<p>hey
i'm at exeter
i recently completed the admissions process- i got into andover, choate, deerfield and sps as well so like if you need words of advice in the application process i can offer some</p>
<p>wantexeter, can you tell us why you were able to gain admits like that? Congrats and also give us your impressions of each school and tell why you chose Exeter in the end.thanks</p>
<p>umm- i had a's all through middle school, did community service, and have been playing the cello privatley and with orchestras for 6 years ..... but that is just me on paper
i think what help me get into the schools was being myself during the entire process- i did not try to hide that sometimes i was nervous but i did not let it affect me too much
umm to the second part of your question- i don't like bad mouthing other schools- its not that classy so- basically i looked at the schools and their students and myself- part of the admissions process is finding yourself and figuring out who you are- i realized where i wanted to be and who i wanted to be with and I thought that i would do the best in the exeter community- let me make it clear though that different schools are good for different people- i learn a lot better when i am not being lectured at so harkness which is in every single exeter classroom helps me a lot
catg- are you a parent or a student and where are you looking at</p>
<p>parent with a child that will probably be looking at Deerfield and SPS. May take a look at E and A also. Unfortunately, choate doesn't do it for me. I don't think giving your impressions about the other schools would be "badmouthing", it's just that you may have seen things,or have impressions,that other people may learn from or think about when they go through the process. thanks for anything that you care to add.</p>
<p>you know there are a couple of things to consider- has the school been in trouble recently - does your child they want an enclosed campus
how far away from home is the academy, are the students real at the school
i wonder though- i don't mean to be pompous or arrogant- but I wanted to go to boarding school and I picked out the schools that I wanted to go to my parents were just to guide me the whole boarding thing was my idea- is that the same for your child- it can affect how they present themselves to the schools and will be reflected in their applications
( please excuse any improper grammar- it is not a reflection on the school, just me relaxing while answering some questions)</p>
<p>Wantexeters comment reminds me of the first question the school asked my daughter at her interview, "who's idea was it to attend a boarding school". I believe wantexeter make a good point ragarding who and what school one chooses. Imo, parents guide the process..........</p>
<p>prepparent what did you last sentence mean
my parents did support me but i was the one that said- I want to go to boarding school and I need the assistance in scheduling and interviews and tours and school receptions etc</p>
<p>wantexeter, My grammar and spelling are both very lazy. In essence, I was agreeing with you.</p>
<p>most def. understandable</p>
<p>Thank you all for your prompt reply. I truely appreciate the warmth of this discussion group. If the interview is indeed part of the admission process and an important part, how formal should the student dresses for the conservative schools like Andover, Deerfield, etc?</p>
<p>Follow the dress code of the school if the school has a formal dress code. If the school is casual i.e. jeans and teeshirts then step it up - nice slacks, nice sweater, maybe a blazer for the guys.</p>
<p>the best way to go for girls is a nice slacks or a plain black skirt with a nice sweater- if its warm use logic and take a polo or a nice t-shirt
guys- khaki/slacks and nice button down or turtleneck</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advices. We are kind of rushed in making appointments for campus tour and interviews without knowing that those interviews were counted for the admission. Now that the flights and appointments were all in place, we can not back off even though we may need more time to think about it. We thought it was simply informational. My s is kind of quite serious about the boarding schools. We want him to do well in the interview, but hesitate to have him prepare too much and get him nervous about it. Reading the posts here in the discussion group really helps to get some idea about how to prepare for it at least mentally.</p>
<p>Each school's website will tell you exactly what the requirements for application are. Interview on some is a requirement. Some interviews may be done in the community by an alum....have you taken or registered to take your SSAT?</p>
<p>catg</p>
<p>I have a son who is currently a second year student at Deerfield and another son who is a graduate of St. Paul's. My Deerfield son was also accepted at SPS and Exeter. </p>
<p>As parents, we directed him towards the schools that we thought were the most challenging academically - living in another part of the country we were only offering boarding school as an option if he went to what we viewed as one of the very top schools. We also looked at Andover, but he thought that the students dressed too casually for his liking and that the school was too big so he chose not to apply.</p>
<p>He chose not to accept Exeter's offer because of its size. I'm not exactly sure why he chose Deerfield over SPS- especially since his older brother had a wonderful experience at SPS of which he was well aware. I do know that his revisit in spring pushed Deerfield from the bottom of his list to the top. </p>
<p>He loves Deerfield. In August he commented that he couldn't wait to get back to school. I visited him over the weekend and he commented that summer seems like a lifetime ago. As parents we couldn't be happier for him.</p>
<p>I miss St. Paul's. In my view it is a special place. On the other hand I have learned to love Deerfield. It too is a special place.</p>
<p>The interviews are informational - a chance for your son and you to get to know the school and for the school to get to know you! We were pretty unorganized about it! I always had the viewbook in the car and we all read through it right before getting to the school! You all will do fine. The admissions folks are good at getting the conversations going so your son really shouldn't have to prep before you go. I just encouraged our daughter to find out as much as she could and to have a good time with it all! I asked her to think about things that she really wanted to talk about. After our visit to a school, I tried to get our daughter to write down somethings so all of our school visits wouldn't just merge together. And, she did write thank you notes to the people she met with.
Good luck and have fun!</p>
<p>Very nice post browninfall. I was accepted to 9 boarding schools and 'tho my family helped w/ discussion the final decision was mine. I anguished over it....looked for someone to tell me what to do......in the end I chose Exeter because it felt right, had Harkness Table and was a nice student body. I was very happy there and had an amazing academic & academic experience. The best part of the choosing is knowing that you had that task and working through it with the support of family, friends & other resources. I had contacted some Exeter Alums and they willingly shared stories with me. No single school is the best fit for every student.....the process of choosing a boarding school is personal and very much developmental. Student and family will grown and learn a lot about themselves in the "process". Good Luck to all who are dreaming of boarding school this application season.</p>
<p>browninfall, what were the differences you saw between Deerfield and SPS. I realize these will be your personal opinions only so feel free to let er rip! thanks</p>
<p>Here goes, but bear in mind that I speak from four years experience as an SPS parent while only a little over a year as a Deerfield one.</p>
<p>Quite frankly when my son chose Deerfield over SPS, my wife and I were mildly disappointed. I don't think that we ever showed that disappointment, but our older son's experience at SPS was such a positive one that we were hoping for the same experience for the younger one. I think selfishly we wanted to relive some of the memories that we had of those four years our older son spent at SPS. These feelings were no reflection on Deerfield...reflecting more our own sentimental attachment to SPS.</p>
<p>I think everyone knows what's the same about the two places ..... brilliant, caring faculty...fellow students who are bright AND who take academics seriously. Obviously there are exceptions, but those exceptions would be trivial and insignificant in both environments. </p>
<p>What's different? Deerfield seems to be a friendlier place than SPS and the students there appear to be happier. Ironically though SPS seemed to have more of a sense of community. SPS felt like its own small New England town....they even have a name for it...Millville. I'm not sure if it's due to the fact that SPS covers 2000 acres and Deerfield doesn't, or if it's due to the fact that there are no day students and everyone lives there including faculty.</p>
<p>I'm not suggesting that Deerfield doesn't have a sense of community nor am I suggesting that people at SPS were unhappy and unfriendly. It's just a matter of degree.</p>
<p>My Deerfield son likes the more formal dress code at Deerfield. He has to wear a tie and jacket to class and that's fine by him. He likes the mandatory study time each weekday evening. My SPS son could wear a polo shirt and khakis to class which is what he preferred. The SPS son would not have liked mandatory study time. Dress codes and study times may seem rather mundane when making one's decision about school, but when it's something that you're confronted with on a daily basis it becomes more significant. My Deerfield son is also especially happy that he doesn't have Saturday morning classes. </p>
<p>While SPS has its fair share of students from Manhattan and Fairfield County Connecticut, Deerfield has more of them. That's neither a good thing or a bad thing, but my son told me last weekend that he thinks some of his NYC/Fairfield friends think he lives on a farm (he doesn't) because he comes from flyover country. It's all good natured and fun.</p>
<p>School spirit is much more intense at Deerfield than it was at SPS. Both of my sons are athletes so I have been able to observe this first hand. Athletics plays a major role at both schools, but they're probably taken a bit more seriously at Deerfield than they are at SPS. My Deerfield son sang the school fight song for us at Christmas. He says that everyone at school knows the words. My older son did not learn the SPS fight song (if there is one). Deerfield's arch rival is Choate. SPS does not have an arch rival.</p>
<p>I like the way that SPS starts off the day in chapel. To me this adds to the sense of community. I understand that these meetings do not typically have a religious theme even though they do take place in what I consider one of the most beautiful religious structures anywhere. For me chapel was a plus. In my view it subtly suggested the importance of understanding the importance of living one's life the right way. In effect the school community wouldn't be meeting in the chapel if there wasn't something important about what that chapel represents.</p>
<p>SPS placed great importance on learning for its own sake, rather than just something that needed to be done to get into a good college. I liked that and I liked the formal Humanities program - interweaving history, art and literature into a single class. On the other hand I know my Deerfield son is also learning in a similar way, although it's more informal. For example, in his English class he's currently reading the Canterbury Tales while learning about England in Chaucer's time.</p>
<p>Both schools are in the midst of a search for new heads of schools. Eric Widmer is retiring as headmaster at Deerfield while SPS is looking for a new Rector to replace Craig Anderson. Eric Widmer will be missed by all. Craig Anderson will be missed by some. I am sure that both schools will attract many of the best and brightest candidates to fill their shoes. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. It's just one's person's view.</p>
<p>Browninfall: since you've had one child graduate from a b.s. and one currently attending, do you have anything to say about the value of that type of education once a student is in college? Do you think it changes the way your older child has approached college/what (s)he's done there, or are the benefits more confined to the time spent at the b.s.? To put it another way, if a family could provide a child with a b.s. education OR any college of their choice, where do you think the money is best spent? Probably an impossible question for you to answer, but if you have any opinions, I'd be interested in hearing them.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>