Well, I’ll start by giving you two kudos: (1) you’re ambitious and actually thinking about and planning for your future as a 6th grader, and (2) buried in poorly worded comments was a sense of humility (“I don’t really feel qualified though, as everyone around me, is either just as smart as me or smarter.”) Both of those are mature traits and will serve you well if you decide to push forward, learn what boarding school is really about and strive to be a contributing part of such a community.
What you should consider over the next 2 years…
First, unless you are planning to go to a junior BS, don’t take the SSAT or ISEE again until 8th grade. Your middle level score is meaningless for the purposes of eventually applying to be accepted in 9th grade. The upper level test is supposed to be more difficult and it is a much larger and competitive group of kids.
Second, please never again use the term “high class academies”. If all you want is prestige, there are tons of threads and posts on this website about the folly in that reasoning…so do your research. If you decide you want to go to BS for the right reasons, then you will look back on that term and cringe (and hopefully laugh too).
Third, and most important, whether or not you decide to pursue BS…you are NOT just a collection of numbers. You are a person (hopefully), with interests, experiences, dreams, a community, etc. Similarly, BSs (and down the road, colleges) are not looking to fill their open seats with little cyborgs that can post the highest test scores and get perfect A+s in every class. They are building communities of people (as above), who are inevitably imperfect. Do yourself a favor - get immersed in one or two activities that you really enjoy…and get a B in something (maybe PE). You’ll realize that you are a much happier and better person for it and, ironically, you will be a far stronger applicant to BS in two years.
Also, your martial arts experience is considered an extracurricular (EC) activity. It can show your ability to commit to something and achieve goals, but it has no relevance to BS athletics. Some schools have martial arts clubs, but they have zero pull with admissions.
That being said, do what you enjoy, not what you think will get you into a school one day. Scouting is similar to martial arts. BSs don’t have Boy Scout or Girl Scout teams, but the commitment of a young person to such an activity can speak volumes to their character…which is something that schools are looking for.
Thank you. I obviously came here asking questions that were not important considering my age, and I should’ve done my own research before coming here asking about this stuff. Sorry for this.
Would doing choir for a long time look good? Btw the reason I want to go to these schools are excel specifically in math, I could also go to a local school, IMSA, and do the same there.
@Moidin If you are that set on a 95% SSAT, which I don’t think you should be, I don’t think you should keep on paying to retake the test (it costs a lot and there are PLENTY of Practice tests you can take and score). Also, keep in mind that most of the schools you’ve listed will only accept SSAT scores from the current academic year. Meaning that when they will only accept SSAT scores from your 8th grade year. As someone who scored a 99% on the SSAT last year and got waitlisted at all of the “top” schools you are referring, I highly suggest you focus on extracurriculars and making yourself stand out in other ways, because at the end of the day, your SSAT score will get a checkmark by your application that signifies that you are in the range for that school–whether that score be in the low 80s or high 90s.
That also happened to me last year. I had a 2376 SSAT and still got rejected/waitlisted. If you reach 87 percentile, that is perfectly fine and you can check off a good SSAT score. You should definitely focus on your ECs. Maybe also try a sport that BSs offer and try to get medals for some of the other activities. Most importantly, develop a “spike.” BSs are looking for a well rounded CLASS not well rounded students (but this usually doesn’t apply to the smaller sized boarding schools)
I think your grades are quite good. You may want to continue working on your reading percentile.
I believe this may be too early for you to think about applying to private school. You’re probably taking the Middle Level Test dependent on your current grade (correct me if you’re able to take the Upper Level). Most schools require the SSAT to be in the Upper Level… because they typically all start at the 9th grade.
Also correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there a cycle of SSAT dates that you can use for only one year before having take another one in a year cycle? Because it just seems unlikely that you’d use a score from sixth grade when you apply for ninth grade.
Usually the fact you’re from a small town would increase your chances, since schools like to have a diverse population and many of their applicants come from larger, more urban areas, so… stay put.
You do have many extracurrculars, you could continue taking them and be okay. I reccomend reading some books to educate yourself more on the topic of reading comp, like the Odyssey by Homer (it’s less difficult than the Iliad and you can analyze its meanings pretty well) or an annotated version of David Copperfield. If you’re up for a real challenge perhaps you could read Anna Karenina. These are all books considered classics and quite mind-bending, but you seem very intelligent despite your grades. Remember that grades don’t always reflect your effort and strengths.
You may want to simply stay and enjoy your life without the stress of trying to get into a boarding school. Continue to slowly improve upon your skills and hone them to be flexible and well-rounded.
@sonamoo8 Actually, being from a small town doesn’t increase your chances. Someone from a big city in Washington would have a greater chance than someone from a small town in MA, for example. Schools only care about what state you’re applying from, or country if it’s not the U.S.
Sonamoo, Yep I’m taking the middle level, just overly-excited and originally started this post because of getting obsessed with high schools. And I’ve read the Odyssey! But none of the other author’s books.
Hi @Moidin I’d concur that you’re getting worried prematurely. You don’t know that there are in fact kids getting all As around you. Somewhere there are, but that is a competition that is endless and, really, unwinnable. There are always going to be hundreds more kids with more As, slightly higher test scores or have them in a slightly different configuration than yours. Get a lot of As, but use your obsession to follow something you’re truly interested in. Be the best at that for its own sake. If you’re interesting, the schools will be interested in you (given that you’ve crossed a minimum if high academic threshold.)
You’re obviously super bright and driven, I’d suggest reading Peter Thiel’s Zero to One for how he got off the (commodity achievement driven) Stanford-Stanford-Law-clerking-etc. achievement track, and opened up fulfilling new professional avenues.
To give you an idea of the difference between the ssat percentiles in the low and high 90s, my friend and I took the SSAT at the same time (this was my second time taking it). When the results came back, we found out that she had earned 6 points more than me yet I placed in the 91st percentile while she was in the 95th percentile.
The difference between low-90s SSAT scorers and high-90s scorers isn’t as large as people would think it is.