What SSAT percentile does the admissions committee at Lakeside consider a good enough?
Even harder than Andover, Exeter or St. Paul’s was finding out how high you need to score on the SSAT for this little known gem of a school in the Pacific Northwest. After Bill Gates became synonymous with the “richest person on Earth,” everyone want to distill the formula in creating another Bill Gates. And as soon as it was revealed he went to Lakeside, parents from all over the world clamored to find out how to get in.
Unfortunately, you won’t find much documentation online to figure out this “secret.” However, as we’ve done with the top 7 Boarding Schools and we hope to do with the rest of the 25, we have some clues to help you.
Lakeside’s Official SSAT Recommendations – No SSAT Minimum Score
If you visit the school’s admissions FAQ, you will learn that there is NO Minimum SSAT score.
They even go as far as saying a “perfect SSAT score” will NOT guarantee admissions. So, getting that 99% on the SSAT appears to not be a key to success at the prestigious program.
They also say you should only take the test once.
And sadly no matter what part of the site you dig into, there’s very little that’s shared about the SSAT. They only mention you need the test scores on their application process page and in their blog, there’s only one post that even really refers to the test here. Another interesting point the Director of Admissions mentions as well is that nobody uses the ISEE as the testing requirement.
90% Percentile or Higher for The Lakeside School
Have faith. SSAT Master is here to still find a way to get information for your future Lakeside admits.
There are many parents and aspiring students who go back and forth in many forums for boarding schools and colleges like this or this or even this. However, most of them fail to share or elucidate what exact scores are needed. However, we found in this post on College Confidential, a parent of a current Lakeside student responded to another aspiring family. They shared:
“Your child will presumably need excellent qualifications to get in (top grades, 90%+ SSAT, great recommendations, etc.).”
With a previous student of ours who was aiming for the school, we tasked them with building this very exact post we’re writing today. Unfortunately, he got busy with school and also decided to go to one of the best public schools in the eastside instead, but he shared some of his research from friends who were able to obtain admissions.
He found out they scored between:
94% to 98% Percentile on the SSAT.
Specifically, the 4 students he surveyed obtain:
- 94% Percentile who attended this school
- 98% Percentile
- 97% Percentile
- 94% Percentile who attended this school
In his research he found an online resource that estimated:
- 0-81% needs improvement
- 81-92% almost there
- 92%-99% looking good
which was in line with his findings.
What SSAT Scores can get you into Overlake?
While Overlake isn’t as sought after, it’s usually batched in with Lakeside as a backup option along with a few other schools like Eastside Prep in the Puget Sound. We found one student who divulged:
I got 89% on the quantitative (93% for gender/age group), 99% on the reading, and 99% on the verbal. Noice.
So, this gives you also a range to think about when applying to Lakeside.
Lastly, it never hurts to look at “other models.” So, check out the SSAT score ranges for the top boarding schools in the country.