<p>I am from Taiwan and I am fluent in English and mandarin. Since 6th grade, I have maintained an A average (with some A-'s and A+'s here and there). I always take the higher level math tests (our school has tiered assessments for Alg 1). As for EC's, i do not have many, but I am an excellent swimmer and I have won several competitions in the US as well. I have already met with the coach and he seems very impressed and says that he will try to push the topic to the admission counselors. I also have been in Concert Band in the Last two years and i play the Tuba. My SSAT scores were : 91 percentile verbal (749), 99 percentile math (800), 99 percentile reading (776), with overall score of 2325 (99 percentile). </p>
<p>Oh... and I am also a student rep for eighth grade.</p>
<p>Could people just post their honest opinions on whether or not I am going to be accepted?</p>
<p>Grades and SSAT are great, you lack EC’s, which counts a lot. I assume you will get great recs so if your essays and interview both go great I think you have a decent chance</p>
<p>I know I lack EC’s but I don’t have time since I swim 3 hours a day… my recs should be pretty good (i hope) as I have my current and last years math teacher doing them and my english should be stellar too.
My interviews were great at Peddie and Andover, but I kinda messed up my Lawrencevile one although my dad went to the same boarding school as the interviewer. At Andover, the interviewer was actually the chinese head so I introduced myself in chinese and hopefully had a good impression on him.
My essays will be edited by my brother who is already at a ten school boarding school so they should be fine too.</p>
<p>I know… I mean I play one sport very competitively and a couple of other ECs but with school andmoving, I just don’t have the time. I don’t see why doing a lot of ECs rates over great grades/SSATS or personality. Can anyone tell me? Im honestly curious why they are such a big deal</p>
<p>I heard that it shows you are well-rounded or something like that, but personally, I think it is better to have one thing you’re good at then a mediocre dabbler in everything</p>
<p>Personality is impossible (or near impossible) to judge accurately from one application. Great grades are common, great SSATs are a dime a dozen, it’s ECs that differentiate you from the crowd. You don’t need an obscene amount of them (quality, not quantity!) so honestly, having a few and doing them for a long time, showing passion (eg: qualifying for state, winning some awards here and there etc) most definitely outvalues having about 90 billion extra-curriculars that you’ve done for about a year with no awards to go with it. You have 3 ECs : band, swimming, and StuCo, 2 of which you seem to be dedicated to, which isn’t bad. it could use work but honestly, just focus on your essays and cross your fingers!!</p>
<p>Hooks, hooks, hooks and more hooks! They don’t have to be something like “I am the youngest person to swim across the Pacific Ocean…” kind of thing, it’s something that separates you from the rest.</p>
<p>As divealive pointed out, that’s what EC’s are for. Show them what you’re passionate about. Show them that you are unique.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily have to be in a club. I wasn’t involved in very many clubs during middle school (my school had maybe two legitimate clubs) and I still made it. The important thing is to show them that you have great passion for whatever you’re doing :)</p>
<p>^ don’t listen to asiankid about the whole involved in very many clubs thing, she’s a mad asian genius…</p>
<p>mhm, it’s kind of pointless to join something right now, so … record a CD of you playing the tuba, get your parent(s) to film a performance, make a swimming video… um, not sure what you could do with stuco, but maybe include it in your essay or interview? haha</p>
<p>Haha DiveAlive, I really am not. I am just an average Exonian. What I did was showed them that I was really passionate about this not-so-popular racket sport. I wrote an essay about it and mentioned it quite a few times during my interview. Weeks later, after I learned that I was admitted, I received a letter from one of the faculty members talking to me about some other racket sports that Exeter has. :-)</p>
<p>I already had my interview and I gave all the coaches a video of my swimming, as for tuba, I have only played for three years and I am not that big of a tuba player so ya.</p>
<p>BlueRaven1 and Yangster, EC’s are a big deal because grades and SSAT scores are what get you in the applicant pool. Honestly, for at least 90% of the people on this forum, it isn’t that difficult to be placed in the applicant pool. If you have mostly A’s and your SSAT is above 80 or 85 chances are you’re getting in the applicant pool. After that they look at which kids will contribute most to their community, both EC wise and character wise. They don’t just want really smart kids who are just gonna do school work and nothing else the whole time even if they are a genius (not saying either of you are like that).</p>
<p>hahaha I’m definietly not. You’re talking to the procrastator, non-school work loving extrodinare. I refuse to attend Straight A parties simply because all the kids there are sickening…</p>
<p>Look, here’s the thing about extra curriculurs:</p>
<ol>
<li> You need to be good at it</li>
<li> You need to get something out of it.</li>
</ol>
<p>I failed on point one last year: I played sports on every season, made student council, and did a whole bunch of extracurriculars, but I didn’t really have anything to prove it.</p>
<p>If you can swim at that level, that’ll raise your chaces alot. </p>
<p>As for SSAT’s… you did a great job, but you have to realize that they’re not everything. Four guys applied from an asian country (I’m not saying what for the sake of privacy) with 99%'s last year. Two of them went to Exeter and Andover. The third didn’t fare as well and went to brooks. But this is from an Asian country. You’re applying from america, it shouldn’t be a problem</p>
<p>Anyways sorry to scare you if i did, but good luck and have fun with your apps.</p>
<p>Lol, I know every1 already said it, but ECs are very important.
Here’s why:
Some kids get eliminated due to grades, others due to SSATs, and others due to recommendations and so on with all those aspects of the application.
But, even so, about 50-60% of kids remain. So how would adcoms nail that down to 16-20%? By ECs, since they’re the last way to eliminate someone. Think about it, most CCers make it through the “first round” (grades, SSAT, recs, interviews) and might not in the 2nd where your ECs and accomplishments as well as future promise is compared to others.</p>
<p>Blueraven and yangster, I don’t remember what I said before that got you on the topic of procrastination but I procrastinate so much too and get A’s</p>