<p>Okay I am:
Chinese, US citizen (NJ)
in 8th grade
applying for 9th
I need FA....my family earns $130,780 a year but of course we still need a good amount of it</p>
<p>applying to:
Choate
Hotchkiss
Taft
Worcester Academy
Peddie</p>
<p>Grades:
Grade 6- All As with occasional B (maybe 3 times throughout whole year)
Grade 7- All As with occasional B (same as above)
Grade 8 - first marking period...Straight As :)</p>
<p>Honors/Awards:
Won school spelling bee, placed 3rd at regionals
high/honor roll every marking period
level 6 on Piano
mentioned in mother's day essay contest in newspaper
won a prize for Chinese Writing contest
Cheerleading captain for 1 year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars/Sports:
Chinese School 3 years
Chorus 1 year
Piano 5 years
Cheerleading 4 years
Gymnastics 2 years
computer club 1 year
School Newspaper 1 year
Swimming 3 years
Book Club 1 year
Science Newsletter 1 year</p>
<p>Interests:
Community Service (I wanna do this sooooo bad!)
field hockey
lacrosse
cross country</p>
<p>SSAT: 80 (yeah i know....it's probably a bit lower than it should be)</p>
<p>Isn’t Worcester Academy a day school? I’m guessing you would live with family or friends there.<br>
Did you know that Taft does not offer swimming? Gymnastics is not usually included among the boarding school sports. Do any of your selected schools offer it? I have no idea what your chances might be. However, unless you like the idea of living far from home and attending a day school (Worcester Academy), you might consider adding one or two less competitive boarding schools that offer what you want. I think highly of Blair Academy in NJ, but there are many other schools you might consider. Good luck!</p>
<p>Burb Parent-Worcester Academy is also a boarding school but I would be a 5-day boarder since I have a cousin that lives 10 min away</p>
<p>I know Taft doesnt offer swimming but I don’t mind because I want to get into other sports.</p>
<p>I just added gymnastics and cheerleading because it’s a hobby
and peddie and worcester academy are basically my two safeties (worcester academy is more of my safety though because I know that peddie is a little more competitive)</p>
<p>Peddie’s acceptance rate of around 20% puts it in the reach category for almost everyone. I don’t know anything about Worcester Academy; I didn’t even realize that it offers boarding. You are applying to 4 reach schools. I hope Worcester Academy is not in that category as well. Good luck with all of them!</p>
<p>i know this isnt exactly the right place to put it…but i just realized something! assuming i get into at least one of the schools im applying to (taft, hotchkiss, andover, lawrenceville, exeter) and theres a high chance that someone else on CC also gets into one of the schools that i applied to (and going into 9th) then we might meet in real life!
haha hope that made sense…lol i know im being really ditsy but i just thought that was cool =)</p>
<p>I wonder just how much of a “safety” any school really is…unless the admit rate is in the 80’S or so! Worcester is in the high 40’s, low 50’s if I’m not mistaken. A classmate of my son’s applied there as a pg and did not get in. This boy was an excellent athlete (ended up foregoing the extra year of hs and went straight to college where he is a starting player on his school’s soccer team…big sport at Worcester). He also needed fa…not tons, but some, and was a decent, but not exceptional student. True, they do accept fewer pg’s, but still…soccer is sort of their “specialty sport” and he would have been one of their top players…so just be careful in assuming how “safe” your safety is.</p>
<p>Crickett - yes, some schools allow you to be a 5-day boarder. I know that some allow it as a privledge for Jr’s and Sr’s. Worcester has a larger number of 5 day boarders I beleive as most of their boarders are “close.”</p>
<p>tingting25 - I’m going to echo the posting of be careful saying "I know for a fact that Worcester is a safety". Just because a student has the stats that are above the “average” student admitted at a school does not mean the student is an automatic admit. Admissions looks for kids that fit the school. Just like families do. If they feel that a student is not the right fit, stats or not, they won’t admit them.<br>
Certainly, based on your list, Worcester is a “tier” below the other schools. I think the posters were saying that your list includes only one school that is not considered a reach for everyone.</p>
I agree Keylyme. I stated in another post that, in my opinion, I believe all schools are “reaches” if one is applying for financial aid. And as Linda pointed out, the school’s job is to choose, from among hundreds of qualified applicants, the students they think are most likely to thrive in and contribute something important to the school’s community. You can have all the right credentials TingTing25, but if the school doesn’t feel you’re a good “fit” for their community, you won’t be accepted. </p>
<p>Another point, history has shown that many of the kids that were “over qualified” for their “safety” school, were actually not accepted at the safety. The “safety” knew the kids were applying to other schools which better matched their statistics, (and probably felt they would attend those schools if accepted), so they didn’t offer them a spot.</p>
<p>Not to stray too far off the original topic but here’s an example…</p>
<p>“Safety” school asks this question in an interview: “I have 3 students in my office, all qualified. Why should I pick you?”
Most kids say things like “I would work hard.” or “I would get really good grades and be a great xxxsport player and I would work really hard.” or “I’m sure I could excel academically here and I would work hard.” (yes there was a common “work hard” theme).<br>
One kid says something like “I would help make the community here better by helping others when I could, being a good team member and a good leader and making the school proud that I’m their student.” Who do you think gets the spot? Even if one kid has better stats? </p>
<p>THAT’S why you can’t always depend on your “safety” school. </p>
<p>A non-DAES school told us that the NUMBER ONE admissions criteria is character. Of course, the student has to be academically qualified, but they will admit someone with lower academic stats in a heartbeat if they have a better interview and better recommendations - if they are a good kid - than someone with higher stats and doesn’t have the high character.</p>
<p>I guess my point is (again, sorry) that you can’t always **know **that you will get in - much more than your “stats” goes into the decision.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I didn’t mean that I was sure to get admitted into Worcester Academy but I forgot to mention that my cousins go there too so that would sorta be a hook right?</p>