Current Taft Students/Parents: How are you liking Taft?

Prep School Admissions
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Hi All!

I plan to enroll at Taft for the 2021-2022 school year as a repeat sophomore, and I wanted to create this topic so that future Rhinos, such as myself, could get a first-hand “look” as to what it’s like at Taft from its current students and parents. So, to get us started, I have a few questions that I would love some answers to — you may answer as many or as little as you’d like. You can start by “introducing yourself” (current grade you’re in, how long you’ve been at Taft, etc.) before answering the questions if you’re up for it!

  1. What is the overall culture like? Is it cutthroat/competitive?
  2. Would you say its stronger in STEM or in humanities?
  3. How is the food?
  4. In the first few days/weeks of your first year at Taft, was it easy for you to make friends? What kind of ice breakers/activities did they have you do in order to start conversations and help build close bonds/friendships?
  5. Generally, how does the school lean politically? (Answers to this won’t affect my decision, I’m asking out of pure curiosity, TBH.)
  6. How are the dorms?
  7. What is student life like after school/extracurriculars? How do you spend your weekends, and what do you do/where do you go when you’re off campus?
  8. Relatively speaking, how much homework do you expect to have each night? In other words, how long does it normally take you to complete it?
  9. What do you like the most about Taft, and what do you like the least/what’s something you would change if you could, and why?
  10. Do you have any other comments, tips, and/or advice you’d like to share about Taft?

Thank you all, in advance, for sharing! I look forward to seeing and meeting you all soon :grin:

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Hey thanks for creating this! I’m choosing between Taft and a few other schools and I’ll be a repeat sophomore too!

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No problem! Also, I’d love to get to know you — I’ll PM you in the morning!

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Congrats on your Taft acceptance. I have some Tafties in the family and social circles, so I will try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge.

It is competitive yet collaborative. School spirit is strong and people genuinely enjoy the culture.

Faculty members are strong in most disciplines. My family members gone on to great colleges and become successful in medicine and business careers. The school offers about 30 APs as well as independent study opportunities, so you should be able to learn pretty much all your want.

The food is great - it ranked top 2 among the 12+ BS I have attended or visited. They have fresh oven-baked pizza, sushi, and quite a few healthy options.

It will all come naturally as long as you are open-minded. Smile and introduce yourself in each new class, club or team. At Taft, people say hello to one another more often than not.

A few kids from my circle have gone in as sophomores and turned out great. Historically, there have been 30+ new sophomores per year, so you definitely would not feel out of place. My general advice is to have an open mind, keep smiling, and introduce yourself whenever possible. In no time, you will blend in just fine!

The dorms are quite nice - I’d said nicer than most older schools. They were all updated during the past decade (girls from a few years back and boys more recently), and students have been happy for the most part.

We love the school spirit/camaraderie and support from alumni (they have been very responsive whenever we reached out). If there’s something I would change, it would be to build a swimming pool. We have complained about this for years, but I guess the board’s main priority for the past decade was to update the dorms, which they did beautifully. Hopefully they will keep this in mind with the next capital campaign.

Congratulations again. I am sure you will enjoy Taft!

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Thank you so much for sending me your congratulations and for your thorough response! I really appreciate it; take care!!

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If you want to see cool school traditions look up on youtube headmaster holiday, it is funny!

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Wow. Your comments covered almost all the questions I had for Taft and certainly boosted my desire to enroll. Thanks a lot!

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You are most welcome. I am not sure about the choices you have but you won’t regret going to Taft!

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Yup. That series is produced by Peter Berg, Taft class of '80 and a renowned actor/director in Hollywood. He is super connected and usually invites celebs to make a funny Taft-bashing video with him every year. The Larry David one and Tom Brady clip really cracked me up, among a few others.