<p>Can anyone name some schools that you believe are among the best in any or all aspects of boarding school that aren't from the ten school organization?</p>
<p>Milton and Groton are mentioned many times here, but are not in the ten school admission organization (TSAO).</p>
<p>The ISL schools
The MAPL schools</p>
<p>...but, here again, they all get mentioned. Nobody obsesses over them though.</p>
<p>Wow, one of my kids graduated from Middlesex last year. I hadn't heard of the TSAO until just now! (ISL bubble, I guess).</p>
<p>As people will know from my prior posts we became big fans of Pomfret. It gets very little mention on this board. Not sure where others would rank it, but my daughter chose it over some of the schools that do get a lot of discussion on this board as "top schools".</p>
<p>Saint Andrew's........</p>
<p>At revisits I learned that St. George's is amazing and has extremely rigorous academics! It was called a small school that played big.</p>
<p>The MAPL schools.</p>
<p>MAPL- especially Blair. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I truly think it is the most wonderful environment.</p>
<p>I really think that the Brooks School and the Governor's Academy are pretty underrated schools on CC.</p>
<p>GA really is a nice school.. I read their literary magazine online, and.. it was pretty damn good!! And I'm very cynical about teenage creative writing.. and they really were pretty damn good! And the art as well.. the art and creative writing was, in my opinion, better than what I found of Andover's. Really great stuff. Plus, it would be great to go to a school w/ so much history.. oldest boarding school in America. And don't they have archery? Or riflery? That's pretty sweet.</p>
<p>Brooks.. I don't really get this school. Why don't they play against Andover, since they're like 2 miles away? Why aren't they in the same league? Nice art as well.. And the best crew facilities I've seen at any secondary school.. nicer than many colleges. And it seems like a nurturing environment.</p>
<p>Brooks is an ISL school, Andover is not. They do play against each other though in some sports. Could anyone tell us more about Brooks? The campus is beautiful, the white clapboard buildings exude a real old New England village feel.</p>
<p>They have an indoor rowing.. tank/pool. I don't know what it's called. Not even the best prep schools w/ the best crew teams have those.</p>
<p>I'd like to know more about Brooks as well.</p>
<p>Brooks School is in North Andover and has a beautiful campus on the shore of Lake Cochichewick (<a href="http://www.brooksschool.org)%5B/url%5D">www.brooksschool.org)</a>. A very friendly environment. I have a friend who graduated from Brooks and he felt that all students were supported regardless of the grades or ability. He then went to Brown Univ and Wharton MBA. My D is interested in Crew so we were very impressed by Brooks Crew program. We met with the coaches and teachers during our two visits. I felt that teachers were top notch, caring and enthusiastic about educating young people. This is quite common among top BS. The average tenure of the faculty is something like 16 years. A great athletic facilities. Yes, we saw the computerized indoor rowing tank. Brooks school is building a new science center and the school talked about a program for students to do research projects in conjunction with MIT. After four years of Hotchkiss as a parent, proximity to a city (Boston) will be a welcoming change. Also smaller school size at about 350 students. Teacher/student ratio of 1/5. One of Brooks staffs' spouse teaches Science at Andover and claims that Brooks academics is harder than Andover. It may be true. I do know that Chinese at Andover is not as challenging as Chinese at Hotchkiss (based on the chapters and levels covered in the same textbook for each level). After four years of Chinese at Hotchkiss, I have confirmed that it is equivalent to UPenn's Level 2 so that my S will be able to take Level 3 the first year (that is if he chooses to attend UPenn). Brooks School currently does not offer Chinese classes as a foreign language but it will be starting one in about a year. They are dispatching a team to China this summer in preparation.</p>
<p>one of my daughters friends from here went to brooks and now is at brown. she is a crew star at Brown, and developed this at Brooks. They were very happy with the school.</p>
<p>My father went to Brooks then on to Harvard. I think the current Headmaster is going to retire (if he hasn't already). He is/was the third Headmaster since its founding which speaks volumes for the character of the school. They work hard and play hard athletically. Hockey won the ISL a couple of years ago. The faculty and admissions people are some of the best I've met. Brooks is a fabulous school!</p>
<p>yea it is. my friend is there as a freshman. the only reason i'd never apply is because they lack a dance program.</p>
<p>we live in Colorado -- so I haven't been to any BS on the coasts. </p>
<p>There is one boarding school locally that we visited and we were very impressed: Fountain Valley.</p>
<p>I am sure it pales in comparison to Exeter and Andover -- but the community feeling was great, the kids impressed us, the matriculation placement looks good (especially since they have very few legacies) and the academics looked strong.</p>
<p>The school is small, offers FA and really seems dedicated to making the experience the best it could be.</p>
<p>I know that it is far off the map for most families -- but I thought I would at least mention it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fvs.edu%5B/url%5D">www.fvs.edu</a></p>
<p>Governors Academy, Brooks, Culver(indiana)</p>