<p>izzy busy bee - cute name! My child likes SPS and has found a good sense of community and the vast majority of the students being extremely likeable. It is much less cliquey than our local public school. </p>
<p>Hopefully, you will get into several schools and then can attend revisit days and get a better impression. The SPS revisit day made a much better impression on us than we had during the tour/interview day.</p>
<p>I flew down to New England, and I like SPS the least. There really wasn't a sense of community. I dodn't see one student. The grounds were beautiful, there's no denyong that. I just felt the most awkward there. And the admin. office was so...lovely. But museum-like. Not homey at all. I positively LOVED Exeter. Especially the science center.</p>
<p>Lol SPS is the only school that didn't make me feel like I had to prove myself to everyone who laid eyes on me(not that Im afraid of doing so). Everyone was so nice and friendly and open minded...Exeter waiting room was full of stuck up preppy kids that all stared at me in disbelief when I decided to talk to a random girl on the computer next to me that went there. Like I was disturbing everyone....I mean they were all talking about their beach house vacations and stuff anyway.</p>
<p>So ya...I think I'm the exact opposite of you.</p>
<p>Well, it is doubtful you'd be spending much of your years at SPS in the admission building once you're there! ;)</p>
<p>Honestly, izzy busy bee, we had the same feeling about "no students around" when we had the tour/interview but completely changed our opinion at the revisit. It is a HUGE campus - acres upon acres - with only around 530 students. A much bigger campus than Andover or Exeter with half the student body. If you visited while classes were in session, as we did, it does feel empty. Yet, at other times the campus is vibrant with activity - swimming at the docks on an indian summer day in the fall, playing frisbee (Ting the D) on the chapel lawn in the Spring, or skating outside on the pond near the library in the winter - just a few examples of some really good times!</p>
<p>i didn't visit or interview at any schools yet (i'm in 7th!) so i wouldn't really know about school vibes.. :P</p>
<p>i'm scared of being near the bottom of my class at boarding school! it seems like EVERYBODY at schools like HADES are incredible child prodigies, & i wonder if i'd be able to excel at ALL. the school i'm in right now is not competitive at all, so.. </p>
<p>Me too! There's sooooo many amazingly talented people that I'm just waiting for someone on CC to say "I can make copies of myself via binary fission. What can YOU do?"</p>
<p>I am sooo nervous to hear from Lawrenceville. I am applying for junior year PLUS I applied LATE so I probably wont hear for a while. Its just such a competitive school and I hope my grades/PSAT scores/ECs etc are enough! Gahh!</p>
<p>barefeet, how late exactly when you applied? From my previous experience with this process (2 years of applying), I can tell that application deadlines do not have such significance as stated on this board (but still it’s important). As long as your application arrives at their office within 2 weeks after the deadline, then you’re still getting your decision on March 10th.</p>
<p>My favorite school by far was Taft, despite the fact that it didn’t hone the name Exeter or Hotchkiss, there was no doubt that it was my favorite school. It’s also really competitive as well to get in though, so I hope I get a package instead of a tiny letter when March 10th comes.</p>
<p>my favorite school by far was andover. i loved how the town and the school were integrated, plus the fact that some of the dorms are really homes that the school has (ex. - America House). I loved the spaces and the way the campus is set up, but if attended i do hope i get a dorm near the center of campus for the sake of my legs!</p>
<p>are you sure groton was cliquey? I get what you mean about middlesex, but I’m guessing that was just the Asian/Nonasian thing going on. Both schools seemed like places where, if you wanted to, you could be friends with everyone while having your own ring of closer friends</p>
<p>really? My tour guide at exeter was rlly nice and social. I guess certain people are and aren’t but there are 1000 kids there so at least you can hang out with the ones that are social and friendly</p>