<p>This is a great idea! I’ve been lurking for a few months, and I’ve been really discouraged by the constant elevation of the most popular schools, as if less popular schools don’t contain really good teachers or students. Include me as one who has had enough of the made-up acronym ‘HADES,’ and has little interest in defining a large number of excellent schools based on what they are not. What about “Great Schools Outside New England,” “Great Small Schools,” “Great Girls’ Schools,”? Just a suggestion–better brains than mine will have better ideas, I’m sure.</p>
<p>I’m SO in.</p>
<p>In addition to banning the term “HADES,” could the subforum also ban any mention of college matriculation, average SAT scores and the word “Ivy” ?</p>
<p>There have been several times on this forum when I have been forced into using the term “HADES.” I always try to put it in quotes or preface it’s use with “so-called.”</p>
<p>Some time in the past, I proposed QUIXOY as an alternative simply because there are no prep schools to my knowledge (other than the Oliverian School) that start with those letters. It didn’t really catch on. ;)</p>
<p>I’m just so thankful that my kids don’t have a Harvard or bust mentality because I really don’t think I could deal with something like that.</p>
<p>I dunno, I mean i’m all for saying “To Hell with HADES!”, but GLADCHEMMS, hmm, that just brings a smile…</p>
<p>signed,
leanid (GLADCHEMMS coiner)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t know. I agree that the obsession with “stats” is counterproductive. I suspect it drives people away from the forum. There are many good schools outside “HADES” that do wonderful jobs preparing students for the same colleges. I have to smile each time a poster asks, “Is Groton a good school? (Taft, Brooks, Milton, Commonwealth School, etc.)” </p>
<p>My mischievous side is tempted to christen the schools LIMBO (Lawrenceville, Idyllwild, Milton, Belmont Hill, Oldfields), but that would be going too far. ;)</p>
<p>One school you could mention is the Cate school in California. It’s starting to grow in popularity for NY prep kids. </p>
<p>[Cate</a> School](<a href=“http://www.cate.org/]Cate”>http://www.cate.org/)</p>
<p>Count me in the HADES GLADCHEMS bashing! Most annoying terms on cc. But you cant discount scores/matriculations in your choices of school. They are part and parcel…</p>
<p>I agree that matriculation stats are <em>one</em> thing to look at when selecting schools, but should not be the driving factor when selecting a school. </p>
<p>Sure, the brand-name schools do send lots of kids to Ivy league schools and similar. But it seems to me that there might be many reasons why kids from less well known schools don’t go to the Ivies. I believe that driven kids at the big boarding schools want to go to big universities. Likewise, many kids who are getting a great education at much smaller boarding schools might want to continue onto a small college, rather than going to (what might seem to them) a huge, unfriendly university. Can they all get into the very best liberal arts colleges? No, nor do all the students at Exeter who want to go to Harvard, etc… Competition is fierce, and we are still near the peak number of kids applying to college, so clearly it is harder for everyone to get in to top schools, no matter where you come from. </p>
<p>It is up to the kids to figure out what they want, where they will get the education they want, and where they will be happy. If a student at a lesser-known BS works his butt off, there is no reason why he can’t be as successful in getting into the college of his choice as students at brand-name schools. </p>
<p>As a side note, I also have to believe that if so many super smart kids are applying to boarding school these days, that the reputations of the lesser-known schools will also rise along with the abilities of their student bodies, at least if the students are willing to go to those non-brand name schools.</p>
<p>I really like the idea of making it a separate subforum, maybe called “Hidden Gems” I’ll send the admins a note this weekend.</p>
<p>count me in. </p>
<p>On top of all the other good reasons for a thread about “whatever it is we’re going to call it”, I have really enjoyed reading the thoughtful postings of so many of the parents here, and hope that we will still have a reason to be sharing thoughts once the kids are settled in to whereever they are going. Expanding our horizons sounds like a really positive reason to keep checking the boards!</p>
<p>Great Idea on the subforum. It opens the opportunity to have threads about specific schools.</p>
<p>Interesting to note that all the support registered here seems to be coming only from parents…</p>
<p>Sevendad - I like the “Hidden Gems” moniker.</p>
<p>Smell like coup d’</p>
<p>@Creative1: Not surprising, really. But I think if the idea does come to fruition, we’ll see a bunch of traction…</p>
<p>Anyone contact a moderator/webmaster yet?</p>
<p>@kraordawoh: I just left a message…Again, I didn’t see a way to PM, but they do have a public message board (limited to 1000 char).</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/members/admin-19053.html#vmessage34330[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/members/admin-19053.html#vmessage34330</a></p>
<p>@SevenDad: If you don’t get a response over the next day or so, I’ll send them one as well. If you want, PM me the text so I can be consistent.</p>
<p>I was one of those kids who had no experience with anything related to boarding school before stumbling upon college confidential last year. I applied to all acronym schools the first time I applied because I was clueless that other schools existed. I definitely fell for all of the talk about which schools were “the best” without doing much research for myself. Needless to say, the last admissions season didn’t turn out how I had planned. If there was more talk of “hidden gems” then maybe I would have considered schools that were better fits for me. I’ll be attending a non-acronym school next year and hopefully I can be of some assistance in bringing light to these lesser known schools. </p>
<p>So yes, this thread would be great for users who are new to this site!</p>
<p>Some suggestions for a forum name:</p>
<p>“Beyond Pomp, Prestige and Pedigree”</p>
<p>“Off the Beaten Path” or “Roads Less Traveled”</p>
<p>“Open To All Options”</p>
<p>and, of course:</p>
<p>“Bunkel Index Value Picks”</p>
<p>^^ I would like a more closely knit name — “For the rest of us”, which I guarantee will become the most clicked among all.</p>