<p>The reality is: the higher the school’s average SSAT score, the more the score matters for admission no matter what the school publicly claims. </p>
<p>Will an 88th percentile shut her out of A&E? Maybe not. But strategically it’s always better to be above the school’s average than below it.</p>
<p>If your daughter is set on A&E and does not have a compelling hook (e.g., recruited athlete or talent, development case, notable parents, URM, some exotic state/country of residence) then I would advise retaking the test.</p>
<p>I know it is a year old, but @benley must realize that TJ (mentioned in post #13) has a rigorous entrance exam and admissions process and draws from an international coterie of top diplomats in the greater Washington D.C. area. Also, rankings of public schools often exclude Thomas Jefferson High School not because it is not public (it is), but because it so exceeds the standards of other public schools as to put it in another class altogether (along with a select few others such as Troy in LA and Stuyvesent in NYC). To pick the widely-acknowledged top public high school in the country and casually toss it in as if it is a representative public school is a bit misleading.</p>
<p>SSAT is not important at all if the kid has something the school wants badly. But if you don’t have any special talent/background/legacy, you better do well. </p>
<p>At the Exeter interview, we were specifically told by the director of admissions that they are more interested in the quantitative scores for ISEE and SSAT. </p>
<p>I just got back my ssat scores
Verbal 89 reading 86 quantitative 77
I’m not sure these r good enough
I gave Exeter and Andover really really really good interviews
I’m a straight A student
And I’m sure my recommendations will be great</p>
<p>I am thinking that for the very selective schools, you need a hook after you achieve a threshold score – maybe ~85-90%? So, I bet those scores are good enough for that threshold.</p>