<p>So, I am a male going into 9th grade next year, and having not been admitted to Exeter this past year, I have chosen to apply again, but this time, to four schools- One safety, two averages, and one reach. I know what schools I want to apply to other than the "reach" and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot decide alone. I'll put some information about what I want from a school. Beforehand, thanks!</p>
<p>What I want from a Boarding school-
A Strong Basketball and cycling program
A music program, preferably for Guitar
A "successful" debate team
A breadth of philosophy and ethics classes
A beautiful campus close to a town
Extracurricular programs with community service (peer tutoring, etc...)
An Italian language course, if possible
Casual dress code
A school with a teacher:student ratio of 1:5 or 1:6
A school that allows its student body to be independent and is not ALL academically focused.</p>
<p>The only school that I can think of as a complete match is Andover, simply because I don’t know much about other schools.
-Definitely has a good basketball team. Only school I know of with cycling.
-The music program is wonderful. I’m pretty sure you can take guitar lessons as well.
-A diploma requirement is the successful completion of a religion or philosophy class, so the choices are diverse in that area.
-10-minute walk to CVS, Starbucks, a bookstore, and Dunkin Donuts. <3
-There is a specific Community Service club (called Praxis, I believe). Also, peer tutoring is definitely in use.
-I think 9 or 10 languages are taught at Andover. The website is down right now, so I can’t check, but I think Italian is one of them.
-Casual dress code. I think Exeter has a more formal dress code? You would know better than I would!
-The website is down, I can’t check the ratio, sorry!!
-Andover gives students a lot of freedom, I must say. No “lights out” time, no designated time when the internet shuts off. So many clubs are student run, and the newspaper is completely uncensored. </p>
<p>If you only want one “reach” school, I would try to look at more schools than just Exeter!</p>
<p>Thanks Cassat and Invent! I think I’m positive that I want to apply to Andover now, but the problem is, I want to be accepted (Haha) and with their 14% acceptance rate (Which I can comprehend) that would be far more than just difficult. I guess that balences out sort of because only Andover is need-blind, that kind of evens out with Exeter’s 17% acceptance rate, which is not need-blind. It seems like a great fit, but I want to visit before I make that imprudent assumption. Would you mind “chancing” me being that both of you are more familiar with Andover than I am? Thanks again for all the help.</p>
<p>‘Strong’ boys basketball? New England prep schools aren’t exactly a destination for basketball talent. Tilton, NMH, Thomas More immediately come to mind. Check out the NEPSAC tournament results.</p>
<p>Cycling: lots of boarding schools now have varsity cycling teams. It may be new and small, but they have them. Perhaps Tyler Hamilton’s (Holderness) success has something to do with making the sport much more popular.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the acceptance rate. Honestly. I thought I’d get into Choate, and maybe waitlisted at Andover, and it ended up the opposite! I’ll go look at your chance thread now. (:</p>
<p>Alex, that isn’t so true because of I know of some schools that did well in the past months, and it’s evident that all schools offer basketball, so many students over tiem must have immense talent. Correct me if I am mistaken.</p>
How are the “stats”?</p>