<p>I know I must be an outlier here but my kid didn't score in the 99th percentile on the SSAT, doesn't have a straight A+ transcript, didn't found a charity, didn't win a prestigious science award, etc. He is a pretty normal 14 year-old and our public school option doesn't seem to do a lot for the middle of the road academic kids who happen to be good at sports. That's why we're looking at boarding schools. We think the best fit is a smaller one (i.e. ~400 or fewer students) that offers good (not top 10) academics where he can develop his academic potential in smaller classes with achievement oriented classmates. We want a nice campus with good facilities and a supportive, community feel. We've identified four schools that seem to fit this profile. Now we're just waiting the final three weeks until decision time. Best of luck to anyone else who's in the same boat.</p>
<p>Bravo! It’s also fine by me if he doesn’t apply to Harvard in 4 years. Best of luck for happy results next month.</p>
<p>It’s more than fine. PA and PEA are schools for extremely ambitious, rather intense students with a desire for rigorous, pressure-cooker academics. That comes with its share of good and bad, and it’s not for everyone. Sounds like you have a good idea of what kind of environment your son would thrive in, and in the end that’s all that matters! Best of luck! (I am also waiting for decision letters)</p>
<p>Ditto Bravo, WMDad. You son should look at many other fine schools in New England and elsewhere. The HADES schools can be very tough on kids. Sure they have a lot to offer, but so do all the others. Best idea is to take him to a few and see which one he feels comfortable at, NMH, Tabor, Governor Dummer (hate the new name), etc. All great schools. Great teaching, and great friends.</p>
<p>Oh yes, it is beyond OK not to apply to those schools! My son is looking for things similar to your son, although he’s a better student than athlete. He also wants a smaller school and a nice community. He would be miserable at a HADES school or one like that. He doesn’t want the academic atmosphere to be so intense, but he does want and expect to be challenged. </p>
<p>He is very comfortable with the five schools he applied to, and we are looking forward to mid-March when we hope we hear at least some good news.</p>
<p>Don’t let the posts by the obsessively competitive students scare you or make you feel second-class. I’m sure you and your son know what’s best for him, and that’s what it’s all about.</p>
<p>You’re not alone, WM Dad, we’re in the same boat! Good luck!</p>
<p>This topic became an argument in our house for about a minute. My husband suggested that our son only apply to E & A. Son chimed in to say those schools are not his top choices but he’ll give them a look. 6 months later he applied to one GLADCHEMM(his reach school) and three other schools that suited him. E & A did not make his list. 
@papa, Governor D changed their name some yrs. ago to The Governors school.</p>
<p>what schools did you kid apply to, wellmeaningdad?</p>
<p>Join the club.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess it’s ok, It could mean that he’ll end up in some challenging environment but not over his head that he’s miserable for the next four years. He might have to start on a team sport. God forbid he picks up a new sport. I don’t know, around 400 students or less he won’t be able to hide and full through a crack if anything starts to go South. He’ll probably have some adult hanging over him that he’ll have to meet up with once week to check in on him and once in a while have to eat over at his house/apartment too. Geez, what if he opens up to that stranger more than he opens up to Mom or Dad. So much for freedom with responsibility for a 14-15 year old. Even worse, will run into a few kids like himself and end up with a roommate from Jackson, Wyoming and want to spend Thanksgiving there. Oh, and the facilities at these campuses are absurd, one would think it’s a club med. Aren’t only all the good faculty at those other schools? What to do when he tells Mom that he considers it his second home! Sounds ok, I guess, he just might fit in.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, it’s really nice to read your post. Best of luck for March 10th!</p>
<p>Every thing is not for everybody. (my personal mantra)</p>
<p>My d didnt get 99% SSAT, nor straight A’s or found a charity, got into E and declined it for a school she felt was a better match.</p>
<p>I feel it is my child’s best interest that we found the best fit. It sound like that is what you are doing.</p>
<p>Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>I applaud you. It’s more than okay. Boards like these whip people into a frenzy about what is “best.” What is “best” is based on the fit for your son or daughter.</p>
<p>And surprisingly, a lot of people who are well known and have made great contributions in their lives were not HADES grads. Many entered BS with less than perfect grades and scores. Scores do not measure the worth or value of a child.</p>
<p>(It will probably drive people crazy to know that HADES does admit those "less than perfect kids too).</p>
<p>Hooray for you for finding schools that fit your child. I’m a HADES grad and my kid had her own ideas about where she fit and pursued it passionately. In the end, I agreed with her choice and she’s really happy where she landed.</p>
<p>Best of luck for March 10th. You sound like a terrific dad with a good head on his shoulders.</p>
<p>of course! those kind of schools are very competitive and even if your child gets in, he may not want to like Alexz825Mom. im not applying to those schools because of distance, also they are just such big schools, and I don’t feel like i would fit in well. there are hundreds of schools in the world to choose from, and its important to find one that is a good “fit” for your child, and your family. the only schools i’m applying to are only an hour away, so i can frequently visit home.
hope this helped and best of luck on March 10th!</p>
<p>Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;</p>
<p>Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,</p>
<p>And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.</p>
<p>I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~R.F.</p>
<p>best of luclk to your son in March!!!</p>
<p>PA and PEA are the perfect schools for perfect kids and for those who are less than perfect.
“Not top 10” schools are the perfect schools for less than perfect kids and for those who are perfect.
You’ll find both at both.
zp</p>
<p>
Wow! Have we just seen a hero or many heroes who’d “make all the difference” born? 
Could people who have not been selected by A or E join the club too, or is it reserved for people who have not applied/will not apply to A or E only? </p>
<p>“Is it o.k"? what do you think silly?</p>
<p>There are 4 boys schools in our city that send about 50-70% of their 8th and 9th graders to different BS’s. If you figure thats roughly 120 boys for the 8th grade, and perhaps around 50 - 75 boys in 9th, plus throw in another 10/20 that would make roughly 225 boys per average year that apply to BS. Over the 9/10 years you get to know pretty much all of them through sports, etc., or at least “of” them, so you have a rough idea where people are applying. Well, in my older son’s year of application out of all the boys, I knew only 17 had applied to either/or/both PAA or PEA. Out of those only 5 chose to attend PAA and 2 PEA. Just saying.</p>
<p>mhmm, 7 attendees out of 17 applicants? That’s a 41% admit rate even without counting the ones who turned down A/E offers. And 5 from the same school attending Andover? Your son’s school is very strong.</p>
<p>The 5 werent from one school. They were from 4 different schools. Same year (5 yrs ago). Its not necessarily that the schools are strong (although of course they will say that they are), its that for the past 100 yrs or more they have done nothing else but prepared boys to go to Boarding Schools 
.</p>
<p>I just want to upgrade my son’s daily school experience. I want him in smaller classes where he can’t hide in the back row and goof around with his buddies. I want him to realize that it’s o.k. to get good grades (i.e. it’s not just for nerds anymore). I want him to take some academic risks, see how far he can go in math, take some more art classes, learn from teachers who don’t leave rubber trying to get out of the parking lot at 2:00 PM. I want him to be around kids who aren’t going to peak at 15. I want him to be around other athletes who are as serious about sports as he is. I want him to meet people from around the country (and the globe) who will make him think a little differently than when he arrived. I want him to realize that these can be great years. I want him to give me a big hug when I see him after he’s been there for a few weeks and made some new friends. I want to take him out for a burger and hear about all the cool things he’s doing at his new school.</p>