Updated Chance Me! (Andover, Exeter, Choate, Lawrenceville)

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hey all! I’m posting a new Chance Me with some updated information. The format is taken from stats/results, haha.

Stats:
• SSAT/ISEE/TOEFL/PSAT: 97% percentile total, 97% Verbal, 96% Quantitative, 91% Reading
• GPA Unweighted/Weighted: 4.00
• Rank: N/A
• Other stats:

Subjective:
• Interviews: Pretty good! I think my Andover and Lawrenceville interviews were the best. We went over the time limit and had a lot of interesting and off-track conversations. Choate and Exeter were good as well. The interviewers were all super nice, and some of them I’ve kept in touch with.
• Essays: I highlighted a lot of my cultural experiences living between China and America. I think they were more personality and background focused, instead of on any achievements or extracurriculars. Not sure if this will be helpful or not, but they were honest and I’m pretty proud of them.
• Math Rec: Good! My math teacher is super sweet and she likes me. She said she would write a good recommendation for me. I’m not sure how special it will be, but it won’t be bad, at least.
• English Rec: Good as well! She’s a super spunky and warm mother hen type of person. I’ve had lots of good conversations with her.
• Personal/Extracurricular Rec: Probably amazing. I have a very close relationship with my coach, who wrote my interest rec. My personal rec was written by a member of my skating club’s board. I’ve done a lot of work with her and she’s sung my praises, so I’m not too worried.
• Principal/Counselor Rec: Good, too, I think. Everyone in the school has a pretty favorable impression of me.
• Sports (if any): Figure skating (5 years, 21 hours/week)
• Instruments (if any): Voice (Honors Chorus). I used to play a bit of piano for fun, but it was for two years and not too impressive.
• Other ECs (if any): MathCounts, figure skating club junior board, volunteering to teach learn to skate, writing stories, ballet (I stopped for a while, though, and only recently picked it up again for my skating). I also used to do drama before I got too busy with skating. I got two lead roles, though, and I did love the experiences a lot. I also co-wrote my school’s theater production once.
• Hook: Multicultural experiences? I grew up flying between China and America, and that’s impacted my viewpoints a lot. I tried to talk about this in my essays.

Location/Person:
• State or Country: Maryland (but born in China, no American citizenship)
• Current School Type: Laaaarge public (1,600 students in a school designed for about 1,000 students. Yikes.)
• Ethnicity: Chinese
• Gender: Female
• Grade Applying For: 9th
• Age: 13
• Financial Aid/Full Pay: Financial aid

Strengths: Not sure. Underrepresented state?

Weaknesses: ECs. My skating takes up a lot of my time. I leave for the rink every day when I get out of school, and I usually don’t get home till around 8:30 because the commute is so long.

Additional: I’m prepared to give up on a lot of my skating for boarding school. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m going to be very busy with other commitments. I really want to try new things as well, like debate, hip-hop, and ice hockey. But skating will always remain a big part of me! I want to direct my own skating show for a charity one day. That would be super cool.

2

lol if you don’t get in then I have no chance- your ECs are great, you will get in unless there are 500 kids who cured cancer applying

3

As impressive as your stat is, I am afraid you are only applying to schools that are looking for a very strong hook (being multicultural with Chinese culture is not a hook), and as such, much would depend on how you play out the figure skating EC. Have you won national-level or state-level recognitions? If so, I would think you have a very good chance as long as not many fellow figure skaters apply this year. All the schools you are applying are big and hyper-competitive to get in. And you are an ORM and an FA candidate. My advice would be to cast a wider net and have some back-up options.

4

I think you have a very solid chance. Acknowledging that the schools you are applying to have a <20% admissions rate.

My only question is if you skate 7days/week, getting home at 8:30, how do you have time for other ec’s? If I were an ao I would assume you were padding or exaggerating. But I’m not an ao so you might be fine ?

5

@1ofeach hey there! My board activities, writing, and ballet are usually crammed into the weekend. My math counts takes place in the wee hours of the morning. I guess it all worked out somehow!

@enpassant2019 thanks for the honest advice! I don’t have a lot to show in terms of skating awards or achievements, other than honors on a couple tests. I think one or two other skaters may be applying as well, so I’m not too special in that regard either, haha. I did apply to a local IB program and a magnet program as a backup. I guess all I can do now is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

@iusedtobesmart thank you so much! That means a lot to me. Good luck to you as well!

6

Bump!