Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you give me your honest opinion. I’m an Indian student, applying to the top 10-15 schools, but exeter is my dream school. I really, really want to get accepted.
These are my achievements:
Served in several leadership positions in the past few years: President, School Prefect, Co-captain of the Varsity Soccer team, School Literary Magazine, Editor, Chairperson and Moderator at Model UN, Secretary of Environment Club
Finalist at National Spelling Bee
Awarded: Best History student of my High School, Best all-round student of Billabong High (out of around 170 students), Award for extraordinary achievement and excellence in Hindi, English, French, History, Geography, Art (in past few years)
First, second and third rank in several district level debate competitions
Best Delegate award at Model UN (twice), Outstanding Delegate award
Finalist at a prestigious Soccer Tournament
First and second rank in several district level art competitions
First, second and third rank in Indian Dance district competitions
Took initiative in several volunteering projects: Raised funds for an orphanage by organizing a bake sale, co-created a donation website to help cancer patients, tutors local underprivileged kids biweekly ran a marathon to raise funds for charity, organized and participated in several local beach clean-ups
Speaks English, Hindi fluently, currently also learning Arabic and French
Independently studying university-level English through a Harvard University Online Short Course
My recommendations are absolutely amazing, and I’m pretty good at writing essays.
However my grades are mostly high 80s-90s, two 70s and I got completely horrible grades in math (<50). I’m also worried about my ssat. I will be giving it in December this year, and again in January if I don’t do well. Right now I’m averaging a 78-80 in each test. I know I’ve just started studying and there’s plenty of time to improve but still super worried!
Oh, and I’m also applying for financial aid, at least 70%. What are my chances?
@xridax If Exeter is your top choice, your bio is certainly interesting for consideration. That side is good. You will likely need a stronger SSAT to make up for your grades, though you are pretty close, and maybe close enough, if you are hitting 80%. The average (for what that is worth) is about a 93%
Your recommendations will be submitted privately, so saying your recommendations are absolutely amazing may not be exactly true.
The top 2,000 or so quality applicants are fighting for 300 seats. Your chance is about 18% at best (that is everyone’s best case). You have to hope something in your biography is the fit they need for the new class.
10-15 schools is a lot, IMO. Too many, but I could be wrong.
Exeter is not needs blind, so aid is a factor, BUT 50% of Exeter students receive aid, so it is not too much of a worry.
I believe you fall into the most competitive applicant pool and I think your grades and ssat scores will hurt you. I do not say that lightly because I am not a fan of stressing over scores and grades.
Are you good enough at soccer or debate to be considered a recruitable candidate? You should be contacting coaches to try to garner support.
I hope you will consider not just applying to the top 10-15 schools, but choosing some schools that are great schools, maybe with higher admission rates. Needing fa means you do need to apply to a good range of schools.
Why is Exeter your dream school? There are many other schools with similar teaching philosophies. Many others with similar environments. Try to pinpoint what it is about Exeter and look for schools that have similar profiles.
I was under the impression that it was harder to receive fa as an international student but hopefully someone with more knowledge can comment on that.
PrepDad2018 I’m going to be doing the interview soon. Also I’ve decided to only apply to 7 schools now. Do you know what kind of things they will ask on the interview?
one1ofeach I’m pretty good at debate, though not so good at soccer as to be recruited. I’m applying to just 7-8 schools now, since the application fee is quite a bit.
These are the schools i’m applying to: phillips exeter
phillips andover
deerfield
groton
cate
milton
Hotchkiss
Choate
Do you think it will be easier to get in to these other schools?
Google prep school questions and practice speaking out loud w an adult. It is not about memorizing questions, at all, but getting comfortable speaking about yourself and your resume. That can be a little awkward if you have not done it before. You have (for example) 5 points you really want to share. Practice getting them said weaved into interview questions.
All those schools are hard for 20% (or under) acceptance rates. With strong SSATs it is really about your fit for the class. There is nothing you can do for us to say, “Yes, you are likely getting in to _____ school.” That is just reality. You are interesting so you have that going for you. After that (with good SSATs) it is just up to chance.
You are a strong candidate except for your grades, so you might want to add a few schools with higher acceptance rates, just so you don’t come up empty handed. Check out Tabor, St. George’s, Mercersburg, Tabor, Pomfret, Millbrook, George School, Governor’s… and maybe Emma Willard and Westover if you are open to all girls. They are all wonderful schools.
You might also try looking for schools that don’t currently have students from India so you can add cultural and geographic diversity. (I don’t think Thacher has any Indian students enrolled right now. Might be worth adding to the consideration set, although it has an even smaller acceptance rate than the schools on your list, including Exeter. They only admit 9% of applicants needing financial aid.)
Most schools have much more limited FA for international students. You should read and understand the policy for each of your target schools because you could be setting yourself up for disappointment by chasing something really elusive.
For example, Milton states on its website that it has very limited financial aid available for students who are not US citizens or do not have permanent legal residency in the US. That is pretty typical.
Where there ARE scholarships, it’s not unusual for them to be very specific. So I agree with @CaliMex – look beyond the best known schools and really figure out where you are an excellent fit.
@xridax I want to emphasize that there is limited financial aid for international students. you cannot count on 70% financial aid because, as @gardenstategal has pointed out, you could be disappointed with waitlists for FA. In your corner!