Sport Upland
I’m applying to Crystal Spring Uplands School in Hillsborough. How well do I have to do on the ISEE to get in?
Also:
-I get straight A’s
- I do a lot of competitive sports, play the piano, and do community service
-I think I did well during the interview, because the interviewer sounded happy when she wrote back to me
- I do well in the classrooms and strongly believe that my teachers will write good recommendations
Oh, and do you think it will be likely that I get in?
CSUS is similar to my son’s school, so a guess would be that they’d like to see ISEE scores of the 80 – 85+ percentile in 3 out of 4 subjects, and not way lower on the 4th. (80 percentile means you scored in the top 20%, not you got 80% right, it’s better than if it were a class test grade of B-.) There will be a few applicants with high 90′s scores in all 4 subjects. But, there will be kids who are great students, but don’t test well and have lower than 80′s percentiles ISEE scores. It’s more important to do consistently good school work, then do great on one test.
Even though the school tells you not to do a review course for the ISEE, you should, everyone else (your competition) will, even if they don’t tell you. Start with an ISEE test prep book, they’re available at book stores and Amazon.com.
It is impossible to guess whether you’d be admitted, there are so many things to consider, how many siblings or legacies are applying, etc. But you definitely seem qualified, so you should have a very good chance. One thing they look for is kids who will fit into their school, who get along well with others. There tends to be less drama at good private schools than in public schools, because they choose their students, and they keep them so busy they don’t have time for drama.
CSUS gets about 5 – 6 applications per open space, and there are only 30 – 35 spaces for 9th, so it’s quite competitive. But one thing to remember is that some kids will be admitted to several schools, so they must turn down offers from some of the schools. Usually schools send out a few more acceptances than there are spaces, because they know some kids will choose to go elsewhere, but not that many extra acceptances, they don’t want the class to have too many students. So often there is a wait pool and they will do a second round of admissions if they have any spaces available. It usually isn’t a ranked list, but they try to admit someone from the wait pool who is similar to the students who turned them down. (I don’t know if CSUS works this way, but this is very common.)
Even if you’re in a very rigorous private middle school, realize that high school is a bump, and a very rigorous high school like CSUS is a big bump. You will likely have 5 hours of homework a night, if you’re one of the faster kids, 2+ hours of sports practice or arts rehearsal, clubs, community service, etc. You’ll want to immediately make doing well in school a priority so you don’t get behind, don’t get taken by surprise. The headmaster at my son’s school tells warns the kids, especially those who attended public school, that they will be in for a shock, but if they stick with it, by the end of the first semester they’ll get the hang of it.
Good luck!
2005 FOREST RIVER SIERRA 21 SPORT in Upland, CA
