Chance Me (Loomis Chaffee and Emma Willard)

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hello! I am a rising 9th grader who is applying to Loomis Chaffee (day) and Emma Willard (boarding) and would really appreciate if anyone would be able to chance me for these schools. (Especially worried about Loomis Chaffee)

Here are some of my stats:

Grades:
Visual Arts: A (96)

PE: A (96)

Science: A+ (97)

Orchestra: B (86)

Social Studies: A+ (97)

Advanced Algebra: B+ (87)

Language Arts: A+ (99)

French: A (93)

SSAT: 79th percentile

Academic/Athletic Achievements:

SWIMMING:

  • CT Top 16 swimmer for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 season
  • Two-time participant in CT Open Water Championships

CROSS COUNTRY:

  • Varsity middle school cross country in 8th grade (top 4 female runners in school)

DEBATE

  • Multiple time CT state tournament finalist and champion
  • State championships (debate) finalist and championships qualifier
  • Participation in Yale and Harvard debate invitationals
  • Won international Hong Kong debate

LEADERSHIP

  • Student Council for 6 years, 5th and 6th grade as class rep and 7th as team senator, currently president
  • School ambassador (school tour guide, helping new students)
  • Equity leadership (helping our school reach the no place for hate designation)
  • School leadership team (facilitating classes, giving presentations)
  • Represented school/gave speech at board of education meeting

MUSIC

  • Church worship team (singing)
  • Took the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Piano Exam and received a score of distinction
  • Led a music outreach program at elementary school (violin)

OTHER

  • 2x Relay for Life participant (raising money to help cure cancer and create cancer awareness)
  • Won 1st place at the CT Colt Poetry Recitation Competition (Mandarin)
  • Honorable mention for an essay competition
  • School future innovator and document based questions writing award in 7th grade
  • Made the school science bowl team in 6th grade/Represented school at regionals

Interview: I have not had my interviews yet (this week for Loomis, haven’t scheduled one for Emma yet)

Essays: I believe I have very strong essays. For Loomis, I wrote a lot about resilience, my first time swimming open water, how debate has shaped me, etc. For Emma, I focused more on how stereotypes have impacted me growing up, my family, and also a lot about my sports and debate. (I know, a little bit cliche)

Possible Weaknesses?
FA and Chinese

Comments:
I’ve just been stressing a lot over applications lately although i’m only applying to 2 schools. I think I have been telling myself I wanted to go to Loomis for full two years, (it’s my dream high school) and now i’m worried that won’t happen. As someone who is very interested in public speaking, leadership, debate, and English (more humanities-based) learning, Loomis really stands out to me. It also has an extremely good sports program. I think my biggest concern is not getting into Loomis because of my low SSAT score (79th percentile) especially because I am also Asian (Chinese) and I would need a lot of FA. All of the other people around me who have gotten into Loomis have percentiles in the high 90s, (like 95+) so I just don’t think I stand out that much as an applicant. I definitely think Emma would be easier to get into, but I would have to board there, and I think I would prefer Loomis a bit more. I know that interviews are very important too so i’ve been thinking a lot about what i’m going to say!

I believe myself to be a very well-rounded applicant, but I do understand that the applicant pool is very competitive.

2

You are a strong applicant. The 79th percentile on the SSAT is OK. I am sure Loomis accepts many applicants with SSATs around that.

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3

Thank you so much, that makes me feel a bit better about my application!

4

You kids worry way too much about SSATs.

Would bet all the money in my pocket that the folks you know who got in to Loomis didn’t get in because they had 90+ SSATs.

Your scores are fine and the rest of your profile is strong. Crush your interviews and you’ll be fine.

Good luck. You got this.

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5

Thank you!!!

6

Could you please see over my profile also for schools including- Andover, Exeter, Groton, Emma, Hotchkiss etc.?

7

Hi! I would say that your chances are better with Emma Willard, as Loomis has become increasingly popular over the past few years. However, it is also slightly easier to be admitted as a day student, so your chances are decent. Since you do not mind an all-girls school, perhaps you can check out Miss Porter’s School as well. They are not far from you, have strong academics and are always looking for good athletes.

Overall, I think you have a very decent profile. Being a Chinese student in CT is different from being someone who’s born and raised in Beijing and Shenzhen - where a lot of kids score in the high 90s. Therefore, do not worry about expectations.

I would definitely seek out the swim and debate coaches at both Loomis and Emma Willard. If you are deemed “recruitable” by those coaches, your chances will be improved.

Andover, Exeter, Groton, Hotchkiss are clearly in a higher tier and very competitive, i.e. all top students will be applying to at least 2-3 on this list. If you want to cast a wider net, you may consider Kent and Peddie, as both have strong swim programs.

8

Yes, I have looked at Porter’s and I have a lot of friends who go there too. It definitely a great school, but I just don’t think it’s exactly what i’m looking for. And thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely reach out to the swim/debate coaches at Loomis and Emma (sometimes I debate against Loomis so I might be able to meet the coach at a tournament). Do you know what exactly I should email them or say?

9

First off, you are a great candidate and I think that you’ll find a school that’s a good fit for you.

You have a shot at all those schools, but they’re quite competitive. What schools have the strongest swimming and/or debate programs? I know that Deerfield is strong in both areas, but is quite competitive. Have you thought about Taft? Choate? NMH?

10

You’ll need to make an effort to reach out and express a strong interest in the school and programs. Show them what you’ve achieved in the past. For debate, show the awards you have won. For swim, you will need to demonstrate competition record times. Even better if you can have your current coach (or someone from a recent past) advocate for you when needed. Good luck!

11

Thanks! I had my interview today and the swim coach met me after it and we talked for a while.

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12

That’s huge. Congrats. Did the interview go well?

13

Yes, I think it went pretty decent. (I don’t want to say amazing yet because this is the only interview i’ve done and there’s really nothing to compare it to.) The tour guides were great, and the interviewer was so genuine and nice. I originally had planned on what to say, but as soon as the interview started, I just decided to say what was on my mind in the moment. But yeah, overall it went pretty well!

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14

Nicely done.

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15

Emma Willard doesn’t have a strong debate or speech program right now. You could continue it as an independent project.

16

Thank you so much for the advice!! I’ll definitely consider that in my application!

17

Update - I’ve decided not to submit my SSAT scores for Loomis as my tour guide and others at Loomis have said that it is okay to do that. I will probably submit for Emma.
My Loomis interview went decent, and the swim coach reached out (I learned that he used to be a coach at my team or something) and that part was great. I think I messed up something in my application, so I emailed the admissions office about and hopefully I hear back from them! I’ve submitted my application, so i’ll just try to not think about it too much before M10!

18

Nice! I’m still working on my essays.

19

Good luck! What schools are you applying to?

20

I think this is a bad idea. Sure, it is OK not to do that but it won’t help you, and could possibly hurt you.

As I alluded to before, if you don’t submit your SSAT, they will assume you got like in the 50th percentile (which you dd not) - otherwise why wouldn’t you submit it?

79th percentile validates your academic readiness to date.

Not submitting an SSAT score does not.

79th percentile strengthens the coach’s case for your support ("She’ll be a great addition to the school and team and between the SSAT and her grades, there’s no question about her academic capabilities”).

Not submitting an SSAT score does not.

Not submitting an SSAT score leaves a question.

Submitting a solid SSAT score does not.

Again, you’re operating under the notion that a 79% is a bad score and that everyone at Loomis is in the 90+s. This is incorrect thinking. It’s more like 99-70% is Comfort Zone (“We’re comfortable they can do the work here, what else is in the file?”), 69-50 is Inquiry Zone (“Is there anything we need to worry about here?”), below 50 is Skeptical Zone (“Help me understand why this can work”). You’ve moved yourself out of the Comfort Zone into the others.

Loomis is a hard school to get into for sure, but the SSAT is just one part of the evaluation and your otherwise solid application now has a hole in it, in my opinion. If you get rejected by Loomis, it won’t be because you submitted a 79th percentile SSAT. On the other hand, in that very competitive pool, if you get rejected by Loomis, it’s entirely possible that someone whose profile is similar to yours got in submitting a 75th percentile SSAT when you did not.

Good luck.

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