<p>We are choosing (hopefully) among the following and the problem is that the top few seem v strong, and the bottom few seem weaker academically. Am I missing the middle ground?? My child is solid academically, strong on sports, and we want v solid academics, but not crazy amounts of work. Any thoughts would be appreciated!</p>
<p>the schools are:
Groton
Middlesex
St Marks
Rivers
Nobles
Brooks
Governors</p>
<p>You are missing all the MAPL (Mid Atlantic Prep) schools (Hill, Blair, Peddie et al) which sound like they might be a good fit.</p>
<p>Thanks- we are staying in the Boston area...</p>
<p>Concord Academy</p>
<p>St Marks!</p>
<p>Since they have a new school master two years ago, they have been going back to their glory in 1990's. Their college matriculation has been improved for last two years significantly, and they recently added one more expert to the college counseling team. They are academically solid and their program is pretty balanced between academic and sports.</p>
<p>They are small size in terms of students number. But they are very connected and cloase to each other. The students to faculty size is 5:1
and average class size is 11. They keep adding outstanding faculties. Everybody says that St. Mark's trend is definitely upward. That is becoming a rising star.</p>
<p>wallace -- My suggestion to you is that you start a new thread asking your question. Call it something like "Prep Schools in the Boston Area." You will attract more responses and keep this thread on-topic. </p>
<p>You asked:
"the bottom few seem weaker academically. Am I missing the middle ground??"</p>
<p>The most competitive schools tend to have similar students academically. Often schools that are not as competitive have a range of students. If your child has the ability to be among the top students, then you want to look at the outcomes of the top 25%. What I am trying to say is that there may be different tracks within a school. That is what you may be missing.</p>
<p>My impression of Concord Academy is that it is not strong on sports.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks- we are definitely impressed w/ St Marks. One thing I am concerned w/ is work load- we are at a v competitive private school now and my child loves it, but I am a bit unhappy w/ the workload- hard to pursue outside interests, and I think that is impt. So I am looking for balance...</p>
<p>Thanks- all good advice. Concord A looks a bit too far out there for my child, tho that is more of an impression... I think I will re-post. Thanks again!</p>
<p>well we have been getting some great offers from the couple of schools in our area. Culver offerred her a scholarship that covers tuition, uniforms, supplies, summers abroad or at a university and service projects abroad now that was like whoa to me. But Culver seems to be a lil more of a problem school compared to academic even though it was on the prepreview.com top 30 boarding school list.</p>
<p>Phillips exeter and andover seem to have big financial aid for families who make under 100k which is great. but no merit scholarships. My daughter kinds wants to be rewarded for her academic ability not because of her skin color or family income. I see where she is coming from.</p>
<p>I want a school academically challenging but not somewhere she is gonna get stressed and overloaded. a school with alot of extracurriculur activities and performing arts would be nice.</p>
<p>She is an incoming freshman next year but has enough credits to be considered a junior if she wants. stellar gpa sellar SAT scores, AP/honors everything, not much sports wise but involved in community service, church,choir and being the eldest of 6 kids to a disabled mom.</p>
<p>Her tops are</p>
<p>Exeter
Andover
Hotchkiss
Deerfield
Choate
St Pauls
Knox school Long Island
Hun at princeton NJ
webb schools bell buckle tenn.
Culver academies INdiana</p>
<p>Any thoughts she is also an extremely young freshman. she will be 12 next year. very mature but small for her age. I would like thoughts on academics, campus life, the bad things that happen at boarding schools...the whole 9 please your help is appreciated</p>
<p>~~~~~~~
[quote]
** ......... now that was like whoa to me.
[/quote]
**</p>
<p>Cindy- You might be a little unrealistic. Culver is an excellent school and is NOT for "problem kids". Also, while it is nice that your daughter wants to be rewarded for her academic ability, you must realize that almost ALL of the applicants for the top dozen or so boarding schools are extremely qualified, so I would not be picky about why any financial aid is offered! </p>
<p>That said, I think you are a troll. If you aren't, you should probably have your head examined if you are sending your 12 year old to boarding school with MUCH older kids. Good luck with that! It's good you have the other 5 at home to help you since you are disabled.</p>
<p>I also wonder how your daughter got so many AP and honors credits since she is in the 8th grade.</p>
<p>I agree that there is definitely something not right about this new member's posts. </p>
<p>First, I know quite a few people from Indiana. I've never heard a single one trash Culver like that. In fact, even the one I know who pulled out (a hockey decision) had nothing bad to say about the rest of the school, but only praise on how the administration handled the situaition.</p>
<p>And there is no way that this person could have been offered the scholarship she mentioned. The Batten Scholarship is not awarded until much later in the year after an admissions deadline and interviews are completed. Either she misspoke or is incredibly overconfident that her allegedly brilliant kid (they actually have lots of them there) can do it on her academic resume alone. Unfortunately, there is a large leadership element considered in awarding that scholarship. I'm sorry, unless she left out the part about starting a multi-million dollar charity, I'm not buying this kid as a Batten Scholarship winner.</p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure, I do not have any direct or indirect relationship with Culver. I do know a couple families whose kids play hockey for Culver. They are all fine people who could attend most any of the top schools mentioned on this forum.</p>
<p>hey all, i'm considering lawrenceville and deerfield for next year and i considered taft for a short period of time but i've decided not to apply there, because it was sort of run-down, the people weren't that great, and it was just overall kind of dumpy.</p>
<p>i lovved deerfield, but i thought it was far away (four hours for me), maybe a little small, and i didn't want to get my hopes up because its so hard.</p>
<p>i lovved lawrenceville just as much but it was closer (one hour away), big, and easier to get into.</p>
<p>if you had a choice between lawrenceville, deerfield, and taft, which would you choose? i'm not applying anywhere else because none of the connecticut schools were good enough, except for hotchkiss (but i heard something about the kids there doing cocaine, so i was kind of like "ehhh....") and everywhere else is too far away.</p>
<p>To the person above^ :
Deerfield and Lawrenceville are pretty much equally selective. Taft is somewhat a lower tier school than those two. Lawrenceville has a beautiful campus!! Middlesex and Lawrenceville placed 1st as prep schools with the most beautiful campus in America. Deerfield... is very preppy. Well, a lot of boarding schools are, but they are particularly preppy. Their dress codes are kind of insane. You can't wear pants with metals on them. JCrew is a must. I guess kids are less tolerable towards other... styles? Anyways, you gotta be super preppy to survive there.
About Cocaine... Hahaha. Let me tell you that you will find those at every prep boarding school. It's kind of unavoidable. So you shouldn't rule out Hotchkiss just because of the drug issue. Every school has them.</p>
<p>poss791,</p>
<p>I'd be interested in learning more about the poll / ranking in which Lawrenceville and Middlesex ranked no. 1 for most beautiful campus (L-ville's campus is stunning - so no argument from me -- I have never seen Middlesex's).</p>
<p>pinacolada - FYI, a lot of people at EVERY boarding school will be doing drugs. I'm sure Hotchkiss doesn't have a disproportionate number. </p>
<p>Out of the schools you're looking at? L'ville. And just becaues it's easier to get into (which depends, admissions is subjective, so you could get into DA and not L'ville)...doesn't mean you shouldn't like it as much. And Connecticut has some of the bst boarding schools, if that's the criteria you're intersted in.</p>
<p>the_prestige,</p>
<p>I could be horrendously wrong, but I have heard that the same architect designed the buildings on Lawrenceville and Middlesex. Lawrenceville almost looks like Princeton (well they do have a special tie), and Princeton is, needless to say, pretty gorgeous. Middlesex buildings are designed after Harvard (again, they have a special tie). Red-brick buildings and white columns, very colonial, and their campus is centered around this "circle," with woods and lake on the side, and it's very beautiful. It's located in Concord, a beautiful quaint historical town in MA, I think it is home of Thoreau, Emerson, and Walden Pond? But their school is kinda isolated from the rest of the town, so it's like their "own little world," but it is rrrrreally pretty. I don't know anything more, but you should visit. Many people who go there chose their school soley because of the campus's look.</p>
<p>Great school, but be aware:</p>
<p>Don't apply if you are not physically beautiful and have perfect teeth</p>
<p>DA is looking for triple threat applicants - Havard-grade academics, varsity jock, demonstrated leadership. </p>
<p>Very JOCK; assume 4 to 5 hours/day practice. Example varsity swim 6am to 7:30 and evening 2 to 3 hours as well</p>
<p>Senior girls have for years stalked and bedded freshman boys - fresh meat.</p>
<p>Day students are hazed and abused.</p>
<p>Homework starts at 10 or 11 and goes to 1 to 3AM</p>
<p>Cocaine etc</p>
<p>spectacularly lacking at Northfield Mount Hermon.</p>
<p>I believe the design connection between Lawrenceville and Middlesex is the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted designed the grounds of Lawrenceville. His children created the grounds of Middlesex Campuses</a> designed by Frederick Law Olmstead or his partners. I don't think the two share the same architect because Lawrenceville is much older than Middlesex.</p>