@mondaydevil ECs are a HUGE part and I don’t mean joining random clubs, but years dedicated to soccer/ballet/a social justice cause you believe in. Like YEARS, not just the last six months, because it’s something you believe in- regardless if it’s sports or climate change. Then you have to have the grades too. Do things you believe in, not things to get to the next goal. You sounds like an amazingly capable person, so put those efforts to making a difference to your community and the rest will follow, guaranteed.
@parentofnicekid Ah. That might be a problem, since I’m still trying to figure out what I believe in. The two consistencies are art and student council and I do keep exploring more topics. Is there a way to present this in a good way in an essay?
More topics are always good. I guess the only “good” way to present it would be to do it authentically, with specific examples (there is no good and bad, there’s just you). For example, explain to someone why you painted something a certain way. That’s the way you see the world and maybe it will afford someone who can’t articulate how they see the world a way to connect. This is called an Artist’s Statement. Why did Picasso see the world as cubist at one point? Why did Pollack feel so alienated from society that he painted a certain way at some point. Be no-holds-bared authentic. Is all the crap (sorry for the hard language) we see in society really ok? If so, then that’s you. If not, then let’s do what we can to improve those around us. Privilege is a loaded word, but do what you can with what you have and be grateful and lift up those around you that you can.
And you don’t have to have it all figured out now (as to what you believe in). It’s a life long process, so even this year, without your desired results, are formative and life defining and will get you one step closer to figuring out what your truly think is important.
The pandemic is starting to get eerie. Many BS seem to be sending kids home, scheduling online classes; current internationals started packing for home. We may be seeing the most bizzare application year in the past 100 years, and as a I wrote this morning, I see no visibility for the coming fall. Some schools may not even open, unless the virus gets under control during the summer. I am befuddled by the fragility of everything we used to take for granted. I can only pray and wash my hands at the moment.
The importance of education pales in comparison to that of health and safety. May God protect everyone. Do not go to crowded places. Wear masks.
Only you can protect yourself, nobody else.
Hey guys, M10 came and turns out I was waitlisted for the following, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, SPS, Exeter, Choate, Cate, Thacher, Webb(didn’t even turn in essays).
I’m a female applying for 9th grade from California. My SSAT was a 97% and am a straight A student. Most interviews were great as well as essays. I am dedicated to volleyball and cello. The only thing that might have been off were my recs since I transferred schools this year.
I have mixed feelings about this but regardless and honored to be on the waitlist of all. Though I wasn’t accepted to any, I am really surprised I was waitlisted for all eight.
How likely am I to get off the waitlist for any of the schools considering the competition this year?
Thanks.
I’m confused as to why the comments / questions by the ‘first-timers’ (people who haven’t really commented before, including me) are being ignored? There has been at least three times I and other newcomers have commented questions, asking for advice, and I have not seen them once addressed or even mentioned in the thread… I’m not really irritated, it’s just confusion. If it is not a technical problem where the questions aren’t showing up, I would really appreciate it if you guys (who I’ve read a lot of comments from my 2+ years lurking on this site) could help us new kids out! Thank you!
@enpassant2019 I think we’re going to see just how fragile the social construct truly is. Unfortunately the early returns don’t look so hot right now. As far as prognostications, if I were a betting man I’d say that there is a better chance than not that colleges and BS do not resume in person/on campus through the end of this academic year. Online finals, and graduations? Very, very possible.
Beyond that, my magic 8 ball is hazy. You could be right about schools not being ready to re-open come September. If that’s the case we likely have far bigger problems on our hands. These 1st world issues would be exposed as precisely that.
Usually for the BS, how many students are in the wait list? I feel that there are too many are in WL this year, is it similar in previous years?
@sub2pewdiepie I haven’t scrolled back to see the questions you’ve asked, but, if your general inquiry is about getting off the wait list, I think the issue is that the questions have been addressed many times in the thread, usually by pointing people to a handful of prior comments (by number, sorry I don’t have them off hand) written by experienced parents and which lay everything out. But the TL;DR is:
-extremely rare and difficult to get off the wait lists at the top schools
-what you can/should do, and when, is outlined in those posts
-to some degree, all bets are off this year given the Covid-19 situation
Definitely scroll back a few pages and I know those ‘summary’ posts have been cited a few times. Good luck!
Thank you for your response! My question was just on who exactly my “AO” is supposed to be? Is it my interviewer? (He was a teacher at the school) Because other than the interviewer, I haven’t spoken to any particular admissions officer before… or is it just the general admission committee I should address my email to?
Also, I’ve read a lot about waitlist letters, but they seem to be sending contradicting/mixed messages every time. I just wanted a solid advice on whether this is the appropriate time to send this email now, and how much detail I should put in it. I currently expressed my ‘first-choice’ sentiment and listed the reasons why I wanted to go to Exeter in my draft… is that too much?
(this is just kind of like a curiosity of mine but… will the coronavirus affect who the admissions committee will take off the waitlist? As in, not-Asian, either because it’s a risk factor or because Asian students are more likely to not accept it at this time? I’m from South Korea, btw)
@sub2pewdiepie yes, your interviewer is your AO, though in this case you might consider expanding your ‘To:’ field to include the head of admissions (or write them separately - make sure each knows you’re also writing to the other). As for timing, I defer to the wiser and more experienced parents here. I think talking about your passion for the school and being specific is fine, but I wouldn’t write an essay…
As for covid19 and waitlists, no one knows. Usually the process, when Kid A doesn’t yield, is to look at the entire pool of wait-listed kids and replace Kid A with the closest proxy available. A world-class tuba player from Spain may not have a close proxy, so they may have to take a lesser tuba player from California if they really need a tuba player! As far as Covid19-impacted nations and replacing Kid A with Kid B from the same place…unfortunately we have no real way to assess this at this time. I think we’ll see after the fact, once the entering class, uh, enters, to what extent #s are down from nation A or B.
BTW my DD taught herself very basic written and spoken Korean because she’s a monster Kpop fan and wanted to understand the lyrics more directly. That sort of intrinsic motivation was all over her application.
Thank you so much!! Your answer really helped me a lot 
@Emjiang116 : Did you apply for financial aid ?
Without reading your application & teacher recs, it is difficult to offer a reason as to why you were waitlisted at all 8 schools.
Consider sending an email to admissions at the schools which most interest you telling them that you received only waitlists & wish to be considered for admission if a spot becomes available.
If in need of significant financial aid, then it may be that schools need to wait for more aid to become available before reconsidering your application.
Otherwise, you seem to be well qualified.
@sub2pewdiepie you’re welcome - good luck!
Hey, just a quick question, I heard that there was something called a courtesy waitlist, and that I should call admissions and ask whether I’m on the courtesy list or if I actually have a chance. Advise?
“Courtesy wait list” = a polite rejection.
No one will admit that an applicant was placed on a wait list as a coutesy or as a soft rejection.
I did not apply for financial aid.
This has been a very weird year indeed. My son is at a competitive K-8 school that for the last 100 years has been a solid feeder school for elite NE prep schools – whole curriculum is based on preparing for the elite BS experience. This school has traditionally sent several students to Andover/Exeter per year and the students have done very well there.
That is, until this year. This year, only three acceptances to A/E, one legacy and two under-represented minorities.
My son is considered the best student in the 8th grade. Straight A’s several semesters, highest SSAT score in his grade, competes nationally in a sport outside of the school (and is the captain at his local team), plays piano, does sculpture on the side. Studies/competes math and foreign language outside of school. An Andover alum english teacher read his essays and said they were very good.
My son only got into his last choice school, everything else waitlisted. Most students at his school were waitlisted at all schools they applied to. Basically everyone’s safety school turned into one they barely could get into.
OTOH the few acceptances were unusually random. The one school that accepted my son also accepted the worst student in the class, a girl with a C average who nearly flunked out. Exeter accepted a boy in the bottom half of the class who earned a 70 on the SSAT and only plays one sport (and is not at the olympic level). We believe he may have gotten in because he is 1/4 native american, although his “diversity” is only genetic-- it’s not like he’s ever visited his distant relatives or even seen a reservation.
I was really surprised by these results. Traditionally I always thought there was a extremely high academic bar to get into these places, but it seems like the bar is actually more mid-level. If you get rejected, I think it’s fair to say you would have really struggled at a school – some of these kids that were accepted definitely will have problems.
Once they cut off the bottom, the #1 goal in sculpting the class seems to be diversity. The elite boarding schools (which were terribly racist and all white during 95% of their history) now have perfect bell curves of diversity. This is a great thing, but seems to me cannot be accomplished without racial quotas. Harvard is currently fighting a big lawsuit on this topic, it will probably go to the Supreme Court.
God help you if you’re in an over-represented minority, although being white is probably not much better. All the legacies get in first, and guess what color they are! If you’re in an over-represented minority and got in, you are like the Jewish people who got into Harvard in 1920. You should buy some lottery tickets now!!!
Once diversity quotas are satisfied, the class is sculpted from the huge pool based on what is needed. Do they need a trombone player? A member of the diving team? Something weird and obscure is your best bet, but it needs to be something they directly need.
I do wish I had done a better job setting expectations for my son.
Makes me wonder what the college application process will be like. Does the valedictorian of an elite BS usually get his first choice of college, or are acceptances a random sampling of the class? In matriculation statistics, I really wish the prep schools could separate out legacies and under-represented minorities, because life is a whole lot different for everybody else.
^^ What I have seen watching BS classes apply to college is that it 1. The strength of the graduating classes is not the same year to year. (And this is even more so the case in as k-8 school when you have no idea what kind of student a 5 year old will be in 8 years.) So in some years, there could be 20% of the class that gets into the most selective schools and the next year, it may be 5.
You don’t know what the pool from outside your community looks like, and ultimately, this is the the pool admissions is choosing from.
And yes, as you note, there are those specific needs the school has. On that, you miss get lucky. Or not.
If your kid is the good student you describe, he’ll be successful at the school he attends. And know that the kids who are “all that” do very well in college admissions, regardless of where they apply from and especially with the fine education your son will have.