Carrabassett Valley Academy - Impressions?

<p>Curious if this ski academy has ever reached anyone's consciousness, and if so, what impressions were formed.</p>

<p>Know two young men who attended (one for 10-12, one for 9-12; both now in college). Freestyle skiers - not planning to compete in college. Great travel opportunities (ski in Europe in Nov-Dec). Seems to offer decent academic preparation for college.</p>

<p>Hi. Although I don't have first hand knowledge of CBA specifically, both our children have attended another ski academy in Vermont, so I can offer some opinions of ski academies in general. A unique high school experience to be sure. Kids give up a lot of "normal" hs social experiences (which can be a good thing these days) and gain many valuable things - excellent time management skills, independence, self-reliance, great maturity and knowledge of very hard work and commitment.
On the other hand, even the academies with the best academic reputations will not, in my opinion, provide the same rigor or depth of subject matter in their classes. It's just not possible when kids are competing at this level and traveling so much throughout the winter.
Our school has excellent college placement each year (Dartmouth, Williams, Middlebury, UVM, Bates, St. Lawrence, to name a few) but keep in mind nearly all of the kids who get into these schools are the very top skiers who are recruited for the best ski teams.<br>
On balance, we are satisfied with the decision we made for our son and daughter. Son is at University of Denver and daughter is applying to colleges this year, so we'll see. We felt strongly that there is not only one traditional path to college and that our children would gain tremendous benefits from these experiences and that has turned out to be true. But, and this is important, it had to be there decision to want to do this. This is not the kind of program that a parent can push a child into doing.
Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck.</p>

<p>i looked at two schools with top ski programs. one was green mountain valley school in vermont. it has top academics and kids go to the best colleges. i skied in their weekend development program for seven years and know kids who are going there. i did not apply because their sports and extricurricular offerings are limited due to small size.</p>

<p>the other school i looked at is called holderness school in new hampshire. it is larger than green mountain valley school at 300 students. </p>

<p>in the end, i decided to not emphasize skiing in boarding school. so i went in a different direction but can say you should look at these schools if skiing is a top interest.</p>