out.</p>

<p>I'm appreciated all of your help, and I'm so glad I found this forum. I've been roaming around CC for year and haven't had a chance to post anything.
I was so hopeless when I knew Hotchkiss wouldn't contact me back, but after reading all the threads in this forum, I felt a lot better. Thanks and please answer the two questions above! <3</p>

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<p>There have been other threads about repeating 9th grade. Don't know too much about repeating 10th. Some schools do take a good portion of their class in as sophomores, with fewer juniors. While the number of spots for juniors is smaller, it seems that the number of applicants for those spots is smaller as well. But, it seems somewhat anecdotally that you need to be a higher quality applicant to gain admittance as a junior.</p>

<p>Your SSAT score is lower than the Hotchkiss average. But, you got waitlisted, so you obviously have other qualities that they liked. You seem very advanced in math. How was the math portion of your SSAT? If it was low, that might have raised a caution, given your advanced courses. Perhaps your interviewer or the admissions office might be able to provide you with some information on what might have been weak in your application.</p>

<p>You should look at the web sites of the schools to see if they have tennis teams and math teams. You can get some information on acceptance rates at the schools' web sites (some of them anyway). Also check out [url=<a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5DBoarding"&gt;http://www.boardingschoolreview.com]Boarding&lt;/a> School Review - College-Prep & Jr. Boarding Schools<a href="beware%20that%20some%20of%20the%20%0Ainformation%20is%20outdated">/url</a>.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>