<p>HI Everyone...</p>
<p>DD is getting close to making a decision.... Does any have any thoughts on the 3 schools listed above with regard to:</p>
<p>-academic rigor
-athletics
-culture/social life
-college counseling.</p>
<p>Any and all comments are most welcome!</p>
<p>Thx in advance.... :)</p>
<p>This decision comes down to fit for your child. Based on what you want to here about each school:</p>
<p>From Best to Least Best
Academic Rigor: Nobles, BBN, Concord
Athletics: Nobles, BBN, Concord
Social Life: BBN, Nobles, Concord</p>
<p>I really don’t know anything about the college counselling at the schools. Here are my opinions on the schools:</p>
<p>Nobles:
Extremely preppy, called the white supremecy school at my current school, has great academics, known to have the girls and boys that think they are “it”/the best, Very good athletics, huge rivalry with Milton, supposedly a very good college counseling office, more for the socially apt person although quiet kids can fit in as good as most high schools, overall great school, play in one of the toughest athletics leagues in Massachusetts, overall great school</p>
<p>BBN:
Known to be a pressure cooker but I don’t see it with my friends in any way whatsoever, based on my previous statement: probably has great academics as well, also same league as Nobles and usually does very well at all sports, has great culture, blue-collared kids, sounds very easy to makes friends, like I said, I don’t know much about college counselling, great campus, has lower and middle school, great school again</p>
<p>Concord:
School where I got in and will probably attend so I might be a bit biased: interesting course, most likely fit your daughter’s academic desires, has very interesting teachers, great feel when visited, beautiful campus, 40 percent boarding, has an up and coming athletics after being known mostly as an arts school, great culture as it seems that everyone is friends, great school</p>
<p>Overall you can’t go wrong. If I were you, I would narrow it down to 2 schools to revisit and decide from there. It is entirely okay to keep it at 3 and visit them as well.</p>
<p>Very different schools–VERY different. Rather than creating a pro/con list-- go and visit. Believe me, you will NOT have any trouble deciding where you belong and were you do not. </p>
<p>It is all a matter of fit–These schools are not like choosing Groton or Saint Pauls in which the distinctions aren’t as great (I know that partisans of both schools will say there are differences and one is sooo much better than the otherbut it seems from an informed outsider like Freud’s narcissism of small differences.)-- these three schools are worlds away from each other–in fact I am surprised that you had all three on a list as they are so different. But you WILL know where you belong.</p>
<p>Thanks etondad… you are very insightful! I appreciate your thoughtful comments.</p>
<p>CA is close to home and DD could be a walk-on varsity player in all sports.</p>
<p>BB&N and Nobles would be about a 40 minute commute – so doable with a car pool or bus ride. She also got into Rivers but where I think she could really shine but we worry that it is not at the level of the other schools academically.</p>
<p>We are signed up for the revisit days… I guess I never realized how many amazing students there are out there… my DD is a very good athlete and excellent student (95% SSAT/straight A/Johns Hopkins Math Scholar)… but honestly, there seems to be a lot of kids like that even though she is a standout in her school…</p>
<p>Thanks-- any other thoughts?</p>
<p>HI Denroo13</p>
<p>Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful response.</p>
<p>Do you worry at all about being a day student at a boarding school? that is what worries us about CA… Also, we have heard that the curriculum is very “open” and not structured…Do you think not being in the ISL sports league is a disadvantage… DD plays a club sport and I worry she will be frustrated with the level of competition (or lack of it…) people were very nice there…</p>
<p>What are your other choices?</p>
<p>I’ll just address CA since Nobles was too far for us to look at and my kids didn’t feel BB&N was a good match for what they were looking for. All 3 schools have great reputations, so you can kind of relax and decide which program and environment is the best match.</p>
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<p>Both my kids were day students at CA. A major reason they chose CA is because it has boarders. The day students and boarders blend seamlessly. Both my kids enjoyed having friends from a variety of places such as New York City and China. My second kid stays for dinner almost every night to spend more time with friends (mostly boarders but some other day students). </p>
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<p>No, it’s a pretty standard strong college prep curriculum with the usual requirements (4 years English, 2 1/2 years math (though most take more), etc.). There are more electives than at most schools its size. For example, juniors and seniors choose from a wide variety of English electives. All freshman take the same European history class either first or second semester, but choose from three electives the other semester.</p>
<p>In addition to the standard requirements, there are performing arts, visual arts, and computer proficiency requirements.</p>
<p>The curriculum is very rigorous. However, there is no class ranking, no honors, and no awards, so there’s no added pressure from those things and no sense of competition between the students.</p>
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<p>It really depends what you’re looking for. Teams are more-or-less competitive in their league (EIL). Some teams are consistently very good (skiing and cross country). I’d recommend calling and talking to the athletic director if this is a major concern.</p>
<p>About 70% of students are on a sports team, but it’s not a school where life revolves around sports. Being a top athlete won’t help your social standing (there’s not really much social stratification to begin with).</p>
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<p>It’s a very welcoming atmosphere that’s not cliquey and without pressure to act or look a certain way. The social life is relaxed with a lot of friendships (including a lot of male/female and cross-grade friendships) and probably less dating and related activities than other schools. Almost all social events / activities (organized or just hanging out) my kids have participated in have been on campus or on a school trip (which means that as a parent I’m not wondering where they are). There’s an annual survey of student behaviors and perceptions; the school shares the aggregate results with the parents each year. An extremely high percent of the students report that they feel that they fit in at the school.</p>
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<p>The college process is very good and the counselors are excellent. The process is student driven (they come up with the initial list of colleges and the counselor helps them narrow it down and/or add additional colleges to consider). The focus is on finding the best match for each student, not necessarily the most prestigious school they can get into. Students go to a wide variety of excellent schools: selective liberal arts colleges, Ivy-league schools, engineering-oriented schools like MIT, women’s colleges, arts-oriented schools.</p>
<p>If your dd is that good in sports (varsity level), then Nobles is for her. Their girls sports are very strong and coupled with the academic support, she will do very well especially at college admissions. Last year, a couple of girls were recruited to Harvard for hockey and it seems like the girl athletes get into Ivys, if that is your goal.</p>
<p>Yes, if sports are important then Nobles and to a lesser extent BBN is where to go. Nobles has a scholar-jock mentality-- it is not dissimilar to NESCAC colleges.</p>
<p>I would not have called BBN “blue-collared” at all. My view has always been that it’s very “masters of the universe” - where Boston’s answer to Wall Stretch sends their kids. In other words, a lot of private equity money (which is different than Nobles in the sense that both have lots of kids with money, but Nobles is preppier, blue-blood type money). Yes, I know I’m generalizing, obviously both schools have lots of kids who don’t fit these stereotypes. But I do know not one, but two, people whose kids were at BBN and took them out part way through high school because eye couldn’t deal with the rampant materialism there.</p>
<p>There are people with lots of money everywhere (thanks to the stock market - IB, hedge founders, etc). You can’t live your life “running” away from this. It would have been better if these parents have set down their children and explained the “facts” of life and why material things are not important, etc.</p>
<p>I am not sure why Nobles have the preppy reputation - is it because of the dress code? They have a dress code of collared shirts and khaki pants for boys. There are lots of kids from the inner city too, not just kids from the wealthy suburbs.</p>
<p>A note about athletics-Nobles does have extremely strong athletics and many kids are recruited by Ivy and NESCAC schools out of Nobles. The flip side of this is that if your student is a strong but not amazing athlete they may not make varsity until their senior year. I’ve seen a few kids who went into the school thinking of themselves as serious athletes discouraged by this. When my child went for her revisit day the majority of the kids she met who played her main sport were playing club as well as school sports. In other words, they were leaving school at 5:30, going straight to a club practice, choking down a sandwich in the car and getting home at 7:30 or 8 to face 4 or 5 hours of homework. Some kids thrive on such a schedule but it’s tough on most.</p>
<p>Irishmom-there’s money and then there’s MONEY. A sizable number of families at Nobles have MONEY.</p>
<p>In my experience most old money doesn’t ever show it-- if anything they go in for reverse snobbery-- see Digby Bazell’s writings or even the Preppy Handbook. Those who wear new VV clothes et al are not old money-- look for the person with Sperrys that care held together with duct tape.</p>
<p>The rap on Nobles (and in this I’m sure the school is not alone) is that a generation ago there was more subtle old money-beat up Volvos, hand-me-down Izods, and keggers in the basement. Now there’s a much greater display of wealth, with kids throwing lavish parties and simply being more open about their families’ wealth.</p>
<p>At all three schools, most students’s families don’t receive financial aid. Do students hail from new money, or from old money? Yes.</p>
<p>Revisit. You will prefer one school. Choose that one.</p>
<p>Ditto etondad and periwinkle. Any of these schools is a good choice. One is just likely a better fit for your daughter. These schools have very different feels, and you will most likely feel more at home at one than the other. I would also not underestimate the toll of that 40 minute commute on a daily basis.</p>
<p>On the sports side, depending on the sport and your daughter’s level of talent and commitment, her highest level of play may come from her club team. Does she want to continue with that club team? Are you thinking she will be a recruited athlete? D1 or D3? Does she need to continue with the club team for that to be realistic? Being a captain in her chosen sport can make a difference sometimes. That may be a more attainable goal at a school where she is more of a standout athlete. Only you know how athletics fits into the overall school decision, but if you are thinking about it for college these are factors you might want to consider.</p>
<p>^^^ ceomom</p>
<p>What school did your daughter choose?</p>
<p>I was accepted into bbn, and i LOVED school! However, I was also accepted into my first choice so I’m attending there instead. Out of any other schools other than the one I am attending, BBN is too good to be true!
I have looked at the stats and it’s academic rigor is definitely way up there, especially in terms of day schools. Although the school has been known to be a pressure cooker, no one i spoke to had any experience like that. Personally, I would say that because your daughter was admitted, they obviously believed she could handle it.
I can’t say as much about athletics, simple because my athletic ability is slightly lacking ;). I just thought it was really cool how they had an INDOOR tennis court/hockey rink/boat-rower-practice-thingy!
The people at bbn all really seem to enjoy it! When I was visiting the whole school was just smiling it seemed. Everyone seemed happy, and proud of their school. Not a single student I spoke to said anything that made them sound less than in love with their school. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think something like fit really must be decided by the applicant. </p>
<p>So, that was my case. Where did your daughter decide to attend? 
I’m sure she would do well in any of the schools!</p>