<p>I looked at your original post again. Could you elaborate on “single focus”?</p>
<p>Cornell University!!</p>
<p>I second the recommendation to look at Commonwealth as well as BUA. Commonwealth has great academics and puts less emphasis on sports. However, they do offer a number of less traditional sports, including sailing, squash, and fencing. My impression of the school is that there are a lot of smart, but quirky kids and it tends to be a pretty accepting environment. If you are interested in applying to Commonwealth (or BUA) your son will be required to spend a day at the school attending classes with current students. Most kids seem to know if the school is a good fit by the end of the day.</p>
<p>Also, my impression of Belmont Hill is that there is a lot of emphasis put on athletics and it is a better fit for the more extroverted, athletic kid.</p>
<p>Finally, as far as boarding schools, I have a kid at Choate who is also quiet and not super athletic and we’ve found the school to be a good fit. I’ve always found Choate to be more diverse than some of the other BS. Lots of different kids. </p>
<p>Also, in some ways boarding school is better for the quiet/shy kid who otherwise might have trouble making friends. Having a roommate and living in dorms 24/7 definitely breaks down barriers and insures that even the more introverted kid gets to know his classmates.</p>
<p>Sports can play a big part of the social scene at quite a few of the schools - and from the folks I know of, a kid not interested or skilled at the usual set of high school sports would not fit in well at Belmont Hill or Rivers. I can’t speak to the boarding schools on this point. Both Commonwealth and BUA, as already mentioned, work well for kids who are not strong on sports - and both also let kids who become interested in sports to jump right in. Both BUA and Commonwealth are big on fencing - and often many of the team members have never fenced before coming to the school. Look closely at the sports requirements for any school and be sure you can live with it.</p>
<p>Academics at BUA are hard to beat! (And I will note that I am a BUA parent so you may consider me biased.) Kids who are ‘nerds’ in the sense that they actually enjoy academics are generally a very good fit. Visiting is really important - I really recommend that your child spend a day at the school.</p>
<p>A school’s being diverse is not enough; the school would need to value and accept diversity. Northfield Mount Hermon doesn’t just talk the talk, but welcomes quiet nerdy kids and values them. It does not pressure then into turning not sorority wannabes. There are a lot of quiet nerdy kids who have lots of quiet nerdy friends at NMH.</p>
<p>I think Groton. Middlesex and Concord are all good choices from the way you describe your son but are hard to get into. You probably also want to look at some schools where the acceptance rates are a bit higher and your school counselor could help with assessing this, especially the acceptance rates from Fay.
Belmont Hill is usually considered to be one of the most sports-oriented schools around and might not be the best choice for a kid you describe as a “nerd”, but visiting could make this easier to judge. The humanities program seemed strongest at Belmont Hill—less of a math/science place. Roxbury Latin in West Roxbury may not be commutable from your town and doesn’t take a lot of ninth graders but is definitely a school that is comfortable for intellectual boys. Rivers seemed nurturing but not so academically challenging when we visited it. Commonwealth in Boston and Northfield Mount Hermon sound like good possibilities to visit. You might also put day school Buckingham Browne & Nichols on your list to visit if Cambridge is commutable from your town. Strong sports programs but a wider mix of types of students, definitely including lots of intellectual kids.</p>
<p>Did someone actually suggest Bel Hill? Bel Hill is the biggest jock school of all that have been mentioned and one of the heaviest recruiters. </p>
<p>I think Groton and Middlesex, due to their smaller sizes, are less “accepting” of nerdy kids. Since the student body is so small, there’s much more pressure to be “the norm.” I second the suggestion of Exeter (which is known to be a nerd school and has a top 5 national math teams in the nation) and Andover. Maybe even St. Pauls. These schools are big enough that your son will find someone he can relate to. I don’t know much about BUA/Commonwealth, so I won’t comment on those.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestion, very helpful. I will cross out Belmont Hill first then. </p>
<p>The thoughts on big vs small schools are refreshing to me, I always thought small might be more nurturing and supportive.</p>
<p>Also, as I look into it, Commonweal and BUA don’t offer Chinese, which my son is taking now. It is just unfortunate.</p>
<p>Fay seems to have a good acceptance record with some schools such as Middlesex, but not others such as PA and PE. It is certainly will be great experience for us.</p>
<p>I think you have several factors to balance in your search.</p>
<p>Day or Boarding?
“Nerd” friendly climate?
Chinese?
Difficulty of Admission!</p>
<p>Chinese is a popular language, and many schools are adding the language. I found a website which lists schools which offer Chinese: [Chinese</a> Language Programs in American Schools](<a href=“AskAsia: A K-12 Resource of the Asia Society. Hotels in Asien finden”>AskAsia: A K-12 Resource of the Asia Society. Hotels in Asien finden). Also, don’t assume that a school which doesn’t have Chinese at present is not planning to add the language. I believe that it was on St. Mark’s “to do” list, although I have no idea whether they will change their mind or not. It’s worth a call, though, because admissions departments will know if their school has firm plans to add Chinese.</p>
<p>After going through the process with one child, though, I think you should add some schools to visit which don’t offer Chinese. It would be very possible to build a list of schools which offer Chinese, and then find that your son doesn’t feel “at home” at any one of them. Also, if the list were to consist of Hotchkiss, Deerfield, Andover, and Choate, he might love all the schools, but not be accepted by any of them come March 10th, 2010.</p>
<p>I suggest that you visit schools. Open houses are very useful, and if you live in Massachusetts, it would be easy to visit a number of schools next Fall, to expand your list. Last year, Andover scheduled interviews for local student during the summer, which is a good way to get a start on the process.</p>
<p>Boston University Academy doesn’t offer Chinese, but Boston University does.</p>
<p>Periwinkle is correct - once your son is a junior, he can return to taking Chinese. In fact, one of this year’s graduating seniors did a senior thesis (a big piece of work equal to an honors class) on Chinese. There are usually a few kids taking Chinese at BU as juniors and seniors.
The size question is tricky. BUA does well there - it is small and supportive, but as kids grow up they are able to move out to BU courses which gives them extraordinary variety. BUA has some tours in the summer - I don’t know details as I think it’s a new thing this year.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with the expressed speculation by another poster that Groton is not accepting of nerdy kids because of its smaller size. Excellence in any area is respected there-whether theater, debate, sports, ping pong, academics, etc… It is really surprising to see how interested boys can be there in things like drama or arts. (I assume there is a converse analogy for girls, but I have an S.) Actually, furniture making is sort of a bizarre and beloved tradition for the seniors. But, above all, academic excellence is really respected. It is also one of the academically most intense schools anywhere. If you do not have a fair amount of inner nerd, you will not survive there. The pressure can be intense, so you want to be sure that you are both a very smart and a very hard-working nerd. FYI, unlike some of the HEADS schools which acknowledge and accept their grade inflation, Groton prides itself on giving out very few A’s.</p>
<p>Sometimes having a LARGE group of smart kids helps the shy kid find his social niche. NMH is large enough (650), with enough smart kids to offer plenty of classes and activities (that are not just 6 Korean rocket scientists.)</p>
<p>38 students participated in AIME/AMC competitions this year, with a different team sent to each competition date.</p>
<p>The science club hosted the Massachusetts Science league competitions</p>
<p>The solar car project brought gear-heads and engineers out of the closet. </p>
<p>Huge offers of AP level classes. For example three sections of AP chem at two levels: regualar AP Chem and ‘death chem.’ Multiple sections of the AP calc. With multiple sections, one does not run into the dreaded scheduling conflicts. </p>
<p>The gaming club, theater groups, and tap/jazz class seem to attract the cum laude crowd. But before you worry about obsessive Brawl or D&D in the gaming club, they seem to spend more time on movies then games. They congregate in the info commons of the library and in the center section of the dining hall. </p>
<p>There are a lot of smart kids and a lot of smart nerdy kids at NMH. When creating social environments for nerdy kids, numbers really do matter.</p>
<p>When we toured Groton, one of the things that impressed us was that when we passed a student, our tour guide greeted the student by name and then told us something about him/her. He would say, “That was so-and-so. He’s an amazing pianist, math whiz, writer, etc.” When showing us the black box theatre, he said that although theatre wasn’t really his “thing”, he had a friend who was amazingly talented at lighting.</p>
<p>So in our very brief experience at the school, we found exactly what Old1 described.</p>
<p>Wow, toadstool! 38 doing AMC/AIME is a lot! I’m impressed. AMC/AIME groups are a great way to find the shy kids who like math. MathCounts is great too, but the very public format , I think, is not to the taste of some.<br>
Looking at the clubs and ECs is a great way to get the feel of a school too. First Robotics is another sure sign of math/science/computer geeks.
Gaming and Anime clubs are good too. BUA’s gaming club “Nerdly Hobbies” does more than just D&D - and it’s a great place for kids of all grades to mix too.</p>
<p>After reading the chain, I see the list as Exeter (if you can get in), Rivers, Concord Academy, Commonwealth, and NMH.</p>
<p>Any others?</p>
<p>Take a look at Masters, in Dobbs Ferry, NY.</p>
<p>Dadslearning, don’t know if you are in great Boston area, Rivers and commonwealth are day schools.</p>
<p>Groton should be on the list too, another “if you can get in.”</p>
<p>My son ended up applying 5 schools this year including Exeter and Groton. We went Rivers and Commonwealth open house, he didn’t like either for different reasons.</p>
<p>If you you are in Boston area, Commonwealth and BU academy may not be too late. Last year, they were still taking application in April/May.</p>
<p>BUA will probably accept late applications, but I would call there (and Commonwealth) ASAP. Both are day schools, in downtown Boston. The commute isn’t nearly as difficult as you might think, particularly when public transport is used.</p>
<p>We are not in commuting distance of any day schools so we are looking at BS.</p>
<p>Any other boarding schools in NE/NY besides Exeter, Groton, NMH, Masters?</p>