SSAT is important but they look at the whole boy and really want the right fit and boys who want to be there. You may be surprised at the threshold for the SSAT they will accept. What is your son getting on the practice?

OP, please do not let these responses discourage you from continuing to look at Prep. It’s a great school and our son has been happy there. He is a non-Catholic student athlete in a “lesser” sport according to PPs and had a slightly underwhelming SSAT score, but good grades. It worked out for our son and might for yours as well. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is very interested in Gtown Prep but has not done well on practice SSATs. He has mostly As (coming from public), is a good athlete and will get great recommendations. Wondering how important test scores are. Should we give up hope if below a certain score?

Two questions. Will you need significant financial aid and are you Catholic?

We will be full pay but are not Catholic.

Being full pay will help. Not being Catholic is not a disqualifier. But to a extent it's a numbers game. This is not a game in which everyone's chances are equal.

About a third of Prep's incoming freshman class of Day students come from a single, all boy's Catholic school, Mater Dei.

Several local parishes regularly send boys to Prep (Blessed Sacrament, Mercy, Little Flower, St Elizabeth's, De Chantal, Holy Redeemer, etc., etc.) There is a longstanding symbiotic relationship between Prep and these schools and the best applicants from these schools are almost always accepted.

Add to this the legacy boys that don't go to one of the feeder schools, faculty kids, URMs, top athletes, and other "connected' families and the classes get filled pretty quickly.

Still, every year public school grads including some non-Catholics are admitted.

Your son might want to consider Landon as an alternative. It draws from a more heterogeneous community. It's about the same size, plays in the same athletic conference, has about the same level of academics, and sends kids tot the same sort of colleges. (Although Prep sends a lot of kids to Catholic colleges)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is very interested in Gtown Prep but has not done well on practice SSATs. He has mostly As (coming from public), is a good athlete and will get great recommendations. Wondering how important test scores are. Should we give up hope if below a certain score?

Two questions. Will you need significant financial aid and are you Catholic?

We will be full pay but are not Catholic.

Anonymous wrote:DS is very interested in Gtown Prep but has not done well on practice SSATs. He has mostly As (coming from public), is a good athlete and will get great recommendations. Wondering how important test scores are. Should we give up hope if below a certain score?

Hello. Prep is a wonderful school and I think it is great that your son wants to attend. Yes SSAT is important but it is 1 piece of the puzzle. If your son is serious he should use the next month to help work on his score. Prep matters does weekly testing for clients who do their tutoring. This is a great investment.

If he is a great athlete, he should reach out to the coach in the sport he shines. He should have video ready. Have club coach also write a letter. Are you Catholic? Have CCD teacher or priest write a letter. He should also write his own letter to AD expressing why a Prep education matters to him. AD can see through parents or fake letters fyi. Say it is his first choice if it is. He should discuss why a Jesuit education is important to him. Go to everything that is admissions related. I know that wants boys who really want to be there. Good luck to him!

Baseball is also a marquis sport at Prep. And Prep is good at swimming.
If your kid is not a recruit, then the test is important. It is also important to tell Prep during the process that Prep is your son’s first choice (if that is the case).

Anonymous wrote:Good to apply. Also good to understand that ANY good local private will have more qualified applicants than it has openings. So there is a degree of randomness to the whole admissions process at all schools.

The process appears to be random to many parents.

But from the school’s standpoint it is not (or at least it is much less random)

The school has a pool of applicants (the more the better) and they have a set of internal needs. The Admissions people need to satisfy as best they can the demands and interests of the different groups in their world. If admissions were as simple as looking at test score and grades, they wouldn’t need Admissions people.

Anonymous wrote:By "good athlete" do you mean he's being recruited? That makes a difference!

It also depends on the sport. Football, lacrosse and to a lesser extent, basketball, are the marquis sports at Prep. The Athletic Director, who represents athletes in the recruiting process, is also the head football coach.

Being a multi-sport athlete also helps.

Other sports have less weight and you really have to be a star in one of these to have it make a significant difference. (Soccer, golf, baseball, hockey, track, etc.)

Being “recruited” is not the way it works at Prep or any of the IAC schools. You have to contact the school first. Then the coach of the sport must be interested in having your son. Just how interested makes a difference. So, you have to make sure the coach knows about interest and understands the talent level. Just listing sports played on the application won’t do much.

Of course, the coaches are already aware of your son through CYO sports, or youth football, then your job is simpler.

By "good athlete" do you mean he's being recruited? That makes a difference!

Anonymous wrote:DS is very interested in Gtown Prep but has not done well on practice SSATs. He has mostly As (coming from public), is a good athlete and will get great recommendations. Wondering how important test scores are. Should we give up hope if below a certain score?

Two questions. Will you need significant financial aid and are you Catholic?

Test is important. They have a score threshold in mind. If your son is a good athlete, make a connection with the coach (camp, travel team, maybe you know a current student). They'll fill you in.

Having “mostly As” makes the SSAT score more important. He will be competing with many other students with straight As (from private school) and high test scores.

Good to apply. Also good to understand that ANY good local private will have more qualified applicants than it has openings. So there is a degree of randomness to the whole admissions process at all schools.

My understanding is SSAT scores weigh fairly heavily in Prep’s admissions decisions.

DS is very interested in Gtown Prep but has not done well on practice SSATs. He has mostly As (coming from public), is a good athlete and will get great recommendations. Wondering how important test scores are. Should we give up hope if below a certain score?