<p>He is in Sixth Grade,
wondering what he would have to do to get into one of the TSAO or HADES.
He is a white male from Upstate NY.
He has a 4.0 GPA(Doesn't really matter at his grade, right?)
Great writer
Very charming speaker and very humorous.
Is already studying for the SSATs(both Kaplan and Princeton Review)
Ecs:
He wants to start a therapy dog team
he is on the cross country team- the second best runner(was first until a new kid came)
Plays Tennis and Basketball(excels at both with a leaning towards Basketball)
He is in the CTY(John Hopkins-lots of students at this school are like him.)
He scored in the 98% on that SCAT- how does that compare to the SSAT?
Has great relationships with all the teachers- likely to get great recs.
Worked at the homeless shelter for 40 hours already and wants to do more.
Sings on the A Capella group
Loves Model UN and Mock Trial programs and has received awards in both.
Please help me, I want to recommend the next steps towards his goal.</p>
<p>Don’t know if this will help but he is going to the county science fair this year also. if he wins that I will share, because that means Nationals. BUMP</p>
<p>I think I answered your other thread too…lol. But he just has to do his best with everything. I got into a TSAO school (didn’t apply to any HADES schools) so I’ll tell you what I know/learned that can help increase your friends chances.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>SSAT - he needs to do the best he can on it. Like I said before, if he bombs the first one, take it again, but I wouldn’t take it a third time. SSAT scores are important, but not as important as grades. Do some practice on it, but not a ton. The SSAT is a standardized test that just lets admissions officers know where you’re at academically. Studying defeats the purpose in my opinion, but some people still study a lot for it anyway.</p>
<ul>
<li>76 percentile overall in my case, still admitted to a TSAO school *</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Application - fill out the application carefully and concisely. Reread it several times to ensure there are no errors, and make sure you put down all of your extracurriculars. Put a lot of thought and effort into the essays; sloppy work gets you nowhere. A good start is to just look at a question and think about it. If the answer doesn’t come right away, continue to think about it. I did that (thought about it for a couple days), and really good ideas came to me. Some schools also have character limits on their essay responses (online), just FYI.</p></li>
<li><p>Spent a lot of time and put in a lot of hard work into my essays for a TSAO school. They turned out great! *</p></li>
<li><p>Application forms - a lot of forms and recommendations have to go out to teachers, coaches, etc. Let the teachers, coaches, or whomever will be filling out a form know that they’re coming. When you give them the form, make sure they have PLENTY OF TIME to complete it and that they complete it ASAP. Follow up on the teachers, coaches, etc. Kindly ask “Have you filled out the form yet?” </p></li>
<li><p>I gave my teachers a good month to fill them out and they all waited till the last week. Gave me a mini heart attack, especially when my guidance counselor hadn’t submitted her form three hours before it was due. Sparked an urgent email from me, said she forgot about it :l - but it was submitted an hour before the deadline (and that was for my TSAO school).</p></li>
<li><p>Visit: Tour/Interview- arguably the most crucial part of the application process. Dress really well (guys should wear a suit) and ask lots of questions, too. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Tour - Tour guides often give feedback or fill out forms on each person they give a tour to, and the best way to get a good review from the tour guide is to ask questions and be engaged. Come up with questions ahead of time, ask simple questions, ask complex ones. You can even ask a question you already know the answer to just for the sake of asking a question (I did a few times). Make eye contact, too!
- TSAO tour I had went pretty well, but I didn’t get to see everything because it was such a large campus. Thankfully, I have a friend that attends. After my interview, took about an hour and a half to walk me to EVERYTHING, into town, and I got to ask more honest questions. Unique case, I know, but the second tour from my friend made a big difference in why the TSAO school became one of my first choices *</p>
<p>Interview - This is what makes or breaks some people. You might look good on paper, but if you come off as bland or boring in the interview, the admissions officer will take notice and it could affect your chances of being accepted. A lot of people get really nervous for interviews but I never understand why. You’re talking about yourself! Smile and laugh some. Make eye contact. Talk not only about what you’ve done (and make sure you include everything if possible) but what you want to do. If there’s something you particularly like about the school (for example, a club), tell them! People usually falter over questions like “Why do you want to come to X School?” or “Why are you interested in boarding school?” Take a second or two to reflect as needed, but be honest. Tell them how you feel and what they should know. Think about what makes a school different. Include that in your answer. Ask lots of questions at the end!
- My best interview was my interview at the TSAO school I was admitted to. My interviewer was great, very enthusiastic about what he was doing and that helped a lot. It helped my personality totally come out, more so than it did with the other interviews. My other interviews still went well, just not as great as this one did - I think the interviewer can make a difference. Also, I used similar questions at each of my interviews to ask interviewers. It’s interesting to compare the schools based on these answers *
After each interview, write a hand written thank you note to your interviewer and send it off ASAP. - I did that, and it’s a very kind and thoughtful thing to do. Not too many people write thank you notes to their interviewer, and it could set you apart a bit from the other candidates who sent nothing *
Side note: schedule your tour and interview way in advance, but the closer to the application deadline (I’m talking January), the better. It’s a busy time but if your interview goes really well (like mine) they’ll remember you better than if you interviewed in September. Be wary of snow though, particularly if the TSAO or HADES school your friend is looking at is in New England. Give yourself extra time - my dad and I had a double interview and tour day once, and we woke up (stayed in Connecticut) and there was three inches of snow on the ground that we didn’t even know was coming. No one knew it was coming actually…the roads weren’t even salted. Guess it just works that way in New England sometimes
(I’m from a mid-Atlantic state).</p>
<p>Connect with Others - get in contact with a certain sports coach, club head, etc of something you’re interested in or may be interested in. You can find email addresses or phone numbers for these people on the school websites most times. Ask them good questions - these people will pull for you and they say things to the admissions people sometimes. (Exp. “John Doe is really interested in archery…I think he’d make a great addition to the team.”)
- I liked being in touch with all the sports coaches. Got a lot of questions answered and the TSAO coach and I sent a number of emails back and forth*</p>
<p>Keep it Up - Continue all your extracurriculars and keep up the grades. The first marking period/trimester/semester of 8th grade will be essential! Add some new extracurriculars if possible, and work extra hard or good grades. Don’t overwhelm yourself though.
- I was starting at a new school (9th grade) so I was adjusting to their way of learning and grading. My grades were solid in the first trimester ( 3 A-'s, 2 B+'s - three honors courses) but my grades were better the second trimester. Way stressed first trimester with everything, but I started the application process at the very end of October. I had about ten weeks to do everything, and they were probably the busiest ten weeks of my life. So start everything early! I got to add new extracurriculars as well, and that really gave my application a boost *</p>
<p>That’s about everything I know- if I think of more I’ll comment again. Let me know if you still have any questions - I’ll be happy to answer them!</p>
<p>Wait…in your other post it says he’s applying for 9th grade next year, and in this post, you said he’s currently in 6th grade. Is he looking to skip 8th grade?</p>
<p>Prepschoolwannab this is another friend.</p>
<p>@prepschoolwannab</p>
<p>Oh gotcha. You have a few friends applying to boarding school then…so do I. Friends applying, applied, currently attending…the number totals to 12 for me. And those are just friends. I know of many more…</p>
<p>My circumstances are weird…</p>
<p>@PrestigeScholar</p>
<p>@prepschoolwannab I am in the middle of these guys, will apply in 2 years, a year, cannot contain my excitement and am studying like hell for the SSATs I have 3 tutors for them. `I am in CTY Also.</p>
<p>Haha I have four in 10th grade, four in 9th grade (same age as me), two in 8th grade (applied - accepted), two in 7th grade (will apply). Don’t sike yourself out too much for the SSATs. They’re not as bad as everyone says. @PrestigeScholar</p>
<p>@prepschoolwannab really? on a scale from 1-10 how hard are they? Plus, what school do you go to?</p>
<p>Have him try to take the SATs. If he scores at least 700 on any one section, he will qualify for Johns Hopkins SET. This will look really good. Otherwise your friend looks to be in good shape. Suggest that he works on improving his X-country times. Ask him to get in touch with several coaches at the schools to see if his times are competitive. If not he needs to train harder to get his times down.</p>
<p>Scale of 1 - 10: 7 or 8
I go to a private day school in the northern part of a mid-Atlantic state (that is highly underrepresented in the boarding school world). Most of my boarding school friends applied to/attend/will attend a well known boarding school in my mid-Atlantic state. Actually it’s the only boarding school in my state…(that gives me away without naming my state ) @PrestigeScholar</p>
<p>@sgopal he has very competitive times, almost as good as mine. I have a 6 minute mile while he has 6:30, we have raced several times.</p>
<p>XC times look good. Have him continue to train and to reach out to the HADES coaches once he is in the fall of grade 8. However I just noticed his list of ECs. What I see is a mish-mosh of activities: writing, dog team, homeless shelter, singing, model UN, Mock trials.</p>
<p>Suggest that he focus on ONE of these ECs over the next 2 years and substantially work on it intensely. He needs to show that he can achieve national prominence in this EC of interest. For example if he is in model UN are there any national competitions that he has won? Take a look at the HADES schools websites and see which of these ECs they promote</p>
<p>`@sgopal he has not won any national awards but won best delegate at a conference, he focuses mainly on Model UN and Mock Trial, doing the others when he has time.</p>