<p>i would be iffy about sending him to a Founder’s League school (i went to taft).
knowing taft and reading your description of your son, i wouldn’t send him there. taft is not very good with “non-conformists,” especially among boys (meaning, you ought to be a hockey player or a laxer).
i would say no to loomis too, since loomis is much more of a sports school.
choate tends to be more “hockey-oriented,” but it’s academics are much more challenging than other schools.
st. paul’s has a lot of really intelligent kids… but, from what i’ve heard, their strenuous academics leads students to go down… not so desirable paths so to speak. i may be wrong on this front.
i don’t know that much about other schools, but the founder’s league schools tend to be of the same ‘genre’ (for lack of better words). meaning that, a lot of them are typical new england boarding schools and not very open to non-conformity. there are always, however, the exception kids. that, however, is another story.
if you’re cool with west coast schools, i would honestly go with that. schools like kate and thatcher have beautiful campuses and tend to be more non-conformist friendly and very much less sports-oriented. thatcher falls better beneath the latter categories. of course, i don’t know much about the cali schools, so i could be wrong.</p>
<p>ALSO. about the late application. i’m applying as a junior with a late app, so i’ve done some research on this subject. this year, they’re getting LOADS of apps, since the upper-middle class and upper class are (economically) starting to do better. BUT. i would recommend apply NOW, even with a late app. i came into to taft as a new sophomore, and i’m telling you, coming in as a freshmen is much better (and easier, application-wise). look at it this way… schools taking in applications for freshmen have to accept an entire class of kids. a late application wouldn’t hurt. even if he didn’t get in this time around, it would give him good experience for the second time around applying as a new sophomore.</p>
<p>THIRD THING. (sorry, i’m dragging). as a student, i wouldn’t be worried about required arts and sports. first of all, it’s a good way to get introduced into new stuff. for example, he could simply take beginner’s art, beginner’s photography, and beginner’s ceramics. and there, he’s done with his arts. sports-wise, no school requires you to participate in teams… they simply can’t have that many players on one team. there are other activities available, like volunteering or yoga. but, your son could even get into a sport he never thought he’d enjoy. i never even knew lax existed before i arrived in new england. but now, i play at the jv level, and i LOVE it.</p>
<p>hope this helped.</p>