<p>Hello all!
I am new to this forum, but I guess I'll put this out there. My daughter is a rising 9th grader this year. She wants to apply for boarding school to attend her sophmore+ years. She took the SSAT this past year and got in the 79%ile. She wants to learn, and isn't enjoying her public school as kids aren't motivated and are taking up her education. I have agreed to pay at MOST 5,000 dollars. So we're looking at 'top' schools; such as Exeter, Andover, Deerfield,Choate and Milton. The reason why I mainly want to focus on these schools is that their endowments are large, and I assume they give out good financial aid? My daughter on the other hand is interested in looking at less competitive schools. I know that she could survive in a tougher environment. She wants to look at Loomis Chafee, Suffield Academy, and such (as well as those above.) Would we be able to get the needed FA at smaller, less prestigious schools? And I think I just need advice about well, everything!</p>
<p>Many schools offer genorous financial aid packages. Do not limit your choices to "top" schools if financial aid is the criteria.</p>
<p>Actually you should broaden your net to as many schools as possible to increase your chances of getting the financial aid you desire. </p>
<p>Is it that you will pay $5,000 because that is all you want to pay or is that all you can afford to pay. Two very different things. If you do a search on financial aid you will find lots and lots of information in the subject.</p>
<p>Well if you are looking into schools like Loomis, you should apply to Kent. Its endowment is 80 Million, not that much compared to Exeter, but Im sure if your daughter is as great as you say shse is, she will no doubt recieve generous F/A. Don't worry Kent is prestigious and just as competitive as the other schools you mentioned, Loomis is as well. I don't know about Suffield Academy though.....never heard of it. lol</p>
<p>Westminster, a coeducational school in Simsbury, Connecticut, is on the same tier as Loomis and Kent. It is a very good school academically, and your daughter's SSAT score is above average range for the current students there. (BoardingSchoolReview states that the average SSAT score for Westminster is 70th percentile. Although it is outdated, I think it is the only website that posts average SSAT scores for prep schools. I checked PrepReview, but it doesn't have that information.) It has 80 million $ in endowment, and very good college matriculation. </p>
<p>Adding onto what Aussie said, if she has good ECs as well as very good grades, she should be able to get the amount of F/A you mentioned before.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! As for morris2's question- I used to pay 10k a year for her private day school but I would hope to get a full ride for her.
She has OK EC's, swimming is practically her life. She lives to swim! I will deffinetly start considering these schools I think, it's more about fit than prestige. Do you think that if she applies to a school where she would be a 'big fish in a small pond' rather than vice versa, we would get the FA?</p>
<p>bbRnc - you need to realize that FA is need based at most of these schools. Exeter offers a free ride to children whose families earn less than $60k, many of the schools have followed this lead. For families who make more, they make FA offers in varying amounts based on family income. Merit and sports do not play a role in FA.</p>
<p>I don't want her being a good student at a not so good school, which I would think make college's assume she would be an average student at an average school, rather than a great student at an average school.</p>
<p>If swimming is her life, there are only about 20 boarding schools in New England that have swim teams. I don't know if you are considering other regions, however. There are many great schools throughout the United States.</p>
<p>I believe that the following link can provide an ESTIMATE of your family's expected contribution. Just remember that many schools will expect you to pay more. Some, if they really want to attract your student, may be more generous. Almost all aid at boarding schools is based on financial need, but if you research this forum, you will find that how much the schools "need" your child can also come into play.</p>
<p>Brooklynguy, I was just about to post that link. So bbRnc use the link and pretend your daughter is in college. It is an estimate that worked very well for my family.</p>
<p>Do you have geographical constraints on your search or not?</p>
<p>Hard for me to say. My experience was with a higher SSAT score to take into account. She should be spending some time this summer studying to retake for a higher score that woud make more options available to her. It's also harder to get acceptance into 10th grade but a lot of kids repeat 9th. That may be another option to make her chances higher. There is some really good discussion about FA and sports on another thread on this forum that you might want to read and ask them the same questions.</p>
<p>Good luck! It's a lot of hard work going through the application process but worth it when you get those acceptance letters.</p>
<p>BrooklynGuy-
Yes we were looking at SPS and my daughter liked it a lot, as she had heard that they built a new pool. But they don't have a swim team. That was quite a let down for her.</p>
<p>Also- (I'm sorry! So many questions!) What is the best way to prepare for the ssat? She doesn't know what to do! Tutor?</p>
<p>Tutors for ssat's are verryy expensive! ..most people who need almost a full ride can not afford them, but I could be wrong. At Exeter its if your parents make less then 75k they go for free not 60k. It was on the news the SPS was upping theres to 80k. </p>
<p>We tried a tutor. No one where we lived even KNEW what the SSAT was.
Had numerous secretarys ask if it was for special education children.
We've had one session so far- my daughter told me that half the time (in her words):</p>
<p>He was like, "Writing to me is like playing left field in a baseball game..."etc. I LEARNED NOTHING.</p>
<p>I used a Barron's SSAT prep book.
It was EXTREMELY helpful, and includes practice tests and a vocabulary list. You can most likely find one at Barns and Noble or Borders.</p>