Hello, my kid is applying to several top boarding schools in New England for 2026. She is an international student from Asia (non-Chinese, from an underrepresented country) and currently attends a well-known, top international school in a country with friendly relations with the U.S. Her background is decent; good grades, student government, music, sports, and a range of extracurricular activities. A somewhat well-rounded profile. She did a top summer program in New England in 2025. The only concern in her applications is her SSAT. She somehow screwed it up with a score in the low-80th percentile. We are full paying. We do not find attending any boarding school outside the top five to be worthwhile due to our current schoolâs college matriculation record, but we also recognize how difficult it is to gain admission to those top ones. Any views on our situation would be appreciated. Many thanks.
Hotchkissâ dean of admission once told me that he realizes that there is very little difference between a 75th percentile score and an 85th percentile one. I think thereâs often too much angst over small differences in ssat scores. I doubt the âlow 80âs percentile scoreâ is why your daughter will or wonât get admitted.
We know that improving to above 90th percentile maybe comes down to 4-5 additional right answers, but those tend to be the more difficult ones. Anyway, at this point, we do not plan to retake the SSAT and will leave it be. We are mostly wondering whether there is still a reasonable chance at Deerfield or Choate, while recognizing that Andover and Groton may be out of reach.
No way for anyone here to know, as we donât see the other parts of the application (essays, recommendations, context etc). As long as sheâs done her best thatâs all she can do!
Fully understood and many thanks! For the other parts, you may assume that they are all fairly decent. With a 95th+ percentile on SSAT, we would be reasonably confident that she get into at least one of those (maybe I am overly confident 
)
You are
With the comment âtop fiveâ with the four schools you list, I am reminded of the classic song:
One of these things is not like the others
One of these things doesnât belong
Can you tell which thing is not like the other
By the time we finish our song?
Anyway, as noted, the SSAT score is unlikely to be the determining factor. At this point, the kid just needs to put together the best application possible. Good luck
We didnât apply to Exeter. With this kind of score, we stand no chance. You are right that I shouldnât assume that attending a top international school with a similar college placement record is in any way an indicator of her chances of getting into a top boarding school in the U.S. Itâs just that I think her profile is very unique and may be very desirable for diversity. Yes, she is otherwise doing her best to prepare for the applications. Thank you!
Sorry wrong thread!
You are splitting infinitesimal hairs among those schools. They are peers, and your child stands no better/worse chance with any of them but, given that âperfectâ applicants are rejected from each of them every year, a ânoâ is equally more likely than a âyesâ from any of them.
If your child is already attending an outstanding school, what is her reason for applying to a U.S. boarding school?
I would lean hard into the life experiences that distinguish your child. I would also find a way to emphasize the best parts of the culture that your child will bring with them to contribute to their new community. It is also incredibly important to these schools that the students are fundamentally kind people. Demonstrating this in a deep, meaningful way is trickier but can be done. I offer this as the mum of a child from a very under represented country in the Pacific who had wild, location specific experiences, and non academic ECs that were beautiful and generous (rather than competition/award winning.) They were also authentically fun and done out of joy.
Said child (similar test range to yours ) now attends one of the schools on your list, with FA. Child also seriously investigated another of the schools on your list but chose not to apply (wrong fit). Interestingly, admissions was following up regularly to strongly encourage the application after learning about the candidateâs background. So lean in hard to what makes your child unique. It is far more important than test scores, imo.
As for your ranking interpretation, I agree with Choatie Mom. Would go further, even. Ruling out Exeter but keeping the peer schools on your list because you think that a single score will keep a child out is⊠unusual? Itâs not too late to challenge that assumption and toss in an application if you think the place is a fit. Last summer we met a great kid from Exeter who did not test well but had a magnetic personality. These schools do care about academics, but I would posit that the teacher recommendations are much more influential once a kid is above a 50 on the SSAT. Top half. No one here says that, but I suspect it is true for an otherwise very appealing candidate who is not from an over represented region such as NYC/Greenwich/Boston. Iâll also acknowledge that sport can be helpful in such instances.
I keep reading about kids here who are laser focused on their academic profile to the near exclusion of their personal profile. Emphasizing both is really helpful, particularly if the personal piece is the stronger part of the application.
A final parting thought⊠all of these kids have a lot of hope and pressure. And parents are being observed by AOs as well. Were you to find a kinder way to characterize your childâs fine result on the SSAT, both your child and the AOs might see you as a positive partner in this process. This, too, improves their chances. Maybe they didnât somehow manage to screw it up? Perhaps that is their best effort. And thatâs okay.
All of this. Very well written.
I know a kid with a 60th percentile SSAT who is going to Phillips Academy now and getting Aâs and A-plusses her 9th grade year (not a re-class). She got in because she got great grades in her previous school, is a great athlete and musician, and, perhaps most importantly, was beloved at her school, leading to amazing recommendations.
Itâs the whole package (both kid and application) that gets you in these places. And being interesting. And demonstrably kind, which canât be emphasized enough. Boarding schools of the type youâre applying may care most about this. I went to an Open House at one of the schools you mention and the Head of Admissions said âWe donât take kids who are smart, but are jerks.â Collaboration and kindness are foundational to the Boarding School experience. Your kid has to not only show that they get that and embrace it, but have examples where they illustrate their alignment with these principles.
My only disagreement is that these all of these schools are very similar outside of all being very hard to get into. Iâve said many times that I donât believe that to be so. But I will agree that if your kid has interest in Exeter, getting a âlow 80âsâ SSAT shouldnât be any more disqualifying than at any of the others. In my experience, Andover and Exeter are similar; Deerfield and Choate are kinda similarâŠmaybe. Groton is different than the others, IMHO. Bottom line is, Iâm not sure its wise to pick schools based on rankings and matriculation stats.
Some more detail would be helpful in helping you. For example, unless I missed it, I donât know what grade your child is applying to, what courses theyâve taken and are likely to take when they land, what their extracurricular activities are are and what level of proficiency they are coming in with. All of those may have a material impact on their probabilities.
Your kid sounds âInteresting.â âInterestingâ is good, regardless of SSATs.
Very true. We are applying because the kid wants to, after she thoroughly enjoyed the summer program in the U.S. The feel and vibe are quite different to be frank. The value for money is pretty low. Many thanks.
Thank you for the detailed response. I truly appreciate it. Yes, you are right that a unique life/cultural experience is important, and she has one to distinguish herself from the vast majority and enrich the school community in terms of diversityâperhaps not as unique as someone from the Pacific Islands 
(I actually used to live there too but before I had kids). We will surely emphasize it in the final touch. I am very much encouraged by your stories. Thank you again. I also accept your take on the parentsâ part.
Thank you so much! These stories are also very encouraging. I fully agree that the whole package matters far more than the SSAT alone. I also sensed that the schools place a lot of emphasis on value, tradition, and kindness, and so forth, which are aligned with our emphasis on the child. I agree that picking schools based on rankings and college matriculation records has its flaws, and we are identifying the âfitâ as well. FYI, she is applying to 10th grade. She is not particularly that outstanding IMO but just well rounded and has a unique background. Over, the information is very helpful. Thank you very much!
Exeter literally allows people with much lower scores to get in. The SSAT doesnât matter that much also Andover Choate Groton and Deerfield are the same level as Exeter.
I am sure that you understand applying to 4 schools with a 10% admit rate does not mean that you have a 40% chance of being accepted to any single school. These 4 schools all have a strong reputation and are extremely selective. Spaces for 10th grade may also be limited. Therefore, I would look at adding some choices just in case.
You may also like to consider your reason(s) for attending boarding school other than college matriculation prospects. First, the lists do not tell the whole story â as they include quite a bit of athletes, legacies and celebrity kids. Itâs the âprepâ that your daughter will get ahead of her peers - mentally, socially and perhaps the pursuit of a sport or special hobby that may not be cultivated as much at her current school.
Full paying international students are always of interest for the adcoms of these schools. I honestly donât think the SSAT is going to matter much.
The bigger concern I have is that you are equating college admission chances with college placement. Its important to realize that these fancy boarding schools do an incredibly good job of picking a class that will likely gain admission to the top colleges. The class will be filled with legacy, development cases, athletes and under-represented minorities. So the college matriculation stats that you see are heavily skewed towards these kids with âhooksâ.
What if I told you that getting admission to a top US college would be harder if she went to a US boarding school? Going to a boarding school does not guarantee top college placement. It actually probably makes it harder to stand out, especially if not graduating from the top of the class. Have you thought about this?
Most parents falsely assume that simply attending a top boarding school will open the doors for top US colleges. This is simply not the case. While the top college admissions offices have good connections with these boarding schools, it is by no means a slam dunk, and far from certain.