<p>any thoughts or impressions? visiting first week in Jan.</p>
<p>Very different schools. Westy is the safety for many NYC day sch students applying to top prep schs. Berkshire appears to be is trying to shed it's image as a "second chance" sch or one for LD kids.</p>
<p>I wouldn't consider Westy a safety - their admin % is 27, only slightly higher than the "top" schools.
We are visiting in the same time frame you are colleen.</p>
<p>Berkshire's awesome... for me at least. They have crazy school pride when it comes to hockey, but most of their sports programs are also quite strong. There's this Pro Vita Week program, where for one week, students take intensive courses beyond the standard curriculum. Look at the course catalog in their website if you're interested. I'm not sure which other schools have vertical housing, but Berkshire does this. (Each dorm has students from each grade level, instead of segregating them: freshment-sophomore, junior-senior)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Westy may not generally be a safety, but it is for the pool of kids I cited above (just as UPenn is often the safety for kids hoping for HYP). And I mention the safety status only b/c there is some movement on the Westy wait-list (as students get accept from the wait-list at their first choice schools).</p></li>
<li><p>Many schools offer vertical housing.</p></li>
<li><p>Berkshire is particularly beautiful in the winter.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Wow, I have been wanting to go to UPenn since I was six. LOLZ</p>