<p>Yes Prep as parents we do have lots of concerns understandably. Our S has however settled into his routine pretty quickly and we communicate with him almost every day. I think he is getting a bit tired of us :-). So we are doing well. </p>
<p>Deerfield does indeed give a lot of personal attention and so our concerns are greatly alleviated by this. </p>
<p>We really look forward to the meetings/vacations with our S though and so next weekend is being greatly anticipated.</p>
<p>Nothing like a satified customer. Thanks so much for the info on WESTOVER. One of the nice things about this thread is that it can really help you get right with a particular school. I might add that imo, the westover head is awesome.</p>
<p>A. Polina is one of the reasons Westover is so great. She knew every one of those girls very well. I had lots of occasions to speak with her, and she is truly one of the most intelligent people I have met. Jaime was "head of day students" in her senior year, and as such interacted with the administration on a regular basis. The school is a lot less formal then most Private schools and almost all of her teachers were commonly addressed on a first name basis. It blew me away at first, but I quickly got used to it when my son started his montessori education right after and they too call their teachers by their first names. Now I must go and sort of contradict myself, even though I describe it as informal, the traditions that the school has are amazing! My daughter who is somewhat the romantic enjoyed all the secret ceremonies and the whole list of traditional events. Parents are welcome to so many of the wonderful programs that they put on, that I felt like I knew that school initimately as well. I guess I shouldn't have started writing about 'Tover again cause I get long winded and sound like a salesman, LOL. </p>
<p>GL to your daughter!</p>
<p>bump, bump, and double bump</p>
<p>It has been a year since our D interviewed at Exeter. Time has passed quickly. She is now a tour guide at BIG RED</p>
<p>Do Big Red students guide the initial tours that prospective students might take at the same time they travel out for on-campus interviews before the admissions deadline? We have been going on some local tours, and, sure enough, the tours guided by students end up being much more informative than the tours guided by admissions officers. (After all, it's the students who really know what it is like to be a student at a particular school.) </p>
<p>We'll be at Big Red the first week of January 2006. My son is now really looking forward to that visit, having visited all of the top independent schools in this town.</p>
<p>As to who guides tours for prospectives at Exeter......it is current students. You will have a current student assigned to you and your student. Adcoms do not accompany the tours.....it is a time for you to ask your questions and be sure to let your guide know particulars that you wish to see.</p>
<p>Thanks, Hazmat, my son is going to consider that good news. He is hungry for a school with non-wimpy science classes. </p>
<p>Just as another reality check on the level of the classes at Exeter, what is the number of books that juniors read in the first semester of their English class? We were, um, rather astonished at the low number of books read for English class by students at some highly regarded independent schools here.</p>
<p>i am a big red tour guide ( GO EXETER)
it is truly a blast
i love to watch the nods and gestures between parents and their kids, and it is really fun to show people my home, the head tour guides match up the tour guides well with their visitors, and I personally love the admissions building, the Bissell house, is its formal name, but its really cozy inside and all like the entire school, admissions is extremely friendly
TOkenadult- make sure you bundle up, it is already chilly up here,we look foward to seeing you!!!!!</p>
<p>Hi, wantexeter, I'm glad to see you got what you wanted when you chose your screen name. It's cold here too, so I think we will have clothes adequate for New Hampshire weather. My son is very eager to visit Exeter after visiting the prep day schools here, so we'll feel warmly welcomed when we get there. </p>
<p>As an aside to all participants in this thread, is it just my imagination, or have the scaled scores on the SSAT upper level just changed completely (as to numerical range) in the last year or so? It seems as though the current low range of scaled scores is the same as the upper range from a few years ago--is that right? It will be interesting to see what the score report says about my son's performance on Saturday's SSAT. That test is little used (not used?) for admissions in our state, and my son reports almost all the other kids in the test center were new immigrants from China (who presented Chinese passports for identification when they checked in) who apparently came together by bus to the testing center from some place far away.</p>
<p>sounds like your son has a great chance. my son applied to most of the ct schools and was admitted to all; he chose taft I think mostly for the student comraderie. he is a boarder and loves it! good luck!</p>
<p>Average SSAT scores for admits has gone up a bit in the past few years. When I applied, the average for my school was 92nd percentile, now its 94th i think.</p>
<p>I'll try to keep it short.</p>
<p>Living in the South with inferior public education.</p>
<p>D is a 3.8 - 3.9 GPA 8th grader who happens to be a top goalie.</p>
<p>D is very flexible person - get along go along type, very independent (actually wanted to go away to school this year) and can fit in anywhere. Dad is another story ;^}</p>
<p>Spend a lot of time on the road most weekends (driving north) to play hockey (boys and girls) so limited other xtra curriculars.</p>
<p>Took SSAT (while on hockey tournament road trip) Nov 12.</p>
<p>Very modest means, so FA is critical.</p>
<p>Waiting on SSAT scores to narrow field of choices for schools. Probably will contact 5 total who need a goalie. Tough to find out as few schools post rosters.</p>
<p>Already at top of list for Gilmour Academy (near Cleveland OH) - legacy, but she would be #3 goalie fighting her way up in a varsity only situation. D definitely likes coach (who has good NCAA Div 1 contacts). FA is also not rumored to be generous at GA.</p>
<p>So, looking at alternatives in NE.</p>
<p>Daughter's Girls team is going to Polar Bear Tourney in CT (largest girls tourney in country) over Xmas. Will have d meet and greet coaches. Possibly schedule a drive-by and meet with admissions (maybe interview) for 1 or 2 top prospects as with limited budget and incredibly busy hockey schedule (no weekends off until March).</p>
<p>Tough way to conduct business (if you want to call it that), but this is a stretch (financial and logistic). </p>
<p>Now the questions...</p>
<p>Don't want the D to be overwhelmed academically, so would like to match her SSAT score to about the 25th percentile of accepted applicants at any school she applies to. Don't want D to be thought of as just being there because of her unique skill.</p>
<p>How do you find out the spread (not just median or mean) of SSAT scores for new students at a school?</p>
<p>Anyone here have experience "negotiating" the FA for unique applicants?</p>
<p>Another FA question... Is it better to use your cash cushion (I keep 6 mos income liquid for emergencies) or pay off car debt (can kill off 1 of 2 payments) or does it matter? I've been laid off 2x in 5 years (not uncommon in my business), so the cash cushion is a real issue with me, but I'd hate to just turn it over to the school (and still have 2 car payments) because I'm too dumb to pay off my debt.</p>
<p>I'm also looking to find the perspective of other student athletes (especially 1 sport specialists) as to what schools do well with off-season skills development.</p>
<p>Will have lots more questions, but that's it for now.</p>
<p>hello, there. i'm also a prospective student looking into the majority of the top 10 boarding schools (andover, exeter, etc.). i've already done my interviews and taken my SSATs (november 12). i've just recently gotten my scores, too. how is everyone else going along in the application process?</p>
<p>How many people have had an interview so far? We don't have an interview until the first week of January, but we will see an admissions officer from one school at an information meeting in our town this weekend.</p>
<p>We've interviewed at Exeter, Andover, Deerfield and St. Pauls. The interviews were fairly painless and very enjoyable for our D. She thought the interviews really gave her a chance to talk about her interests and connect with the admissions officers. All the schools were wonderful in their own way.</p>
<p>^ i will be applying to all of those schools xept for st. pauls because i'm catholic. i'm supposed to be scheduling interviews by now, but i'm way too slow.</p>
<p>Want_ a_Scholarship: Why on earth would you not apply to St. Paul's if you're Catholic? To my certain knowledge there are a significant number of catholic students and staff at St. Paul's. Wherever did you get this notion not to apply at St. Paul's because you're catholic?</p>
<p>Agree Paleozoic. It makes no sense to exclude any of these schools, including St. Paul's, on the basis of religion.</p>
<p>My son got his SSAT scores in the mail today. He got the expected 800 in math (expected because he had an 800 on the SAT I math more than a year ago) and was pleasantly surprised by his verbal percentiles, which keep rising as he does more reading. The admissions officers still get to decide how to interpret the scores, but at least his case won't drag down the average of any school to which he is applying. </p>
<p>Oh, yeah, by all means apply to the schools that interest you, and don't worry about what the predominant religion is there. If they admit you, they don't mind your religion.</p>