What are my daughter's chances?

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi,
I have a 12 year old daughter who would like to apply to Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Middlesex etc. While, of course, not wanting a hundred percent guarantee, I am just asking your opinions.

Academics;
SSAT: Did not take it yet, taking some online lessons. Math is really strong, verbal and reading are weak. Her SSAT scores might be the biggest concern,

TOEFL:Did not take it yet. Has to score over 100. Taking online lessons for that too.

School Reports: Mostly A’s

PET: Took this due to current school requirements. Scored 167/170.

Interview: Not done yet. Due to the fact that we are in Turkey, we might not be able to make an in-person interview. If it is better though, we can try to arrange it. What do you guys think?

EC’s;
-Playing piano for 6 years, Grade 6 LCM Exams. Started working on Grade 8(Last grade) but paused due to exam preparation.

-Dancing for nearly 8 years. Taking lessons for 3 years.

-Representative of their school newspaper club. (This newspaper is called a wall newspaper in which students from many schools submit their writings to the club and the club chooses between them. Both of her essays got published in in too.)It is in Turkish though.

Personal Information:
-From Turkey
-Boarding school, 9th grade
-Female
-Will apply for FA.

Thanks to everyone who reads and/or responds this. I know you are bored of these types of questions, but everyone is curious :slight_smile:

2

She also started a small campaign to raise money for street dogs in our city.

3

The SSAT score would be good to know as it can help identify if your daughter is in range for these schools. Also, is she currently applying to begin in the fall of next year (2017), or will she be applying next year to begin school in the fall of 2018?

Regarding the in person interview, the impression I have from reading what has been posted on this forum is that Skype and alumni interviews are just as good, but if you can make it for a visit to the schools at some point it might be helpful to your family in determining “fit” for your daughter.

4

@AppleNotFar Thanks for your kind reply. She is applying for the fall of next year. Do you think that SSAT practice test scores are usually close to the scores the student originally gets?

5

In our case, the practice scores were pretty close to the actual scores. Probably within two percentage points.

6

So she would be 13 in 9th grade?

7

Also, are you US citizens living in Turkey? Or Turkish citizens, or perhaps dual US/Turkey? This could affect FA.

8

@GMC2918 Yes, she will be 13 in 9th grade.

@AppleNotFar We are Turkish citizens, living in Turkey.

9

Just be sure to ask about the age ranges - see my other post on repeat 9th graders. Mostly boys, but still. My DS is currently in 9th grade at a local day school & he’s 14 turning 15 later in the year. He wants to repeat 9th, so that would make him 15 turning 16 next year while still in 9th grade. As we discovered, this is not a rare phenomenon and is not reserved only for late-blooming athletes.

10

@GMC2918 We will check, thanks for your warning. What do you think about her general chances? Do you think her being Turkish will affect her chances badly? Thanks again.

11

In terms of geographic diversity, the fact that she’s Turkish is a plus. But keep in mind that most schools don’t award FA to international students.

12

@GMC2918 If she does not apply for FA, will her chances increase? As you know, many schools are not need-blind.
Also, do you think her EC’s etc. are good enough?

13

Many of these schools looks for global diversity, so coming from Turkey may be quite helpful.

From your original post, however, it seems like you are already focused on the key concern, SSAT scores, especially on the reading/verbal side. Given the fact that she is also very young–there are just as many 15-year old 9th graders as 14-year old 9th graders at most of these places (and your daughter would be 13), the concern may be that the transition from abroad, combined with a potential language gap, and her relative youth is too great. To the extent you might consider repeating 9th grade after taking it locally, that would soften that issue.

Remember, the vast majority of the kids who apply to these schools can do the work, but admissions officers live in fear of kids failing based not just on academics, but due to fit. Moving from home to boarding school is an enormous transition even if you live within easy driving distance and a native English speaker. What you are considering is considerably more challenging. It’s obviously surmountable–plenty of students do it each year very well–but that will be the biggest thing to overcome in my opinion.

Also be aware that as a general rule, admissions are not truly need-blind (Andover is the exception on your list above). Your financial aid situation may impact outcomes.

14

“@Mr.Wendal” Thanks a lot! Please give any further advice if you would like to.

15

@“Mr.Wendal” Thanks a lot! Please give further advice if you would like to.

16

@“Mr.Wendal” She will take the SSAT this Saturday by the way, so she has nearly a week left. We will consider everything you said.