SSAT scores

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

hello!

I applied to Lawrenceville school as a sophomore. i have a few questions about SSAT and how it affects admissions. I believe that lville’s average score is an 85th percentile.

  1. Do AO's look at the super score rather than your best score in one take?
  2. how does SSAT affect the amount of FA received if the family needs it?
  3. is it a huge issue if some sections are significantly worse than others?

Thank you! and good luck to all applicants on M10!!

2

SSAT is really not too important; schools use it gauge how different your school is academically (e.g. a 99th percentile and mostly B’s could mean that your school is rather academically challenging, while a 70th percentile and straight A’s suggests that your school probably overinflates grades and that it isn’t as challenging if you’re getting straight A’s and a lower than average percentile.). Other than that, it really falls out use in terms of admission, as the test is just a test, and not everybody does great on standardized tests. It’s not a very reliable factor either. AO’s use the SSAT in combination with a load of your other stats, like your interview, your essays, your ECs, your sports, etc. These previous ones will matter tons more than a 99% SSAT. As a final note, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of kids who get 99% on the SSAT. But all of the top schools don’t have straight 99% average SSAT’s for a reason, and that’s because of the other factors having a heavier weight on your decision.

  1. Yes, I do believe that AO's superscore the scores that you send them, but only if you've sent them all of your score. If you took it in November, December, and January, and only sent your January score, they can't see your Nov or Dec scores, and thus, can't superscore.
  2. Don't think that SSAT will affect FA. Most of the FA factors are determined by need. Is your family around 100K to 150 HH income? Then you probably won't get full aid or as much aid as someone's family who only makes 50K ( a full year of tuition). Besides, these are questions to ask **after** you are accepted.
  3. Um, yes? Define significantly? If you got a 99% in Math and a 20% in Reading/verbal, then yeah, it'll probably be a problem. If you have a 90% in one section, and your scores in other sections fluctuate by about +- 5% or +-10%, then probably not.

Good luck on M10! Less than 36 hrs away…
Congrats on applying!

3

I have a different opinion. (People may have different opinions) SSAT is one of the most important factors for decision. Its important gets bigger if AOs are less familiar with the academic rigor of your current (middle) school. You have to have a higher score to increase your chance. What is misleading here is sometimes you see kids with 99% being denied, which makes people underrate the importance of standard tests.

You can still be denied with 99% SSAT score, but your chance is low if you have a low score. I would tend to say your chance of getting FA is also affected by your test score.

4

I totally agree with @patronyork ignore or underplay SSAT score averages at your peril. If you follow the threads here through an admissions cycle you will see many kids with super high scores who do not get admitted. This is because it is not a guarantee of anything. It is more of a floor that I suspect seperates out the kids who are not going to be seriously considered during the cycle from those who are.

Once they have done a first culling of applications based on the easiest factors grades/SSATs then they can get down to the hard work of making up their class. There are many many more kids with strong SSAT scores (i.e. above average for each school) than there are places for them.

I suspect if you look throughout the results threads for kids with below average scores who are admitted you will find that they are: legacies, siblings, really underrepresented minorities, etc etc. Not to say these kids don’t deserve to be admitted, they do! But that is where the averages come from, if you yourself do not fit into one or more of those categories your odds are not good

5

As a student of Lawrenceville who has two of the admission officers for duty masters… I can definitively say that the SSAT is a VERY important factor in admission.