<p>I just finished 7th grade, and I really want to go to a boarding school (Lville, Hotchkiss, or Andover), but my grades this year weren't that great. Should I go to a regular high school and raise my grades, and then apply for tenth grade. Or should I just hope to get really amazing SSAT's and have an awesome interview, and apply this year</p>
<p>I would say to apply this year, because you can always do it again next year and you never know if the admissions officers will really like you. Schools don’t only admitt applicants on the basis of grades, so if you got a couple of B’s but the rest A’s or maybe even one C it would be wise to study for the SSAT, have good teacher recs, do well on the essay, talk well in your interview, and hope for the best. Apply this year and don’t just look at big/well known schools like Andover or Hotchkiss; apply to some safety schools like Peddie, NMH, or St. Andrews/Marks/George’s. Check online at boarding school review for more schools.</p>
<p>I would say to apply in the fall and see what happens. You could bring your grades up and have amazing SSAT scores and an awesome interview. If you don’t get accepted this year, you can always try next year and you’ll be more experienced with the application process. If I may suggest one more thing: throw a couple of other schools into the mix to have more variety. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice.
And I have looked at pretty much every school, my living room and bedroom are piled to the ceiling with information and books.
I was looking at NMH, because my friends sister goes there, and she loves it, but Lville, Hotchkiss, Andover just sorta popped out at me when I was looking at their books.</p>