<p>I realized I never actually had a chances thread, so I'm wondering what people think. These are my stats:</p>
<p>Applying to:
Phillips Academy, Andover
Groton School
Phillips Exeter Academy
Deerfield Academy
Milton Academy
St. Paul’s School
St. Mark’s School
Concord Academy</p>
<pre><code> I have an unweighted GPA of 4.0 in all of middle school
This is my course load for this year:
Eighth Grade (First Quarter)
Indepedant P.E.
Honors Geometry
IWE (working in a sixth grade class; this is what I do after geometry, but it's not really a class)
English
American History
Science (Physics and Chemistry)
French 2
Extracurriculars:
Fencing (Competitively, no awards), 1.5 years
Writing (novels), 4 years
I work in a sixth grade classroom five mornings a week, 1.5 hours a day, since Autumn
Over the summer I attended an academic boarding camp for two weeks at Oxford University, which meant a lot to me (I'm getting that into almost every application, some through the essay)
Location: Berkeley, California and Tucson, Arizona
Ethnicity: British Isles, Jewish, Western Europe (white)
Sex: Female
SSAT:
Verbal: 99th
Quantatative: 99th
Reading: 99th
Excellent recomendations. Getting them from English (also my history teacher), Mathematics, Science (for schools that require it), fencing instructor, teacher I assist, and a writing tutor.
Excellent interviews so far (Andover, Concord, Milton, all on-campus)
</code></pre>
<p>I think you have a great chance. Did you attend the Oxford Prep Experience? If you did, I'm thinking of applying to it. Please send me a PM of what you thought of it.</p>
<p>Also, would you be willing to help me with some of the math on SSAT? I got a 58th percentile on the practice test, so I obviously need some help. </p>
<p>It sounds like you have pretty good chances. </p>
<p>What'd you think of Oxford? Did you get to go around the city at all? Oxford and Cambridge (in England) are two of my favorite cities in the world.</p>
<p>Below average to average academics? Are you crazy? She has a 4.0 and most people who take French 2 are sophomores. She's also a year ahead in math.</p>
<p>Yes, you have chances. Think about what you can bring to the schools besides stellar academics. If you look at the applications, most of them want info on the arts and sports, so you should think about what you will include there. And be certain that you only emphasize how important fencing is to you at schools that offer fencing. Many applications will be 2 years accelerated in math like you, but not that many will be at the second level of a high school language. Good luck!</p>
<p>let me do it the college chancing style ..dont take it too seriously i m just fooling around
Phillips Academy, Andover - reach, as for everyone (think about...harvard)
Groton School - slight reach (just like dartmouth)
Phillips Exeter Academy - reach, as for everyone (this time..princeton)
Deerfield Academy - reach (this time..yale)
Milton Academy - High match/low reach (maybe Upenn)
St. Paul’s School - reach (think of stanford)
St. Mark’s School - match (maybe something like carnegie mellon)
Concord Academy - low match ( maybe..uh....BU)</p>
<p>as i said i m doing it college style..fooling</p>
<p>Bottom line: In the end you'll have some choice schools to choose from. If I had one comment, I would like to see more in the way of EC's outside of academics.</p>
<p>You seem like a smart, hard-working, nice person. Quiet?</p>
<p>I'd want to know what do you do that involves your peers? Do you fence on a team or play other team sports or do drama or something? Is the independent PE fencing? How much time do you spend on it? </p>
<p>How do you have that much time out of your morning to help in another class?</p>
<p>I absolutely loved Oxford. We got to go out a lot, everyday, in fact. I walked by the Radcliffe Camera everyday.
Masterus--I assume you think I'm average to below average because I don't have any awards. Is that correct? Couid you rewrite your post? I didn't really get the second line.
bearcats--Thanks for translating it into colleges. What's BU?
Inquiring Mind: I'm actually not usually very quiet. I like to argue too much. I'm pretty hard-working, but I'm not a super-achiever. I'm very focused, and will work very hard on direct things (over the summer I wrote 100 pages of a novel in about seven days), but only if I have passion for them. If not, I can be a little lazy. Prep school should zap that nicely. I fence in a private club. I spend only about 4 hours a week at the club when there's not a competition, but I practice at home some.
I spend one and half hours every morning in the sixth grade class. I wasn't getting enough time, so now I extended it by staying in there during my recess.
I'm a pretty academic/intellectual person by personality; have been since I was very small. All right, I'm not terribly well-rounded. But my passions are very honest and very strong. Due to family issues, getting to any is very difficult, which is why I have so few. One of the reasons for prep school.</p>
<p>What's your passion? I don't see anything that you are truly passionate about. YOu really need something more than academics to sell yourself to the top schools.</p>
<p>Writing. I wrote that in my previous post, I think.
I don't really have a hook, except for schools that have fencing, but most don't have competitive teams, anyway.</p>
<p>You may be able to position your writing as a hook. It may not be a hook at the most competitive schools, but I suspect that the others will like it. Have you ever been published? You can also emphasize the benefits you get from helping others in the 6th grade class. In general, they like students who enjoy helping others. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Which of the schools you applied to has fencing? And if fencing is important to you, did you stress that in your application/interviews?</p>
<p>You do have excellent stats, but so do a lot of kids who apply and get rejected from those top schools you applied to. An applicant who really wants to fill a program like fencing, generally has a much better chance of getting their application selected out of that big stack into the little stack.</p>
<p>Even though it is not a "scholarship" sport, fencing can help you a lot at college application time as well, as many coaches have the ability to tip a candidate's application.</p>
<p>And as much as fencing competition is probably better at "clubs" (much like hockey), the overall experience (better coaching and education) is why you will find many good athletes at prep schools.</p>
<p>I stressed fencing as much as possible in the schools that have it. I really hope I can continue it; fencing is the first sport where I really enjoyed every part of it (except, perhaps, footwork). I was very careful not to in the schools that didn't (I wrote it down under ECs, of course, but just didn't emphasize it in the essays).
Working the the sixth grade class is extremely important to me. Those kids mean a lot to me. The teacher I assist is writing a recomendation, which I think is really good, because she really likes me and has known me for three years (and has taught me).
Jonathan--No, I went to Oxford Royale Academy. I thought I sent you a PM about that.
Bearcats--What's BU?</p>
<p>French 2 is average for middle school, most people in the nation start with Spanish 3 or French 3 in high school if they have taken the language in middle school. I'm starting French next year in my sophmore year and I'll probably do French 4 Honors or French 4,5 Honors.</p>
<p>What I mean is your academics are average for people applying to those schools. None of your academics are amazing.</p>
<p>Masterus may perhaps be right about starting with French or Spanish 3 in high school IF the student has taken a foreign language in middle school, but what he may not be aware of is that many, many middle schools don't even offer a foreign language at all to their students. So, on this one, Jonathan, was right to question. It is very common for prep school students to enter their freshman year without ANY foreign language experience.</p>