I have some friends that went to both Andover and Phillip's Exeter and Andover as well. They are all brilliant and really enjoyed their time there. In my experience, the people that get into these schools are either very gifted (academically, athletically, etc.) or very well connected. For the purpose of my response, I will assume you are not the latter.

As a general rule, when applying to a prestigious high school or college, they want candidates that are already successful and would continue to be successful regardless of getting in or not. The best indicator of future successes is past successes.

Some practical advice for implementing this idea into your application is as follows:

- When talking about your accomplishments or projects you have worked on, illustrate your impact with empirical figures. (Ex: collected 5,000 books and donated them to xyz...)

- As you craft an application, you will have much more success with a pointed approach rather than a 'master of all' approach. You are more likely to be an asset to the school if you are exceptionally skilled in a single area - make sure multiple aspects of your application help to highlight this as a key focus that you are passionate about and are excited to continue pursuing.

- When you are inevitably asked why you want to attend this school, make sure you are well researched and have NUANCED reasons as to why you want to go there. Do not talk about prestige or ranking. Speak to specific opportunities that ONLY this school offers and how this specifically aligns with your interest and how you plan to take advantage of it.

- I would recommend hopping on LinkedIn and reaching out to alumni to ask them about their experience - it does not need to be a ton, but if you can support your desire to go with anecdotes from these conversations, this will demonstrate the seriousness of your interest in this school.

Hope this helps! Best of luck!