<p>Seems odd to me that in talking about top West Coast boarding schools, no one mentions Webb Schools. It has very strong academics too and a very thoughtful approach to education. Not as surreal and beautiful of a campus–Cate wins for beauty-- but it attracts super bright kids, has access to the Claremont colleges and does very well with college matriculation. They also do something interesting with boys and girls–kind of a hybrid co-ed single sex thing: for 9th and 10th grade the boys and girls are separate for academic classes but all activities, meals, socials, and campus are coed. We know a couple of families who are quite happy with their kids there.</p>
<p>just got the cate booklet. in the jargon of the kids, “it’s sick!!”</p>
<p>Sdoc,
- its 3+ hrs away from LA if I remember right. One can ski w/in 45 minutes of No NE
- Snow, iffy. One can ski in Nov. until May here.
- Thats one ski area. Here we have 10+ ski areas w/in 3 hrs if you include ME, and VT.
Sorry, I love Cali but you cant compete with NE skiing. If you would like to talk about beaches, you will win that one but I am sure all the peeps on the Cape will argue that one with ya.</p>
<p>erlanger - I’ve also heard only great things about Webb. When my son was putting together his initial list of prospective schools and expressed an interest in the West Coast, I suggested that he include Webb. But since he is a boarding student, he only wanted to look at schools that had an 80+ percent boarding population. I wasn’t aware of Webb’s hybrid single-sex / coed classroom philosophy. </p>
<p>catg - I agree! It’s a great place to visit on Parents’ weekend too.</p>
<p>As someone who just graduated from Cate about a week ago, I can answer any student specific questions if anyone would like me to.</p>
<p>Glad to see some attention paid to Cate and Thacher!! The majority of families and kids on this site dismiss them as second tier schools compared to the usual suspects on the East Coast, just as I once did (mistakenly). Whereas the similarities among the New England and mid-Atlantic boarding schools are abundant, there are fundamental differences between Thacher/Cate and any of the eastern schools. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to assess those differences without visiting Ojai and Carpinteria and experiencing for oneself the students, faculty, campuses, and core attitudinal differences. Once you have a taste, it’s hard to imagine anything better (says the biased ThacherParent.)</p>
<p>outliers, care to give us a paragraph or two on your experience?</p>
<p>Well, I don’t really know what to say about Cate as a whole other than I had a LOT of fun. All of the teachers genuinely care about you, unless you annoy them then some will make fun of you. Athletics are also a big part of my Cate experience. There’s always fun stuff to do, and even though academics are very important at Cate, other than right before school breaks the work load is never too tough - even with a 4/5ap workload. With the changes to the schedule coming this next year it looks like a lot of stress will dissipate. Only thing I didn’t like was the reputation I got with some of my local friends. Sentiments similar to “you go to a spoiled rich kid school” or “you play fake football up there on the mesa” are widespread throughout Carpinteria.</p>
<p>If you have specific questions about anything I think I’d be better at answering those…</p>
<p>I would concur that Cate, Thacher and Webb offer superb boarding school experiences (although I am obviously biased as I have a daughter at Thacher) for those willing to consider California.
I will (in a most friendly way) have to challenge Hockeymom on her put downs of Calif. ski resorts: Mammoth Mountain has one of the longest seasons in the nation, having had many years with skiing on July 4. Up here in NorCal, we have about 10 decent resorts within an hour or 2 including Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood (which gets over 400" of natural snow each year), so our local high schools have snowboard and ski teams, but no surfing teams. There is also the Squaw Valley Academy which offers a boarding school experience with daily skiing at the resort.
All things being equal,however, I think Utah and Colorado resorts have better snow than either California or the Northeast, but that is another discussion.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a good bs for a girl who loves animals, is interested in music (guitar), art and creative writing who is a good but not great student? I like NMH but I don’t know if that is a good fit or too much of a reach?</p>
<p>She can take a look at Millbrook. If she loves animals, she will love Trevor Zoo.</p>
<p>PA-C, I agree with Burb Parent, Millbrook is an amazing school. It has an excellent headmaster, strong community service, lovely campus with new buildings and, of course, the Trevor Zoo. No other boarding school has anything like that Zoo; it’s amazing.</p>
<p>Millbrook’s academics and student quality are strong, but not Tier 1. Very supportive faculty. Solid, respectable college matriculation.</p>
<p>NMH is a good school, but according to Peterson’s it’s acceptance rate was 51% in '08. Shouldn’t be too much of a reach.</p>
<p>DD is probably a low ave student right now. She is on honor roll but in average level classes and works hard to achieve honor roll (As and Bs).</p>
<p>A word about Millbrook. I don’t think it’s for everyone. (What school is?) Yes, there is the Trevor Zoo. But academics are spotty. Great history and english departments. Terrible math department. Lackluster, at best, science department. Languages? Laughable. It sounds as if the headmaster is well respected. Frankly, not sure. I could make a case both ways. Yes, the campus is beautiful. Is that a reason to choose a school? As to the kids. Well. It depends on the year. There have been some pretty smarmy kids in various classes. Classic sarcastic denegraders. A lot of kids there wishing they had gotten in somewhere else. I would put Millbrook towards to bottom of my list.</p>
<p>velcro - do you have a child attending Millbrook today or who did attend Millbrook in the past? How current is your information and how close are you to the facts?</p>