<p>"Webb a top school in Wall Street Journal ranking.
In a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Webb was ranked as the top four-year boarding school in the West for placing students in some of the nations top universities. The article examined over 100 of the top secondary schools in the nation that placed the most graduates in eight top schools: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins. Webb ranked #28 on the final list of the top 66 schools that made the cut, and was the only four-year boarding school in the West to receive recognition."</p>
<p>Here is an excerpt of a recent article from the WSJ.</p>
<p>Not to diss Webb, but this was a totally flawed article. By that I mean the selection of schools completely biased the outcome. Pick another universe of equally prestigious schools (Ivies + Stanford, etc) and you will have radically different results. Again, not to diss Webb.</p>
<p>I actually wondered why Stanford wasn't listed. I would think that Webb is well represented at Stanford. UCBerkeley is also not on this list. I think Stanford is near the top of the heap for Californians. I know many who have gone there with lots of other choices. Maybe it's just my circle. The authors do note some omissions in the list of colleges because the numbers weren't verifiable. At any rate, my niece just received her third acceptance, to Colgate, with a nice aid package. I can only speak for her, but it has been a lifechanging experience for her at Webb. Actually, I don't want to toot Webb's horn too much. Want to make sure there's space for my children when the time comes.</p>
<p>Somehow the people we know all know someone whose kid goes to Webb, not Cate or Thatcher...and they pretty much all went on to impressive colleges--especially Stanford. Campus not that great compared to Cate or Thatcher but everyone seemed really dedicated and the kids seemed more down to earth, much less snobbish but all very bright and hardworking. But I've also wondered why they've lowered their SSAT percentile...</p>
<p>I just called Webb and the secretary was really nice, probably the nicest one I've talked to on the phone haha. She said they're accepted late applications but financial aid is limited. </p>
<p>acemom, could you tell me more about Webb that the website can't tell me? (the people, weekends, campus, etc.) I really like the school, and if I'm rejected/waitlisted everywhere that I applied (Andover, SPS, Groton, Taft), then I'll definitely apply.</p>
<p>Hmmm Jonathan, not to butt in here, but didn't you get into a few disagreements with some parents on here, cuz they were suggesting that you apply to some other schools with higher acceptance rates? You were pretty quick to tell all of them to MYOB but now, you're saying you are going to apply to these other schools? It doesn't make any sense to me.</p>
<p>Jonathan, I don't know a tremendous amount about the school other than my niece and the one or two friends of hers I have met. The snob factor is minimal. Actually, the woman who delivers my mail has a daughter who graduated from there last year. There doesn't seem to be a sense of entitlement. The people seem very down to earth. We were there for an event recently, and some of the boys played ping pong with my 10 year old. There is a ski area within 30 minutes if there has been enough snow (lucky this year). That is iffy though. Movie theatres nearby, and about 15-20 minute drive to Pasadena, which has a great night scene. I do know they don't do athletic recruiting, so the sports teams aren't as competitive as some of the other schools may be. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>kitkat, I think jonathan is just considering other schools in case he's rejected, and he might just be interested in these schools as well. You can't blame someone for wanting to go to places they want to. We're making our own risks, but that's the whole point of applying, isn't it? Taking a chance for something else. </p>
<p>then again I understand what you're talking about kitkat. But people change opinions and choices a lot, so why not? lol</p>
<p>and please don't flame me, I really do mean no offense to anyone :o</p>
<p>This thread seems to be dead, but I thought I'd try to revive it.</p>
<p>I am a senior at Thacher this year, and I can tell you that the experience has been great. The academics are superb and there is none of that cut-throat feeling that I think you might get at schools back east. If you are thinking of applying, you definitely should. </p>
<p>I was accepted at both Thacher and Cate, and have been to Cate countless times for athletic events. I would be willing to answer any questions any of you have about both schools (especially Thacher) because I know a lot about both of them.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I was rejected from Thacher. :[ However Cate seems to be a wonderful school (that's why I chose to apply in the first place) so I will be attending in the fall. :D</p>
<p>What made you choose Thacher over Cate? Do you have any friends from Cate? If so, how can I contact them?</p>
<p>thank you jeweled. you lit up my day along with several other things :D
I also got an email from thacher. i love their "applicant" service, the whole emailing you and trying to sound personal when you make inquiry forms and telling you they're going to send materials. no other school has done that, and even though it's generic and probably doesn't matter much to them, it still makes you feel nice :D :D</p>
<p>I think it's kind of like how people consider andover over exeter(not saying this is completely true, but read on) as andover was the original school. thacher was also the original school, and cate felt more like a follow-up school to people because there were/are so little bs's in the west coast. But Cate is a great school, and one of the kids here got accepted there. :)</p>
<p>leanlikeacello:
Cate is a great school. While I love Thacher, I have to say that Cate probably has a better view and prettier campus (although don't get me wrong, Thacher's campus is beautiful as well). I think I ultimately chose Thacher because it does have more of a laid-back feel. As it has already been stated on this board, the horse and outdoors program is a big equalizer. Nonetheless, you will definitely still get the laid-back California feel at Cate, as well. It is right outside of Santa Barbara, which is a great place to hang out. Thacher is in Ojai, which is a pretty small community. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the only time I've ever really met Cate students (other than my visit) is during sports games, which doesn't exactly facilitate making friends. I would try emailing the admissions office there if you want to talk to a student.</p>
<p>kickme_cuzimcool:
I have spent a lot of time working with the admissions office (I've probably given somewhere from 30-50 tours), so I can tell you that everything they do is immensely personalized. If you haven't visited Thacher, yet, you definitely should! The tours are great. You get a one-on-one tour with a students and your parents do, as well. I think that for me, it was my visit that really made me fall in love with the school.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have more questions! I love to talk about how great Thacher is!</p>
<p>wow, thanks jeweled :D I actually thought it was very personalized (maybe it was the use of exclamation marks or something. if they added some smileys I would have been jumping with excitement :) ) but when I showed it to my mom she told me it seemed pretty generic and I never heard of a school that was so nice to people who weren't even really applying yet. so I had second doubts, but it's much better than the other schools I inquired for, in which I have only gotten a package from exeter.
I begged my mom that at least if we weren't going to go to the east coast schools to see the campuses (since they're the eastcoast elites it's 99% likely there's a representative for them in Korea) then let's go to LA so we can visit Thacher and Cate. And because there is no representative sent to korea for those schools (are there? i haven't asked any of the admissions officers on email, kind of busy with school lately) my mom agreed. The great thing is, if this actually goes as planned, we can go during a holiday week and can visit both schools a week before my birthday (lunar calender holiday, in 07 it fell on my birthday for the 5th time in a row) :)</p>
<p>I'm actually more interested to see what Cate looks like, because my friend applied there and told me that the view was awesome even though the dorms were kind of small (cozy-small, in a sense, but not so spacey) and you got this beach-wonderland vibe, where you believed miracles could happen like in the movies. Pretty nice motivator for academics, in my opinion.
But of course I'm looking out for Thacher ;) But I heard it was much more rural, and there was a law that banned modern shops or something in the area.</p>
<p>As far as I know, there aren't any Thacher representatives that visit Korea, but I know that there are a lot of Korean students at Thacher. It seems to me that they all like Thacher a lot. </p>
<p>It's true that Thacher is in a more rural area and Cate has more of a beach-vibe to it, but I wouldn't discount Thacher based off of that. The Thacher campus is also very beautiful. Also, there wasn't a law that banned modern shops, they just banned chains, like Target, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc. I actually really like that about Ojai, I think it is one of its strengths. And if you ever have a craving for McDonalds or need to go to Target, it's only about a 30 drive to get there. </p>
<p>Of course I'm incredibly biased (there is a big Thacher-Cate rivalry), but nonetheless, I still think that Thacher is a better school. Thacher is a closer community and is not quite as superficial, as far as I can tell. I think that we have better art and athletics programs, as well, although I don't know too much about the Cate arts program.</p>
<p>Ahh. That's good actually. I WANT to see the campus rather than just one representative :)</p>
<p>I'm not trying to say that the campus or banning chains is a bad thing (but my bad on the modern shops thing, that sounds like I hate thacher or something, which I seriously don't) just trying to point out something good about Cate and trying to confirm something (mm I should have asked it in an interrogative form. that's what school's for :D) and it seems nobody really supports Cate here. We've had a page or so about Webb and we have a few Thacher-passionates but nobody's reallying saying GO CATE here</p>
<p>then again I love school rivalries. It's so fun when you beat them and they won't high five you when the coaches say it's only cordial to do that after a game to show sportsmanship. :)</p>