<p>Until now, S and I had focused our search on boarding schools. It now looks like we will relocate from Japan to Cambridge, MA for at least one year, possibly several years. We'd like to explore some day school and day/boarding school options in the Boston area.</p>
<p>Milton Academy and St. Mark's are already on our list. I understand Milton has a 50-50 day/boarding ratio and St. Mark's is 70-80% boarding. Are they within easy commuting distance from Cambridge?</p>
<p>I found the recent BU Academy thread to be very helpful. People provided really good color on the culture, type of kids it attracts and BUA's special characteristics.</p>
<p>I'd like to hear similar information about Buckingham, Brown and Nichols, Noble and Greenough, Cambridge School of Weston and Commonwealth School. My impression so far are...</p>
<p>BB&N is right in Cambridge (ideal for us). Urban campus... is it a pressure cooker? Is it hard for an outsider to come in as a new high school student?</p>
<p>Noble and Greenough: seems to have a beautiful, sprawling campus in the suburbs with a few 5-day boarders. (I like the idea of 5-day boarding for S in the beginning.) Is the feel similar to that of a boarding school?</p>
<p>Cambridge School of Weston: seems to be a very progressive school. Module/block scheduling looks unique. Seems to empower students a lot. Is it highly regarded in academics? Someone said that BUA strikes him as a place preferred by college professors... is that the case with Cambridge School of Weston?</p>
<p>Commonwealth School: looks a lot like S's current school (small, emphasizing liberal arts) but I cannot tell what the students and teachers are like.</p>
<p>Also... what do you think of public schools in the area? I've heard Boston area has some of the finest public schools. Anyone know about Cambridge Rindge and Latin?</p>
<p>BB&N is a definite pressure cooker. Not hard to come in as a high schooler, since they take a whole class of ninth graders, and do a lot of team building in the beginning.</p>
<p>Nobles is a sporty, preppy school. Only have known day students there so can't speak to borders.</p>
<p>CSW is very eclectic...quite arts oriented. Very good place for the right kind of student, but not as academically rigorous as others on this list.</p>
<p>Commonwealth is known for rigor...kids often have four or more hours of homework. More humanities oriented than BUA. Very intellectual kids, who sit and have deep philosophical conversations (so I have heard!).</p>
<p>None of the public schools can be categorized really.</p>
<p>Son #1 is a BB&N grad and transferred in at 11th grade. He was immediately accepted socially. The school is pretty diverse racially, socio-economically--they do seem to be generous with financial aid. While a pressure cooker to some extent, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the academic supports available to students. It is pretty hard to get an A there, but the colleges know that and so you will see many with 3-3.3 GPAs getting into Ivies and highly selective LACs.The college counseling services are outstanding.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. If more than 45 minutes away and the school offers both commuting and boarding options, we might prefer boarding. It's so nice to hear from people with local knowledge.</p>
<p>There is a Keio Academy in the New York suburbs. It is probably unique to this area, but you might call the school to ask if there is something comparable in the Boston area. Good luck!</p>
<p>Really, I just wanted to concur with the other comments. :)</p>
<p>CSW is a welcoming, progressive school but, as other posters have commented, it's only moderately strong academically (as opposed to an academic powerhouse like Milton or BB&N, two other schools I've seen mentioned on this thread). It's the type of place where students may call teachers by first name rather than by Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So. My guess is that, to be candid, BUA would be preferred to CSW by college professors :) just because the academics at BUA are significantly more demanding. </p>
<p>My impression of CSW is that, on the one hand, it has a number of young, well-engaged, intelligent teachers, while on the other hand, its admissions requirements are a little lower than some of the other schools in the area. So, while the teachers are often gifted and demanding (at least in the experience of my students), and the students are usually smart, the level of class discussion may not be quite as sophisticated or precocious as at a school like Milton. CSW cultivates the ability to think for oneself and has a number of rock-solid teachers. It's probably a great fit for a smart student who marches to his or her own drummer. At the same time, if you're looking for a top-tier academic foundation, you might look elsewhere.</p>
<p>At the same time, I'd say that the writing standards at Milton (in English and history) are often tougher than the writing standards at BU or Northeastern University (I have tutor kids from all three programs). Milton is a wonderful school, especially for students with a strong interest in literature, but the flip side of that coin is that it's an extremely demanding place. It belongs to the top tier of college preparatory schools, with Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul's, but its teachers and administrators often hate the term "prep school" (at least when applied to Milton). I think Milton wants to see itself as somewhat more independent and liberal-artsy than the term "prep school" would suggest.</p>
<p>The last thing I'd say about Milton is that it's usually significantly tougher to get in as a day student than as a boarding student (this is hearsay, but it's hearsay only one step removed from decision makers, and I'm inclined to trust it).</p>
<p>To clarify: I don't mean that the "academic foundation" at CSW is subpar, only that the school in general is not as challenging or competitive as Andover/Exeter/St. Paul's/Milton/Deerfield et al. This difference could be positive or negative depending on your own student's temperament.</p>
<p>Just to give you more background, we had been working on a boarding school list for a long time and we had visited quite a few over the last few years. We are taking another trip to the U.S. in one week and it occurred to me that we should be adding more Boston area schools to our list. Your input helped us plan our trip a little better.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Burb Parent: the Boston magazine articles are great. Thanks! Re Keio Academy... I want my son to have a truly American experience after going to an international school most of his life so maybe not. Thanks for your kind pms. Blair is very much on our list, even though it is far from MA, because it offers such a nice environment and great leadership.</p></li>
<li><p>dhmom, Jonathan1, MomofaKnight: thanks for the suggestions of Concord Academy and Middlesex. We will try to visit them in December.</p></li>
<li><p>lotf629: thanks for the comments. You've pretty much confirmed what we were thinking. We're definitely interested in Milton Academy and will be there next week. I think S would apply as a boarder as it seems like quite a commute.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>My son is very interested in BUA. He thinks it is so cool to get a good foundation in the first two years (he loves western civ and Latin) and have access to university courses in the last two. We have friends who are students and professors at BU so he is really excited about visiting BUA. We will reschedule one of the big name boarding schools to make room for the BUA visit next week. The one thing he does not like about BUA is that it does not offer football. He was hoping for that all-American experience.</p>
<p>We also want to look at BB&N. It looks like a great school and it would probably be a short walk from our new home.</p>
<p>The other schools he is considering as a boarder are Deerfield Academy (has been his favorite for two years), St. Paul's, Lawrenceville, St. George's, Loomis Chaffee, St. Mark's and Tabor.</p>
<p>Our list is still too long and scattered. I'm sure we'd be able to narrow it down a bit after the trip next week. Thanks all!</p>
<p>If your son wants to play football, you might investigate whether or not he will need to tryout for the team. It is possible that at some schools players are selected, even for the jv team. Larger schools might offer in-house intramurals which is good for a beginner if it also includes good instruction and coaching. </p>
<p>I can only comment on what they do at Blair because that is what I know. Anyone who wants to play football can sign-up for the jv team. These players arrive early to school (late August) so that they can get in shape, learn, and have experience playing as a team before the school year starts. </p>
<p>You should definitely take a look at Commonwealth as well. Not as well known as Milton, BBN, etc., but it is absolutely outstanding academically. You would be hard pressed to find better or more committed teachers anywhere. Kids are also very smart and it is academically very demanding. They definitely tend to cater to smart, quirky, arty, non-athletic and non-preppy kids. School is also very small (about 35 kids per grade, all in one building Back Bay of Boston).</p>
<p>Also, have a kind of unusual admissions process. Every prospective applicant must attend a day of classes, is interviewed by a teacher, and has to write a couple of essays while they are at the school. Admissions decisions are made by a team of faculty members.</p>
<p>If you want a place with acres of playing fields, an impressive gym, and amazing facilities in general, Commonwealth is not for you. But for the parent who wants their kid to be exposed to outstanding teachers and a demanding academic program, and for a kid who's very smart, but wouldn't fit into a preppy/jock type school it's hard to beat Commonwealth.</p>
<p>Good point about football tryouts, Burb Parent. We'll look into that.</p>
<p>Prpdd, Commonwealth sounds very compelling. I can see how they manage to fill the 35 spots each year with the smartest kids around. It feels so much like our current school... established about 50 years ago with carefully selected students and teachers in a small building in a leafy part of a big city. I hope I can convince my son to go through the application process.</p>
<p>It's way past midnight here so see you all later.</p>
<p>If your son is interested in football then when you visit BB&N ask to meet with Coach Pappas, the football coach and Rick Forsteire, the Athletic Director. They can share the athletic philosophy of the school and in my experience are always interested in meeting with prospective students</p>
<p>My son did not play football, but the BB&N program is quite good. They do have a JV program there seems to be room for all to participate. Freshmen and sophomores are required to play a sport each season, Juniors 2 seasons and Seniors one (if I recall correctly)</p>
<p>Best of luck , Lexima. Sports programs vary a great deal - at quite a number of schools, kids are assumed to have some understanding of/skill in a sport before they get on a team. Space can enter into it - there are only a few slots on most tennis teams, for example. Football, of course, can absorb a lot of kids so there may be less of problem there. Also look into how much of a time committment a sport will be. Even JV teams can take up 10 or more hours a week, particularly with travel time.
Many of the schools mentioned have a lot of applicants per slot - anywhere from 4 to 10 or more, so take that into consideration when thinking of how many schools to apply to.
Visiting - you can probably manage two in one day, assuming that they are reasonably close.</p>