Hi,
My son is planning to attend an interview at BUA next month that would also encompass Shadow Day, Tour and Interview all in the same day. We attended the Open House and really liked the school - as it would be a great fit for our son.
We moved into USA 3 years back and since then he’s been doing well at School (A+), been part of drama and art (where has won many awards) and then into sports. He’s very keen on STEM and robotics. The culture we noticed in BUA is very similar to what we’ve seen in his current public school. Feel its a safe and well-knit community.
Can you give us any guidance on how to prepare for the visit/interview? What would the admission team be looking for in general? Should we focus on academics & curriculum in the discussions?
We also had shortlisted Noble,BB&N, Milton too - BUA Open House was impressive. We’re yet to attend other open houses.
Thank you for your time in advance.
One of my friends daughters goes there and a couple of my clients have had kids there. All like it very much. Essentially, it’s a school for A+ kids( so it’s good your kiddo fits that mold). The school has highly academic kids and delivers them an academic rigor that cannot be found elsewhere. ( Would be very different from Nobles, BBN etc). The kids at BUA are interested in going very deep in subjects. They are more interested in school than activities ( which are more limited than other private schools). For the right kid, it’s a great place. My friends daughter loves it and is taking BU classes this year. The kids are not allowed to talk grades ( this is great IMHO). But few receive all A’s there. I think they are looking for very intellectual kids who don’t spend as much time on other things. BTW, you should check out their robotics. Have never seen them at States, regionals etc. So it might not exist. They do have sports and arts, it’s just that it’s not as highly developed ( again IMHO) due to the size of the cohort ( small) and other factors.
Another good thing, if your child matriculates here. S/he can often obtain an MA in the same time/or a little more time than a BA. They are automatically accepted to BU ( if they meet a particular GPA), plus colleges know they can handle college. One downside is although they take BU classes they receive NO college credit.
If you are thinking along the BUA lines, you should also consider the Commonwealth school. It also has a notable number of highly intellectual kids as opposed to kids who are highly competitive.
thank you HappyTimes2001 for the detailed reply. Would you know what kind of SSAT scores they might have had?
@PrepSchAdm19 Well…let’s just say this kid received reading scores of 9th grade plus in about the 3rd grade. So I’m guessing 99. Would be really surprised if it was lower. The kid is very strong in every subject. But it really doesn’t matter. This kid is already attending so won’t be applying this year. Focus on your own application. You can look and see what the average SSAT scores are. In addition, you want to make sure you will be somewhere in the middle of the students or better. I don’t see much use going somewhere where you’d have to struggle. The school’s job is to determine who is a good fit. They can tell from the application and scores. For the right kid, BUA is a great place. It’s a very cool concept.
Also just be yourself at your interview. They know you are in the 8th grade.
Best of luck to you!