<p>Just to let you in on something, my teacher applied to Mrs. Porter's School (All girls though) she got accepted with not much aid but still went. She told me once she just started to volunteer at the school and such (ex. she worked at the admissions office with papers I guess), they decided since she was sooo devoted to the school they gave her a full ride.</p>
<p>wow -- thanks for the great suggestions.</p>
<p>I took another look at some of the schools suggested. Putney, Middlesex, Holderness, Proctor and Northfield Mount Hermon were all eliminated from our list because less than 30% of the students were on FA. this was just an arbitrary number we picked. since he will need to be on FA, I thought that a 30% figure would ensure that there were enough other students on FA that he wouldn't stand out as far as a lack of funds. </p>
<p>Now -- when I look at these schools that have been suggested, many have larger endowments than some of the schools on my narrowed down list and also give out larger average FA packages. so -- maybe fewer people get aid but larger amounts?</p>
<p>Where do I draw the line? Or do I start contacting schools regarding FA? What I need to do is eliminate those schools that provide loans as a part of the package to low-income students or don't really meet the need. (I am not looking for a full-ride, but significant aid will need to be provided) I am trying to figure out how to do that while at the same time building a list of schools that are a good fit.</p>
<p>in the meantime -- I am adding Culver, Putney, Middlesex, Holderness, Proctor and Northfield Mount Hermon to his list.</p>
<p>I decided to put Culver on the list after it was recommended by several people. My son is not at all interested in Culver right now (due to the military aspect) but he is just 13 and may change his mind this summer.</p>
<p>I think you may have misconstrued my post. I said that I don't think your son would be a good fit for Culver.</p>
<p>tokyo -- I agree. I wanted to leave it on the list because they give good aid and many people recommended it. On second thought -- I don't see him ever fitting in there, so I am taking it off the list. </p>
<p>I have several schools that have been recommended and that greatly appealed to me that I know he would never fit into -- it is hard to cross those off the list!</p>
<p>I would start by eliminating the big sports teams assuming that's where they spend their FA.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted ideas, comments and suggestions. We added some schools to the list and now it is quite long:</p>
<p>Conserve School
Deerfield Academy
Episcopal High
Fountain Valley School
Hotchkiss School
Mercersburg Academy
New Hampton School
Peddie School
Scattergood Friends
St. Andrew's School, DE (there are several -- he is looking at the one in delaware)
St. Paul's School
Thacher School
Midland
Putney
Northfield Mount Hermon
Middlesex
Holderness
Proctor
George</p>
<p>Our next step is to look at the viewbooks we requested and do some more in-depth research. We need to elimnate any schools that will most likely not provide good FA. We also want to eliminate any schools that don't have a close, friendly community (he doesn't want cliquish, cut-throat competitive schools) Then I will do some figuring and see what stats are needed so that a student is in the top 25% -- that way it will be easy to eliminate schools once he takes the SSAT.</p>
<p>As far as the SSAT -- since we are waiting to have him take it until August, I was planning on having him take a practice one. Are the scores accurate at all if you are strict on the timing? </p>
<p>Again -- thanks and good luck to everyone applying to school this year and waiting on decisions.</p>
<p>I found the practice SAT test that my son took (the one in the registration book) to be a bit more demanding than what he reported as encountering (and as his score indicated).</p>
<p>I think that was true -- but not nearly as markedly so -- for the SSAT. He took the test in the registration book (for both the SAT and SSAT it was the one test, spread out over the week leading up to the test, just 1 or 2 sections per night). He scored 90%ile or so on the practice and hit 99s across the board on the real thing. But there was one section I had him take a second time (as there are two sample tests in the SSAT book) because the first time he missed like a quarter of the questions on one of the verbal sections -- and, no, it wasn't because he misaligned his answer key.</p>
<p>So, you'll get a rough idea...and I think practice tests beget better scores if only because the real thing is somewhat familiar. But then there's the karma factor. In my son's case he probably benefited from some inexplicable positive karma. Others here have reported scores well below what they expect for themselves (or their child) and that, too, is karma. Everyone's scores get sprinkled with a bit of karma and you just have to hope that it's good karma.</p>
<p>I think stress is one (major) factor that influences the karma. And if you and your son -- here in late January of his 7th grade year - are sweating out 9th grade admissions this much at this moment, I can't believe that by next August he'll walk in to that test center standing tall and feeling confident.</p>
<p>Eight pages into this thread, you're starting to scare the crap out of me with the intensity, insecurity and incessant iterative inquiries hoping to zero in on the perfect school...so don't think he's not thinking that your world and his future aren't riding on that August test. Then again, who knows, perhaps he's the type of kid who excels under pressure. I'm just saying that maybe you can help him prepare for the test so that it shows off who he really is and then set your sights on schools and base your hopes and his aspirations and expectations accordingly.</p>
<p>D'yer -- well, thanks for the info. sorry to scare you with the intensity of my questions -- they all seemed like rather valid ways to get information.</p>
<p>my son is far from stressed out and neither am I. No idea where you get the idea that interest in a subject is equivalent to stressing out about it. We just have the time now to talk about school -- later in the semester it will get busy for both of us and summer is always busy -- so it was a good time to do the research.</p>
<p>my son knows that no test, grade, school, etc determines his future -- and has no stress over what scores/grades he gets. He knows that he did his best and those are the cards on the table.</p>
<p>I don't think they give a test in August. I think the last time your son can take the lower level test is in June. Take a look at the ssat website.</p>
<p>BTW, I think it's good to plan in advance. There aren't that many people who go to boarding school from Colorado, so I'm sure you need to gather your info.</p>
<p>thanks burb parent -- the intensity that I seem to project on the board is not felt at home (which is a good thing).</p>
<p>I don't plan on setting a goal for him on the ssat and then having him try to reach that goal -- my plan is to see about where he would score. test prep would be to make him familiar with the test protocol so that it accurately represents his abilities -- not to try and "teach him what he need to score well".</p>
<p>In the same vein, our search for schools is to find a good fit -- not the best, most well-known, sends the most kids to Ivies school. </p>
<p>I hesistate to spend the money for him to take the lower school test -- $96 is quite a bit. do you think it is necessary? Or -- if he will be applying next year, would it be better to just have him take the ssat in early fall and again in late fall if he thinks he wants to take it again? The only reason to get an idea of scores earlier would be to eliminate schools on the list so that he could visit the ones that are the best fit.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>The general administrations are Nov, Dec and Jan. The problem is that by the time you get your scores in Nov., you are already well into interviewing. There is a limited administration in Oct. See if you can do that. If it is not worthwhile to you to take the lower level test, then buy a practice book. My son took 2 practice tests in the Princeton Review before taking the actual test in Oct. It was good to get it over with in Oct. so he could focus on interviews and applications.</p>
<p>I went to George in Newtown, PA. It is closed to my home. the school is really old , no too many new equipments and library is smaller. If you look at the view book, the itemize of the cost is scare you. They even put 75 cent for washing clothes. In the view book, the scholarship is for quaker and friends of the alumni. something like that. I do not think it is easy to get FA from them. You might want to check that Church Farm out. but the sat score of the school is lower than 1300. so..</p>
<p>Burb Parent -- good info. We will need to have ssat scores known before we visit or interview. limited funds will not allow us to visit just any school -- we need to focus on those that are a good fit and he has a chance at. We will try the practice test under timed conditions and then look at taking the lower ssat this spring. In order to plan a trip to visit schools and do interviews, we will need to really plan ahead.</p>
<p>yan -- i did check with george and they offer FA to all families, with some priority to Quakers. they did tell me that they had quite a bit to award and highly encouraged him to apply.</p>
<p>Blairt.</p>
<p>A friend's son is a prep at exeter and he says his class size averages are 10. Many of his classes have nine kids around the table and that is for ninth grade which usually has the largest classes.</p>
<p>I don't think you can get 20 people around a Harkness Table. 15 is pretty darn tight. 20...impossible. Unless there are special secret classrooms where they have all the Supersized Harkness Tables I can't see how the typical (not "average") Exeter class size is in the 15-20 range. Until someone with firsthand knowledge weighs in, I'm speculating as much as anyone. I'm just saying why I think the typical class size is closer to 12. Much like blairt made a good argument as to how, by using small music classes, the average of 12 can easily be an understatement of the typical class size.</p>
<p>Does anyone who knows firsthand care to weigh in?</p>
<p>The Harkness table is often used for courses that are grade-specific, as in the curriculum is designed for having each class take a succession of courses throughout their time at boarding school. While I was at Mercersburg, English courses often worked like this, and every section sat around the Harkness table to discuss their reading, give presentations, etc. History courses often worked like this too, and sections using Harkness tables are no more than 12 students, usually less. Courses that did not use a Harkness table often were mostly science and mathematics. Language courses would vary because they were often the largest (14-16 students max) due to rules about placement.</p>
<p>Speaking as a school parent -- 12 students and 1 teacher is the maximum class size at Exeter.</p>
<p>I concur, my son has been at Exeter for 4 years, he has never had more than 14 kids in a class.</p>