Daughter and I have been talking a lot about her academic career and her life at Grier during Winter break. Many of you have helped us so much, I thought you might want to know what she says;
Co-Ed vs All-Girls. She used to slightly favor co-ed schools. However, after seeing girls talking to and taking about their boyfriends, she decided that this is too childish for her. "Less distractions and drama" of single sex school really appeals to her now. Also she found that there are enough girl-geeks to hang out.
Difficulty of Materials. None of her high school materials, even those of AP classes are not harder than her previous community college courses in terms of being able to understand them. However, required mastery level of materials are much higher at Grier. One way or the other, teachers make sure that all students have very good mastery, which translates to more work.
Quality of Teaching. Really much higher than her community college courses. And based on her indirect experience from talking to other local friends in public schools, not even comparable. Her English teachers gives interesting and challenging writing prompts, actually reads and comments carefully on her writings. There was a moment that she hated so many writing rules. But she understands their need now. She can write much faster and proficiently now than few months ago, and she sees how she can rapidly become a better writer. Roughly the same evaluation goes for other subjects.
Difficult of Grade. Harder than difficulty of materials. She got two B's, H. World History and H. Spanish II. She could have aced both of the courses, if she could have managed to put more time and effort. Difficulty of materials are acceptable, but there are so much to do. Between other subjects, hanging out with friends, and being unable to break out from procrastinating, she couldn't.
Time Management. She is gradually getting better with it. It's more of habit of procrastinating than knowing what to do. So it is a slow improvement. But she is already much better than the beginning of semester. Based on her experience in Grier, she now believes that her first semester at a top 10 school could have turned out real bad if she went to one.
Academic Satisfaction. She loves quality of teaching and class participation, which is incomparable to anything she had before. She doesn't see how she can have better academic experience at a more challenging school. For class level, she is taking all honors or AP level courses. She took two AP this year and plans to take all AP courses but English and Spanish next year. She also enjoys being a (near) top student of her class.
Long term plan. There were times that we considered applying to another boarding school. But now she thinks that she will probably graduate at Grier, unless she feels she is really ready to move on to a 4 years university before graduation. She doesn't see how things can be different enough at any boarding school to consider a transfer. But if she doesn't make many lower grades friends before all her junior friends graduates, she might consider going to college two years earlier. It will also depend on her career choice - whether she would want to get a job after bachelor's degree or not. If she aims for employment with a bachelor's degree, then she wouldn't graduate early.
Roommate. Having a roommate is really helpful even though she is not close to her, because it helps her to stay in bed after light out, until she falls asleep within an hour after midnight. Otherwise, she might end up staying until very late and having sleep deprived ruined days. That's why she will opt for a double dorm room next year too.
What to Change. She will try to be more responsible and stay healthier. She might start visiting gym. She has lost too much muscle. Recreational horse riding every other days is not enough. More exercise might help her with quality sleep too.
Favorite Subjects: Math because simplicity of getting done once she understands it, even if it can be difficult to achieve the understanding.
What's Bad. She wants more variety of unhealthy food. Also, she just endures most of time when she gets headaches because health center is several buildings away and dorm moms can't hand out pills during daytime.
Overall, she thinks she is well settled and at Grier. Deciding to apply to boarding schools, after having 8 years of homeschooling with concurrently taking two years worth of community college courses, turned out to be a great decision. Choosing Grier at M10, instead of a junior boarding school then aiming for next M10, was a great decision. There will still be hard times and perhaps another mood swing at finals, but they will be manageable.
I’m happy to hear sculptor kid is doing well. It sounds like she’s learning some important things about herself, is engaged, and is well-adjusted. This is what we all want for our kids. Mostly, I am happy to hear she feels like she ended up in the right place. So many people here say it again (and in my case, again and again!), but the schools really do know, much better than we do, when the fit is right and who will thrive on what they offer. It’s hard to believe on M10, but it is generally true.
She chuckles that I suggested all top schools once, because she would have much less enjoyed and it might not have helped with college admission either.
State College High is a public day school of over 2,000 rather uniform students. Grier is a private all-girls boarding school of 300 diverse students. Choosing one over the other depends on your family and financial situation, as well as your daughter’s character.
@laenen, She is taking two AP classes, Micro and Enviro as a freshman. And that is due to her having CC credits on several history and science courses. Unlike some other boarding schools we consulted, Grier was very supportive on her not repeating ore digressing previously taken CC courses.
Quite surprisingly, she found another student who also took CC courses while in middle school. Also, a Chinese international student who turned 13 right before last Fall, yet is tutoring everyone including her.
She is enjoying being a strong student at Grier, but is certainly not a top student there.
She is acing the two AP courses, although not doing so well on some other honors courses.
Still her best friends except one - the super smart and mature Chinese girl - are juniors. Partly because she is taking some classes with juniors, and partly because she is not interested in some of things that most of 14 yo girls are very interested. She is also used to hang with older students from taking CC courses. But things may change in following year or so.
@SculptorDad Out of curiosity, how did you find and why did your child apply to Grier? I don’t think I’d ever heard of the school on this board before you.
Our bs search started by daughter’s college art history prof’s suggestion of a local all girls school, which was the first bs we visited and learned that a “second tier” bs is still a prestigious school that will offer adequate education to my academically gifted child.
Then we expanded search to several more all girls schools we found on bs ranking website including Grier and filled out online interest form. A few days later an influential person at Grier called me to strongly encourage applying.
@panpacific continue to above…
At the time, the major reason of choosing to apply Grier over some other similar schools was that call. After m10, we considered between Grier and a jbs as a 9th grader. Ultimately we chose Grier as it offered generous aid that is likely to last 4 years, and Grier had everything we needed, although not everything we wanted like prestige name. We came to love it more and more as the Fall was approaching. Now that daughter is back to it after rough first midterms period and winter break she seems to be a royal Grier student. There were times that we weren’t 100% sure and had to take a leap of faith, especially because daughter had been homeschooled and wasn’t good at social skills. After a semester though, it all turned out to be amazing.
I find it interesting that your daughter, who is clearly very bright indeed and who has completed some college-level classes, is nonetheless not one of the top students at Grier. As I recall, you were concerned that high school work, especially at a so-called second-tier school, would not be challenging enough for her. I’m glad you have shared that snippet of reality about the academic rigor of good prep schools. People who are new to the prep school world, like you, and like me a few of years ago, may have only heard of a few schools and may assume - wrongly - that others are academically inferior. I’m very glad for your daughter that this is not the case and that she is happy and challenged at Grier.
@suzyQ7 that may change fast though. She is bringing an international 9th grader home for coming spring break, and is considering roommating with her new 8th grader best friend.
This is a great story, and it should be an object lesson for all the parents and potential students of any of these schools. Mostly opportunity is what you make of it. And if you think you or your kid is too smart and wont be challenged at Blair or Canterbuy, well, you’re probably wrong. The fun of saying you or your kid goes to Andover because Andover is the only school any civilian has ever heard of, that fun wears off pretty quickly, really, and the right students can really benefit from the education and experience at Kent or St. Marks, too. Everybody can’t go to Exeter–they don’t have the space–and there are plenty of good schools which offer things even the best high school can’t. Widen your net and open your mind.
And a hale and hearty thank you to Sculptor Dad for the candid and informative posts.
“More exercise might help her with quality sleep too.”
As I tell my own kids, it also helps alleviate stress and makes you happy by creating those endorphins. Now, I need to take my own advice more regularly.
