Chance me for Prep School (Guys I need this)

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
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Current 8th grader at public school, applying for Financial Aid/freshman year to Exeter, Andover, Groton, St. Paul, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, and Loomis.

Lived in South Korea, New Jersey, and now Texas

Academics: All A+, taking GT English course, Geometry, Spanish 2, Language credits for Korean, GPA 4.0 (I think, Texas doesn’t use the scale), No rank but I’m top 10 maybe 5.

ECS: Debate: 2nd place in regional meet, 5th place in high school regional meet (My 1st competition)

Fencing: 3rd place in regional/state competition, was ranked 8th in the texas area last year for y12

Cello: 3 years, Superior rating at UIL for 2 years, All-Region lower level for 7th, and top level for 8th, made local Dallas youth orchestra with over 300+ applicants every year (11 spots), top orchestra at school, Chamber Church Orchestra

Tennis: 4 years, school team

Chess: 5th at UIL, 3rd at a Regional Competition

Done a lot of ECS, but quit most of them such as ice hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball

Math Competitions: 7th grade 1st number sense in UIL, led team to #1, 7th grade 3rd Math in UIL, also led team to 1st, 6th grade 5th Place for Math UIL, team got 1st.

Other Competitions: Academic Pentathlon 2nd place for Math, 5th place for Literature

100+ volunteer hours at my church(Altar Serving/training Future altar servers), part of NJHS at school, 2 Outstanding Student Awards from School,

92% on SSAT

Read A LOT of classics, really connected with my Hotchkiss interviewer on Huckleberry FInn,

Very Knowledgeable on Climate Change (Was my Pentathlon Topic)

Very Good Essay Writer (Subjective, I think I am but who knows)

Wrote a Solid Paper on Oppression in NK (North Korea)

Award for Math/Number Sense at end of school ceremony

A bit of Robotics on a summer camp

Very Independent, but also Very Curious to try all sorts of things

Could You guys tell me the Chances I have/what I should Improve?

Any Information will be great!

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One More Thing, I’m retaking the SSAT on DECEMBER 21

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You have great qualifications (without retaking SSAT)!

It will really depend on whether you are filling a need for the school. The advice you will get here, especially as you need FA, is to expand your list if you are dead set on attending BS. You really want to be in a position in March with a few acceptances so you can compare FA offers.

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No need to retake the ssat! 92nd percentile vs 95th is irrelevant to Admissions officers.

I agree with everything @gardenstategal wrote. Add a few more higher admission rate schools. Mercersburg has a large endowment (so, better financial aid) and is a slightly easier admit, for one.

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@gardenstategal and @cinnamon1212 have given you good advice.

The only thing I’ll add is what I always add on these posts: Do not position your accomplishments as a list of how great you are. Your accomplishments should tie to your ability to positively impact the community. Its great that you did well in debate, but more eye-catching to an AO that you coached two other members of your team improve their performance. That, plus being very specific about what attracts you to the school and why you’d be a good fit are critical to differentiating your application, in my opinion.

Good luck!

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Thank you guys for the help

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One question is how do I say that I helped people

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Just seeing this.

Have you helped someone prepare for debate somewhere along the way? It doesn’t have to be about debate per se. Think of a time you helped a classmate through a problem that resulted in them doing better on a test, their homework, classwork, whatever. Point is illustrate that you have helped make someone or something better at your school, training future severs, etc. It is a way to both show that you can be a good addition to their community and demonstrates kindness.

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Guys I retook the SSAt and got a 99th percentile :slight_smile:

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That’s great.

Not to throw cold water on your accomplishment, but going from a 92nd percentile to a 99th percentile hasn’t improved your candidacy. I hope you continue to work on the rest of your application, because these are all Boarding Schools and care a lot more about who you are than whether you’re very excellent at taking standardized tests. If who you are is someone who is very excellent at taking standardized tests, you’ll be challenged to gain admittance to these places.

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Could you give me some advice in sounding real for my remaining essays?

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I think that it’s important to emphasize how you’ll contribute to these communities. You sound like someone who individually could gain a lot from going to boarding school, but I wonder how you could benefit your roommate, classmates, teammates, fellow orchestra members, etc. That hasn’t come through as of yet in your messages and would be something that AO would like to see.

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thanks for the help!

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You should have multiple options. You are well qualified academically and have engaged in a wide variety of ECs that illustrate that you are active, curious and that you will contribute to the community.

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thank you for your support! I really hope so because Boarding School is something that I think I need, not just academically

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Sorry for the late response, but my parents were really set on the SSAT being high because other people we knew went to Andover, Hotchkiss, and they had a 99 on the SSAT

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they also said that they would cancel my application if SSAT wasn’t showing

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As someone who’s also applying, you’re an extremely qualified applicant. I think this is about as good as it gets. (in my opinion, anyways) As long as you impacted everything you do out, (for example, how you use ___ to help others) I think you’re doing really well. And having good recommendations, essays, and a good interview is also really important, but I don’t doubt that you did great!

(This is just me saying that I’m jealous and your application sounds great!!)