Thank you so much! I’ll definitely send a letter.
My DD was rejected by Andover Exeter and Choate, waitlisted at MX. Her stats, SSAT 99%, math and vocabulary full scores, Reading 97%. Grades all A and above except 2 A-. Strong writer, one scholastic gold and one silver key this year, recommendation all blind but I got very good feedback from teacher via parent conferences. AMC10 93 achievement roll this year, figure skating 3 years, no community services, interviews all went around 30 - 40 mins. Massachusetts, ORM, grade 8 applying 9, full pay.
Anyone could share what she lacked? It was rather disappointing by that many rejections with our stats. Sincerely congratulations to all the acceptances here on CC!
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My best guess would probably be her essays. I mean I haven’t seen them or anything, but based on what I have discovered, application essays (college and private schools) are extremely valued. Even more than stats, ECs, and recommendations. Of course, being excellent in all of these categories would be best.
However, I have seen more people with excellent essays and good stats get accepted, than people with excellent stats and mediocre essays get in to the best schools.
Thanks, she is strong on writing, and we felt her essays were good…
I thought maybe it was her interviews, short, she answered some of questions badly. Maybe even school didn’t even get our SSAT scores cause we submitted before we completed the gateway profile, one school asked us submit grades in late Feb saying they didn’t have it.
It could also be the fact that the schools your DD applied to are very selective and were especially competitive this year. Sometimes there isn’t enough space for all of the super qualified applicants, like your daughter seems to be. It might be that they already had a strong figure skater or didn’t need another writer. I don’t really know, but my point is that admissions are super unpredictable and we can’t make assumptions about what your daughter may have “lacked” (because she might not have been lacking at all!)
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Her stats are really good! Part of the reason may be her ec’s. From my perspective it seems like she only does figure skating? Often the accepted students have 1-3 outstanding ec’s.
That may be it. But also, while I don’t doubt the strength of you daughter’s writing skills, I will have to add that the essay question and the example you used are also extremely important. But anyway, everything should be fine. If you really want to know the answer to your questions, I would recommend speaking with an alumni or admissions officer and asking them what type of student they are looking for.
Interviews are important, but they are not everything. They look at their applicants as a whole puzzle, where the components of your application represent the pieces. Sometimes you get a piece that is very descriptive and you know exactly where it will go, and other times you get pieces that are very vague and you need to sort through other pieces before knowing where that piece goes. No matter what though, you need all the pieces to successfully complete the puzzle.
Also, if we were to look at the accepted applicants from each school as pieces of a larger puzzle, you would recognize that each school “puzzle” has diverse colors and designs. These school want people who come from all over and have different interests.
Perhaps your daughter is in a community filled with other people who applied to the same schools, has similar ECs, and also slightly better notable awards. In that case, I would just just consider you unlucky.
But anyway, please don’t take my words to heart. I am only an 8th grader as well, and am not an expert at admitting people into prestigious schools.
I’m sure your daughter will do well no matter the path she takes as long as she keeps up the good work!
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I will tell you what I’ve told my child.
It’s possible they desperately want a tuba player, and you don’t play the tuba. You’re good at many things, but you don’t play the tuba, so you didn’t fill that slot. It doesn’t lessen what you are good at, they just wanted something different (not better) at the school.
It’s possible they want people who have had had more struggle than yours. Don’t begrudge this, because the school will boost those kid’s life more than they could possibly boost yours.
Based on what you have written, I would say she is in that grey zone of people that was a coin flip difference between being accepted and rejected. The decision is binary by necessity, but no one would be shocked if you said your kid got in to _____ school. In my opinion, being slightly below or slightly above that arbitrary line will matter little in your kids’ long term success, even if it feels of momentous importance today.
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what does DD mean?
Because they look at the applications holistically, it could be any number of things.
Clearly she is academically capable, and a talented writer. Her essays were probably fine.
However, they are looking for more than that: they want to see that a potential student will both contribute and thrive in their community.
One of the things that do get weighed in ECs. That might have been a weakness in her application. How many hours a week does she figure skate? No community service at all?!
Another thing could be interviews. They want to get a feel for who an applicant is as a person and whether they are emotionally ready for boarding school. They want someone who they can visualize as an active contributing member of their community.
Ultimately, none of us are in a position to tell you what your daughter’s applications were “lacking”.
Thanks for all the reply, you guys are the best!
On her essays, she wrote about how she grew herself from initially no one was reading her online story to having a 20-chapter story with 30K views and a lot comments. Another one was about her experience on diversity since she started elementary school in US.
I feel she is probably not that mature, maybe interviewers picked it up, all our interviews didn’t last long. And on the community side, nothing really, the excuse I could find is Covid, and she is on full remote mode.
DD and DS I think people to use for dear daughter and dear son here?
Thanks again!
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Yep, it means dear daughter!
It’s hard to guess without meeting your D, but I think your hunch about maturity (or just personality type) could make sense. All those schools get more applicants who can excel in the classroom than they can accept. It looks like your D has the intellectual ability to do the work. They might have worried that she’d struggle socially or that she wouldn’t be able to duke it out with more assertive (and competitive) classmates in classrooms requiring participation and debate.
Every school has a pretty good sense of who will thrive there. They differ in what they will take on and what they emphasize. The schools generally recognize that when a student leaves, whether it was at the request of the school (poor grades, breaking rules) or because the student was unhappy, it will be a setback for the student. Maybe even traumatic. That’s not what they want for anyone. And that’s why they interview every spplicant. They are screening for something that’s hard to describe (and doesn’t come through in the chance me posts). There are schools that weren’t on your list that might welcome a younger, less confident kid with talent and feel like their environment could really build them up. And there are others that recognize that their environment might crush a kid like that.
It’s hard to believe that these things happen “for the best” but I really think that’s often the case. If you were going to apply again, you might want to consider either repeating a year (if you think it’s maturity) or schools that might be more nurturing for your D’s personality.
She sounds like a great kid. I’m sure she’ll do well in spite of this bump in the road.
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Those academic stats are certainly impressive! Perhaps the lack of community service, and that that the one extracurricular is about individual achievement. The admissions committees are more interested in extracurriculars that help others and show leadership.
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It is definitely our weakness, we arrived in the country not many years ago, we are still learning. Thank you @ameridad !
Very true, agreed. She is among the youngest in the her grade, we will see how she goes next. @gardenstategal thanks!
We can only speculate. This is our first year applying to BS but I’ve read plenty of profiles with high stats kids who didn’t land at a school. Frankly, there aren’t spots for all the kids. Which is why the advice is to always apply to a range of schools with higher admits and not just the ones you are familiar with. That is why school look forward kids that fill multiple buckets so to speak. If I had to guess I say that her lack of volunteering (any sort) was a weakness and that maybe EC was a weakness. She may have plenty of interests but didn’t reveal them in paper.
My younger daughter is a late July birthday. We sent her to school because she needed it but everyone we knew would have kept her in TK. It has always been the right choice but yes, she is immature. The private schools would not have accepted her. If she does transition to a BS at some point she will absolutely repeat a year. It would have nothing to do with academics and I know they could accommodate her when she arrived. But it would not be fair to thrust her into that environment and be so much younger and less mature than other students.
You’ve received great feedback.
May I also add that there is a strong possibility that your DD lacked nothing.
I’ve realized that BS accepts to a certain extent is a numbers game. You applied to “just” 4 schools, we were guilty of same.
If you are planning for next year add more schools. Be sure to research the schools that you believe will be a good fit not just for applying sake.
Not to be guilty of using platitudes… but everything really does happen for a reason.
Good luck.
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@datalife – there was a poster here years ago with a young, previously home-schooled D, who had a long journey to BS. You might want to take a look at those posts. The poster is sculptordad. Your situation isn’t the same – but it’s a window into how this played out for another young talented applicant (who is now in college!)