<p>I like the idea of attending an academically challenging boarding school and am in the process of applying to Deerfield, Andover, Exeter, Hotchkiss, St Pauls and Middlesex. Being a hayseed from the midwest, I would bring an element of diversity to any of these schools. My SSAT math score was 95%, but my verbal was 68%. I have plenty of extra-curricular activities. What are my realistic chances of being accepted?</p>
<p>Of all the Ranking Mechanisms, only the WBTY Indices takes into account
“Hay Seedism” when assessing the application and acceptance process.</p>
<p>Using 2005 data, Deerfield and Middlesex were the most likely to accept a Hay Seed (slightly over 25%), followed by Exeter, Hotchkiss and Andover at between 10 and 15%. SPS almost never accepts a Hay Seed, but published information suggests that their newly formed Committee on Diversity and Under Represented Regular Americans (CDURRA) is working on the problem.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the top schools for Hay Seed admits are, in order, Blair, Culver and St Georges (!). Blair and Mercersburg lead in admitting Country Bumpkins as well.</p>
<p>St. George’s may not be so hayseed friendly…as it is reaching out to a decidedly redneck constituency this year. This pull-out quote from a prominent alum from the Class of '66 appears in the this year’s SGS viewbook:</p>
<p>“I want people with Confederate flags on their trucks to put down those flags and come to St. George’s.” [url=<a href=“http://www.slate.com/id/2090775/]FN1[/url”>The new bum rap on Howard Dean]FN1[/url</a>]</p>
<p>You can’t have lots of rednecks and hayseeds at the same time. Once you reach a certain critical mass, the whole place will got to hell in a handbasket faster than Howard Dean can put his foot in his mouth.</p>
<p>A big double Yeee Hawww and a Whaa Hooo for that insight. I’ll be sure to add Blair, Culver, Mercersburg and St Georges to my application list!! I’m still undecided whether to wear my nice “Sunday blue” OshGosh overalls to my interview or the more preppy LLBean variety with a madras patch.</p>
<p>You should be okay in that attire. Whatever you do, please understand that this long-time CC poster probably did not bolster his chances at Exeter with the interview dress he chose:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4355376-post68.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4355376-post68.html</a></p>
<p>Also, according to this anecdotal profile in today’s Harvard Crimson, you might want to stay away from Exeter as the clothing choices of your peers will turn you into a coke fiend:</p>
<p>[The</a> Harvard Crimson - “Homeless to Harvard: A Ticket Out of Poverty”](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521261]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521261)</p>
<p>Unless, that is, you plan on becoming a coke fiend.</p>
<p>Oh, I tried Coke when I went to the state fair last year, but I still prefer root beer. By the way, my sow was awarded 2nd prize in the “domesticated razorback” class. I was robbed. My pig should’ve won. </p>
<p>NOTE TO SELF: Update Exeter application with State Fair runner-up honors.</p>
<p>I smell a poseur. Everyone knows that real Hay Seeds prefer Dr. Pepper. Root Beer my a$$.</p>
<p>Hayseed -</p>
<p>Yes, schools do seek regional diversity, but that and the SSAT are only 2 elements in a complex and often mysterious decision making process with an outcome that is hard to predict.</p>
<p>Here are a few more questions that might get you some responses, not that the ones you’ve received so far aren’t entertaining.</p>
<p>You gave scores for 2 parts of the SSAT. It has 3 parts and an overall score. How did you do on the reading comp and overall? (SSAT %'s are the ones people use.)</p>
<p>How strong a student are you, in what kind of school? </p>
<p>How supportive are your parents and teachers (have to write recs for you) about going to boarding school?</p>
<p>Aside from having plenty of activities, are you very strong in a sport or have particular talents to bring to the school in other areas?</p>
<p>Have you visited the schools you are applying to?</p>
<p>People will point out that you have no safety school. That is fine if you are happy where you are and are only interested in leaving home for a top school, which all of those on your list are.</p>
<p>If you know your scores they must be from November. Did you take the SSAT again last weekend or plan to take it in January? You will hear all sorts of things that SSAT doesn’t count much, but for those schools, if I had a section with a score in the 60’s I would definitely retake the test.</p>
<p>IM,</p>
<p>You have given me plenty to consider. I am planning to travel to New England in January and see each school. If I’m not accepted to the top tier schools, I have a good “fall back” day school near my home. My parents, teachers and coaches are highly supportive and will offer excellent recs. </p>
<p>My current school is small, and I don’t work very hard. I always achieve honors placement each semester, sometimes by just a whisker. I think that if I were challenged more, then I would strive to achieve greater results. I play on my school baseball, basketball and golf teams. I also play competitive tennis and squash outside school. However, I am FAR from being a gifted athlete (my little brother earns that honor). Theatre and music are also important elements in my daily life.</p>
<p>Maybe I should retake the SSAT as you suggest. The first time I didn’t study or review for it, but now that I know what to expect I should do better on a retake. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t nail a 99th percentile on the math, but low/mid 80’s on the verbal is about as good as I can realistically expect. It’s just not my forte. </p>
<p>Oh, what the heck… If I get in great, if not, life goes on. Let’s roll the dice.</p>
<p>Hayseed</p>
<p>PS - it is a common myth that Hayseeds prefer Dr. Pepper over Root Beer. Actually, it is only our distant cousins in Texas, the Tumbleweeds, that favor Dr Pepper.</p>
<p>Gotcha – everyone knows that there are no squash courts west of Cleveland.</p>
<p>This is too easy… Like shooting fish in a barrel…
[Squash</a> Courts and Clubs worldwide, compiled by SquashTalk.com](<a href=“Đánh giá nhà cái cá cược trực tuyến uy tín 2024 - Squashtalk.com”>Đánh giá nhà cái cá cược trực tuyến uy tín 2024 - Squashtalk.com)</p>
<p>What do you wear on your feet when you’re squashing away west of the Mississippi?</p>
<p>And Dr. Pepper and Root Beer are both what kind of beverage?</p>
<p>Alas, the real test would be audible: </p>
<p>“Mary will be merry on the day she is to marry” – three words, same pronunciation.</p>
<p>And that slanty, shingled thing that keeps the snow out of your attic is pronounced like you’re mimicking a dog’s bark.</p>
<p>The clincher, of course, is that midwesterners’ faces don’t get twisted all out of shape (in a “what the…?” expression) when they see that their round pizza is cut up into 40-odd (mostly) square-shaped pieces.</p>
<p>Confirming a midwestern pedigree is easy to the trained eye. It’s like picking out replicants.</p>
<p>BONUS FACTOID: When Vietnam POWs wanted to communicate, they would do so by an improvised “Morse Code”-system. But their VC and NVA captors could easily sit in and pretend to be an American prisoner. The shorthand English disguised syntax differences and getting caught communicating with fellow POWs resulted in harsh punishment. But there was one surefire way to call up a fellow POW and know that the person on the other end was a comrade: “Shave and a haircut…two bits!” Each side would use that exchange. The guards never could get the rhythm down or, more likely, they didn’t recognize it as a cadence and were trying to interpret it as an alphabet-based code in Morse or something so they never managed to impersonate POWs to intercept communications.</p>
<p>[Bio</a>, Brace, Ernest C.](<a href=“http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/b/b603.htm]Bio”>Bio, Brace, Ernest C.)</p>
<p>i wouldn’t mention where you’re from too much. people out east don’t really think being from the midwest is exactly the coolest thing ever.</p>
<p>9 international courts in 9 states. OK, there are effectively no squash courts west of Cleveland (make that Pittsburgh). </p>
<p>“Sweetie, I’m gonna catch a squash game in Denver at the AC, see you a couple of days”.</p>
<p>And D’yer – put down the bottle of Jack Daniels, extinquish the crack pipe, and step away from the laptop.</p>
<p>Before I go to all that trouble, I need answers to my first two questions to conclude my Midwestern Authentication Test (MAT).</p>
<p>Right now it’s like talking to Francis Ouimet’s country cousin from Pixley.</p>
<p>D’yer,</p>
<p>Duh, everyone knows Root Beer is the “nectar of the gods”. And you know that I know that your first query is a trick question… we don’t wear shoes here in the Midwest. Geesh</p>
<p>Well, all this might be for moot. I just received my acceptance to Eton today. So it looks like I’ll be packing my bags to matriculate in England next year. They’re real nice folk and they said they like my accent. Momma says I’ll have to learn to drink tea and eat crumpets. I’m not sure what crumpets are, but they don’t sound very tasty. </p>
<p>Hayseed</p>
<p>who cares about prep school</p>
<p>I think Hay Seed will be admitted to all those schools based on his/her wit and sense of humor. Make sure those attributes come out in your essays.</p>
<p>Thanks Annebelle for the vote of confidence. I wish you were on the decision committee!</p>