The Official Private School Guide

A Bit About Me

Hey-hey Wattpad,

Before we officially begin the story, you're probably curious why I'm writing this.

At first, I wasn't sure if I was even going to publish anything about private schools. A constant worry that nagged me was if any of this came out as offensive or snotty. I apologize if it does, but please note that I'm just trying to be frank and state the facts. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there weren't many places where you can actually learn about what it's really like.

So here I am. Writing this.

A bit about me. I currently attend one of the most prestigious high schools, which has a 13% acceptance rate. 

I don't come from an extremely rich family. My dad does business overseas while my mom works a normal job in the United States. I'll classify ourselves as middle to upper-middle class. 

For my family, like typical Asian households, education comes before anything. And by that I mean if you score a B then you get screamed at for hours on end on how you're a disgrace. From the second I entered grade school, my entire life was spent in math tutoring centers or other tutor's houses.

The tutoring sessions weren't cheap either. Each hour costs around 80 to 100 dollars and I did it since third grade. My first and second-grade years primarily consisted of me taking rollerblading lessons or online math courses.

To my parents, if I wanted to do something, then I needed to do it successfully. They are extremely supportive and are willing to pay whatever necessary, reasonably of course, in order to hire the best tutors. Most of the time, it's my mom asking other moms who they found as tutors for their own kids.

Basically, the minute I left school, I had a load of club activities until four or five. Then, my mom would either drive me to piano, squash, math, writing, debate, dance, art, blah, blah, blah lessons. You get the point. I had around two tutoring sessions a day. Afterward, I would practice piano, do my school homework, and then do my tutoring assignments.

In my world, this life was typical. All of my family friends had similar schedules as mine.

No, scratch that. My schedule was considered tame. Their's were way more packed.

I'd call ourselves ambitious.

Or try-hards. Either one.

You get the point. Every day was filled with activities to do. Every day my parents spent more and more money on me. They barely spend any on themselves. Thus, I strive to be the best, to show that their investments are worth it.

In Chinese culture, there's a saying which is "Every generation should become better and better."

And my parents abide by that rule. Also, in Chinese culture, you need to be humble, meaning all the good food, gifts, drinks, should not be for yourself, but for your family and friends. That's what my parents abide by.

So in the summer of eighth grade, my family friend recommended for me to apply to elite private schools. Before, we only heard about these schools and felt an immense distance between us and them.

Imagine your high school life being the same as a college student's. Imagine your high school having larger endowments and land than many colleges. Imagine paying double the price of college to go to high school.

Yeah, I couldn't either.

But I studied for the SSATs, which are basically the SATs for high school, over my seventh-grade summer. It was normal for me since I always did something like that over the summer. Then, I did some tutoring sessions for the SSATs, mainly focused on the essay portion and memorizing words. For all of the fall, I traveled around the New England area interviewing and touring at prospective schools. In the winter, I wrote all my essays and had many people review them and give me suggestions.

Finally, I submitted my applications two days before the deadline and waited for the results to come out on March 10th.

After a while, I sort of forgot about it since I was very invested in other activities, but once it was the month of March, I anxiously checked the countdown clock I set every day.

Miraculously, when I opened up the results, I was accepted into many elite high schools. They all sent some sort of present over mail, mostly a folder containing a letter of acceptance and some souvenirs. 

It was amazing.

Although, when I finally went to school, it was pretty strange and completely different from my expectations. I quickly learned to fit in, adapting to the culture. 

And here's what I've learned.

xoxo,

mrowwster