Chance an international student for phillips exeter!

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

hii, I am an 8th grade student from Europe, and I’d appreaciate any feedback or advice on my application to pea and some other prestigious schools! I will be applying for 10th or 11th grade next year.

demographics: white girl from a public school in a small town (a little bit over 300 students in total), middle class (will need financial aid)

grades: the grading system in my country is a bit different, but I have all A+ on my transcript (I don’t know how the your system works in the US, but if we take all my grades in the past school year, I have gotten almost all A’s. I have gotten a few A- throughout the year for like not colouring something in a project properly but that is the extent.), my school doesn’t do ranks

testing: took two SAT practice tests on bluebook (5 and 6) and scored 800 on both math sections, but only about 680 on the english sections. not sure if I will take the ssat. planning to get certificates in english, spanish, and german. I would also get certificates in french, latin, and esperanto, but I don’t know if it’s worth it.

awards: it would take me a while to list them all, but I’ll just say that I’ve won tons of awards in math, writing, linguistics, music, and sudoku. I also competed in higher-grades levels in many of these, and have also scored well.

extracurriculars and volunteer work:

  • piano since the first grade
  • learning music theory since pre-school until sixth grade (my music school doesn’t offer music theory classes to older kids), teaching music theory to elementary school students
  • been in a band since the fifth grade (I play the piano, bass, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar there. while there are a few other pianists and guitarists in the band, I’m typically the lead player for those instruments in the songs I’m performing. occasional singer.)
  • bass since september
  • school newspaper (co-founder and editor-in-chief)
  • tutoring kids from my school (helped a classmate get from all C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s) and online
  • volunteering at the local pre-school - organising events, helping out with pre-school concerts (there are activities for children and they need someone to be there to give out candy), reading to children - basically a workshop where you read stories to kids and help them develop an interest in reading
  • volunteering at the local library - organising events; it will be my part-time job after I turn fourteen - I will basically get some of the duties of a librarian
  • occasional volunteering with the wind orchestra at my music schools (they needed a bassist)
  • the same with the string orchestra
  • tons of playing on town events, tons of volunteering on town events (cleaning the town, festivals, et cetera)

recommendations: probably fine

essay: my native language teacher says that I have a significant talent on writing, she makes all the teachers to read my work, but I’m not sure how good my essays will be in english. I don’t know what I will write about yet.

that’s itttt thank you for reading my post till the very end :two_hearts:

2

The top US boarding schools are reaches for everyone.

If you are in 8th grade now, why are you not applying for 9th grade?

3

middle school in my country is up to 9th grade. I want to finish school along my classmates.

4

Unless I missed something, this makes no sense.

5

idk how to explain it since it probably sounds dumb, but usually in the US you apply to high school in the 8th grade. in my country it’s just a year later. I just think that when I’ve already spent 8 years with this class (elementary and middle school are counted as one school in my country), I should also go through the 9th grade with them. there is also a huge ceremony at the end of middle school, and I just want to experience it along my friends. idk if that makes sense tho :grimacing:

6

Ok – you will complete 9th grade at your current school. The top US boarding schools will be reaches but take your shot.

7

thank you for your feedbackk :heart_hands: yeah I do realise that it isn’t easy to get into these schools but ig there’s no harm in trying… do you have any advice on how to improve my application?

8

All the top schools will be reaches. Obviously ninth grade is the big entry year making it easier because there are more spaces fundamentally available some schools like Lawrenceville have a big entry year in 10th grade while other schools do not, but still except some students. I’m not sure why you list out, 11th grade as unless you are a high-level athlete or some other circumstance it becomes much harder to get in and that grade. No doubt you have tons of achievements like so many of the other wonderful students on here. I do suggest as you think about your application to try to focus on the things you’re most passionate about as schools will have a hard time, figuring out where your love and talents rest.