Hi, I thought I’d start a thread on Cate School. My S is in his last year at Cate and has loved every minute of it. Overall, it’s been an amazing four years. If any of you have any questions about Cate, I’d be happy to answer. Good luck to all who are applying to Cate in the years to come.
Thank you for starting this thread. May I ask what type of activities your son participated in, so I can ask questions that are better tailored to your son’s experience?
Yes, thank you @frutsun for starting this. Just returned from a weekend visiting DD at Cate. The school has surpassed every expectation we had for her BS experience. So glad to hear that your S has loved his time there. DD is a new BS junior this year and is happy and thriving. I only wish we had considered BS earlier so she could spend more time on the Mesa!
Our DD is having an incredible experience as well. Challenging, to be sure, but boy are we happy that she chose it. @minimalist, DD is an athlete and is also heavily into studio art. She’s a sophomore who started in 9th grade, and comes from a private NYC day school. Other than Arts and sports, Science and History, she really LOVES the extensive outdoor program, the Women’s Forum, Environmental and MUN clubs, and the overall friendly vibe. She feels that her classmates are very smart, very kind, and very diverse.
Thank you for the information, @GMC2918 . I do have some questions, if you do not mind!
-Was your DD experienced in studio art before going to Cate? If so, did the school help accommodate your child’s artistic skills? I have heard that all students take a gamut of different art classes before settling down and taking a class in one type of the arts. Is this true?
-Has your child ever found the atmosphere to be competitive, or has she ever thought of herself as a little fish in a big pond?
Hi @minimalist ,
DD had some experience in studio art before Cate. Her previous school offered Music, Dance & Studio every year, so she had plenty of exposure (and some talent) but nothing outside of school. She did not send a portfolio with her applications, for example.
Cate does require a Foundation Arts class of all incoming Freshmen, to expose them to the different offerings available. After that, you may choose (Studio, Ceramics, Photography). My daughter really loves the art teachers and decided to pursue Studio Art this year. Additionally, she applied for & was accepted to “Varsity Art” which is in lieu of playing a sport for a season. She loved it and will definitely continue on the Studio track. So, to answer your question, Cate really encouraged her interest. There are kids at Cate who are far more experienced and talented, but that doesn’t preclude others from trying - this is true with most things at Cate.
She finds the atmosphere to be incredibly supportive and not competitive, compared to her old school. That said, there are lots of very smart & talented kids at Cate, and it’s not easy to get into Honors classes, or to get As, or to be elected to leadership positions, etc. There is a lot of competition, but kids aren’t competitive, if that makes sense.
As a NYC girl, she tends to think of herself as a “big fish” regardless of pond size, so that hasn’t been an issue 
Hi. Just thought I would chime in as well. My daughter is also a sophomore and is an athlete as well. Her big interests are writing, studio art, history and surfing/ outdoors program. She absolutely loves her teachers and has found Cate to be an incredible home away from home. It seems everywhere she turns there are fabulous mentors and inspiring peers. It sounds over the top I know but this is how she describes her experience. We live on the east coast so it was so important that she is ok so far away and she is simply thriving. It is very competitive but she seems to be inspired by her peers intelligence and not intimidated. As a parent, I have felt like there are plenty of adult connections that my child has formed so if ever there was an issue, I have a handful of people I could call. I have another daughter who is a freshman at another BS and I am not sure I could at the same thing about her experience although it is still rather new to us. Cate is great
Cate has been a great school for our DS, exceeding all our hopes.Some of the things we like about Cate-and I’m not focused on academics,small classes etc which presumably you can find at all good schools mentioned on this site-that make sense for DS:small extremely close knit friendly nourishing community; seamless integration of freshmen,sophmores etc with other classes eg seniors and other older students seem to take serously that part of their role is to help younger students (as I saw on a student’s tee shirt when we dropped DS off in the Fall “Freshmen are friends, not food”); rigorous academics and smart kids but not a sink or swim culture…nice kids and tremendous support all around; the ideal balance of sports-arts-music-outdoor programs-service culture for DS; small number of day students and emphasis on boarders with most boarders staying at school on weekends; the diversity of the student body which is very much as advertised (for example, only about 35 percent of the freshmen boarders are from California and California is itself quite large and diverse with a population about the size of, and geographic footprint larger than, New England, NY and NJ combined); Carpinteria the small town where Cate is located with its beautiful beach and charming main street with just enough to do but not too much; and…well…while I think young people shouldnt focus too much on trivialities like climate, the weather, natural beauty and generally healthy environment is super. These factors may not make sense for everyone but they have been the perfect fit for DS.
The final point I would make about Cate is it has also been a great fit for DS’s parents. We live far away from California and the level of communication with parents from the school eg photos, notes, news updates, grades and regular written reports from teachers and advisors combined with the general lack of bureaucracy is terrific. (Maybe most BS are like this but I have dealt with some fine schools of higher learning where the bureacratic rigamarole was kafkasque). We dont feel far away. And, it is a bit selfish, but we really look forward to visiting this beautiful area of California. We would go even if DS was not in school there.
Sshhhh… We have to stop raving about Cate or we won’t be able to keep it a “hidden gem”
@carp88 - I couldn’t agree more that visiting your SoCal boarding students, especially when you live in chilly New England, is really wonderful, a mini-vacation for sure. We couldn’t wait to go to Ojai for long weekends three times a year, Thursday - Monday. We love that little town so much that we still go every year for vacation even though our son has long since been graduated.
How is the social life at Cate? Is it more secluded or do they go on lots of weekend excursions? I live like 30 mins away from Carpinteria so I’m hesitant about applying because I really want to get away from SoCal/ California in general.