@lostaccount I have to respectfully disagree with your comment. AOs are not looking for students that will score high SATs, they are looking to build a community. While a higher score on the SSAT does not hurt you, it does not improve your application more than any of the other excellent suggestions people have made will… and an SSAT a score does not tell the school anything but your ability on one day to take one test. And there is not that much of a difference score-wise between percentiles… @YoungThriver has a great example of this.
BSs reject people with 99th percentile SSATs every year, and colleges reject people with perfect SATs every year.
@alison538 – if you have the time, improve your SSAT score… it will only help you. But don’t think your SSAT score will determine if you get in, because it will not. I agree with @CaliMex … trust the AOs, don’t jump to conclusions, and focus on improving what makes you unique.
Regarding your essays, I just put up a long post with some essay advice on this amazing thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-chances/1968462-its-time-to-stop-chancing-each-other-and-give-back-to-future-applicants.html#latest but here’s the short version: for your essays, write about yourself. What matters to you? Who is the person you will be bringing to boarding school? That person is who the AOs want to get to know. Take the time to think about who that person is, pivotal moments in your life (even if you didn’t really realize they were pivotal), and then just write and be yourself. I wish you the best of luck 