Test Scores for Boarding Schools

Prep School Admissions
1

Hey! Yesterday I got my ISEE scores and honestly I expected more(. Here they are
Math-9 stanine(98%); Quant-8 stanine(94%), Reading-6 stanine(73%), Verbal-4 stanine.
So the mean score is about 75% percentile. (duolingo score-135)

I’m applying to some test-optional schools. The schools I’m applying to: Loomis(my top-1 choice), Berkshire, Blair, Choate, Groton, Hotchkiss, Mercersburg, Middlesex, Milton, NMH, Andover, Exeter, St. Paul’s, Suffield, Wayland, St. George’s, Pennington and Woodberry Forest. It’s a large list but I had to cast a wide list of schools since I’m applying as an international requesting a lot of FA.

So, what do you think about the test score? Am I still a competitive applicant for these schools?

Here are my stats from previous thread:

I’m Kalmyk(ethnic minority in Russia, less than 0.15% of Russia population), male, applying to 10th grade to reclass.

-Studying at one of Russia’s top-ranked schools, recognized in 2025 as the best in the country for the percentage of graduates admitted to leading universities. GPA is about 3.7(approximately)

-Elected as a delegate to the Student Council: represent interests of 2300+ peer’s, participate in school-wide decision-making and organize events
for students. During the elections, created a campaign video shared with 3000+ students and posted over 20 campaign posters throughout the school.

-Founded an EdTech startup at 15(was quoted and recommended by ChatGPT), leading all aspects of project development including advertising, website management, and campaign execution; the project attracted 3300+ people, and 30+ applications despite launching without a finished product.

-Established a community for students who had already launched their own projects; meetings and shared knowledge, with 15+ participants; the community participated in an accelerator program-Played soccer as a team captain for over 6 years at competitive levels; competed with teams from Germany, India-Winner of the municipal stage of the All-Russian Olympiad in Mathematic in 8th grade
-Presented personal and school projects before juries and peers, including pitches for case championships and school contests
-Winner, National Quiz Tournament, organized by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration including some national-level teams

2

The test score is fine for all of these places.

Good luck!

3

Thanks! Do you think I should submit them to Choate and Loomis, since they are test-optional?

4

Yes. If you don’t they’ll assume you did worse than you did, which was very good, by the way.

5

Test score seems to be fine but are you applying for financial aid? I can’t imagine how do you write that many thoughtful essays to this many schools. I think that your hook is your ethnicity, but Russian passport might be a bit tricky under Trump. Your profile seems to be lack of music and sport? Like what you said: if you don’t apply, you don’t know. Test score at this level might not be relevant at all.

6

Yep, I’m applying for financial aid. I forgot to mention in my EC’s that I’ve been playing mini-soccer for 5 years as a team captain. Regarding to essays, almost all schools have very similar essay prompts, like ‘describe a time when you faced adversity‘, just in different phrasing. So it is not that hard!

7

We’re also applying this year, but only to a handful of schools. In our case, the essay requirements seem a bit different from yours, so we can’t really copy and paste from one to another. Be a bit careful there. The parents’ statements are also a bit of a pain. Our background is a little different from yours. We’re coming from an international school in Asia. Our stats are not as strong as yours. In any case, I’d be happy to reconnect after 10 March and compare notes on how things turn out.

8

My advice would be to narrow your list of schools and to submit the test scores. Your grades may be difficult for an AO to interpret given their limited experience with your school, so you want to give them as much guidance as you can about your academic strengths with your test scores.

Your list of schools is quite varied, so I would be concerned about your ability to articulate clearly why you want to go to a specific school. (You’re not going to be able to use your Andover essay for Blair, for example.) You will be a stronger candidate if you have a few stronger essays rather than adopting a scattershot approach. Diversity in school applications is helpful, but only up to a point.

9

Thank you for an advice, I will definitely send the test scores. Regarding to essays, what is your opinion on these 2 essay prompts? ‘Reflect on an experience that has shaped your personal life, academic success, or goals. How has this experience contributed to your growth as a person and/or as a student?‘ and ‘Tell us about a time that you learned something about who you really are when things didn’t go as you had hoped. It can be adversity, disappointment, or a less-than-perfect moment, but help us understand what you learned in the process.‘
Aren’t they all ‘describe a time when you faced adversity‘ essays?

10

Thanks, I definitely will. I’d be super happy to hear your results and reconnect after 10 March!

11

No, they are not. They are really about who you are. The first could be about discovering something you loved doing, going to an event and feeling like you did or didn’t belong and how that clarified for you what mattered, cooking with an aunt, going camping, etc.

I would not assume the second is adversity but simply something going wrong. Of course, it could be adversity, but it could be something like forgetting your lines in a play.

These prompts are a framework for showing the AO who you are as a person. Think about what you want to convey, and use these as your vehicles.

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12

In addition to GardenStateGal’s points, I would also emphasize that your essays should be an opportunity to connect your story to how you would fit with a particular school and contribute to their community. Even if you choose the same topic for different applications, you might approach it differently depending on the school and what they’re looking for in their particular student body.

Again, AOs have read enough applications to know when you’re reusing an essay from another school and they don’t appreciate it.

1 Like
13

guys, do you guys have any tips on the essay prompts for GLADCHEMMS?