Yes
OK, I was thinking PEA and Andover were the most stressful academics and SPS and Deerfield were slightly less. Thanks for correcting me!
To be clear, I was commenting on the level of homework.
The stress level, IMO, is brought upon by the individual studentās themselves, not by external factors (except possibly parents).
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Please let me know how your daughter likes it! So happy to hear there are private lessons available, I was unaware of that. There is something about the Deerfield community that speaks to me. Of course, SPS and Deerfield both have low acceptance rates so itās not like I will be choosing from so many optionsā¦I may get no acceptances or just one.
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If you are willing to stray from the East Coast, Idyllwild is a great Arts BS where you can major in dance- they even have their own class for male dancers.
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Will do. Feel free to PM me in a few weeks if I forget. It only takes one. Thatās all she got (applied to 3).
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That looks great, but my mom is not wiling to let me go that far away. 
i understand the struggle 
Really helpful to hear your thoughts. And, I want to commend you for doing your research on this. You sound thoughtful and I am excited for your future.
SPS, DA, PA will all have likely workloads that are in that ballpark that you say donāt want. My advice would be to listen to your inner voice on that. I had a daughter who attended Andover, and she knew by Christmas freshman year that she didnāt enjoy 4 hours of homework a night. Caveat: some kids will definitely whiz through homework faster than others, for sure. But Andover is simply not one of those 2-hour-a-night schools. Not for anyone that she saw anyway.
She transferred to Mercersburg where she is finding plenty of rigor, and also some space to explore other things that she wants out of high school. No shade to Andover. Great for the right kid. I just think that too many kids put their hat in the ring ābecause itās Andoverā without really thinking through if itās a true fit, and they trust the admissions officers to sift through the applications and make that call for them on March 10: āAdmitted? you will surely be happy here!ā
So good for you for honoring yourself and not giving away that power to someone who frankly does not know you that well.
(I am not trying to talk you out of Andover, SPS or DA. Just know what you are signing up for.)
Knowing you are considering the pro path, and also knowing that being invited into a pre-pro in middle school means you are quite talented, I might offer slightly different point of view.
Walnut Hill or Harid or UNCSA might be higher on my list for you, depending on the type of ballet you study. (Iām sure you know that Harid is very Vaganova so a definite particular path.)
Interlochen ā I still donāt have much insight, but your comment about āonly offering 85%ā max aid makes me think that maybe you need to get the financial piece into the puzzle more prominently and prioritize schools where you have a chance of getting near-full scholarships.
If your family qualifies for FA, you might be able to go to one of the ātopā boarding schools for free, since they have strong endowments. (Andover, SPS, DA all have free or near-free tuition for lower income families.)
Mercersburg is another school that has very strong FA, and also they offer merit scholarship so the resulting tuition can become very affordable.
The good news about wanting partnering is that you are a boy, which can be the hardest part to offering partnering. :). So you should be a very appealing candidate to a school that wants to offer partnering. That said ā I have no idea which of the schools we are discussing actually have ballet at that level. (WH, Harid, SPS ā I cannot imagine for a second they donāt, but the true boarding schools ā not sure.)
BTW ā Idyllwild ā we considered very briefly. Unless something major has changed, I feel confident in saying it is not the level of rigor you are seeking.
Cheering you on as you go into this journey!
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Financial aid is a must. One of the reasons we have looked at the top schools is that we qualify for full aid or close to it. I score well on tests, though I havenāt done ssat yet, and my grades are good. But that doesnāt mean I want the pressure cooker experience. Iām smart, but Iād rather be dancing! Going to have to give it all some more thought and maybe even wait until 10th grade year.
Iām a little late to this thread, but thought I could offer some experiences. I have a non dancer at Mercersburg. When we went on the tour, little sib tagged along and the dance teacher immediately spotted little sib as a dancer and started a friendly chat with sib. The facilities are amazing at Mburg and the dance company seems to be pretty large. It sounds like youāve already started your research so best of luck with that.
Little sib, who was in pre-pro in NYC (not SAB or ABT) for 10 years, ended up at St Andrewās. They have a dance studio, an amazing dedicated dance teacher and are inclusive to anyone who wants to dance. That being said, because the school is so small, the number of dancers isnāt large and I would say there are 3 ballet dancers (one of whom is a very tall boy) who are experienced ballet dancers. While this might not be exactly what you are looking for, Avi Gold (the dance teacher) might be perfect for you. First off, heās a male dancer who has danced professionally, so he knows how to teach ballet and Iām guessing he also knows how to teach men fairly well. I also like that while I can tell heās rigorous with my kid, he is inclusive to all body types and dance levels and celebrates everyoneās accomplishments equally. While SAS will never have the fancy Nutcracker with the gorgeous costumes, you will get a lot of one on one attention from someone who has been there and done that.
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There may be more ballet dancers once the 9th grade enters campus. This was based on last year.
Do you know how many dance hours are available for the more experienced dancers at SAS? Also, do you view a very tall male dancer as a positive or negative? Just curious since you mentioned his height.
Iām leaning towards Deerfield or SPS, but afraid my SSAT score will not be high enough after taking some practice tests. Mercersburg doesnāt have enough information on their website or videos to get a good idea of what is available so I will contact them directly since so many have mentioned them.
Thanks for the info!
Here is what I have learned from my Deerfield dancer. She is taking one academic period of dance which is the most advanced dancers. They meet for about 1.5 hours every other day, and it sounds like initially they will be doing ballet, but not sure). For the after school co-curricular dance, you choose your genres. They meet for about 2-3 hours a day. Then there is 2 hours on Saturday. Sundays are rehearsals. First for parent weekend, then after that Nutcracker rehearsals will be on Sundays. The show parent weekend will have 4 pieces, ballet, modern, jazz and hip hop. She is only requesting to be cast in one. Each rehearsal is 1.5 hours on Sundays and she needs a day off. She said the ballet dancers look pretty good, and coming from her old school she does not say that lightly. However, I believe there is currently only one advanced boy. SPS would definitely have a stronger ballet program with more boys, but she is happy with the overall quality of the program at Deerfield.
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Thank you for the update! Definitely both Deerfield and SPS seem like a good fit as far as dance, but SSAT is worrying me. Verbal is a soul crusher!
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Good luck! I donāt know anything about that test. My kiddo took the SAT and ACT. I hear more talk about how difficult the SSAT is than the college entrance tests
Yep, my SAT in 7th was great. SSAT is harder mainly due to the vocab section. Would love to submit just the SAT, but they donāt allow 8th grade applicants to do that.
When I took the SAT centuries ago, I believe it had a vocab sectionā¦. Glad itās gone.
My DD is begging her brother to apply to Deerfield next year. He is considering, but would just apply there, and would wing it on the ssat. And has no hook (great grades, gifted program, adv. algebra 2 in 9th gr. prestigious stem camp acceptance/attendance this summer, and ok-getting better at a not very high profile sport) So itās probably not even worth going through the effort. But a BOY dancer may be enough to make up for a so so vocab score, provided the rest of your application and interviews are great.
Being a boy dancer is only a plus for schools who really care about dance, and I have found many do not. Big sports rule most places. Donāt they realize dancers are also athletes?
I am applying to very few schools because the dance programs at most are very weak, if they exist at all. Not many options, and the ones that have good dance programs have high expectations for SSAT scores.
I think you are too worried about the SSAT. There are kids with total score percentages in the 80s or even lower who get in to SPS and Deerfield. It depends on the rest of the application. As excellent male dancers are few, I think youād have a strong chance for both schools if you have excellent grades and recommendations, whatever your SSAT.
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