<p>Not useless. There is a difference between being accepted to several competitive schools and being accepted to several competitive schools and one ridiculously over-the-top, super-competitive school. And, as the parent of a student who needed significant FA, I am always happy to hear about FA candidates who did make it into this latter category of elite schools. (And, had my kid gotten into one of these schools, I sure as heck would make the same distinction! ;))</p>
<p>Wow @dodgersmom, you’re my favorite poster and the absolute last one I would ever have expected to split hairs too fine to be split.</p>
<p>Then, why use a stupid acro in the first place? Why not just list the schools your darling child was accepted to? I’m so tired of all this coy nonsense.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom As the mom of a nationally ranked “lion tamer” you are absolutely right - although the schools appreciate a passion/talent, if there is no box labeled “lion tamer” at that school, that sport or ec isnot going to tip things your way especially if you need FA</p>
<p>No, the real difference between the HADES schools and the other schools is that the HADES schools are blessed w a 1st initial that makes for a catchy, ironic acronym. Now people are believing that these 5 schools are an actual official league, rather than the actual truth that it’s a dumb acronym some kid on CC coined only a few years ago.</p>
<p>If you picked the top 6 schools on the basis of most ridiculously, over-the-top, super-competitive admit rate, you get:
Deerfield Thacher Andover Groton Exeter St.Pauls = STAGED. The H in HADES doesn’t make the cut.</p>
<p>If you picked the top 6 schools on the basis of SSAT or SAT scores, then neither the H nor the D in HADES make the cut.</p>
<p>Thank you, @GMT. Does everyone get it now? Can we move on?</p>
<p>I think we should start a sub-forum for the parents of lion tamers . . . it’s nice to know I’m not alone!!! (Thank you, chemmchimney! :))</p>
<p>And, no, ChoatieMom, not to worry - I could care less about acronyms! If my son had gotten in to one of those schools, you can be darned sure I’d be naming names . . . at every opportunity! :D</p>
<p>Here’s what I don’t get: people apply to all the hades schools because they are all great schools. But they’re all so different! There’s no possible way that each one of the hades schools is a fit for any one person-that just can’t be! So are people just applying to all of them for the sake of going to a prestigious school? I only applied to one hades school and got in. I wouldn’t recommend that (I had a good day school backup), but still, shouldn’t we be a little more picky in what schools we apply to? And base it more off the feel of the school than the ranking?</p>
<p>I think some people are truly not picky, then others haven’t stopped to think about the implications of going to a school where they will likely end up in the bottom half of the class ranking.</p>
<p>When looking at schools for my daughter, there so many that would appear to this part of her or that part of her etc. I think until we really go and visit them we are going to keep a broad spectrum in mind. I am not sure how many kids are like mine, she is very laid back and adjusts easily to almost anything. I really believe she could fit in almost anywhere and be happy wherever she goes.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that they’re all “so different” and for that matter, I don’t agree that one kid couldn’t possibly be happy at all of them. On the “so different” point, I’d argue that Deerfield, Hotchkiss, and St. Paul’s are an awful lot alike. Sure, minor differences here and there, but really I have a hard seeing that a kid who loved one wouldn’t have been equally happy at either of the other two. But even beyond schools that are relatively similar in terms of size, teaching philosophy, etc., some people are just more adaptable than others. Sure, there are some kids who have a really particular interest that’s only offered at a specific school, or something that’s just an absolute deal breaker for them. But there are other kids who have a generally go with the flow attitude and will find a way to be happy and content no matter where they go. I’ve used this analogy before, but I’ll use it again: some people believe that there is only one true love for them out there in this world, and that they shouldn’t get married until they find that one true love; other people believe that the “true love” concept is overrated, and that there are multiple people in the world with whom you could fall in love and marry. You can’t say that one perspective or the other is right or wrong, because it’s a perception thing – it’s true for the person who believes it.</p>
<p>I would add that whether or not a school is “the right one” is often based in large part on something a bit random – the ‘snapshot’, if you will, of the experience at Revisit Day. We revisited several schools, and at one, my daughter found herself having a great chat with a faculty member and then happened to sit at lunch with the most delightful group of girls, who welcomed her warmly and enthusiastically. That pretty much sealed the deal. Had we been there on a different day, she might have had a different impression of what life there would be like, and… who knows? We visited another school which turned her off completely, but a friend of hers absolutely loved that revisit and chose to attend that school…</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. I really did need some “enlightenment” as to why people apply to all or almost all of the hades schools. When I said “so different” I was talking about things such as size, sports, clubs, campus location, and general atmosphere. The schools are all very similar, but the differences seemed big to me because I was very picky during my search. I was also not a person who knew they were going to boarding school. I did not need/want a broad range of schools because if my top choices didnt work out, I could just go to day school back at home. Additionally, cameo, you talked about getting a snapshot of what a school is like when you go for revisit day. I guess another reason why I had this question was because I felt like I got a snapshot of schools just at my interviews. I interviewed at 3 schools, and automatically knocked two off the list from those visits. In other words, I didn’t feel like I needed revisit day since I’d already made up my mind which school was for me. This didnt leave me any back up in case I was rejected, but I was ok with that. Once again, I was not a kid who was just dying to go to boarding school. I was dying to go to a good school, and if boarding school didnt work out, I had other options.</p>