<p>Our 8th grader has narrowed down his choices and these seem to be the ones, listed in no particular order. We decided on a medium-sized school, co-ed, New England, good balance of sports and the arts. He's a solid student (mostly Bs, a rare C or A), decent athlete, good kid, leadership potential, with no notable "hooks" for admission. He took SSATs once and did not do well (35% overall); will take again in fall. Looking for admission in fall 2011 as 10th grader, but would consider a repeat 9th year.</p>
<p>Appreciate any comments (pro or con) on the above schools. Other suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I would rate Westminster as first, and Holderness last. Not to say Holderness is a bad school at all, just where I would put it. We looked at Westminster and Tabor and loved them. Not a great fit for my not so preppy kid, though. My brother went to Berkshire in the 70’s and loved it and the teachers there.
zp</p>
<p>I would say as long as he has no C’s and he improves his SSAT he has a good shot ! I personally like Berkshire and Tabor the most, Berkshire for it’s athletics and Tabor for it’s setting.</p>
<p>Holderness has new special programming during spring term, including one in the arts, that we thought looked great. We also liked the sports-academics mix. Sounds like four good choices–visit time!</p>
<p>We loved Governor’s. Very arts and sports focused. Very nurturing. It’s worth adding to your list. Also, the had one of the most professional admissions packets. The teachers in her interest areas emailed my daughter to check in after she applied, and after she was accepted. There were parents available during our interview visit to answer my questions and you could feel the affection the staff have for the students.</p>
<p>My daughter eventually chose a different school but would have been happy with Governor’s as a choice.</p>
<p>So have your son really get rid of the C’s and focus on more A’s in major subject areas. If you’re worried about the SSAT (it’s probably too low at 35%) then get practice books from Amazon or the bookstore. Or take a prep course (SAT if SSAT isn’t available). You can take the SSAT more than once without reporting the scores to schools - then go back and send the ones that are more favorable at a later date.</p>
<p>Also - don’t be fooled by all the talk about “hooks.” That drives me crazy. A hook can be is on the debate team, takes an unusual language, does Boy Scouts, went to an amazing summer program, has an interesting hobby. So figure out who your son “is” and make sure that comes through at the interview.</p>
<p>Neither. His (our) research was fairly solid and the schools mentioned are the ones that have risen to the top of his list. We have a few others (e.g., Loomis, Taft, Suffield) that might be worthy of further exploration.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good word on Taft. We’ll keep it in mind. I’ve visited the campus - a very impressive physical plant; I like the connectedness of the main buildings.</p>
<p>I know four long time faculty/staff at Suffield Academy and all are very caring and giving people. Suffield Academy is in the center of Suffield (not much traffic) so students can walk to the small upscale market, 3 pizza places, CVS, Dunkin Donuts the town library, banks, 4 churches etc. It is a nice location on the top of a sloping hill which makes great sledding for the students and the townspeople in the winter! They just built a new athletic center and remodeled the music building. Enfield (5 minutes away) has much shopping, cinemas etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the word on Suffield. Sounds like it’s worth exploring. The one thing I knew about Suffield is that there’s no hockey there, but I don’t know if that’s a big deal for my s, though he does play.</p>
<p>My daughter was waitlisted at both Suffield and Westminster. She was a straight A student, very active, great interviews, but with a total ssat score of 74 (math was 54 and brought down her score). We also were FA, and that probably had an impact last year. I would branch out to other schools as well. At very least, find a safety school. None of those schools can be considered a safety with the current scores. I am hopeful they will go way up, but I would hate for your son not to have options next March 10th. My son goes to Proctor, in NH. He loves it and all his friends play hockey there. Very competitive hockey.<br>
Good luck.</p>
<p>I was impressed with Governor’s Academy. Sam Phillips founder of Phillips Academy in Andover matriculated from there. It has the legacy of being America’s oldest continuously run boarding school. Lots of NE champion titles among athletics. Don’t think you could go wrong there. From its onset, determined to offer non-Boston students (the alternative to Boston Latin) academic rigor and matriculation at the nation’s best colleges.</p>