Chance me boarding school!

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hi guys! I just joined this platform to get an idea of my chances for the schools I am applying to. I am currently in 8th grade attending a foreign mainly English speaking school, and applying for 9th grade. I have decided to apply to 8 schools: Berkshire School, Kent School, Northfield Mount Hermon, Blair Academy, Loomis Chaffee School, Milton School, Concord Academy, and Lawrenceville School.

Fyi, I haven’t submitted or completed my application yet, so please feel free to give me feedback on what I should change.

About me:

I am an only child of upper-class living in Busan, South Korea. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where I lived for 9 years. In terms of citizenship, I have a US passport and a Korean passport, but I have most recently been living in Korea for the past 5 years. Nationality: Korean, Gender: Male

For all of my schools I will be applying as a boarding student w/o financial aid.

I’m really worried about my profile as I feel like I don’t have enough volume (if that makes sense) for it.

SSAT: 90th percentile (1st try, don’t have time for another)

Grades: Straight A+ in all my classes of middle school

Awards/Honors/Positions

  • STEM Fair Regional 1st place 2023
  • STEM Fair Regional 2nd place 2024
  • National Honor Band - 1st Clarinet in Advanced Section 2024
  • National Honor Band - 1st Clarinet in Novice Section 2023
  • K-Art Competition (most prestigious youth Korean Art contest) - Special Selection (I submitted a painting)
  • School T-Shirt Design Contest Winner (represents our school on events such as Founders Day, Spirit Week, etc.)

Extracurriculars (my biggest worry)

  • Clarinet - 4 years. In my school’s advanced band this year, but was intermediate band the year before. My honors are listed above in the awards section for clarinet.
  • Student Government - 3 years. I guess this kinda counts as volunteering as well as we hosted many fundraisers and donations for charity. I was class rep in 6th grade before moving on to be elected executive secretary for both last year and this year in 8th grade. I was one of most crucial parts of organizing basically all school events. Ex: Founders Day, Spirit Week, Community Culture Day, all of the Middle School excursions (amusement parks, field trips, yk), and etc.
  • Soccer - 3 years at school team’s varsity as CDM
  • Basketball - 4 years at school team’s varsity as SF
  • Volleyball (not popular for boys in US) - 3 years at school team’s varsity as setter
  • Painting/Visual art - 7 years. I just really loved art from a young age and won a title as mentioned above which was cool.
  • Robotics/Sciences - participated in multiple STEM Fairs with different topics ranging from psychology to chemistry. In robotics I have made several projects with arduinos, raspberry pi, and etc. Also did a lot of coding in school but didn’t put it on my application.

Essays/Rec Letters/Interviews

Regarding my interviews (all online), I have not done them for a lot of my schools. However, for Lawrenceville and Concord I’m required to use Vericant as I am an international student, but I’m not worrying too much about that as I’m a native speaker and I’ve never attended a school that doesn’t use English. For Milton, they put me on a waitlist for the interview as I’m applying SUPER SUPER late for all of my schools (sad). Berkshire wavered the requirement as they simply didn’t have space for another online interview. As for the school I did do an interview with, Kent, interviewer was super nice and I think I did pretty well. Please give me any tips for my future interviews as I have my NMH interview today, and Blair, Loomis in the future (won’t mind tips for my Vericant in a few days as well).

For my essays, I think I did okay on them, but I haven’t submitted them yet. Haven’t had the chance to get anyone to look at them besides my dad, so please (you don’t have to) DM or comment if you are able to read them and provide so feedback. I’m also using common portal SAO which just makes life a lot easier for me.

My recommendation letters are kind of mixed. So far, only my any teacher letter (writing) has submitted his recommendation, and I know it’s really strong from him as we’re close and he even mentioned in his reply how he gave me full marks on all departments. As for the administrator, it was either my principal (kind of cold) or the admissions director who is nice but I don’t know well. He responded saying that he would be willing to write me one, but wanted me to stay (?) as I am one of the best students at BFS. English teacher has not yet responded, but my relationship with her is okay as she is also the STUCO advisor. Math teacher is really young, so I’m not sure if he’ll be able to write a good rec, but he was my soccer coach and we are pretty chill and close.

Thanks for reading all of this, and I hope to get at least a few replies. Bye!

2

You sound like a nice, accomplished young person with many interests, and who would contribute a lot to a boarding school. I think you’ll be accepted by one or more of the schools to which you are applying.

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Thank you so much! If you were to give a random guess, what schools do you think I would really have a shot at getting in to (around 80%)?

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None of those schools is 80%. But i’d be surprised if you didn’t get into at least one. Which one is unknown, since nobody knows what the institutional priorities are for each. Good luck

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Thanks for your reply. I guess BS is just a lot harder to get into than I had originally anticipated. My main target is Loomis; any tips to stand out during the interview in 2 days?

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Be nice :slight_smile: If true you could also tell your interviewer that Loomis is your first choice.

You sound fantastic! You are a strong candidate, and it looks like you chose the schools you are applying to thoughtfully.

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Thank you for your reply! How could I say that Loomis is my first choice naturally without forcing it?

8

The interview is a conversation, I cannot give you a specific way to work it in. However, sometimes an interviewer will ask what other schools you are applying to, and that might be a place to tell them. Or, at the end the interviewer might ask if you have any other questions, and that’s a place you could say something like “I don’t have questions, but I did want to say that Loomis is my 1st choice, and if I was lucky enough to be accepted, I will attend”. If you can tell them why Loomis is your 1st choice that’s even better.

9

You should also write a thank you email to your interviewer after your meeting (for all schools) In the email you will thank them for their time, reiterate something interesting about the school/your conversation, your excitement about the school and ONLY if that 1 school is 100% your first choice and you and your parents agree you would attend if offered an admission spot - you can say it is your first choice. For all other schools, leave out the choice line. I heard an AO speak that approx only 20% of candidates send a thank you note!

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If any of these 8 boarding schools does not give you an offer of admission, it won’t be because you are not well qualified.

You are an accomplished, well rounded full-pay student who writes in a mature manner and, therefore, you should expect positive responses from most, possibly all, of your targeted schools.

P.S. Did you consider St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire (deadline is January 15th) ? Not sure if still accurate, but in the not too distant past SPS had a very strong group of students from South Korea (most were from very influential families as well).

P.P.S. it would be interesting to know what attracted you to certain schools on your list. Easy to understand Milton, Lawrenceville, & Concord Academy. All of the remaining schools are solid and well respected, but still curious in light of your qualifications and background.

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Thank you for your reply! I didn’t realize so little applicants send a thank you note, so I will be sure to do that with my future interviews.

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Thank you so much for your response! I have considered St. Paul’s, but I am using a common app (SAO) that St. Paul’s does not accept. Additionally, the school’s hard quite frankly (not saying the other schools I am applying to are not). Well most of the schools I am applying to overall align with all of my interests quite well. As you mentioned, Milton, Lawrenceville, and Concord are just academically advanced and overall well-known. I am most excited about Loomis as I believe the community is so strong compared to other boarding schools at it’s level, and just a better choice altogether as facilities are modern and they have a class, club, or course on every single one of my interests. The rest of the schools are also good.

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March 10 is almost here. I’d be interested to learn what schools end up accepting you and how you’re going to make your decision. Goo luck.

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14

Bumping this^