BS kids and parents: school suggestions?

<p>TO BS KIDS AND PARENTS : THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO LET YOUR SCHOOL SHINE!</p>

<p>Sorry about the cheesy part there, but I need your help to help me find the right school for me. Here is my criteria:</p>

<ul>
<li>Strong academics</li>
<li>In New England or Mid-Atlantic</li>
<li>Warm, welcoming atmosphere (I would be coming in as a sophomore, So hopefully I would blend in well and find friends easily)</li>
<li>Great Residential life and activites</li>
<li>Nice facilities, If I'm going to spend practically all my time there for almost a year I want it to feel like home yet have places for me to go</li>
<li>Good Food!</li>
<li>Not too many exclusive rich mean kids that often fit the typical "rich prep school kid" stereotype, while I realize that due to the nature of these schools all of them will have some of them I don't want too many where it comes to a point of being hard to make friends </li>
<li>I'm not quite sure what grade size I want yet, currently I have a class of 80 girls so I don't think I want anything smaller than 100 but any more than 250 might be too much but I am open!</li>
<li>Not hard for someone who wasn't an incoming freshmen to adjust</li>
<li>Long Vacations</li>
<li>Stellar Teachers</li>
<li>Great Traditions</li>
<li>Lots of clubs and extracurriculars </li>
</ul>

<p>I am open to any suggestions, even if they might not fit my description exactly! I would be of the class of 2017, so if you (or your children) are too your comments are especially appreciated! THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE! <3</p>

<p>Your criteria are applicable to the vast majority of BS!</p>

<p>So think about other things that are important to you.
Here are some examples:
Casual vs. formal, more preppie or more hippie, dress code
Particular subject area, foreign language, or sport
Required chapel
Urban, suburban, or rural
%boarding students
%financial aid students–indicates socioeconomic diversity</p>

<p>You may be able to find out how many new sophomores a school typically accepts so you’ll know you won’t be alone, but I think sophomres integrate just fine at most schools.</p>

<p>Search these forums for threads about fit.
Look at the hidden gems thread to see what makes different schools shine
Plug different criteria into boardingschoolreview.com to get ideas, then visit the actual school website.
Take everything with a grain of salt–don’t assume everything you read is accurate.</p>

<p>A great place to start would be choate rosemary hall and the hotchkiss school, i loved both my visits and the school communites there were really warm and welcoming, also my tour guides at both were new sophmores and said that everyone was really nice and you’ll be fins coming in as a new sophmore. Choate is a bigger school though.</p>

<p>alooknac you have a point, I’ll specify!</p>

<p>Preferably suburban or urban
Not too formal (ok to wear leggings and a sweater or sweatshirt on an average day)
strong in- spanish, science, art, xc/track
Preferably large majority of boarding students
Lots of diversity</p>

<p>Do you go to either one? They both seem great, I just hope that they aren’t too out of my league but I think I could have a shot</p>

<p>Lawrenceville (where I go) is undefeated in Track and Fields.
We’re definitely not formal (no uniform and very lax dress code).
If you’re a guy, be prepared for all the fun traditions in the houses ;-).
Strong academics? Just look at our stats.</p>

<p>But we might be a bit large ~810 kids :(.</p>

<p>

100 girls per grade means a school of 800 kids. Few BS offer a student body size that large. The average BS will have a little over 50 girls & 50 boys per grade, for a total student body of ~430. </p>

<p>There are the only 4 BS in NE/Mid-Atlantic region that meet your size criterion. All 4 are VERY difficult to get into. The 2 largest ones have more of a college feel, than a high school feel.</p>

<p>1141 13% 94% Andover
1085 20% 94% Exeter
865 23% 85% Choate Rosemary Hall
816 20% 84% Lawrenceville</p>

<p>The columns are:<br>
-total # students
-admit rate
-average SSAT score
-school name</p>

<p>If you are planning to apply during this admissions cycle, you had better HURRY UP. I assume you reside in the NE/Mid-Atlantic area, so you will likely be within driving radius of the schools. Therefore, you will be required to visit the schools, and there are few days left. The schools will be entirely closed during Winter Break.</p>

<p>There is only 1 SSAT test date remaining: the January one.</p>

<p>@MBVloveless
Oh I meant about 200 per grade so Lawrenceville seems like a good size! The only thing I don’t really like about it are the Saturday classes, sleeping in is a huge thing for me and I’m a girl so I dont know about whatever sketch house traditions you have ;)</p>

<p>I think I communicated incorrectly, a student body size of 500+ is what I’m looking for, I go to an all girls school. And yes, I am aware I am very late in the process But I test well so I shouldn’t need to study much for the SSAT, I write essays very well and persuasively and quickly too, and my school is small so my teachers should be able to get recs in on time. I am planning on visiting NE schools during Christmas break because we are going up there to see family anyway, and yes I do live in the midatlantic area so I will be able to see any ones that I am interested that arent in the Northeast during regular time.</p>

<p>

You need to contact the schools to make a formal appointment to tour & interview-- it is not a casual drop-in thing. The schools are closed during Xmas break.</p>

<p>Most BS have Saturday classes.</p>

<p>Saturday classes is one of the filters you can use at boardingschool.com.</p>

<p>You can also do an advanced search for schools with rolling deadlines, if that comes into play.</p>

<p>You will probably have to take a few days off from school to visit BS. Some schools offer Saturday interviews but I don’t know about this late in the game.</p>

<p>“The only thing I don’t really like about it are the Saturday classes, sleeping in is a huge thing for me”?</p>

<p>If sleeping in is a priority, then I would advise against pretty much ANY boarding school.</p>

<p>Re sleep: Mercersburg classes start at 8:55, giving the kids ample time to wake up, have breakfast, and get to their first class. Additionally, the schedule works out so they their free period will fall during that first rotation usually once a week, providing what I’ve heard both students and faculty refer to as a “sleep in.” And while there are sometimes morning commitments on Saturdays like rehearsals or games, there are never classes. </p>

<p>It’s a big quality of life issue for my daughter and I really think it does contribute greatly to the overall happy vibe of the place.</p>

<p>Choate does not have regular Saturday classes but does have a regular sleep-in on Thursdays. Doesn’t seem to help much; all are sleep-deprived. Classes start at 8AM.</p>

<p>Interesting about Mercersburg; if we have choices and get to look at schools again, I’ll try to correlate apparent student happiness with probable amount of sleep.</p>

<p>I think what happened was that the school wanted to encourage more students to eat breakfast so they changed the start time. D generally gets up at 7:30 and is in dining hall around 8:00. That gives her an hour to eat and gave coffee with friends, and on occasion, do some last minute homework at the table. It’s a nice way to start the day. In my culture, mealtime is a big deal. And I like schools that share the idea that a meal is a great time to come together. At Mercersburg, everyone stops what they’re doing (faculty too) at noon and heads to the dining hall for a communal meal with assigned seats and an adult at each table. This also happens for dinner three times a week with Mondays being formal. My daughter isn’t always crazy about the assigned seating, but I like it. They are allowed to miss one or two sit downs a term with advanced notice.</p>

<p>The grab and go mentality makes me sad. Stopping for thirty minutes to nourish your body and mind with friends three times a day is good for the soul. Do we really want our teens so busy that they can’t do that?</p>

<p>^^^ChoatieKid wishes he had 30 minutes once a day.</p>

<p>@Tooclassyforyou: tbh, I’d rather have Saturday classes than a full Wednesday (and we have a sleep-in on Wednesday as well; class starts at 9:30 then). Having half a Wednesday helps if you’re doing a sport and if you want to catch up on the mid-week workload. It honestly doesn’t seem cumbersome to have Saturday classes. At first, I thought I would despise Saturday classes, then but I was like “YES for the half Wednesday”.</p>

<p>OP: Check around, school schedules differ. Choate has half-day Wednesdays, no regular Saturday classes, sleep-in Thursdays (classes start at 9), rest of week classes start at 8, but I totally support 7Dad’s warning that, if sleep is a concern for you, BS may not be a good choice. There is a thread somewhere discussing time pressures at BS, and the consensus seems to be that among sleep, social life, and academics, you can select two.</p>

<p>Andover also has the above schedule ^^^. Not sure if they have Saturday classes though.</p>