Why is it so hard to get accepted to a school?

Is there a specific reason as to why I didn't get accepted to prep school?

• I am a freshman in high school with a 4.68 gpa. I have straight A's, taking all honor courses, received a 93% on the SSAT, play 2 sports, served in student council and the jr. Beta club. I play hockey for a team that is an hour and forty minutes drive from my house (practice tues, thurs, sometimes wed, away league games as far as Stamford, CT-- Im from central VA-- and home games in DC. Due to the amount of hours in the car per week, I cannot participate in anything really at my school because I'm primarily invested in out-of-school activities. I've had to quit applying for student clubs, including council and beta. Also, if I got accepted, my family was applying for financial aid and that would have been one of the deciding factors in my decision to go to a school if I was lucky enough to have a choice of where to go. Basically, we would have needed a good amount of financial aid. I was applying to boarding schools to balance out my life where I could do everything I do now, but have more time to pursue other interests in school. I applied to six schools: Deerfield, Groton, St. Paul's, Westminster, Taft, and Loomis Chaffee. I understand that I was bound to get rejected on some of the schools--Deerfield and Groton both have an acceptance rate of under 17%-- but I was wait listed at every school. Some of my friends got into schools that I didn't apply to, so I feel a little embarrassed and humbled. So, is there a specific reason as to why I didn't get accepted to any prep school that I applied to?

• Answer:

  It's hard to say. The schools you applied to are hard to get into, so that's one factor. If your friends applied to schools a bit easier to get into, then that's how they got in and you didn't. Another factor could be your need for financial aid. Not all prep schools admit on a "need blind" basis. Some do have to take your need for aid into account in their admissions decisions. So that could be a factor as well. I know you're wait listed, so there's still a chance. But an idea is to find some other boarding schools which are still admitting, where your hockey skills and academics would make you a highly desirable candidate (increasing your chances both for getting in and for merit aid), and apply to those now, as backups.