Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

I think the problem is that many kids have high scores, so many kids both that get in and that don't get in have high scores.

I wonder what percentage of kids are 99th percentile or above. If only they would make that clear.

LOL! The thing is, around here it is much higher than 1%.

Lots of top 1 percenters in the DMV privates. Scores skew much higher here than say, if you were in Mississippi or Wyoming.

Yes but vast majority of test takers are in hot private school markets. I wonder how they norm the results. I suspect they don’t norm at all though, it’s too hard a problem and there’s no right way to do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

I think the problem is that many kids have high scores, so many kids both that get in and that don't get in have high scores.

I wonder what percentage of kids are 99th percentile or above. If only they would make that clear.

LOL! The thing is, around here it is much higher than 1%.

Lots of top 1 percenters in the DMV privates. Scores skew much higher here than say, if you were in Mississippi or Wyoming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

I think the problem is that many kids have high scores, so many kids both that get in and that don't get in have high scores.

I wonder what percentage of kids are 99th percentile or above. If only they would make that clear.

LOL! The thing is, around here it is much higher than 1%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

I think the problem is that many kids have high scores, so many kids both that get in and that don't get in have high scores.

I wonder what percentage of kids are 99th percentile or above. If only they would make that clear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

I think the problem is that many kids have high scores, so many kids both that get in and that don't get in have high scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

So many here with high scores saying they did not get admitted to top schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Very similar here. DD scored 97% and we applied for 5 schools - she got into the 3 less competitive ones. She plays sports but is not exceptional. She’s an exceptional writer and published, but that wasn’t good enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

This was our experience as well.

DC is at a Big 3. Based on the cohort that entered as freshman, this spike thing isn’t the case. They are mostly just smart, normal kids. And FWIW, DC had 99th percentile and no hook/spike, although they entered in 6th.

Both of mine were 99th and were WL. So, it's not just the scores.

I think the super high scores can be a disadvantage, tbh. A 93 or 90 is probably more in the range.

Such a dumb take.

No school will be filled with only 99 percentile kids. Fact.

A high score without well-roundedness is not particularly helpful. So, yeah, having a 90 percentile and being a key player on the soccer team or a lead in the school play is better than having a 99 percentile score and no life.

That doesn’t mean the high score is the disadvantage, it means the no life is a disadvantage.

Thanks for spelling it out. At the lower percentile levels you have to make this stuff very explicit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deerfield's average SSAT score is 87%;

St.Paul's School average SSAT score = 89%;

Choate Rosemary Hall's average SSAT score = 85%;

Both Andover & Exeter are reportedly at 90%.

These are the top 5 boarding schools in the USA. Would lead one to view an SSAT score of 85% to be a competitive school for a local private high school.

This is super helpful. Average means that many also scored below those numbers.

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

This was our experience as well.

DC is at a Big 3. Based on the cohort that entered as freshman, this spike thing isn’t the case. They are mostly just smart, normal kids. And FWIW, DC had 99th percentile and no hook/spike, although they entered in 6th.

Both of mine were 99th and were WL. So, it's not just the scores.

I think the super high scores can be a disadvantage, tbh. A 93 or 90 is probably more in the range.

Such a dumb take.

No school will be filled with only 99 percentile kids. Fact.

A high score without well-roundedness is not particularly helpful. So, yeah, having a 90 percentile and being a key player on the soccer team or a lead in the school play is better than having a 99 percentile score and no life.

That doesn’t mean the high score is the disadvantage, it means the no life is a disadvantage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

This was our experience as well.

DC is at a Big 3. Based on the cohort that entered as freshman, this spike thing isn’t the case. They are mostly just smart, normal kids. And FWIW, DC had 99th percentile and no hook/spike, although they entered in 6th.

Both of mine were 99th and were WL. So, it's not just the scores.

I think the super high scores can be a disadvantage, tbh. A 93 or 90 is probably more in the range.

Such a dumb take.

No school will be filled with only 99 percentile kids. Fact.

A high score without well-roundedness is not particularly helpful. So, yeah, having a 90 percentile and being a key player on the soccer team or a lead in the school play is better than having a 99 percentile score and no life.

That doesn’t mean the high score is the disadvantage, it means the no life is a disadvantage.

True, but maybe they go hand in hand.

Your in the land of pure speculation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you need to get into these competitive schools at the high school level is some type of spike, meaning some extra curricular that makes him very unique: star athlete with recruitment potential, math/science olympiad super star, sibling/ legacy/ VIP. If any of these are met, then the school mostly cares that your child can handle the rigor of their academics. In that case, an 85% is more than enough.

If it's any help, my daughter scored in 98th percentile a few years ago and did not get into any of the most competitive schools (Potomac, NCS, Sidwell, GDS). She had excellent grades at school and interviewed well, but she did not have anything else that made her standout. She played some rec sports, did some volunteering here and there ... don't get me wrong. She's a great kid and we are proud of her, but in the eyes of an admissions officer who is trying to select 30 kids from a pool of 500, she had nothing that made her standout. The kids in her grade who got in did.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

This was our experience as well.

There are plenty of well rounded kids who are just flat out smart, too. I tend to think that goes more hand in hand vs high achiever, no life.

DC is at a Big 3. Based on the cohort that entered as freshman, this spike thing isn’t the case. They are mostly just smart, normal kids. And FWIW, DC had 99th percentile and no hook/spike, although they entered in 6th.

Both of mine were 99th and were WL. So, it's not just the scores.

I think the super high scores can be a disadvantage, tbh. A 93 or 90 is probably more in the range.

Such a dumb take.

No school will be filled with only 99 percentile kids. Fact.

A high score without well-roundedness is not particularly helpful. So, yeah, having a 90 percentile and being a key player on the soccer team or a lead in the school play is better than having a 99 percentile score and no life.

That doesn’t mean the high score is the disadvantage, it means the no life is a disadvantage.

True, but maybe they go hand in hand.