My child finished the process for top private high schools in Seattle for 9th. Curious about their chances. Results are published soon so I can update this with how they fared for future reference to others.
-attends a top private middle school, academically accelerated
-no hook as far as ethnicity/1st gen
-4.0/4.0 GPA
-SSAT - took twice, for complicated reasons had to retake for Lakeside only, Lakeside will only accept the lower score. All other schools will take higher score 1st try: 99% overall, 99 V, 93 Q, 99 R; 2nd try: 96% overall, 99V, 89Q, 92 R. Perfect score on V section both times.
-well rounded extracurrics but nothing outstanding:
-Newspaper editor
-Debate
-Piano for 9 years (no major awards)
-Strong in theatre - gets lead roles
-Cross country - decent but not amazing
-Scouts for 7 years, but not currently
I think teacher recs will be outstanding. Essays very strong, an excellent writer. So-so on interviews.
Applied Lakeside, Overlake, Eastside Prep, Bush, University Prep
No SaaS or Seattle Prep? It is a crap shoot. Those schools are all very different and all good. .
You might have a crazy commute based on location. You will get in somewhere but likely not all. Bush and U Prep are especially hard (opaque) based on size and sibs. It all works out. Stay close to your Guidance Counsleor. He/she will have a better idea based on history.
I’m largely with @AnArmyAtDawn here. It seems like your student has done what they can do, and it’s going to come down to their current school’s cohort and class building. If they don’t get in somewhere, they aren’t missing something in their application - it’s just a numbers game. Agreed that Bush and UPrep in particular have some built-in limitations (though UPrep has more space now). It sounds like your child has tried a lot of things, which is great - ideally they can talk about what they’ve loved and why. Lack of awards isn’t what’s going to keep them out of these schools - I know how stressful this all is, but I promise, 9th graders aren’t expected to have already majored in something.
It’s worth noting that “so-so on interviews” isn’t ideal for a student whose listed strengths include public performance. That said, a parent may have outsized expectations for what an 8th grader is going to deliver in a high school interview.
The “complicated reasons” for retaking are not our business, but I’d be concerned that there’s a yellow flag here for any school, especially Lakeside. The score itself is just fine for any school.
Chancing this is next to impossible, I’m afraid. I agree that your GC might have a sense.
Strong candidate for all listed schools; however, take nothing for granted as Seattle is a very competitive market due to lots of highly qualified applicants and lots of wealth.
An important factor is teacher recommendations–something that none of us know.
D20 applied to most of those (not Eastside Prep) back in 2016. I don’t recall her exact SSATs but it was in the low 90s in percentile overall with higher verbal. She won a couple of writing awards in MS, including a national gold medal (plus a couple of regional silver/gold key awards) in Journalism from Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She wrote for our town newspaper and had a lot of published articles and writing samples. She also had some other unusual ECs that supported her overall application. She had attended private school since K and had good grades/academic profile, and I suspect good LORs. She did well on her interviews (at least she felt good about them). Got into Bush, UPrep, Holy Names and Overlake. Didn’t get into Lakeside. I’ll never know but I think her scores might have been too low for Lakeside without a hook or sibling, but I think the national/regional writing awards helped. Good luck!
UPDATE! Kid got into Lakeside, Eastside Prep, Overlake, Bush, Northwest. Waitlisted at UPrep. A tough decision for sure, going to do admitted student visits next week. I have to think it’s the teacher recs that made it happen, they must have been quite strong. As well as quality of kid’s current school. Kid also wrote an excellent essay, putting a quirky spin on the topic.
And maybe I am too harsh on judging my kid’s interview abilities.
Congratulations to your child! That’s great news. Best of luck to your child and your family in the school selection. Our D1 also had the privilege of several choices, and the admitted student visit did genuinely change her mind - to the good, I believe.
That’s great to hear about another visit! Kid is a little weary of the process at this point and not exactly fired up to visit again (doesn’t want to miss school, ha) but we are calmly requiring it for their top 3 options.
So where are you going out of the schools where they got accepted? How are you making the decision?
that’s the million dollar question of the week… decisions due Friday. Kid will do the admitted student visits for Lakeside, EPS, and Overlake, as those three were their favorites. I really believe that all of the schools can offer Kid excellent academics and extracurriculars. It’s a wash as far as that’s concerned. It’s going to come down to where Kid feels most comfortable and can find their people. So even though it’s hard for me as a parent to bite my tongue (do people really turn down Lakeside?) ultimately Kid is the one attending and will make the call based on social fit.
student was passionate about and extremely talented in robotics, and wanted to be at a place that had a school team;
student worked regularly as a professional actor, and learned Lakeside wouldn’t be as supportive of the schedule as other places;
student from a particular ethnic community got a sense of how that community interacted at Lakeside, and decided they wanted something different.
All good decisions for those students, all are doing well in their future endeavors. (Two went to the other schools you’re looking at.) Lakeside is a tremendous place, and also it is genuinely not the right fit for everyone. Good luck to your child and your family!
Kid picked EPS! Felt most at home there, loved the emphasis on critical thinking, thought they could use their creativity very well there. Felt it was very forward thinking, modern.
Lakeside felt very “we chose you, you are special, you will achieve” where EPS felt very “we like you just the way you are, be yourself, be as geeky as you want.”
Overlake kids seemed very nice but also quite cool, jocks - which my kid is not.
Lakeside and Overlake have beautiful campuses that rival many colleges, but kid doesn’t want a college campus. Kid wants to be with other teens where they fit in best. EPS felt like a fun little community of brilliant nerds that care about each other.
Congratulations! It’s fantastic that your kid had such wonderful options and it sounds like EPS will be a great fit! I’ve heard great things about the school. Best of luck to your family!
hi, Apologies for hijaking this thread, but it is relevant to my dilemma. My kid got accepted to EPS in Feb, but just got an off-waitlist admission call from Overlake yesterday. She is super smart, and an introvert. We loved both schools when we visited, bummed to have not got into Overlake initially and were very happy with decision to attend EPS. Now that Overlake is back on the table, I am hoping to get some input from current/past families about their experience at both schools. Thanks.
I have been reading a bit on this since it is pertinent to my question (so I won’t open a new thread). My only question here is on a few replies that indicated that we need to stay “close to our Guidance Counsellor” (presumably in the current school of my DS) prior to trying to transfer.
I guess a bit befuddled since:
a) why do Guidance Counsellors have relevance to transferring from middle school to high school? (I’m not sure since I thought they come into the picture when it’s for university? eg not transferring to High school?)
b) I did not go to school in North America (Save for AFTER High School) so I’m not sure how important the guidance counsellor is? (In my neck of the woods, usually Guidance counsellors were only involved for kids with behavioral issues, especially if lower than high school levels)
