<p>I'm applying to Exeter, Andover, and Deerfield for 9th grade next year. I have outstanding grades but not many awards since I haven't seen much opportunities to get them. Well here are my stats:</p>
<p>Magnet (G&T) class
last year ended with a 98.6 (7th grade gpa)
Principal's Honor Roll since 6th grade
Chinese girl</p>
<p>ECs
Peer Mediation
Student Body President (elected 3 yrs in a row)
National Junior Honor Society President
School Newspaper
School Dance Group
Dance
Various published poems and essays on various local newspapers
Tennis
School Bridge Club
Volunteer at the Tzu Chi Foundation (flushing)
Various TA gigs around school
Chinese School (language and culture)
Art/Marketing (Made ads and websites for local businesses)</p>
<p>I am in the same process as well, so take the following with a 'grain of cheese'. :D
Very nice stats, to begin with. Definitely very impressive.
Since you obviously have (a fairly rare) skill in both creative and formal writing, the best way to differentiate yourself would be through your essays or short-response answers.</p>
<p>Perhaps we shall meet in September. Good luck! ;)</p>
<p>soooorrrrryyy jonathan, not everyone has time to read the writing before the stats.
Don't you play tennis for a league, or Dance in competitions? Couldn't you enter writing contests?</p>
<p>In my opinion it's a good idea to be outstanding at something(even though in my opinion your grades are...), what are you really great at? Writing? Enter contests!! That's the only thing your application needs</p>
<p>If you're determined to go to boarding school, you should apply to more than just 3 of the top 4. You will face a lot of competition with stellar grades, particularly as an Asian. As people keep saying here, there are many more wonderful prep school that just AESD. It has become as obnoxious as HYPS!!!! There is so much more out there!</p>
<p>I'm going to go on a limb and disagree with frenchvanilla. I really don't see the need to confirm passions by entering contests. eunixd already works on the school paper and has written poems and articles for newspapers so that confirms her interest and talent in writing. Also, many camps don't buy into the dance competition racket. How about pursuing a passion, be it dance or writing, for the sake of enjoyment of that craft rather than competing in a race for prizes? </p>
<p>I'm sure some may disagree with me...what are your thoughts?</p>
<p>I'm with you creative1. You should be doing an EC for the enjoyment of the EC, not filling your trophy case and padding your resume.</p>
<p>And these admissions people can see right through the trophy collectors. You do need to show high level of skill and participation in an EC as well as time devoted to the achievement, but beyond that, all the 1 day competitions in the world are pretty much worthless. </p>
<p>Enough trophies can be bought by the parents taking the students everywhere. The schools are not trying to measure the parents insanity in pursuit of trophies, but the student's desire to work hard and achieve.</p>
<p>I think if you're really good at something, and you'll win awards it's pointless not to compete. I'm sure it would be impressive if you did have like 20, first place ribbons in your sports, or tons of writing awards...</p>
<p>I agree with Creative1 that ECs should be done for enjoyment, rather than awards, but since the title of this thread is "What would look really good on my admissions?" I think that it might be helpful to enter for some awards.</p>
<p>The Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, to the best of my knowledge, are usually given to truly outstanding high school writers and artists. I'm not sure that an eighth grader could be competitive in this (or even be allowed to enter), but don't let my opinion stop you.</p>