A question for students and parents, what would you say your prep school is “known for?” I’ve read some threads that talk about (right or wrong) that Exeter is strongest in Math & Science and Andover is known for English, Hotchkiss is known for their strong Debate Club, etc., what would be the one thing (if there is one thing) where your school excels above all else, or even what you have heard is each school’s “specialty?”
Good question but you are asking folks to compare their school against another school when they have only attended or sent their kids to one school. Maybe parents who have kids at multiple schools can answer this ( but it also depends on the students).
Here’s an example, many schools said they had great theater, art and music programs. My kiddo picked the subject that was his/her thing then went and looked up awards. They also attended a performance and looked at the art. And listened to the orchestra. One was a clear winner.
You can do this with anything. Are you a soccer player? See which schools have recently/consistently won in their league. What did you think of the coach ( was it a fit for you?) Some thing with STEM. One school had an awesome building and some lab equipment that was second to none, the other had an internship program and one had a great sciece team. Yes, on paper they looked equal but when my spouse looked at the advanced STEM classes it wasn’t even close. Look for awards, programs and classes that are not common. IF a school is consistently providing INTEL science award winners or sending kids to TOC for debate then you know it’s real. Are they providing scholastic art award winners or just putting up exhibits? Otherwise, it’s all just marketing. Not all schools are equal in all areas.
Remember it’s not a fancy building but what BS kids who are interested in this pursuit are actually doing. We found that most schools offer a lot. That being said, some offered amazing opportunities in some areas and some were just so-so.
At the same time, just because there are kids at a school capable of winning INTEL or Google Science awards doesn’t mean you will be at their level. You might end up feeling intimidated when you are actually surrounded by prodigies and as a result, you might decide to pursue something else… Or it could be that the faculty at that school focus on a handful of super-stars only and ignore the rest. It is entirely possible that you would actually go much farther in Science over the course of your lifetime if you attended a school with less spectacular Science offerings. (This applies to anything: Math, theater, soccer, writing…)
Another example: Will you learn more from being in the chorus in the annual musical for 4 years at a school with an amazingly strong theater program? Or from being the lead in every production at a school with a less competitive drama scene? There are clearly benefits to both.
At the end of the day, we are talking about high school, not graduate school. It is a great time to try new things, learn how to fail and fall and pick yourself right up, and figure out what kind of person you want to grow up to be.
If you want to thrive, look for a place that values happiness and health, too.
You will be able to tell which schools are strong in certain areas after a visit. Since we were going to be spending several hundred thousand dollars we needed as a family make sure that the claims were correct. Having a program and being a leader in a field is different. Perhaps you can’t/don’t want to compete at a high level in various subjects, but many kids who are in stellar programs gain a lot. They learn from each other. You can learn a lot from schools which have really strong programs. Some people may not want it. My kiddo did ( in several regards) and sought these things out. When you have competitive schools and kids, you need to determine what you want. Perhaps, you want a school that has all activities. Perhaps you want a great soccer team or something else. Most kids at competitive prep schools have a “thing” They have to else they wouldn’t get in.
No one said that having a “thing” precludes trying new things. My kiddo is playing a sport this season which was never played before. By game two, the rules weren’t even known. That’s great. But kiddo also got a school that can meet their needs. This is important. There is a program where there are other kids with the same interest and more importantly, abilities. This means that the blank stare that used to exist in class, doesn’t. Kiddo can be comfortable knowing that there will always be a teacher in a specific subject and if those subjects are covered there is independent study. Or if they are great in a specific sport they can play with other kids at the same level. So great.
Some people may not want to compete or participate on a high level in anything. But there are many kids at BS who do. The friends we have with kids at BS this year all wanted a specific thing. One would not attend a school with a weak lacrosse team. Another wanted a great acting program etc, etc. People know which schools specialize. They check data and verify.
BTW, each and every school told us they had excellent academics, had a great community, built students of character, had kids who performed social service, had kids from across the nation and the world, etc, etc. I did not find any to be similar in all respects. All had strengths and weaknesses. So find your fit. But also check their claims.
“People know which schools specialize. They check data and verify.” Yeah, that was what I was curious about. What schools had reputations for specializing in a sport or subject. Just as a starting point our BS research.
Thanks for the responses.
@springfield18 There are a couple of ways to get information. You can look here on CC and read some posts. (Just remember people have biases if their kid attends) You can visit the school and spend some time (maybe go to a sporting event). You can get a lot of verbal and non-verbal clues during the visit. One school we attended for a visit was bucolic and academic but few kids looked at each other when they greeted each other. The admissions staff was also standoffish. The coach was very nice. It wasn’t a fit. Community just didn’t seem friendly. Another stated that they were great at a specific thing but the advanced courses didn’t support that.
In the end, you might want to make a spreadsheet with categories. As you go to schools rank them. My kiddo and I ranked separately ( gave them a grade in each category) in the end we nearly matched. We added categories as time went on. Some had special programs, like an internship. Others had specific things which made them unique and were pluses. So those schools received a check. During the final decision making, a look at the list made it easy to remember. And on revisit days, my kiddo looked closer based on previous data. In the end, kiddo chose the school based on fit.
Would you be willing to share some of your categories? I’m thinking far ahead for mine who’s not yet a middle schooler, but my experience has been that it’s good to try to figure out the questions, if not the answers, ahead of need.
@InTranslation The categories are different for every kid. You know your kid and you are starting to get an idea of some of the subjects and things in life h/she is interested in. You put that in a spreadsheet and use it. Let me give you an off the wall example:
You kid is an excellent ukulele player who loves to write songs. He loves to run and loves social studies particularly how it intersects with math. So your categories would be: music ( do they have ukulele? How can he take lessons? do they have any classes on music writing reading? ), sports: Do they have cross country, what’s the coach like, what’s the team like? and social studies: Is the school using the Harkness method? Is that at good fit for your kid? What related clubs do they have? Do they have any winners in related social studies subjects? Is there any high level math where the kid can design a program so he can study how social studies interacts with math perhaps for a Senior project.
Then naturally there are general categories: academics, campus, friendliness, political leaning, food ( important) etc. The categories appear as you visit schools.
Thacher is known for:
- Small, welcoming community of 260 kids
- Honor, Fairness, Kindness, Truth: Peer pressure to do the right thing, even when no one is looking
- Horse program (every freshman looks after a horse, learns to ride, goes horse packing in the sierras)
- Outdoors program (camping, rock climbing, kayaking, surfing)
- Senior Exhibitions (30 min presentations on a chosen subject)
- Casual dress code
- California sunshine, orange and avocado trees
- Saturday night open house parties at head of school’s house (dancing, karaoke, cookie baking, board games, ping pong)
- Rigorous academics
- Highly competitive admissions (acceptance rate of only 11-12%, perhaps the lowest among US boarding schools)
Thank you so much for a very helpful reply, @Happytimes2001
Incidentally, I’m looking at the list of the most recent ISEF winners, because I thought that was such an interesting idea, and not finding any of the famous boarding/prep schools. Plenty of massive public schools. Something to think about.
My son’s BS does not have a school science fair. Students can choose to do projects on their own and work their way from regional to state and then ISEF, but it seems like few have the bandwidth to do so. We didn’t specifically inquire about it at other schools during the application process, but I expect it is the same for many/most other BSs.
@InTranslation Look beyond a single contest. Often kids were in public school and now are at BS and do not do the same things. For example, there was a local kid who won a lot of math contests. He went to BS and then became a member of the US Math Olympiad team. You may/may not find kids unless you are looking very hard. Also some BS chose to do contests which are shorter due to time commits of the students. Google the school and national award winner and see what comes up. Or the school and champion things like that. I was able to find many national award winners in various areas this way.
And many schools have brag pages where they tell you what their top students are doing. In addition if you follow the twitter feed and Facebook pages you can also see this type of thing.
Apologies, didn’t mean it was something for others to think about, but rather something for me to think about – the different kinds of things big vs small school populations offer. Thank you for your tips on finding the strengths of different schools, @Happytimes2001
@InTranslation Yes. It is something to consider. Also don’t forget to consider that most students at the highly rated schools were the best in their respective classes. So the level is going to be higher than a large public (some exceptions of course as some publics are excellent and some are magnets-BS is more like a magnet type demographic). Also to consider is the availability of various programs. At some schools many programs are limited by funds. At boarding schools the funds are available.
People have pointed out the size of the boarding school but honestly I never saw that mattered in what the schools offered or the caliber of the school. Some of the really highly rated schools are tiny for example Groton. And some are much larger. Groton BTW has a much lower acceptance rate ( was about 5% last year) than Philips or many others. There are pockets of excellence at various schools. You can find them if you look.
Groton’s acceptance rate is low, but not that low; 12% would be more accurate.
https://www.groton.org/page/news-detail?pk=941330&fromId=187153