cate or thacher?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>hey guys
i've finally have my set of schools i'm applying, and they're all top-tiered. i would be applying to 8 schools including cate. i wont be needing a match because if it's not the best, i'm not leaving. (this line is almost like a cliche now)
cate is one of my schools i'm applying to. However, as i research due to my mom's nagging, i've been having second thoughts about thacher. would one more school too much of a burden? i reckon while i'm in california i might as well go to thacher also. i feel really sorry for my teachers (who know have to fill in a pile of recs) and now have to do one more. or should i not? would it be joyful/easy for them? i'm not sure.
anyways, whats the difference between cate or thacher? which one is better in which areas? overall??
i prefer a more layback, casual school.
i also have a forest allergy thing, but i dunno if i'll have it at ojai.
AHH i dunno if i should do thacher or not. if i want to, i need to know ASAP cuz my recs are going to be filled in this week</p>

<p>PLEASE RESPOND ASAP!</p>

2

<p>my teachers are very kind ones so it might affect what they told me, but writing recs apparently aren't all that tedious seeing as every school asks them the same thing. it's only a matter of rewriting, and usually if you're a good student they don't mind.</p>

<p>you might have allergies though. I disbanded my dreams for thacher primarily due to the allergies (along with a myriad of other little things XD) and I NEVER had allergic reactions before (once, I guess, at Stanford, but that was only for a week and I loved stanford too much to care) so this shocked me.
it's DEFINITELY worth a look at, though. cate has a more "ideal" campus, I guess, but I'm still a thacher advocate :)</p>

3

<p>i dont think filling in recs would be too much of a trouble... after all, it's just a few questions compared to the essays you'd have to write!</p>

<p>i was going to apply for cate and thacher too, before i decided to go to the east coast instead... i'd definitely apply for thacher!!! well, ive always wanted to learn horseriding too, so... but i actually think that thacher is better than cate... it was my first choice amongst other west coast boarding schools!</p>

4

<p>We looked at Groton, St, Marks, Hotchkiss, Exeter, Choate, Cate and Thacher. We live on the East Coast where there are loads of great schools so any thought of going West was initially met with a lot of skepticism, especially by my wife. Still, a trip ensued and this past Spring, our son was graduated from Thacher after four of the best years of his life.</p>

<p>No School is for everybody, and it’s particularly true of Thacher. The school combines extremely rigorous academics with an unwavering love for and time spent in the great outdoors. The horse program is unique, the semi-annual all-school, week long camping trips) are exceptional and the list goes on. So, if you didn’t enjoy the outdoors it would not be the right place. If, like my son, you love a balance of killer academics with a love of being outside in the SoCal sun, you’ll think you’ve gone to heaven.</p>

<p>Cate is a wonderful School, located on a spectacular mesa looking over the Pacific. Anyone can be proud to attend. We thought it was a great place too, but for our tastes it felt too much like an East Coast school that had been transplanted to Southern California. </p>

<p>There is something about the way the kids treat one another and get along with the faculty at Thacher that was different and much more appealing than any place we visited. The School’s four principal values are “honor, fairness, kindness and truth” and you see them in action all the time; they’re real, not just talk. Another noticeable difference is the complete lack of snobbery. No matter how intellectually, athletically or artistically gifted, no matter the socio-economic background, the kids are completely modest with one another and with the people they meet. It’s so refreshing.</p>

<p>I could go “on and on” about Thacher because it’s so different than any other place we looked. If you’d like to learn more, just PM me. (I always like teasing westcoast<em>, a regular poster on these boards, because he/she always brings up his/her allergies, rashes and sweat after his/her visit to Thacher. Except for westcoast</em>, I’ve never heard that issue before or since!)</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck!!</p>

5

<p>it always warms my heart when thacherparent posts. he/she's like this wonderfully crafted movie that, at the end, always says "THACHER!!" which i love because, i love thacher :D</p>

<p>(it also warms my heart when people don't know what gender I am XD i'm not being mean to thacherparent, people have regarded me as only male several times before. do i really sound like a guy o_O)</p>

<p>lol i've given up on mentioning things like that now. I'll just say the usual stuff I always say about thacher which is... it's in californiaaa :D :D :D personally, i think if it weren't for that the structure of thacher would not be the same.</p>