Where Should I Apply?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I am a 9th grader this fall, and want to apply to boarding school for my 10th grade year. I have a few schools in mind but I can't apply to them all because of distance and time constraints.
My grades are (for my 8th grade school year):
English: A
Social Studies: A+
Science: A+
Math: A+
Spanish (regents class): A+</p>

<p>My overall average was a 97.63</p>

<p>I participated in Band for the past 4 years (Elementary and Junior High), Chorus for four years also, and am continuing Band next year. I had significant roles in two drama productions in the past two years. I participated in All-County Band and Chorus for 3 years and performed NYSSMA solos for 3 years in band and two years in chorus.</p>

<p>I have played four seasons of volleyball, two seasons of junior high and two seasons of club (intramural). I will be continuing with JV volleyball this year and another season of club. I ran two years of junior high cross country and one year of junior high track. Last year I ran varsity track.</p>

<p>I am also participating in Envirathon, which is very competitive for our school, seeing as we placed in Nationals the last three years. I will be auditioning for a part in a theatre production by an independent company (not through my school.)</p>

<p>This is my "preliminary" list. I've done minimal research into all of them expect Exeter (haven't had time). It has a ton of schools, and I need to bring it down to about 4-5. 6 at most. I need one or two reach schools, and one or two reasonable schools, and at least one safety.</p>

<p>Choate
Deerfield
Hotchkiss
Loomis Chaffee
NMH
Andover
Exeter
St. Pauls</p>

<p>Also, i need a full ride scholarship. My mother is teacher and makes $40,000 a year, about, and my dad is a "student" and makes $15,000. Without all of my tuition and most fees paid, I can't go to boarding school.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Did “EmilytheWise” get a new screenname?</p>

3

<p>Yeah. The whole “don’t share your name” thing… that I didn’t read. I didn’t think it very wise to share that my old sn was EmilytheWise, because that’s almost a bad as having that screenname.</p>

4

<p>That’s a great list of schools. The fact that you need fa makes it so that no school is really a safety. Six of your schools are difficult to get into and the other 2 are becoming more competetive each year. My suggestion (we also needed fa) is to find a couple schools that you like that might be a little easier to get into. It appears that you are looking for a school in New England. We know people who will be attending Berkshire, Pomfret and St. George’s. They are all thrilled with their choices. Not sure what the admit stats are…</p>

5

<p>warriorboy648: thank you! Is it really terribly hard to get FA and still get into a good school? D:</p>

6

<p>I think the concern is regarding last names rather than first names. Though, I still understand were you are coming from.</p>

<p>…Also, sometimes having a longer screenname is detrimental when someone is referring to you. But when you have a short, simple screenname, you don’t have that problem.</p>

7

<p>I’m thinking that you should check out Westover and some of the other girls’ schools. Awesome education … supportive environment … and perhaps more FA available for someone with your stats?</p>

<p>As a former Chaffee girl … from the merging years … I am still a strong proponent of women’s education. If you are going to be in Connecticut looking at school, check out Westover and Miss Porters at least.</p>

8

<p>An all-girl’s school is kind of off the list completely… For one thing, I want the social skills that comes from dealing with the opposite sex daily. All-girl’s schools are great education and a wonderful community, but they’re missing that social area that would make boarding school complete for me.</p>

9

<p>While your credentials are very impressive, 6 of your schools are reaches for almost everyone. As I’m sure you realize, Loomis and NMH are not as competitive as the other 6, but they are selective. Just remember that you will be competing with accomplished people like yourself. You certainly seem to be a strong candidate. </p>

<p>My suggestion to you is to tour these schools as early as possible. You can refine your list once you understand what you are looking for in a school. If an Oct. administration of the SSAT is offered within a one hour drive of where you live, you can take the early administration. This will tell you if you are in the ballpark for some of your schools. Some people visit a school and take the Oct. SSAT at that school. You can tour and interview at a school without applying. </p>

<p>I saw on another thread that you were considering Blair If after you refine what you want in a school and Blair looks interesting, feel free to pm me with questions. Their college matriculation is great [Blair</a> Academy - Admission](<a href=“http://www.blair.edu/Admissions/ad_college.shtm]Blair”>http://www.blair.edu/Admissions/ad_college.shtm). As you can see, top students do very well. It’s the only school I know well. I’m sure there are others.</p>

10

<p>Burb Parent-</p>

<p>Glad you mentioned Blair. S and I were just discussing it at length yesterday. One question re the proportion of males/females:</p>

<p>“The composition of the 2007–08 student body was as follows: senior class and postgraduate year, 74 boys, 51 girls; junior class, 71 boys, 47 girls; sophomore class, 60 boys, 47 girls; and freshman class, 52 boys, 39 girls. Of the total enrollment of 441, there were 106 day and 335 boarding students.”
<peterson’s></peterson’s></p>

<p>Mind you, this ratio doesn’t pose a significant problem whatsoever for either of us…there are some things about the school that we both find appealing, causing us to take a hard look. We were just trying to understand the drivers of the male/female ratio, if any. By accident or by design?</p>

<p>Do you have any insight? Thanks.</p>

<p><<apologies if=“” i’m=“” veering=“” off-topic,=“” op=“”>></apologies></p>

11

<p>I don’t think it’s by design. I don’t have any insight into Blair Admissions, but I can take a few guesses. </p>

<p>For one, Blair has what is often referred to as the best wrestling program in the country. That is a sport that attracts few women. Over the last 10 years, I know they have been building their arts programs. I’ve heard an admissions person mention that more boys accept admissions offers than girls. If you have a daughter, I’m guessing that she would have a slight admissions advantage. </p>

<p>My suggestion is to visit Blair and ask Admissions directly. BTW, my son doesn’t even notice that there are more boys than girls. </p>

<p>While I’ve heard (never saw) that the freshman girls’ dorm is typical, there is a magnificent girls’ dorm called Annie’s Hall, which I think is for 10th grade and above. If you have a daughter, be sure to check it out when you visit.</p>

12

<p>I’ve sort of limited my choices… Also, I’m taking the advice of someone (sorry, I forget the name) that I shouldn’t go by “reach schools” and “safety schools”, just schools that match me. That’ll be more apparent when I take the SSAT, but as for my current school grades and ECs, I think that I’ll be checking out/applying to Andover, Exeter, Choate, and NMH. I know these are all very selective but we can’t afford to apply and visit each of these schools because of travel costs, application fees, and time constaints. My mom is a teacher and can’t take very many days off but wants to be as involved in the interview and touring process as possible.
So, my final four (as of today. It’ll probably change):
Exeter
Andover
NMH
Choate</p>

13

<p>All four are excellent schools. I understand your position (I didn’t need a full scholarship, but I did need a substantial one.) The difficult you face is that the schools that can guarantee you a full scholarship (which both Andover and Exeter would be able to) are pretty exclusively reach schools; schools that would be safeties for you all have smaller endowments, and might not be able to afford as much FA.
That said, those four are an excellent list. I would warn you that it is possible you could be rejected from all of them. You could also be accepted to all–from your given stats, that seems reasonable–but there really is no guarantee, so you if you want to keep your list that small, you need to be prepared for that.
It will be easier to know when you get your SSAT scores, so put them up when you get them, if you would.</p>

14

<p>a few things you might want to know – you do not have to visit the school to apply (that is true for most). My son was admitted with full rides to several schools that we did not visit (same problem – time and money). In fact, the best FA packages came from schools we did not visit.</p>

<p>if you are low-income (which you are) you can ask for a waiver for both the admission fees and the ssat test – so you can apply to more schools without it costing you much more than time and some postage. Every school on my son’s list gave him the waiver with no issues. You can also get a waiver to apply for FA.</p>

<p>I would highly suggest you consider applying to at least 10 schools, unless you are happy at your current school. </p>

<p>If you are interested in the environment (which it sounds like you might be) take a close look at Putney, Midland, Thacher and Conserve. FA at all locations was excellent for my son. Conserve is very active in Envirothon and the FA is great there – plus, you can apply early and get an early decision back, so you don’t have to stress so much in spring. If get an acceptance in October/November it would be your safety.</p>

15

<p>hsmomstef- thanks so much! That was a lot of useful info. I’ve decided that, if my mom agrees, I should apply to those 8 schools I listed.</p>

16

<p>I would add a few schools in that are not so competitive – however, if you ssat scores are high and you can get excellent recs, you will probably get into at least one with the fa you need.</p>

17

<p>On NMH details it spells out why many schools are out for me- too small (my own preference), and too far away (family’s financials in consideration, remember, and travel is costly). the less prestigious schools are often under 400 students, and that is claustrophobic for me. Who is less prestigious but still a large school?</p>

18

<p>saer – some schools cover more than the room and board and tuition costs, particularly for students they really want and who have significant need. Schools may cover the cost of airplane tickets, books, fees, spending money, sports equipment, computers and more.</p>

<p>Don’t rule out a school based on location – those further away may be willing to make it worth it to attend.</p>

<p>did you look at peddie, blair, asheville, mercersburg, st. andrews - delaware, st. andrews -sewanee, thacher, fountain valley and kent? I don’t know about size, but all were on our long list of schools.</p>

<p>I would try not to limit your search based on school size too much – maybe just avoid the really small schools. It would be different if you were a full-pay student, but I think that your need for FA is probably more important than your need for a school with 600+ students. What the school does and what kind of students attend is more important than size in my mind.</p>

<p>What I ask my son was “would you rather go to your local pubic high school or this school” when we were looking at schools. If the answer was he would rather attend his local school, it was off the list. If the answer was “it isn’t my first choice, but I would much rather go there than my local school” it was added to the list.</p>

<p>The list got pretty long – about 35 schools – then we eliminated those where less than 30% of the kids were on aid. That shortened the list quite a bit. Then he could really set his parameters – he wanted an environmental emphasis, community service, solid matriculation, not a cutthroat competitive atmosphere, no dress-code, smaller school. That is how we came up with the 10 schools.</p>

<p>When you need full FA – that has to be the primary consideration when selecting schools.</p>

<p>also look at culver.</p>

19

<p>Thank you, that’s a lot of help. Where did you apply, and what school did you son accept?</p>