<p>I remember a discussion I had with the AO of a top 10 boarding school on this very question. He said that the School had admitted a student three years earlier with an 84% verbal and a “sub 40%” math SSAT. He said that while it was a rare admit, two members on his team had met the student and come away thinking “this kid is going to be a huge plus on campus, a leader.” There was no other hook, no legacy, no special athletic or musical ability, no special geography. It was a personality call.</p>
<p>Of course, I asked how he did and the AO was blunt. The student was always in the lowest Math section earning C’s with a lot of work, although he earned B’s in his humanities courses. He was beloved by the community however and “where good things happened, he was always in the middle of them, or the reason for them.” Evidently, as a freshman prefect, kids would always tell the AO, who was also the dorm master for freshman boys, that they wanted to be "just like [student]. </p>
<p>That story has always stuck with me. It’s probably tough in a huge school like Exeter or Andover to make one-off decisions like that (or even have the time to consider them). And like Exie said, the schools won’t advertise admitting someone with a low score. But it does happen. And, like the AO said to me, “he was worth a dozen kids who scored off the charts.”</p>