<p>As an adult on the board I just want to remind all the teens here that whether or not you're accepted to bs you should be very proud of what you have done here. I understand it feels like life and death right now. Even I have been swept away by the excitement of this process at times. However, please remember you can still do very well for college and in life if you attend a public school. My husband and I both attended public high schools. I am now a physician assistant and a college professor and my husband is an aerospace engineer(rocket scientist LOL). I was accepted to Smith College from a not so great public high school in MA and could have applied to Ivies if I had only studied a little more- I wasn't motivated in HS and had good grades with little effort. My husband attended Penn State which has a very competitive engineering program and to this day speaks of his love for his alma mater. We make a nice living now, live in a new house and are considering sending our kids to private school. Life is good.</p>
<p>I am so proud of my son (and all of you) for even doing all the applications, interviews, ssat and essays! That alone is more than most kids do for their future at age 13!<br>
Congratulations to all!</p>
<p>PA-C is absolutely correct. I went to public school as well. To be a successful person, BS is not required. I like to add one more point to PA-C. I wish all of you get admission from your first choice school. However, we have to admit that not everybody will be admitted to their first choice schools. Even if you go to your second choice or safety school, it is totally fine as long as you work hard in the school. Many students from non-elite school(not top 5 or not top 10 BS) still go to Ivy or many other excellent colleges. You should be proud of your accomplishemnt no matter where you get admission from.
You will see many cases that a student is accepted to top 5 or tip 10 BS and rejected by other nonelite Boarding schools, and vice versa. Many will be waitlisted as well.</p>
<p>Thanks, PA-C, for validating my hopes. It's good to talk to someone with a success story like yours and your husband's - sometimes I have to remind myself that acceptances (and rejections) aren't the be all and end all of my mid-teenage life.</p>
<p>Best of luck to everyone over the next two and a half months!</p>
<p>I think entrance to the Ivies is getting a bit out of hand, now. I mean, yes, the Ivies are amazing places, with amazing personalities and faculty members and facilities, but lots of other universities are (almost?) just as good! It is, sort of about finding the right fit, too. Name and prestige aren't everything! :P</p>
<p>& In a way, A/E/D/G/H/C/SPS & more are like the ivies of boarding school. they're exclusive and ridiculously hard to get into, but well worth it if you can. of course, lots of people from other schools, which are equally as good, go to ivies too. perhaps their school lacks a name, but chances are the level of education there isn't that much lower. it's you who makes you, not the school :P!</p>
<p>@ PA-C:
hoho, if you think this is bad, you should have seen Stanford's early admissions thread. that, was INSANE. @_@; now i'm totally terrified of university admissions, too!</p>
<p>Why should I be proud if I were to be rejected? Wouldn't it make sense for me to be sad and later when I've calmed down, to try and find out what went wrong and improve?</p>
<p>seikuu said " Why should I be proud if I were to be rejected? Wouldn't it make sense for me to be sad and later when I've calmed down, to try and find out what went wrong and improve?"</p>
<p>Seikuu I fear you misunderstood the intent of the thread. The point isn't to be proud you are rejected. The point is to be proud that you took the risk, put yourself out there, took the SSAT, wrote the essays, attended the interviews ect ect ect.... You could have easily said it's not worth it, or the chance is so small to be accepted why bother? </p>
<p>But none of the kids here have said that, they have all put themselves out there and risked rejection. The point is even if rejected by schools with 20-25% acceptance rates that does not invalidate the fact that you/they have accomplished and learned much just by participating in this experience. </p>
<p>Of course if you want to improve and try again absolutely go for it! I did not mean to discourage trying again.</p>
<p>I agree, it's important to put this all in perspective. Most boarding schools are very similar. Much more unites the boarding school experience than the divides them. And in the end when applying to colleges and such, it's really what you make of your boarding school experience more than what school you're specifically coming from. And also, relax! you have 4 years to have fun and try new things you shouldn't be worrying about colleges or anything. You should all be really excited about how you will shape the coming years rather than worrying about what an admissions committee has to say. </p>