<p>As the parent of a day student attending a local school in the ISL league, it never occurred to me that I could be any help to you here. I'm a long time lurker and I figured since I've been to most of the ISL schools during sporting events (and a few other bs due to tourneys and such) I may be able to help the students that have applied to various schools but haven't had the opportunity to see them first hand yet. Let me stress that my observations are purely "on the surface" - I don't know much about most of these schools besides what I've read on this board. These are just basic first impression type observations like setting, buildings, facilities, etc. </p>
<p>So please feel free to ask anything and I'll do my best to answer. The ISL schools include:</p>
<p>Independent School League </p>
<p>The Independent School League is a highly competitive group of 16 Boston area schools: </p>
<p>Belmont Hill School (boys only - can't help!)
Buckingham-Browne & Nichols School
Brooks School
The Governor's Academy (formerly Governor Dummer Academy) (haven't been there yet, can't help)
Groton School
Lawrence Academy
Middlesex School
Milton Academy
Noble & Greenough School
Rivers School
Roxbury Latin School (boys only)
St. George's School
St. Mark's School
St. Paul's School
St. Sebastian's School (boys only)
Thayer Academy</p>
<p>Have also been to Andover, Tabor, Worcester Academy, New Hampton School, Pingree School</p>
<p>obviously all of these schools are very different but seem to be about at the same level academically. I am currently waitlisted at brooks and am going into 10th grade. Is it worth it to keep trying to get a spot and is it likely I will get a spot?</p>
<p>You should write the school a letter, perhaps call and let them know you are definitley interested in a spot if it opens up. Ask them how many spots there are for 10th graders, how many kids were offered admission and how many are on the waitlist. Whethere you get off the waitlist really depends on how many accepted kids decide to go or not. If they have a spot available next month my understanding is they will review the list of waitlisted students and evaluate for fit then. </p>
<p>My son went to Thayer for middle school. He got waitlisted at St. Sebs and rejected at Roxbury Latin last year for 9th grade. A spot never opened up at St. Sebs although the admissions folks encouraged us to not give up hope all the way up til Sept. He ended up at another all boys day school in the Boston area. I can truly say that although this school was our 3rd choice we are happy with the school and feel it is the right fit for our son. </p>
<p>We are struggling with "which school" decision for my daughter (for 9th grade). She got accepted at both Middlesex and Groton - as a day student. Both schools are within reasonable drive, and both seem to be a good fit. Could you please post your impressions of these two schools?</p>
<p>A little background - she is a stellar student, with academics being a high priority for her and our family. She is also a great all-around athlete and an amazing soccer player (club, ODP etc.). She has some interest in doing theater.... We will be going to revisit days - just gathering information at this point.</p>
<p>Hi MPlant! First of let me say congrats to your daughter for being accepted! It is my understand that both schools had an increas in applicants this year, many of which applied for 9th grade!
Now down to the nitty gritty, I attend Groton but also looked closesly at Middlesex. In a sense, they are similar. Both campuses are based upon the circle, both are the zebras, the color schemes, both are in the same general area. I think the main differences are not on the surface. Groton's academics are stronger, in my opinon. Not to say that Middlesex's are GREAT, they are. Middlesex is more "modern" school, if that makes sense, Groton has many long-standing traditions . We actually joke about middlesex being the "copy-cat" school sometimes ;-) I am not sure about the girls sports at middlesex but I do know we have a couple ODP girls at Groton and the girls soccer team made it to Playoffs this year. They lost with a minute to go in the first round to Brewster, but still playoffs!
Any other questions I can answer let me know. I have friends that attend Middlesex so I can always shoot a question their way</p>
<p>I agree with NEprepgoer: Middlesex and Groton are very similar in appearance. In fact, I often confuse the two when thinking about these schools. Both have excellent facilities and are easy to get to. We were at Groton during parents weekend one year and I was really impressed with the amount of parents there - very diverse group from what I could tell. They had some lovely events planned (I'm always nosy when checking out all the different schools). </p>
<p>I love the way Middlesex is set up - the common middle space (quad?) made it seem like a little village with everyone congregating in one spot. I imagine it to be like a family there for some reason. Kids seem very happy there. Maybe a little on the preppy side. </p>
<p>Visit both to see which one feels like the best fit but honestly, you can't go wrong with either choice. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Nobles is one of my favorite schools in the ISL - it is set back off the road and pretty self-contained with a cozy feel (Dedham is nice but not as nice as other towns around it). Very sporty - always top of ISL in most sports. Their claim to fame is practically everyone that visits winds up applying. I get the sense that the kids are happy there and there's always a nice group of students supporting the teams. They provide snacks for the opposing teams - not that important, I know, but a nice touch.</p>
<p>I have a D in her last year at MX. She has loved her experience and would do it over in a heart beat. As for academics vs. Groton, frankly I think you would be splitting hairs when comparing the two. Both have stellar academics and it seems that what you do with the opportunity is more important than trying to determine whether on is stronger academically.</p>
<p>If you go back to all the comments in the past two years or so you will see that happy students are synonymous with Middlesex. trust me a happy student is a sweet thing for a parent who has a child 2000 miles away.</p>
<p>Thank you NEprepgoer, isl league and prepparent for you views. Both these schools sound wonderful and we are thrilled for our daughter for the opportunity. We'll do the revisit days and see what opinions she forms.</p>
<p>It would be unusual for an applicant to choose Rivers over Nobles if admitted to both. Nobles is considered the better school, has much better facilities, and broader athletic offerings. A very high % of admitted students attend. I have heard people say they were admitted to Rivers but wish they could go to Nobles, but never the other way around.</p>
<p>I would say (although some people will argue) that Roxbury Latin is the best of the bunch. They have the best test scores year in and year out, and an unusually high percentage of the senior class each year gets admitted to Ivies and receives National Merit Finalist honors. However, their track and field, wrestling, and cross country teams are typically the only championship varsity teams RL has. Nobles, Middlesex, Groton, St. Mark's, and Thayer are (or were when I was there) considered the next best of the bunch. I don't know as much about the schools after that, but Belmont Hill is fairly weak academically compared to the others, and Milton seems to be resting mostly on reputation. They often have problems with fights, bullying, and other conflicts between boarding and day students, and, in turn, between M.A. students and Milton High School (public school) students. I have heard about recent severe discipline problems at St. Seb's, although they are strong in sports. I also know that kids at Rivers and BB&N are often the butts of jokes made by other ISL kids.</p>
<p>sox fan, you are way off. Your comments are outdated, plain wrong or both. First of all, it is impossible to generalize as you have done. If you insist, as to BBN and Rivers, academically, these schools are at least in the top half of the ISL. I have a son applying to day schools in the Boston area so I have all of the college admit data for the last few years. These two schools each rank in the top half of the ISL in ivy and top college placements. Rivers has come on strong in the last 5 or 10 years. If you are referring to sports, BBN has strong football and other programs. Rivers has been one of the top teams in soccer, lacrosse, and other sports. These are good results because Rivers doesn't recruit as much as other ISLs and is smaller. Based on college admit data, Thayer, sad to say, is in the bottom half academically and in college placement, well below Rivers and BBN. I'm not looking at Thayer at all for these reasons.</p>
<p>Soxfan, I took a second look at the Thayer college admit data on their website, which lists admission data for 2002-2007. Rivers and BBN have at least double the admission rate to ivy and top colleges compared with Thayer. So much for your opinion.</p>
<p>How about any info on St. Marks? Their facilities do not compare to some of the others but we got a great sense of community and faculty/student positive relations from our visit. My son is looking for a place where he can get very involved in EC's and feel supported academically. He is a pretty good athlete and solid A -/B+ student at a private day school.
He had a great interview.
Any St. Markers out there?</p>
<p>Yes, My D is attending St. Mark's as a freshman. I will be happy to answer any question.
She was accepted into a few good BS last year and she chose St, Mark's over those.
They are planning to renovate the main building pretty soon.</p>
<p>It is a very good school. Last year the accepted students ssat average was 82 percentile and
the acceptance rate was about 27%. </p>
<p>If participation in extracurricular activities is high on your son's priority, I'd recommend that he looks into smaller schools such as Middlesex, Groton, and St. Mark's.... If he is at a smaller setting, it's so much easier to get involved with more confidence and more depth. There's just much more opportunity for leadership, you know? I mean it's easier to stand out and get support.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Yes, most of the schools he is looking at are small. We want him to get a great education and the small school where he currently attends the teachers are very accessible for extra help. Sports will be an important part of the decision as well. He wants to make a significant contribution on at least 2 sports teams, and be on a team for all three seasons.
How are the dorms at St. Marks? They were not included in the tour... are they embarrassing? All other schools showed us the dorms.</p>
<p>They show dorms during the interview. I don't know what happened. It is unusual that you did not see the dorms. The third form(9th grade)'s dorms are in the west campus
across the road. Last year, they renovated all the shower rooms.</p>
<p>St. Mark's was the last school (and tenth school) on our boarding tour. We did not know what to expect, but really liked the school. Although the main building is older I liked the way it was all connected and the dorm rooms upstairs. It reminded me of Hogwarts more than any other school. The staff was incredibly nice and accommodating. We arrived really early and they accommodated us by arranging a last minute tour with a parent and sending us to the dining hall. The food was great and we loved the feel of the cafeteria with all the mountings of animals. We saw a girls dorm. It was not a freshman dorm; I think they are separate from the main campus. The dorm we saw was new and huge. It was the nicest of all the dorms we saw. We really liked St. Mark's and it turns out that my daughter preferred the smaller schools in general.</p>
<p>The only concern I have was raised by a thread I saw on cc. It is the issue of parental involvement of day student parents. On the day of our visit there was a group of parents at the school helping out. At the time I thought that was great. But now I wonder how much influence they I have at the school and whether they local parents have undue influence over the administration.</p>