Hello everyone! I’m currently a 8th grade asian boy who’s applying to Deerfield, Exeter, Andover, Choate, and Milton. I was wondering what are my chances of getting into these schools with a SSAT score of 84 percentile. I know I didn’t do the best I could, but that was what I got.
My grades are all A+ and I’m taking music and arts as electives. I have been a honors student for all of my middle school career. I have done all my interviews with these schools and the results for these schools are coming out in 3 days!
Extracurriculars:
Competitive Swimmer (Top 20 in New York For Breaststroke Events, was top 5 for breastroke when 10-11)
Math Competitions (Still yet to get back my AMC scores)
Science Olympiad (I have gotten 2nd place for an event for Long Island)
Track/Cross Country (Only at school)
Math Team
Violin (I am a violinist who have won several international competitions like the London and Brussels international competition, American Protégé International Concerto Competition, etc the list goes on. I have a pretty famous violin teacher who is a faculty at The Manhattan School Of Music and I have had many masterclasses with famous violinists like Ray Chen, Stefan Jackiw, and Midori this year.)
I have gotten all my recommendations, including the special interests from my violin teacher.
In my middle school career I have gotten always top 10% for the state test and top 5% for the math portions.
I’ve also have done these if they add onto anything. I have other international comps but these are the highlights.
Winner Of The National Artists Competition
Winner Of The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Of New York Concerto Competition
2nd Place For Young Maestro International Competition
2nd Place For New York Virtuoso International Competition
Honorable Mention For The Euterpe Music Awards (Berlin)
You sound super amazing and like any school would be lucky to have you.
I have a kid who is also a very talented musician, starting to look at colleges. And I tell her that at a certain level, it’s not about her, it’s about their numbers. And if all their viola players graduated 2 years ago, and so they admitted 10 last year, they just plain don’t need another viola player. But they need a bunch of French horn players this year, and that’s not her.
The same goes for athletes and other fabulous talents.
I’m sure you’ll end up the place you were meant to be, but please just remember that bad news is not a reflection on you, it’s sometimes just a luck of the draw situation.
Let me just say that you look better than many kids who got into these schools. There are other factors that affect the results. You have done your part and there’s nothing more to do. Results will be out in 2 days. Hang in there and good luck!
Curtis is too far from me and for Julliard, my teacher works at the Manhattan School of Music so I go there. Most of my friends who play violin go to Julliard. Plus I like my teacher (Elizabeth Faidley) more than the Julliard teachers.
You meet the academic threshold, so you will likely get accepted from one or more of these schools on the strength of your violin playing.
However, I don’t see how you could continue studying with Ms. Faidley. The only school you’ve mentioned within reasonable distance of MSM is Choate, and even that would be a difficult journey. It would have to be on the weekend and would seriously interfere with the enjoyment of your boarding school experience.
After March 10, you and your parents should think about which of the schools that accepted you (might be all of them) has the best violin teacher for you, because that’s who you’ll be studying with, most likely.
Thank you for your opinion. I can do virtual lessons with my teacher and once a month the schools said I could leave to have lessons. I already drive 4-6 hours for the lessons since I live in the boston area right now.
Hello! A little update. I got rejected from Andover. I got waitlisted from Exeter, Deerfield, and Milton. I am still waiting for my Choate rejection letter. Waitlisted basically is a rejection hahaha.
Sometimes, it’s best to be at the top of a smaller pond than it is to be amongst a feeding frenzy. I’m sorry you didn’t get the results you wanted. You sound like an amazing candidate to me. If you still want a boarding experience, there are other schools that have rolling admissions, or which will take a fantastic candidate off-cycle. They are also excellent schools where you can take really interesting classes with plenty of smart kids.
I know they’re day schools, and I’m not sure if you’re happy with your current day school, but Walnut Hill has rolling admissions and is absolutely the kindest, loveliest school we toured. SUCH nice people. With your stats, I bet Rivers (and their Conservatory Program) and Cambridge School of Weston (which has a more alternative vibe than Rivers, which is kinda preppy… but they also have a boarding option, and a great arts and music program!) into taking you off cycle.
You have good day options. I knew boarding student musicians at George who maintained their music teachers in Philadelphia and NYC as both are accessible by train.
Places with this accessibility set up might be an option if you decide to try again next year or approach as a late applicant. Latter is always challenging but there are occasionally spots.