<p>i'm looking at 20 different schools at the moment for the 2012-2013 year. i need some help narrowing them down! can you please help me out?</p>
<p>-i don't like super religious schools</p>
<p>-i don't like incredibly small schools</p>
<p>-i'm athletic and i play soccer, lacrosse, and swimming (i'm also interested in sailing and field hockey), so it should have a good athletic program/facilities</p>
<p>-i don't care about the location, although i love really pretty campuses</p>
<p>-i love history and science</p>
<p>-it shouldn't be in the middle of nowhere</p>
<p>-it shouldn't be SUPER strict. i know some schools are really really strict and i'm not a fan of that hah</p>
<ul>
<li>means that they are already on the "must apply" list haha :)
Ok so here's the list-</li>
</ul>
<p>Exeter*
Andover*
Choate* -my mom went
Deerfield*
Hotchkiss*
Taft
Lawrenceville
St. Pauls
Loomis Chaffee
Berkshire
Concord
Milton
The Hill
Kent
Suffield
Tabor
Westminster
Cate
Stevenson
Milton Mountain School?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>it shouldn’t be “all work and no play” if you know what i mean haha</p>
<p>it should also have amazing academics obviously lol - i kinda left that out because i thought it was inevitable ha</p>
<p>Okay…although I can’t really help you, I’d just like to put a good word in for (of course) Peddie. Just glancing at your list, I can tell you that Peddie has good academics, has a great swim team, and top athletic facilities. I don’t think it’s in the middle of nowhere, because it’s about 1 and a half hours from Philadelphia and about 1 hour from New York, so you can access a lot of cities fast. It’s not religious, and it’s a good size (around 500 students, I believe). It has a compact campus, which is pretty in the seasons, but it’s not some sprawling, lush greenery place. The science facility is really top notch too (they just included a DNA splicing lab in their 15-16 million dollar science lab). If you haven’t heard about it, I would recommend checking it out!</p>
<p>thank you so much! :)</p>
<p>Hotchkiss and Berkshire are in the middle of no where, but are nice schools. For lots of water and sailing check out Tabor. Hotchkiss also has sailing but no crew:(. I’m fond of Choate but I don’t think they have sailing.</p>
<p>You’ve also marked as “already applying” all the HADES and a GLADCHEMM. I hope you include some other schools that aren’t so well-known. And why have you marked the other top schools (Andover, Exeter, etc.)?</p>
<p>i marked those schools because i already know for sure that i want to apply to them. i’m way more familiar with them than the others (b/c of my mother haha) and i’ve been looking at those for a while now. i want to include other lesser known schools, too!! thats why i would like to know more about them and select some that would work for me. :)</p>
<p>also, thank you for your help!</p>
<p>take off concord. its a REALLY small school. has good academics, but is very limited in terms of campus structure, number of students (low), and athletic facilities. i’d recommend middlesex for you instead since I found it really nice with great opportunities. its also approx 10 min from concord</p>
<p>Milton Mountain School isn’t an actual 9-12 boarding school. It’s a semester school for 11th graders that’s offered two semesters a year - fall and winter. You can apply to the school, if you’re interested, in your sophomore year for either semester.</p>
<p>i know. is the one semester worth it do you think?</p>
<p>Choate just began it’s sailing program this year. The program was a huge success and we plan on expanding it further next year</p>
<p>Actually Middlesex (375 students) and Concord (365) are the same overall size but Concord has a much higher day student percentage. The town center of Concord is considered part of the Concord Academy campus (campus is in the center) so students can go to the shops etc. The schools are very different in terms of overall feel, emphasis on sports, emphasis on community service, dress etc. Concord has a great dance program. Both excellent schools but completely different vibe. You can easily visit both in a day.</p>
<p>On my Cate revisit day, I fell in love with the campus. It’s one of the best schools on the west coast and is NOT strict at all. If you see how their students are dressed, you’d know what i mean (not that their inappropriate). You’re free to wear what ever you want… It’s really free with a big campus for small student body (only about 200). I met someone who had a TV in there room, along with a fridge, something prohibited at the preppy New England schools on the east coast (like mine, haha). Definitely add Cate to your list. I almost chose it over Choate!</p>
<p>Just a warning: Never visited and I’m studying to apply but I’m in love with Andover. It was the first BS I saw when I was researching them… I like the way they seem very strict with schooling but I also got the feeling that they want well rounded people to come out of their system. (Like You’d get into a good college and you’d have good memories). I don’t know, I prob won’t even get in, but there are some schools you have a natural feeling about (or at least for me), so I say go with whatever makes you want to pack and leave right now. I only have 3 or 4 school like that and I think if you approach it like that it helps a lot. (: Then again, I’m very naive to this process haha!</p>
<p>cool thanks!</p>
<p>updated list-</p>
<p>exeter
andover
choate
deerfield
taft
hotchkiss
lawrenceville?
st. pauls?
loomis chaffee?
berkshire?
milton?
peddie?
kent?
suffield?
tabor?
westminster?
stevenson?</p>
<p>should i take any of these off?</p>
<p>cool thanks!</p>
<p>updated list-</p>
<p>exeter
andover
choate
deerfield
taft
hotchkiss
lawrenceville?
st. pauls?
loomis chaffee?
berkshire?
milton?
peddie?
kent?
suffield?
tabor?
westminster?
stevenson?</p>
<p>should i take any of these off?</p>
<p>Okay, so since you’ve already decided to apply to Exeter, Andover, Choate, Deerfield, and Hotchkiss, I’m assuming that you have assessed your abilities accurately and believe you will possibly be accepted to these top-tier schools. That said, this is what I would do if I were you…</p>
<p>Choose two or three schools from this list:
Milton
Cate
Lawrenceville
St. Paul’s
Loomis Chaffee
Concord</p>
<p>Then, choose one or two schools from this list:
Taft
Berkshire
The Hill
Kent
Suffield
Tabor
Westminster
Stevenson
Milton Mountain School</p>
<p>And you should have a pretty well-rounded list of schools! I sort of split the schools up into somewhat equally numbered lists by prestige/reputation/the list of 2009 average SAT scores I have. I fully understand that people might disagree with the way I split it, but this is just my opinion. I have nothing against any of the schools in the second list and I know that they are all still great schools. Hope I helped. :)</p>
<p>Oops, sorry, didn’t see your above post before I posted. xD But personally, with a very biased opinion, I would suggest you add Milton to your list. I applied there this year, and I have a very close friend whom I’ve known for six years who’s sister is currently attending and she will be going there next year too. From what I’ve seen, Milton is an amazing school with rigorous academics and an incredibly friendly atmosphere. The admissions officers were more than happy to help me through the process, even though we had many complications with my skype interview call. Milton was my first choice this year, and I will definitely be reapplying to it next year. :)</p>
<p>thank you very much! :)</p>
<p>@funnyfish,
If I were you, I’d take @aaralyn’s advice and divide your schools into categories, and pick certain schools from those categories. For example, you could put all the schools with sub 20% acceptance rates in one category and pick a few schools from their. Then, make a place for schools with a 20% -30% acceptance rate. And the, make a category for schools with an acceptance rate greater than 30%. Also, I’d limit your applications at 10. More than that would be suicide. Good luck though.</p>