<p>Lawrenceville is good for fencing. Really good. Check it out.</p>
<p>Getting into a competitive boarding school is a crapshoot these days, even for the best applicants. So even if you are a 99% SSAT, a national fencer, and have several big ECs, and good grades, you still may not get in. </p>
<p>THIS IS NOT A REFLECTION ON YOUR WORTH AS A PERSON. It just means too many people are obsessed with applying to a few small “name” schools.</p>
<p>I agree with the above parents, you sound like a well grounded person, with many strong attributes. I would spend some time thinking about why you want to go to boarding school (? space from parents), what is the kind of school YOU want that to be, and then dodge away from only GLADCHEMS and find some cool “Hidden gems” (see the CC thread). Then, encourage parents to let you apply to a range of schools when application time comes. You may have to time that carefully, but it is a good idea. Like the day before applications are due say (Oh look what a cool school I just found, can I apply, please, please, just as a backup?) They will probably be stressed and befuddled and say yes (have the application done) …or some similar plan. </p>
<p>Your parents love you a lot. They will calm down as you get older and they will push you less. You will also grow better at ignoring them.</p>