My daughter will be applying to boarding schools this winter (she is currently a 7th grader/12 years old). She is a dual endurance sport athlete.
XC 3k: best time 11:27.6 relatively flat course
Swimming:
borderline AAAA 400m scm free (4:48.4)
AAA times in 200m free (2:17.5), 100m free, 200m IM, 100m IM, 100m back
AA in 50m and 100m fly, 50m back
She has solid grades (mostly As) and we expect 90-95% on her SSAT. She has solid ECs with independent writing competitions, music, third language, fundraising, etc (but her real niche and passion are her dual sport commitment and excellence).
Her dream schools are Andover and Exeter because she can swim year round with nearby club swimming. She also likes Choate, Deerfield and Hotchkiss for strong sports and academics. Peddie also for swimming.
Does she even have a chance at these schools coming from Asia if she is a full pay applicant (no legacy)? I have heard there are so many straight A students with near perfect SSAT scores and very neatly curated ECs from Asia applying to US BSs and the competition is extreme and almost impossible to get an offer from these competitive BSs…
Hopefully, she will not be in the same applicant pool largely due to her dual sports. I am not sure whether her XC and swimming time are strong enough for recruitment at these stage (she has time to improve?) and not sure whether we are banking on them too much.
We will be reaching out to the relevant coaches this May/June to get on their radar (as we hope her swimming time will improve from now until then).
Any thoughts from parents who have gone through similar path in the past or anyone who has insight into this subject? Would be thankful to receive any feedback.
Aside from swimming, I would encourage her to look into water polo and reach out to both coaches (if she is interested in water polo) EARLY in the process. Just as you said, many qualified and amazing applicants and turned down each year. Choate, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Peddie, Exeter, and Andover all have top-notch programs, but so do other schools not discussed as frequently on this forum (Williston, Mercersburg…). I highly encourage you too look at them. Just another tip: get the SSAT and interviews done EARLY in the process, so you won’t have to worry about it when writing your applications. Good luck to your daughter!!