<p>@SevenDad,
My dad took me to Mens Warehouse to buy me a suit. I got a $150 jacket, which I know is cheap but I’m only wearing it for interviews. </p>
<p>@lexie101816,
Boarding school review isn’t the most accurate source of information because they sometimes have old information on there. The schools don’t update their profiles that often so you wind up with old information sometimes. And some of the reviews on BS review don’t seem to be critical enough. I’m not saying that I’m expecting the alumni of boarding schools all to hate their schools. I just expect that they will be a tiny bit critical of it.</p>
<p>Actually, I’m pretty sure Deerfield DOES admitt some slightly stupid kids here and there. It could be because of hooks (parents donated money, legacy, athletic recruit, etc), or really just being a full pay applicant helps a lot (I believe over half of the student body at Deerfield has some sort of FA, and with this economy, money is a major issue, thus, being full-pay helps a lot). Also, compared to Deerfield’s competitors (Andover, Exeter, SPS, etc), their SSAT is actually pretty low - maybe due to the ‘slightly stupid’ kids they accept. With a REALLY large student body, Deerfield CAN accept students with sub par SSAT scores, since it really won’t affect their stats that much. Actually, with an 88%…that makes me wonder exactly how many ‘slightly stupid’ students were accepted. But of course, boardingschoolreview.com is pretty inaccurate at times. :)</p>
<p>OK guys. I want you all to consider a hypothetical about average ssat scores (or average anything for that matter). Extremes must be taken into consideration.</p>
<p>Let’s say a school accepts 100 student a year (easy numbers). </p>
<p>Let’s say that 10 of those kids have ssat scores of 45%tile (whether this qualifies as “slightly stupid” or not is up for debate, a debate I will not take part in) and 10 are at 99%tile.</p>
<p>They publish an average ssat of 88%tile. </p>
<p>Taking the extremes of 45th and 99th out of the picture; the remaining 80 admitted students would have an average of 92%tile.</p>
<p>neatoburrito, that’s kind of what I was aiming for I was trying to state that boarding schools CAN accept subpar students, since it hardly even affects their stats since they have other, more up to par (90%ile) students to make up for the difference.</p>
<p>I stated it because I am not going to cry over a rejection. I actually learned a lot from being rejected and will take the experience in stride.</p>
<p>I would rather not go into detail about my stats but obviously they were not up to par for the boarding schools I applied to or I didn’t have a “hook” or there were stronger applicants or etc…</p>
<p>Yes, I applied for FA.</p>
<hr>
<p>I am applying again next year, so there is still some hope of attending a BS.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing with me. I’m definitely scared but am willing to work really hard this year. Also, one more question. What do you mean by “hook”?</p>
<p>It would help, since there are less people from that area applying and most schools look for many levels of diversity (racial, socioeconomic, geographical).</p>
<p>@JoshByron,
Yes Deerfield can admit some “slightly stupid” kids and people who scored low on the SSAT. But I doubt that low scorers on the SSAT and “slightly stupid” kids make up as much of the student body as was suggested. However what we need to remember is that the SSAT does not determine intelligence. I know a kid who got a 79 on the SSAT and he’s the smartest kid I know. So, sometimes admissions officers admit kids who score low on the SSAT because they realize that they are really smart, have a lot of potential, etc. </p>
<p>@lexie101816,
Touring in November/late December probably won’t be too late. Just make sure that you have enough time to tour/interview. As for something to wear lol I’m not an expert on woman’s clothing. A skirt and a sweater? And to answer your question about being from the midwest setting you apart top tier schools say that they look for racial, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity. So it would probably help but @2010 has more experience in prep school admissions so correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>@ifax, true. Someone suggested that more than half of Deerfield is composed of ‘slightly stupid’ kids, which is kind of absurd. And I agree, the SSAT, according to top tier schools, doesn’t have THAT great of an effect on admissions as most people say.</p>
<p>The characteristics listed on the link that 2010 posted are certainly present in admitted students BUT I’d imagine that they are also present in most, if not all, of the applicants to most schools discussed on this board. So yeah, there must be something more that schools are looking for. Those things probably change from year to year depending on the needs of the school and the qualities of the applicants.</p>
I was trying to state that boarding schools CAN accept subpar students, since it hardly even affects their stats since they have other, more up to par (90%ile) students to make up for the difference.</p>