<p>Double post problem?</p>
<p>I should have thought about that textbook bit. Brilliant mate. Gemmav brought up alot of valid points. I didnāt have that information availible and gave a little overview without really thinking indepth. Gemmav has some good points since you obviously have that information availible to you</p>
<p>My teacher teaches over 100 kids and she gave me top individuals she has ever met because she told me that she interpreted it as her entire teaching career(she taught for 5 years in Canada and <em>I think</em> 8 years USA). Did she interpret it correctly?</p>
<p>GemmaV and italianbroader, thanks so much for your input. </p>
<p>Iām very depressing now :(. I got a high SSAT math but avg. grades in class. My math teacher showed me her rec and it was great! (but not outstanding) Although she did mention that it was a very challenging course as well as stated the subjects we were learning, she checked a lot of Top few and top 10% (but she was doing the same thing with my classmates too - sheās easy-going with this checking thingy!). I come from one of the most selective schools in my country (acceptance rate is 2%), class size is 22 students and Iām taking an āAP Calculus ABā equivalent as well as 3D Math.</p>
<p>OMG! If itās true what you said then my teacher should have written me MUCH MORE decent recā¦ Iām not those Chinese/Korean geniuses for sure!</p>
<p>wow binhnguyen2907, you come from a school that has a 2% acceptance rate? what country are you in? and what school do you go to? a 2% acceptance rate is lower than the ivies!</p>
<p>i know how the schools take into consideration that youāre international if you score low on the verbal/reading part of the ssats. i live in china but i go to shanghai american school which is an international school. will they still take into account that iām international if i score low on the verbal/reading part?</p>
<p>What is it with all of these people being shown their recs? I would never ask any of my teachers to show me the ones they wrote for meā¦ Arenāt they supposed to be, like, confidential? Just wondering</p>
<p>yeap, same for my schoolā¦ my counselor does everything, she distributes, she receives, she sends. and she has to do that for lk 10 kids. and each kid has lk 5+ schools. not an easy thing to do, i appreciate my cās effort. the recs are NEVER shown in my schoolā¦ my schools so strict on it, itās actually famous for it. other intāl skls in my area (wont mention names!) actually LIE in the recs so then they could have the student go to an ivy/prestigious u. in my school, itās real coldā¦</p>
<p>hey guys, i go to an intāl skl and iām applying for 10th. and im asian. i have pretty good ssats (92) bt my math is a 72. my reading/verbal is aiite, bt my math is so-so. i have top notch grades and awards in math and sci at my school, bt for some reason i canāt do well on the ssat math section. is that gnna hurt me?</p>
<p>man i hate the stereotype/first impression that all asians are math geniuses. now iām āexpectedā to have a top ssat score. argh! bt english is my fav subject. so iām really diverted from the stereotype, grr</p>
<p>freshie 123, I feel sorry for youā¦ I was like the only who got a 90% in Math among my friends. They all got 99%ā¦ (Asiansā¦ :() Anw donāt get too obsessed over it if youāre particularly strong in English!!! 
Itās not stereotype, itās standing-out! :)</p>
<p>TomTheCat: Yep all the recs are supposed to be confidential because the schools were afraid as long as the teachers know the students/families are gonna read them, their comments wonāt be objective anymore. I just think some teachers donāt really care about this, esp. when they give more compliments than criticismā¦</p>
<p>x.sunny: Iām from Vietnam. The 2% rate is only to MY class (more than 2,000 ppl apply and they only have rooms for 45). The overall rate for the whole school is 3%. I donāt think it will back me up if I am likeā¦ the near-to-worst student eh?</p>
<p>actually my older sister she got an overall of 56 percentile. she made it into deerfield and was on the waiting list for hotchkiss and andover. So the ssat is just a small part of your application.</p>
<p>other intāl skls in my area (wont mention names!) actually LIE in the recs so then they could have the student go to an ivy/prestigious u. in my school, itās real coldā¦</p>
<p>^ my school is worse than your school i bet 
the teachers told us up front that they were going to tell the cold hard truth and they wouldnāt add in flowery details or any ā ā ā like that.</p>
<p>Bump!</p>
<p>I still truly believe that the SSATās are one of the most important factors in an admissions decision. As many people continually say āThe SSATs are the only head to head way to compare studentsā I tend to agree with this. How a student performs on this test is indicitive of how he/she will perform on other standardized tests (APās SATās)</p>
<p>A students performace on a given test will not indicate that students ability to succeed at a given school, but it does signify that students ability as a standardized tester, which is unfortunately very important in life (GREās APās SATās PSATās.) </p>
<p>I obviously am no expert and I do not pretend to be one, but a studentās GPA and teacher recs cannot be compared head to head. Each pedigogue will complete a reccomendation differently. Some teachers may be enthusiastic and create a great one and another student may have a teacher who could ācare less about that studentā </p>
<p>The topic of grade inflation again proves my point. I recognize that my school does have an element of grade inflation which significantly alters grades. One student may achieve straight Aās and another just as intellecutal and just as hard working student may recieve all Bās because of the difference in grading.</p>
<p>My point is that SSATās must have a great deal of importance as they are the only truthful way to compare students with objectivity.</p>
<p>I knew someone who got a overall 11% on the ssat and got accepted into andover, hotchkiss, waitlisted to SPS.</p>
<p>my friend got a full ride scholarship to SPS with a 69 on her ssat. its defintely possible if you are an outstanding applicant. best of luck, and remember, ssat is only one dayās performance, while grades are over years. everyone can have a bad day and get a low score, so dont worry!</p>
<p>Wow! Can you tell us more about this SPS friend? What was her āthingā?</p>
<p>She goes to a school where the headmaster there was the d of admissions at sps boss for some time. Her essays were pretty good in my opinion and I think sheās got a few extra cirriculars. Sheās got an amazing personality and is very well spoken from debate and drama, so she really nailed her personal interview as well as the one for the scholarship.</p>
<p>I want to hear about this alleged 11th percentile personā¦</p>
<p>wow, then how come other studentās who have all that + better SSAT scores get rejected? Was her personality a better fit for the school?</p>
<p>True, if they did get 11 percent, then how are they able to do their work in school if itās harder??</p>
<p>what if i got around 70th percentile on my ssat, but my grades are mostly Aās and some Bās and very few Cās and i aced my interviews and also wrote good essays that school recommends you to write in order to send in your application?
do i still get a chance of getting into either andover or exeter?</p>
<p>Everyone gets a chance :)</p>
<p>It just dependsā¦
Good luck! TWO MORE DAYS!!! which is less than 72 hours nowā¦</p>