Here are my stats,
I have a 96% SSAT score,
I’ve had straight A’s the whole year and I’ve especially shined in math and science
And I have great teacher comments.
For my extracurriculars, I am part of a Youth Climate Climate organization where I am part of a team that helps convince politicians to help or movement and handle endorsements for candidates running for election. I am also the founder of our science club that participates in the National Science Bowl, and I’m also the first student in my whole school’s history that started a club. I also do drama, and I was the only student in my grade that got a lead role, and I even helped organize plays when ours was canceled due to COVID-19. Something else I do is I’m part of the Junior Honor Society which is a small group of individuals from my grade that does volunteer work, etc. And one of my last clubs is Regular Band and Jazz Band where I’m the only Tenor Saxophone for my grade and only Saxophone in the whole Jazz Band. My last one is Math Club where I helped my whole team daily and used my math skills when I studied for the SSAT to help them.
I also did two sports, the first one is cross country, as a 7th Grader I was the best on my team, with 8th Graders that were known statewide and I was a huge role model for the underclassmen, even at states I was trampled and lost both shoes at the start of the race, but I still finished first for my team and top 100. I also did track where I was also #1 for my team in the 400 as a 6th Grader and most likely as a 7th Grader if it wasn’t for COVID-19.
But also I don’t really come from a rich family and I had to convince them to let me apply this year, I didn’t know if this was negative so I wanted to put it on.
You sound like a very strong candidate, and a great kid! The advice we always give kids applying to college applies to you, too – make sure to have some “safety” schools you apply to as well as ones with lower acceptance rates.
@hitormiss693 Agree that you seem like a strong candidate for applying next fall for 2021.
But – Are you thinking of applying for the upcoming fall? You added the tag “2020 fall admissions” (was that a mistake? you also tagged some other things that I think do seem relevant to your post?) and gave your SSAT score, which leads me to believe that maybe you are thinking for this fall?
If so, then the situation is completely different since you asked specifically about “top” boarding schools and indicated needing financial aid. You haven’t said what you consider to be a “top” boarding school so I’m going to assume you mean the regular cast of characters as touted by Niche and other rating sites. (Whether I would agree that these are truly the “top” boarding schools is another story; I’ll just make this assumption for a moment.). If I am understanding you correctly on all of these – you want to know about chances for schools like Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Choate, etc for fall 2020 for a FA recipient – chances are not good at best. I have yet to hear of anyone being able to apply starting in April for one of those schools, get in, and get FA. There are other fantastic schools where this might well be the case, however, so your dreams aren’t crushed if this is the case.
TLDR: It’s too late for fall 2020 for what you might consider “top” schools, but you may be able to find another fantastic school for 2020. And, your profile looks promising for applying for fall 2021, but know you will have to retake your SSAT.
@Calliemomofgirls Yes, sorry about that. I meant to do 2021, I am definitely not applying this year since I believe admission decisions have already came out and i’m still in middle school, next year i’ll be in eighth grade. By top schools I also should of clarified, I will be applying to Groton, Andover, and Exeter as my reach schools along with a few safety schools.
@hitormiss693 Sounds like an excellent plan! you’ve got plenty of time to research schools and create a robust list. This board is a great help there!
Not sure there is such a thing as a “safety” school for boarding school applicants that need significant financial aid. It is a much more competitive pool.
Make sure you research and apply to a broad range of schools and that you really understand what makes each different or special so that this comes through in your essays and interviews. No one wants to be your back up choice. And even the best-known, most “prestigious” schools don’t want to be chosen merely because of their current ranking.
Groton and Exeter are both excellent schools but offer very different experiences, for example. Are you clear about those differences? Can you articulate why you think both would be great fits, despite those differences? No need to answer here… but if the answer isn’t clear, you may have more homework to do 
Thanks for the advice! The main reason for example i’m applying to Exeter is because I want to pursue a career in STEM and Exeter is known for that, and for Groton the rigorous classes because without challenge It negativity impacts me. But I do need to have way more research on the schools I plan to apply to, for example this week I decided I wouldn’t apply to a school because I didn’t think I was a good match for it. Thanks for your help, I just hope I don’t get denied from the school I see as a school I can’t see myself being denied from.
There are dozens of boarding schools that can challenge you academically. There are lots of reasons to love Groton, but challenging academics are not what makes them different or special.
There are also dozens of schools that will prepare you well for a career in STEM. What makes Exeter stand out in that regard?
Think about the kind of environment where you are most likely to thrive.
Do you feel like you are ready for college and the freedom and responsibilities that come with that? If so, Exeter and Andover might be excellent choices since they feel like small colleges and give kids a lot more freedom than some other schools. Some kids might not be ready for “sink-or-swim,” but for those who are, it can be exhilarating to attend a school like these. The larger size also means that the schools can field higher quality academic and sports teams, musical ensembles, etc. They have a larger pool to draw from, so if you are performing at a high level in a sport, art, or academic area (e.g. if you did Calculus in high school) you are more likely to find peers. There might be less room for beginners in some areas than there would be at smaller schools, but that is the trade off.
At some schools you may find a lot more structure and rules, including dress codes, regular seated meals with assigned seats, mandatory chapel talks and study halls, etc. Are these kinds of things a turn on or a turn off? (Seated meals with assigned seats are a great way to get to know students and faculty you might not otherwise cross paths with.)
Finally, some schools have really unique programs and offerings. Interested in animals? Millbrook has a zoo and several schools have farm animals. Some schools even have vet medicine classes. Love skiiing? Some schools have their own mountain. Interested in Astronomy? St Paul’s School and Thacher have observatories and opportunities to conduct and present research alongside college undergrads. Curious about marine biology and oceanography? Santa Catalina is all girls but has an excellent program. Check out Tabor, too. Sounds like you love running, so it might be worth it to research those programs, too.
Dig a little deeper as you do your research
… you are barely scratching the surface. Dig a little deeper in your self reflection, too. It will pay off, I promise!
@CaliMex Thank you so much, I will definitely be researching a lot more schools this week! Since you obviously know way much more than I do about boarding schools I had a few questions about which schools are best for what. First, in your opinion what school is best known for Science because that is definitely something I really want to do. Also what school is very good for good programs in Anatomy, or medicine, etc. And what schools what you recommend I go to, or some of your favorite schools and why! I know this might seem like a lot but any information you can give me about schools, etc would be a huge help because I can’t really find anything online.
I’m not sure it matters unless you are
- Already extremely advanced in Science and likely to completely exhaust the course offerings at a particular school… or
- Interested in a very specific, narrow area of Science that might only be offered at a couple of schools.
Check out the graduation requirements, course prerequisites and class offerings. How compelling are the advanced Science classes offered? How many of these advanced Science classes would you actually be able to take? (In other words, it doesn’t matter if there are 32 advanced Science classes you’d want to take if your schedule, after fulfilling other requirements, would only allow for 3.)
Bottom line: Whether your high school is known for Science or not matters a LOT less than the effort you yourself put into your Science coursework, wherever that might be, and the vigor with which you pursue your interest in Science.
Most schools offer anatomy and physiology coursework, if that is something you are interested in. Not sure about medicine, but if that is something you are interested in, you might want to ask admissions officers about volunteer opportunities at area hospitals/clinics. That’s probably less common since it depends on the school location.
Many STEM students reach out to university professors to help with research during the summer. That’s something to consider even if you end up at your local public school. I know Berkshire has a program to help STEM students connect with college professors re: research.
@hitormiss693 - good for you for rolling up your sleeves to do the research and actually learn about the schools. Too many people take the short cut of going for only the most famous schools. Your hard work will be rewarded. There are a lot of fantastic schools out there; the famous schools aren’t the only ones that can get you a high caliber, personalized education. There are literally dozens of boarding schools that can give you a top notch stem education. The question is which ones also give you the full package of everything else you want.
So what do you want?
Small, large? Independence, nurturing teachers? Focus on specializing or being a generalist? Sports, arts, both? Isolated or in a town? Close to home or far away? Emphasis on diversity? Great environmental program? Formal, informal?
Think about what your favorite teachers do that make you like them. Think about your favorite activities and why you like them. What are the things you dislike about your current school? Put together a wish list of school qualities (and deal-breakers), in order of preference. Then go to niche or boardingschoolreview and pick out at least 30 schools to dig into more deeply. Yes, 30. Dig into their websites, especially to see if they have specialized programs that appeal to you. Unique sports offerings, maybe. Forget about comparing stats of students, acceptance rates, where they go to college, etc. They are all strong. Forget about Harkness tables. They all have ‘em. See if you can figure out the school vibe. Read the school newspapers and social media posts.
Narrow it down to 10-15 by the middle of summer. Come back here and read threads on those schools. Ask questions. It is really hard to answer your questions right now because we don’t know you and you don’t know the schools. But we will happily answer them when you/we know more.
Talk to your parents after you have done the research- about what the schools offer that you can’t get at home. Be prepared to talk about what they cost and the possibility of financial aid if you need it. You will blow them away with how serious you are. They will listen.
If at all possible, visit schools. Shoot to apply to 5-10 schools. This is a lot, A LOT of work. But you can do it. It is so worth it!
Also, don’t forget to consider some of the non-coed schools!
The cross country race where you competed against older students, got trampled and lost your shoes, but still won first seems like a perfect essay topic.
Overall, you seem like a competitive applicant. Do you have a ranking for track/XC? Your chances will be boosted since you are a really good athlete.
One piece of advice I have would be to participate in more science and math competitions since you mentioned that’s where you want to shine. Try to get awards in NSB and maybe see if your school has a MathCounts or Science Olympiad team.
Also I’d worry about applying before choosing schools. Apply to a good mix of elite private schools, some with less competition, etc. As far as anatomy goes, that seems a bit specific. I’m not sure if one school is extremely good at specifically anatomy. For STEM, a lot of the magnet schools are top tier. Exeter probably has the best STEM students but it’ll be incredibly hard to stand out there as a STEM student (think international Olympiad medals and double digit AIME/national finals qualifications).
I forgot to mention this was California’s states and it’s really special to get top 100 there
@jksdahdsjashkad I agree with @CaliMex on the aid need with “safety” schools. My son attends one of your dream schools and simply needed their money to make it possible to attend. Also, close family friends (2 children) with significant $ needs applied to 3 of the “top 5” schools in the country plus 2 other safety schools. These kids are also absolutely top in academics and athletics.
Long story short they went a perfect 3 for 3 with the reach schools AND rejected 2 for 2 at the “safety” schools due to the aid need and that was confirmed as the reason.
People on CC get upset when you say “top” schools because there is truly a unique fit for everyone (when money is NOT a factor). When money is a factor Andover, Exeter, SPS, Lawrenceville, etc do need extra consideration, IMO.
But do your research on annual grant money too. Another family friend went to a small NE school in the “top 100” that I never heard of and received amazing aid and is happy as can be. That school is now on my radar for DS #2.
Feel free to message me with questions along the way. Your resume has some very similar aspects as my DS who also needed aid and got into schools you are interested in.
I will just mention that there wasn’t always a correlation between the size of the school’s endowment and the size of the FA offer we received. That was our experience, anyway.