Admission to Milton Academy

masouthshore · February 11, 2011, 1:09pm

Hi everyone,

I find this forum as a great place to read about experiences other families have while deciding about high school education for their children.

I would like to ask all those who know enough about Milton Academy to give their input.

My child

is in 7th grade in public Massachusetts school
is A+ student in all subjects
is in advanced program for Math and Science
has MCAS tests with advanced scores all these years
speaks eastern European language
is learning computer programming

ECs include

playing tennis and is top ranked, both in NE and nationally
playing folk dance on high level
attends native language program
does community service in our church
swimming, skiing, volleyball, soccer are among other sports but not in competitive level

We are family of 4 with annual income around 150K.

We just started our SSAT preparations and would like to take a test in October so we can apply for 9th grade.

Questions:

<ol>
<li>What would be good SSAT scores that we need to get in?</li>
<li>Any recommendations what SSAT prep books to use ?</li>
<li>Tuition is 32K. What are our chances to get >75% of tuition as scholarship ?</li>
<li>What else we should do before applying next January ? </li>
</ol>

Regards

CFiCare · February 11, 2011, 3:29pm

masouthshore;

Take a look at [Milton</a> Academy - Milton, Massachusetts/MA - Boarding School Profile](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/13]Milton”>Milton Academy (2023 Profile) - Milton, MA)
it can give you a rough idea on ques. 1 and 3.

For 2, we bought the ‘Princeton Review’, but ended up taking a Sat. morn prep class (kept us out of a struggle). The prep class used the exact same sample test as the book.

For 4. We’re nearby too, and enrolled in Sat morn. program at Milton, maybe a summer session? You’re still very early in the process!

ylaxw1123 · February 11, 2011, 3:39pm

your child sounds very well rounded and bright! with the ssats, buy a few practice books and just go through all the tests. drill her with vocab for a few months, and do all the practices/practice tests in the books. good luck!

ifax108 · February 11, 2011, 4:53pm

<ol>
<li>Milton’s average SSAT score is in the 90%. So, just aim for a 90% or above.</li>
<li>The Princeton Review is great. I did well on the SSAT thanks to the Princeton Review.</li>
</ol>

3.While I may be applying for financial aid, I’m not an expert on financial aid. Most schools have good FA (financial aid) programs, and I know that Milton has a great FA program. Idk about your chances of getting a >75% scholarship, but I do know that many boarding schools promise to meet 100% of your demonstrated need. I think Milton does, but I’m not sure. You could check on it’s website.

<ol>
<li>What you should do:
-Make sure your kid gets started on his essays early. I started mine too late. Also, have your kid spend a lot of time editing his/her essays. They will need it. </li>
</ol>

-Don’t start preparing for the SSAT yet. I started preparing too early, and all my preparation wears off. Also, it will add anxiety. Have him prepare only about 6 weeks before the test.

<ul>
<li>Schedule your interviews during the late summer or early fall. Getting them out of the way takes off a lot of pressure. Also, have your kid interview at a school he doesn’t really want to go to first. I made the mistake of interviewing at my first choice school first, and that interview didn’t go as well as my later ones.</li>
<li>The same goes for essays. Have your kid write the essays for the schools he doesn’t like that much first. He/she will become a much better writer by the end of writing many essays.</li>
<li>Contact the tennis coach. Since your kid is top ranked in NE and nationally, that will be a huge hook. Seriously, they’ll probably get in if that’s true. Send in a video of him playing tennis around November. Get his current coach to write recommendations. Make the tennis coaches at Milton worship him. Maybe come to a few tennis matches this spring at Milton. There your kid can talk to the coaches and see how good Milton’s tennis program is. </li>
<li>If you’re going to apply for FA, be on top of it. Submit your tax forms from last year early if possible. My parents barely made the deadline and the few days before the deadline were very stressful.</li>
</ul>

I’m an applicant who seriously considered Milton for a while. It was on my final list of 7 schools I was going to apply to. After my visit, I decided not to apply. I felt uncomfortable walking around on campus, and the fact that it was 50% day and 50% boarding I didn’t like. Also, when you see day students driving around in their cars screaming at you it makes you uncomfortable…
But, this was just my impression. You could love Milton, so you don’t know unless you visit. Good luck, and I also recommend you look at other schools besides Milton. There are other great schools out there.

masouthshore · February 15, 2011, 9:28pm

Thank you all for your responses. It looks like we have to make a plan and work hard if we want to be accepted.
Reading other threads tells me that competition is really strong and comes from all sorts of backgrounds, academically and financially.
Our goal is to do SSAT good and to see how it develops with the Milton Academy or some other school. Good score would tell us we are on the right track and that there’ no reason to be scared when time college comes.

If anyone else has some other comment please do so.

MiltonMomof2 · February 15, 2011, 9:51pm

Milton has a large international student population and is a legacy school. This adds to the competitive admissions process. As you probably already know, there are many great schools in the Boston area so don’t limit your search to Milton.

I’m with ifax on his/her impression of Milton.

AlexMac · February 15, 2011, 10:33pm

In my experience, Milton is a very polarized place, meaning that it has a similar student body type. Sure, there are different cliques (as there are in any other school), but those are distributed after the initial similar body. It is an academically and athletically a great school, with a lot of school spirit. Their jazz program is one of the best as they have a world-renown jazz teacher.

I recommend the Princeton Review, and good luck to you!

muf123 · February 16, 2011, 6:13am

If you’re in S.Ma, check out St. Georges in RI. Also Tabor. Other schools to consider are Msex, Brooks and Gov. in the North. And of course, you have Andover and Deerfield for the more competitive.

hkdad123 · April 18, 2011, 7:17pm

not sure if this is too late…
Milton says its average is 90%, not sure what that translate into. But my daughter got slightly over 2200 for class v, and some of her classmates who got accepted got much higher scores.
But my understanding is that fit or being an angular student is the key (really good in something, thus standout). For our case, I think my daughter got in because of fit (writing) and enthusiasm for Milton
best of luck

ExieMITAlum · April 18, 2011, 8:43pm

Good advice from the other CC members.

On financial aid, please recognize there are parents on the board who make a lot less and were waitlisted for FA. Some for more than one year in a row. It will be tougher next year.

Estimate that with a family of four, unless you have several students in college, you’ll be looking at paying a pretty good chunk of the tuition yourself. 75% is unrealistic unless you have extenuating circumstances.

To get a rough estimate I used Exeter’s financial aid calculator to calculate your expected family contribution (EFC). Their “average” grant for a family of four with $150,000 and a tuition of $42,600 for the upcoming year is $23,500. Which means your family’s expected contribution would be $19,100 - for one child - not including, books, spending money, incidental fees and school trips.

Extrapolating: Assuming you’re within driving distance, Milton is $34,500 for an 8th grade day student, but FA is usually based on the same EFC calculation (all parents fill out the FA forms through the same online service: NAIS), you’re looking at a scholarship of $15,000 or less. (about 45%). Add to that another $2,000 to cover books, school travel, incidentals, etc. for a day student (double that for a boarding student) If the student is a boarder ($44,000) then the average scholarship may be about $25,000 (57%). (results may vary by family)

Each school has a different formula and some schools are more generous than others.

But again - just be aware that many qualified students on the CC board were waitlisted or denied because of FA need.

My recommendation is to reassess family finances so you can stretch your tuition ability as far as possible. The FA pool is far more competitive than for those who can pay the full amount. According to Milton’s data on Boarding School review, only 32% of all applicants receive some form of aid:

[Milton</a> Academy - Milton, Massachusetts/MA - Boarding School Profile](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/13]Milton”>Milton Academy (2023 Profile) - Milton, MA)

Their site states, for example, that their average incoming 9th grade class is 95 students. That means that only 30 students received full or partial aid.

May be prudent to apply to a range of schools in the area to increase your opportunities.

labbydog · April 25, 2011, 10:44pm

You will most likely not get F/A if the family income is $150K. I know this, because our son applied to Milton last year with F/A, and we came out as DNQ (does not qualify) according to F/A. My husband was laid off from his job, and I do not work, but, still, we did not qualify. It may have been because my husband did work the previous year, and they do ask for the previous year’s income tax return. I was a little surprised that we were in the “DNQ” category.

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