<p>I am a soon-to-be 9th grader (I just finished 8th grade) and I'm looking into boarding schools to enter in the 2015-2016 school year. This is my first time looking at and applying to boarding schools, and I am a little unsure about which schools to apply to. Here are a list of my preferences:</p>
<ol>
<li>Strong humanities </li>
<li>Strong music and dance program</li>
<li>Rigorous academics</li>
<li>Sports do not need to be great (if they are that's a bonus of course)</li>
</ol>
<p>I am a straight A student, scored well on the SSATs (98th percentile), and a participant in many after school clubs. I am a very dedicated piano player (I play flute also) and outside of school, I dance and play competitive badminton.</p>
<p>Based on these criteria, which boarding schools would be a good match? I've heard St. Paul's has a strong humanities and wonderful classical ballet program. I'm also looking at Exeter, but these are really competitive schools. I am interested in Blair Academy, Mercersburg Academy, and the Peddie School as well.</p>
<p>Is there a particular region you want to be in? From what you have said, St. Paul’s seems like the best match, but there are plenty of schools strong in the humanities and the performing arts. Academic rigor is easy to find, as most competitive BSes are rigorous.</p>
<p>@needtoboard I am particularly looking for schools along the east coast or New England. Schools in CT, MA, NY, NH, NJ, PA, and around these areas are all fine.</p>
<p>Hotchkiss sounds like a good fit. It’s in Connecticut and has an interesting humanities program unlike any other with corresponding art credits in both music and dance. </p>
<p>Try LoomisChaffee. They (we starting in the fall ) have an excellent humanities program, especially writing. All Sophmores (I’m expecting you’re applying for 10th grade year… right?) take part in writing workshop, and the faculty that teach it are amazing. Of course, all your categories fit most of the top schools, heres a list of a few:</p>
<p>This is just a few in random order. All these schools have very low admission rates. If you are looking into low topclass/high middleclass schools:</p>
<p>The schools mentioned in the previous comment sound like good schools for you to look at. As long as you have good interviews, recommendations, and essays, you’ll be in great shape to get accepted to some top schools (not even trying to give you false hope but you seem like a good student). Really just look up some schools on boardingschoolreview.com and you’ll find some other great schools. </p>
<p>Also know that many big, old and prestigious schools will have great programs across the board. Though if you’re really interested, look at the course books if several schools you like to see what English and History offerings they have.
Good luck! </p>
<p>As a relatively safe choice, consider George School, in PA. It has very strong performing arts programs (although no ballet - they have IB Dance option). You can take four years of dance, all year, as an arts elective. I presume you want a co-ed school. If not, the all-girls schools like Emma Willard will have strong dance programs. </p>
<p>Which schools would you consider out of the ones discussed so far have that old, classic boarding school feel? I know Deerfield has sit-down dinners and looking at the website, the campus looks gorgeous!</p>
<p>I personally was disappointed at Deerfield when I visited, the look wasn’t as great as Loomis or Hotchkiss. And it didn’t hold a candle to Lawrenceville, of course.</p>
<p>Deerfield blends into the local hamlet. For this uninitiated person, it was hard to tell where Deerfield begins. The look is nice if you like the seamless blending with the town.</p>
<p>You may want to consider…
St. Andrew’s <- has an extra heaping of old, classic boarding school feel despite not being that old. East coast (Delaware) but not New England
Middlesex <- all strong with arts particularly strong</p>
<p>You asked about “rigorous academics.” Exeter is regarded as having the most rigorous academics of all of the schools – so much so that the faculty relented slightly just this last year and let the first term of freshman year be pass-fail so that the new kids wouldn’t die of academic shock. The Exeter Harkness teaching method is often copied by other schools in drips and drabs, but of course it permeates the Exeter culture – a huge distinction. Schools like Middlesex poo-poo the Harkness method by saying that “we have teachers with masters’ degrees, we let them teach!” The implication is that when students debate and and take over classes with their discussions that somehow the Exeter professors are leaning back and indifferntly updating their Facebook pages. Just be alert to that viewpoint when you hear other schools put the knock on Exeter. Lots of Exeter envy out there, especially at Lawrenceville, which now also promotes its Harkness method.</p>
<p>Strong position on Exeter’s rigor. Others would claim the same about Groton or Andover … or another school. Exeter is an admirable school, off the charts. By my reckoning (your milage may vary), Exeter, Andover, Groton, and St. Paul’s are breathtakingly great schools academically. I’m not sure that Exeter is first among equals in this storied group and not sure that any is academically materially better than the others except when it comes to a specific area like Exeter overall in science. Whether one has a better match with a particular school is an entirely different question.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that some other schools are as/nearly as dedicated to Harkness even if, say, Andover isn’t. Can people let us know if a school is serious about Harkness to the level that it is used even in lab science and math classes?</p>
<p>Just because you use the Harkness doesn’t mean you’ve got Exeter envy. I’m sure you have a LOT of Chinese made things in your household, doesn’t make you envious of Chinese factories.</p>
<p>There’s the Harkness method and the Harkness table. One thing I like about the physical Harkness table is that having the classroom built around the table makes a semi+ commitment to a relatively small maximum class size. Yes, desks can be brought in.</p>
<p>You should visit the schools, of course. As mentioned above, all the top schools will have very rigorous academics. I do think Deerfield is very beautiful, and is in historic Deerfield, settled in 1669, many houses built in 1700s, street used as town of concord in the movie “Little Women.” School does have a lot traditions (like sit-down meals), but also keeps up very modern curriculum. And has been putting a LOT of focus (and money-- new building, new faculty, student recruiting, new courses) in the arts. When you visit different places, let them know ahead of time you’d like to talk to the music and dance directors (or whatever else you’re interested in). Go to a performance, if the timing works. If not, at least ask to see a dance and music class in session. We found, although all the schools have all the different arts, the quality varied dramatically-- and you CAN’T tell this on their websites.</p>
) have an excellent humanities program, especially writing. All Sophmores (I’m expecting you’re applying for 10th grade year… right?) take part in writing workshop, and the faculty that teach it are amazing. Of course, all your categories fit most of the top schools, heres a list of a few:</p>
</p>