The Prep You Need to Go to Prep School
Article: Susan Lee, Jamie Song, Angela Choe, Jessica Ryu
Editor: Hannah Kim
Web Design: Sarah Cho
Editor: Hannah Kim
Web Design: Sarah Cho
A phone alarm buzzes in the middle of the night, as every boarding school applicant opens the email that contains their life-changing decision. Regardless of the result, it seems only fitting to back track, take a step out, and go back to the days aspiring students signed up for their very first SSAT academy and examine the very crude preparations for prep school. There are three major components that go into the preparations of boarding school; an application with a stellar SSAT test score, a shining essay, and a memorable interview with the school’s admissions board.
Several middle school students, regularly sleep past 2:00 A.M. for the sake of studying and preparing for their SSATs. Not only is it challenging for the students to force themselves to stay awake by drinking caffeinated drinks, but they must also submit themselves to hours and hours of constant rigorous studies. According to Sarah Ryu (8), “I had to go to SSAT hagwon two times a week for a few months. It was hard keeping up with school work, but I had to do so.” With all the gruelling studying at academies and the lack of sleep, it is hard to keep up with school work while simultaneously maintaining a balanced schedule. Apart from the rote memorization of standardized test vocabulary, students are also required to write an essay as well as an application. As for the essay, they must fit the demands of a specific prompt while also getting the gist of their personality concisely. As Hannah Kim (8) says, “Through the essay I had to show my personality and enthusiasm for learning, which is what the schools were mainly looking for. I also had to show unique qualities that stood myself out from thousands of other applications.” If not on par, their prep school ambitions could be simply pushed down to a meager and failed effort.
Despite all the cruel studying and application process they go through, the hard work pulled off. “I have been accepted into three out of four schools I applied to,” claims Katie Lee. Not only have they shown their intelligence throughout a written test, but they have also shown their physical ability to minimize the amount of sleep they receive and maintaining a well balanced out schedule between hagwons and school. They’ve sealed all the papers and are patiently awaiting their manila envelopes. |