Hey guys, I just kind of wanted to rant a bit. Well rant isnt the right word, well atleast I hope it doesnt turn into one. Basically, I am kind of here just because I want to hear someone tell me that it’s game over. For the past year I have devoted time to studying for the ssat to get into a boarding school (L’ville mainly). I got great grades, won awards, did service and became a better person overall in my opinion. I have gained friends through diffrent services, learned a new sport and even found new passions. I got a 73% on my ssat. I know that is okay but it will not get me into a top level school even on a lucky day. So can anyone just tell me that I have a 0% chance of being accepted. It would reallly help to be told that. I think I am just tired of the constant struggle I have been having in my mind of telling myself it could happen due to being from Uzbekistan or maybe cause I am overseas they will understand but in the end I feel like that is not true. There are a whole 27% of people better than me and they are the people who desserve to go and I understand that. I would appreciate your opinion on my scenario and it’s okay if its bad, I just want an honest opinion.
It’s not that 27% of people are “better than” you. They merely did better on this one test–a test, whose value, many believe, is overrated as a predictive tool. No single test can predict success in private school (however “success” is defined), much less in life.
I think most people would endorse what we read on this forum so often: you just don’t know what any school will do in any given situation. I believe school admissions people when they say it’s all about the “complete package,” so don’t despair. Sincere good luck to you.
If you look back to last year’s results you will see there are many self reports of students with 99% on the SSAT being rejected from some schools. Agreed it’s all about the student as a whole and test scores being just one piece. As many have reported you just don’t know what a school seeks in any given year. Do you need financial aid? Most schools do not award aid to international students. If you don’t, your status as homing from an underrepresented country could be a good hook for you.
Disclaimer: I don’t know. I am just a parent, going through this for the first time.
If you were from Utica, NY, I would probably agree with you that coming in about 12 points below their average SSAT could very likely sink you.
But Uzbekistan? Frankly, how does a kid from Uzbekistan even know about Lawrenceville? And I am guessing there are not a lot of SSAT tutors in Uzbekistan, either. I don’t even know you and I want to meet you. I think these schools would too. And I think they would love to get up in front of a group and blithely mention, oh we have kids from _, ______, and Uzbekistan!
I would not give up hope at all. In fact, I would wait a week or so after all the deadline hoopla has calmed down, and then I would write a nice note to the AO and reiterate how much you want to go and everything you have done to make yourself a good candidate. Make sure you say they are your number one choice (and the only school you applied to , if that is so?).
You may be familiar with the new Character Skills Assessment that SSAT will administer? As a L’ville applicant, I assume you took the beta test (the L"ville website directs you to it). Google more on the topic and look at the list of character traits that the top BS have agreed drive success in their environment. That is what they are looking for, and based on what you have written, I think you clearly have many of those traits.
If you do need FA, then it will help to refocus your search on schools that give FA to international applicants; I do not know about it L’ville
Thank you DonFefe, this has really inspired me and motivated me. I think I was looking at it in the wrong way and thank you for these kind words.
Thanks MaandMemom I reallly appreciate it. I dont need financial aid and I appreciate the advice.
Thank you 6teenSearch, this was very touching. I really appreciate your words and understanding to my scenario so much. I really hope the admission officer can understand what you see about living in Uzbekistan and the struggle of learning there. Thank you and I wish the best to you and once again thank you for the advice
You didn’t screw up at all. You learned from this experience and what you learned you will never unlearn. However, you can’t dismiss the value of the SSAT despite what everyone says here. The SSAT is highly correlative to performance on the SAT. Further, the SSAT, is at least, a uniformly applied measure of assessment. Grades are the most suspect. Grades have suffered (USA) from inflation at many competitive schools, deflation at many competitive schools :), the expectation of strong extracurriculars as part of the package further complicates things as everyone has different ECs and who is to judge what is more interesting and meaningful? Well besides admissions committees! The SSAT assesses acquired knowledge and some reasoning ability. The above posters are partially correct that it does not predict academic success. But only partially. The test is saying that at a certain age and grade you have acquired certain bits of knowledge. Depending on what score is achieved, you can be relatively competitive academically. What it may miss (this is not a flaw of the test) is kids who come from weaker schools or inadequate academic backgrounds who have the capacity to learn and succeed but just haven’t yet. That may be you. However, that is life. IQ tests are not predictive of academic success because IQ doesn’t necessarily correlate with motivation, drive, emotional skills etc. In fact some of the very smartest people have social skill deficits. Nonetheless: back to you. If you are from Uzbekistan that makes you interesting certainly as most international applicants are from Asia. However, I have to wonder how difficult your living and learning situation can be if you dont need Financial Aid? While $50,000 a year is a lot here in the USA, it is even more in relative to value in many parts of the world. Perhaps that part of your story would need conveying to the school or schools you hope to attend.
Funny @Center things I’ve read on here and other places say that the SSAT is somewhat of a measure of IQ and that the SAT moved away from that so maybe the correlation is not as strong as its been in the past?
SSAT and former SAT are both IQ tests. IQ tests tend to be more correlative to performance at lower grades and much less at college level. I think that’s why the former SAT has been changed, while even lower grade elementary private schools outright request for WISC scores. For them, WPPSI, WISC, SSAT, former SAT are all the same. Just standard IQ tests for different age group.
Being in between, it seems that SSAT is somewhat more important in boarding schools than former SAT is in college, but not so much as to dictate the whole application process.
Various researches show that self-discipline outdoes IQ at high school performance. Hence the grades, essays, recommendation letters and interviews are even more important in admission. Some competitive schools want them all, IQ and self-discipline, because they can while less competitive schools accept less SSAT score, but still cares for strong self-discipline since it matters more.
Here is my advice. Forget about the whole application process until March 10th. What is done is done. Now just move forward and stop thinking about this process. Get on with your life. If, in fact, you do not get an offer on March 10, then you have a lot more experience under your belt for re-applying next year. Until you know, stop worrying. Nothing can be done now. And no one can say you are 100% rejected any more than we can say you are 100% accepted.
I know it is hard, but you just have to be patient. 
you have done what you can and now comes the hardest part of all: waiting. Good luck!
The SSAT and SAT are not IQ tests. They are aptitude tests. There is some overlap but they are not IQ tests.
73rd percentile from Uzbekistan? I bet you’re probably one of the highest scorers in your country. If this is the case you will be a prize for admissions. There are very few people from your country who are at the top boarding schools (Lville included).
The scores are close enough to the average at Lville that I’m fairly sure they would overlook it. If you have other aspects of your application that are appealing (like your geographic location, plus good grades and ECs) I’m sure this will not limit you.
A 73% is not a bad score, you should be proud of yourself!
Definitely put in your application. Besides, if you don’t, you’ll never know (which would be it’s own kind of agony). 1) not everyone accepted by L’Ville received ‘90s on their SSATs—yes, including US kids’ 2) the SSAT is one test, not the whole person. I know students who’ve gotten into Andover, L’Ville and a whole lot of other “esteemed” boarding schools with SSAT scores considerably lower than yours. Yes, kids with high '90s get rejected. Why? Because the SSAT is but one part of the application and a LOT of kids know how to test (and test prep). Does that make them necessarily smarter? More teachable? More likable? No. So go for it @tiku2008 . Best of luck! And if you get in? Make sure to share your stats in March. The forum is not fully representative of who actually gets accepted (or rejected).
mathmusicmadness is right! The SSAT certainly matters but it is not definitive by itself. The reasons why there are many top scorers that dont get into top schools is varied but still pretty straightforward: 1)maybe they needed FA --which required a more dynamic or compelling applicant, 2)they were simply an academic student–thats not enough anymore unless you are inventing groundbreaking machines in your basement. 3)you have no “hook.” in other words, they weren’t special. Its relatively easy for smart kids to get great grades and get good recs. Its harder to be a star lacrosse player or cellist and get great grades…
@center, names of the tests mean nothing. Many think that the old SAT was a disguised IQ test and I agree. (and many don’t agree too. my claim above was merely a personal opinion.) http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/250946-is-the-sat-a-disguised-iq-test.html
And SSAT as well, since it is very similar to the old SAT.
The SSAT and SAT are aptitude tests. They measure what a student has learned to date and not “higher level” thinking and cognition. Thay are used, however, to measure “IQ” (so to speak) when a child ceilings in certain areas and needs higher level testing. For example, a child scores in the 99.9 percentile in VIQ. However, the child has hit to top ceiling and therefore his true abilities cannot be determined. Most IQ tests (WISC/WPPSI) are not designed to measure too much beyond moderate giftedness and thus, SAT can be used as resource to test a six year old (for example) who has hit the ceiling to determine exceptional abilities.
Sorry to be “off topic”.
My friend got accepted into Choate with a 64 overall ssat score. And he isn’t a certain prodigy at sports or theatre