What are my chances for Choate, Horace Mann, and Riverdale?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Basic Stats: female, repeat 9th, Chinese, live in NY
and for HM and Riv, it’s my third time applying!!! it’s been a looong three years

(I have this strict thing that I follow where if I say something the opposite happens, so I am not expressing any personal opinions in this. Trust me it always happens. moving on)

ISEE:
Verbal- 8, rank 90
Reading- 9, rank 98
Math- 9, rank 97
Quantitative: 7, rank 87

Courses:
My school doesn’t offer honors for 9th but I’m taking the most advanced level for every class except Latin (first year)

GPA: this is a huuuuuge weakness
all A’s except B in Latin and History, and B+ in Bio

middle school was all A’s

ECs:

  1. created a program at my school in China to teach local children English for free.
  2. volunteered at a summer camp for children with a life-threatening disease. became friends with some of them, was a doctor’s assistant, the main focus of my essays
  3. interned at an educational consultancy in China this summer. I taught people who were also applying to boarding schools how to improve their verbal skills
  4. track for 4 years. on the JV team now. qualified for nationals in China but never made it because of an injury
  5. dance for 5 years. performed at Hong Kong Disneyland
  6. visual arts for 7 years. sent an online portfolio with my oil paintings. won schoolwide art contest but that’s it for awards
  7. tennis for 2 years. no awards, medals, nothing. just for fun
  8. I did Cheerleading in fall!!! lmaooo I joked about it in my interviews

Essays: I don’t know. hopefully good. i started writing it in October. spent the entire break editing and perfecting it. I asked a teacher if it sounded like a smart 9th grader wrote it and he said yes (lol) I also went to my English teacher for help (she teaches 11 honors English and is super experienced)

Recs:
English- blind. she said she would write me the strongest possible rec (she’s the best I love her so much!!!)
Math- blind. I pay attention in class and participate. I talked to her a couple times after class about personal issues.
Counselor- blind. he doesn’t know me that well but he’s a very nice person
Personal- blind. the leader of the summer program I volunteered at wrote it

Interviews:
HM- welp. not good at all. It was at a time where I seriously did not want to attend a day school. I tried my best in the interview, but my interviewer asked in the parent interview if it was my parents who wanted to come here or me. Yikes, I know
Choate- I said everything I wanted to say. Held eye contact, smiled, joked, tried to look confident (idk if it worked!) I maintained contact with her through email
Riv- same as Choate. it was with the Admissions director. My parents said that I left a strong impression on her, she said that she almost didn’t recognize me because I changed so much since last year (in a good way!) My parents’ friend who accompanied my family to every interview (they don’t speak English fluently) said that based on how the AO acted, my Riv interview was my strongest yet! I found this weird because I had a mental breakdown for 30 minutes before it (family issues)

Strengths: applying 3rd year in a row for Riv and HM. maybe wide range of ECs?

Weaknesses: grades! ORM! OR state!

I am not expecting to get into these schools at all, and I already attend a top LPS so I’ll be fine

2

What do you think was your application’s greatest weakness for the two previous application?

Did you resolve them?

3

In the first year, I flat out didn’t even try. In the second year, I put in like 30% effort. I don’t even remember editing my essays (crazy, I know. I was very stupid) My interviews for both years were also probably not very good. I was waitlisted at HM though last year, and Riverdale I didn’t finish my application after the interview.

4

I like to think that I resolved them, IDK what the schools think

5

Just for perspective I really don’t think a few B’s is a huge weakness. I know it seems that way (I remember feeling that way when I was a kid) but you seem to have a really interesting application and if a school says “oh no a B in Latin? She just isn’t for us!” Then they are focused on the wrong things and you would probably hate that school anyway. You don’t want to go to school with a bunch of kids who panic at every B and bemoan an A-. You want to be with people who get excited about your community service experience and help you start a similar program.

6

That’s true. I feel a lot better now, thank you! @dogsmama1997

7

WOW. Your EC’s are incredible. @dogsmama1997, I agree! A couple B’s won’t topple you all the way down, especially knowing that your application is very strong.

8

@lightningqueen12 Thank you so much! That means a lot to me! I actually never really thought that my ECs were strong, just that they were well rounded

9

bump

10

Are you an ABC or actually an international student from China?

11

international student @Stillwater0808

12

Idk if I will be representing China or NY. Either way, they are both over represented :slight_smile:

13

China

14

I thought you have citizenship…if you are not in ABC pool, then we are in the same place lollll

15

Your SSAT and ec’s look incredible!!!
Are you applying for FA? Or are you Full Pay?

GOOD LUCK BTW!!!

16

@sparkatzz ahhhh good luck!!!

@IndoApp I didn’t take the SSAT, did you mean ISEE? and thank you!!! I’m full pay. Good luck to you too!!!

17

@ilovechoateeeee hahah yessss, sorry!! I meant ISEE!!

18

@IndoApp lol it’s okay!

19

@ilovechoateeeee Which test did you like more?

20

@YoungThriver tbh I don’t remember what either of the tests were like so idk lol