Late Application to Boarding School

Prep School Admissions
21

<p>at my school, we're not allowed to drop classes because we're not allowed to choose them. the only classes we are allowed to choose are either french or spanish in ninth grade and art or music in 11th. we have to take those classes and there's no way out of them. we also don't have classes with kids in other grades, which makes things harder. Oh, and did I mention? We have to take 9 classes in which we have finals. </p>

<p>I go to a Jewish school. (that pretty much sums it up. they'll get mad if they find out that i'm switching to a non-jewish school. it complicates things.)</p>

<p>but I could send the transcript to my house and send it from my house to the school I'm applying to... and I could tell my teachers the recommendations are for a summer program... </p>

<p>hm....</p>

22

<p>You sound quite conflicted, PurpoisePal. </p>

<p>Are you likely to get entheusiastic support from your parents for such a switch? They obviously chose your current school because they want a certain cultural/religious values they want for you. Assuming that they want a boarding school that has a religious requirement (attendance of a house of worship on a weekly basis), that narrows your choices down as well. When thinking of that Culver Academy in Indiana comes to mind (they have a worship requirement and will take you where you need to go to get it), but I think they may be lacking in the accelerated math you desire. </p>

<p>Getting the parents on board is critical if you are going to make this move and the sooner the better. You definitely need to prepare good alternatives and asking questions here is a good start.</p>

<p>Finding a religiously oriented school (generally more structured) that has a more open academic policy (self-paced honors type courses) is a tough order to fill. I'll admit, you have a very small target and are definitely late to the process. But you have to remain focused on making the best of the possiblities instead of picking at the problems of the alternatives.</p>

23

<p>Culver is a christian academy. I'm jewish. And my parents didn't pick my school for the "values" or whatnot. All my cousins went there and my parents didn't want to kill themselves with the admissions process for kindergarten. It's a great school, and the best jewish school in America (for college acceptances and stuff), and it was an easy option. Thankfully, my parents are completely supportive of my decision to go to boarding school.
And I don't want to go to a religious boarding school. As far as boarding schools are concerned, the less religious, the better. My parents agree. </p>

<p>So it's not so hard to actually find a school. The hard part is getting in.</p>

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<p>well, what are your stats? I go to public school, but maybe someone else here knows of a boarding school you haven't heard of yet that might be the right one, and with space!</p>

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<p>So the reason you want to switch is not because you can't take calculus - it's because you don't want to go to a religious school. I was going to suggest that you just wait until college to take calc, but as you do have other reasons for switching, I suppose it makes sense. Good luck!</p>

26

<p>I'll give you the basics (not including religious subjects): </p>

<p>English: A-, A, A-, A
History: A, A, A-, A
French: B, B+, A-, A-
Science: A, A-, A-, A (Bio then Chem)
Math: A+, A+, A, B+ (h. geometry then h. precalc)
Hebrew: A, A, A, A
Music: A, A
Art: A, A
Gym: A, A, A, A
Health: A, A, A, A</p>

<p>e.c. activities: piano (11 years), debate team (1 year), varsity girls hockey team (2 years), choir (2 years), school newspaper (2 years), school magazine assistant editor (2 years), art club (1 year), math team (1 year), school drum team (1 year), and I tutor twice a week. </p>

<p>I speak spanish, portugese, french, and hebrew all fluently. I'm hispanic (I heard that schools like diversity, so I hope that helps). </p>

<p>Last summer I went to camp, and this summer, I'll be taking advanced creative writing at columbia this year.</p>

<p>I took the SAT II Math 2C. I don't know how I did. </p>

<p>Unfabulous, I know, but here they are. I don't know how they're going to help, but if they do, that's great!</p>

27

<p>you got it. </p>

<p>but of course there are other reasons! lol </p>

<p>I mean, I'd have to be insane to move away from the city just because I didn't have the opportunity to take any math classes past calculus at my school. I mean, it's new york. I could go to pretty much any other day school if I wanted to (in the city). </p>

<p>Of course I have other reasons! (repeated for effect ;) )</p>

28

<p>What year are you looking to enter boarding school in? Are you a rising senior?</p>

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<p>rising junior. </p>

<p>(the four grades are for the four semesters)</p>

30

<p>Call the schools... admissions office and ask if that is possible, I applied late to a few schools a few years ago, one admitted me and the others all waitlisted me. But call and ask. However, have you visited these schools? If not, I wouldn't apply late and just wait till next year. Also, you might have a harder time at schools like LC, Choate, and such... they have huge waitlists and they probably will only take about... 5 kids off of it.</p>

31

<p>It seems like all but the really top schools take kids beyond season on a regular basis. A friend , also a rising junior, that doesn't have a great hs record, got into several schools including Northfield Mt. Hermon last month.</p>

32

<p>I can't wait till next year. I'll be a junior next year and I'd be applying to be a senior. There's no point in doing that. And actually, Loomis was the only coed school with any good reputation that has actual room. I wouldn't be waitlisted there. I want to go to exeter, milton, or andover, in that order, but I'd be happy at any of them. So I'd be waitlisted there and I would apply to Loomis and Emma Willard for safeties I guess.</p>

33

<p>PurpoisePal,</p>

<p>Impressive resume. BTW, Culver is not a "Christian" school. It actively supports the religious practices of any religion. They do have a requirement to spend at least 1 hour a week at a house of worship (of the student's choice) or 1 hour of meditation. They take their Jewish students to synagogue. The make arrangements for their Muslim students to attend to Friday prayers as well. </p>

<p>However, it is clear that you and your family are more happy with a secular solution, which is fine. I just wanted to get the information about Culver that I'm aware of posted, so that other viewers don't have an incorrect impression of the school.</p>

<p>With your grades and extra curriculars, you shouldn't have a problem with admissions at most schools if they can make room.</p>

<p>I'm not sure how good your debate skills are or how good your hockey game is, but contacting coaches in need of strong contributors is a potential way of finding slots that are not available to the general public at this point in the year.</p>

<p>Too bad you don't want to deal with the religious aspect of a school. Most "Christian" rooted schools do make accommodations for people of different faiths. For example, Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills OH - a Catholic School - does accept people of all faiths, but does have a religous education (teaching about religious tradition - not praying for an hour) requirement. It has a nationally competitive debate team and a pretty decent girls hockey team as well. They have rolling admissions and are still looking for very good female hockey players. The boarding situation is very small (50 or so students) in an upper school of about 300. Mostly hockey players and foreign students as boarders, though. They also have the high level math you are looking for (as well as other programs coordinated with Case Western). My daughter applied there, but declined their offer although we think very highly of it.</p>

<p>I don't know of other schools currently looking for female hockey players as we only looked at a handful of schools. But you can always find the email address of the coach on a schools site (and sometimes the phone number as well). Sometimes that is the fast path to admissions.</p>

<p>Good luck and if you have question on girls hockey, please ask.</p>

34

<p>One other note about not waiting a year....</p>

<p>I know the young lady who goaltended for Andover's girls hockey team the last 2 years and will be attending Yale this fall (to goaltend). She is one of the most articulate young ladies I've ever met. Andover admitted her to REPEAT 11th grade even though she scored very well on the AP US History exam in her home state school.</p>

<p>You can look at it as repeating 11th grade or taking a post grad year, but waiting until next year to go to Andover or Exeter could be an option. And it doesn't cost you in the college admissions department. </p>

<p>Just another option.</p>

35

<p>I don't think we'd be able to afford repeating, and I know we wouldn't qualify for financial aid. Under different circumstances, however, I probably would have opted for that. </p>

<p>So it's basically get in late or I can't apply.
sucky ultimatum, I know.</p>

36

<p>Hi
In response to your questions about late admissions, I went through the boarding school admissions this year and all the top schools like Loomis had overfilled their entering class for the fall of 2005, and the significant rise in applications this year to them has made them really really selective just because they don't have as much space as they used to. I loved Loomis when I visited. It's a very unique school and I think the best on your list. I hired an educational consultant this year and even though I never thought I'd be a person to get one, it was so worth it. I got into all my top choice schools that were really selective this year and I'm not at the top top of my class, so I knew without the consultant I wouldn't have had the tactics to get in because they have direct contact with the directors of admissions at all the top schools and that helped a lot. I'm going to be attending a top prep school in MA this fall and so I think you should late admissions is not gonna be your friend this year with the selective schools and the waitlists are really long and rarely used nowadays. This is something you should really think hard over if you want to do or not because you should be able to take the time to visit the schools and not be rushed!!! So my advice basically is take the summer to get organized and researched on your choice schools and go into the fall prepared to deal with the huge load of application stuff so the school you really want to get into will have time to get to know you on paper and in person, which late admissions can rarely do. The reality is that as you saw its tough just to get onto a waitlist, let alone get off of one. If your budget allows, get a consultant to help you right away and maybe something interesting can come out of this late admissions situation. I wish you all the best luck!!</p>

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<p>Emma Willard has excellent academics and a beautiful campus. And, while most don't think about it in advance, most people who attend single-sex schools end up finding it to be a really rewarding experience. You would certainly NOT be selling yourself short by going there. If you can still get a spot there I say go for it.</p>

38

<p>PurpoisePal, I'm not entirely certain, but just because Loomis has rolling admission does not mean you would be admitted right away. Applying as a new junior is atough spot to get and they fill up quickly, so be prepared to be put on the waitlist at Loomis instead of being denied application at other schools.</p>

39

<p>In the end, I decided not to apply to boarding school. Instead, I applied to one of the hill schools in Riverdale. I haven't heard back yet.</p>

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<p>Hi--I'm a senior at PEA currrently. I see that you didn't end up applying to any of those schools, but, I thought I'd just chime in to say that I know of at least one person who came to Exeter late over the summer! But, I think he might have been an exception. We had an unpredictedly high yield this year, so it probably wouldn't have been feasible. Best of luck in your general high school pursuits. </p>

<p>Ha, that was a totally unhelpful post. Oh well. ;)</p>