<p>Anyone attending, or knowledgeable, Gunnery or the Darrow School? Good experiences? Bad? Academically? Unfortunately i've found myself in the position of applying late to schools, so my options are limited but those are the two that have gotten back to me (so far) saying they have space. Master's posted on the SSAT site they did, but then when i e-mailed their admissions they said they have no space...?</p>
<p>The SSAT SCCA list includes some day schools. The Masters on that list is in CT, and is a day school. Perhaps you contacted Masters NY which has boarding.</p>
<p>I know 2 people whose children attend Gunnery, and they are happy with the program. They are not good friends, so that is all I know. If you have any interest in single sex education, then contact some of the girl schools like Emma Willard, Miss Porters, and Westover. If a boy, contact Salisbury, Avon Old Farms and Trinity Pawling.</p>
<p>Someone on this board was just accepted late to Berkshire. You might want to contact Berkshire, Northfield Mt. Hermon, Kent, Williston Northampton and Pomfret. If you are not limited to New England, I hear very good things about the Asheville School. I'm sure there are many more! </p>
<p>I don't know anything about Darrow.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>The only thing I know about Darrow is that there is a concert series on the grounds in the summer called Tannery Pond Concert Series. It's in a beautiful barn on the school grounds. Very bucolic, very serene, very beautiful place. There is an older gentleman in my town who graduated from Darrow, but I doubt his experience would be pertinent today. I think it is a working farm?? That is my only brush with Darrow. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.</p>
<p>I happened to look at the Putney School's website, and though not quite right for my kids, the video on their site showing the "all school sing" is about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I believe they are still taking apps.</p>
<p>Oh, and you have to do manual labor at Darrow. It's part of their Hands to Work, Shaker philosophy. I don't know if they sing "Simply Gifts" whilst shoveling or not. <smile></smile></p>
<p>Also, check out Millbrook. I have a good friend who graduated there and loved it.</p>
<p>You might also contact Blair Academy. My son goes there, and it's a great school. Their applications have increased significantly in the last 2 years, so they may not have any openings. It's worth a try though. Last year there was someone on this board who applied late and got in.</p>
<p>Two VERY different places: The Gunnery (which we know well as D applied last year) is a traditional, coat and tie old New England prep school. Girls have strict dress code and boys wear their class tie daily. Small, very hands on, with an impressive woman head of school. Prety campus, smaller endowment, decent college matriculation. About 285 kids, sports are emphasized, PG's.</p>
<p>Darrow, on a former Shaker campus in New York State, is a much more ummmm, progressive environment. No dress code to speak of, not much of an
athletic program, very small endowment. For lack of a better word, I would call Darrow an Alternative school. I'm guessing less than 150 kids, who would for the most part be unhappy in a traditional environment. College list not impressive by the usual standards.</p>
<p>Good luck...</p>
<p>Millbrook is an excellent idea. Stunning campus in Dutchess County, NY. They have an excellent Community Service program and the only fully working certified Zoo at any school in the United States. If your child likes animals, he or she can be a part of the Zoo program and actually take care of one. It's really pretty cool.</p>
<p>The School has spent a small fortune on new buildings over the last five years. Really nice facilities. I listened to the headmaster Drew Casertano speak about a year ago. He's impressive. One famous Millbrook alum, who just passed away, was William F. Buckley. </p>
<p>We have close friends whose daughter is being graduated this year and she had a fantastic experience.</p>
<p>I was looking at blair, i know several of the staff, but i can't find an admission's e-mail ANYWHERE to inquire....do you happen to know it?</p>
<p>and thank you all for your input, definitely know Darrow is not for me now (:</p>
<p>oh, nevermind found it!</p>
<p>I agree with the past poster---Gunnery and Darrow could not be more different! Darrow is very open to all types of students. They do a great job in giving kids a second chance, whether they have poor grades, a past personal issue, etc. Of course there are many regular students there as well, but Darrow is generally known as an excellent school for the non-traditional student, or for one who has yet to meet his potential.</p>
<p>Gunnery on the other hand, is a jacket and tie traditional school, with a close community, kids going on to top colleges. It is one of my favorites actually. I know they have a few spaces for girls, and are full for boys.</p>
<p>We know several boys who play lacrosse for Gunnery and their families are thrilled with the school. It will be on our list for son #2 when he applies.</p>
<p>Yes, gunnery told me they MIGHT have space for girls, but seemed like a very uh...conditional 'yes'. and they have ZERO aid available, which is a problem for me. but thank you for all the responses! </p>
<p>so far my options that still accept late apps/have space for junior girls and have a some amount of aid left (for those who might be wondering) are:</p>
<p>Miss Halls
Westover
Milton (i hear not so good for boarders though...too many day studs?)
St Andrew's (in DE) (more of a waitlist thing though)
Darrow (but does not seem the school for me..and they have a very,very small endowment)
and a few schoosl still havent gotten back to me. Most are willing to give me a spot but i have to pay full tuition. And unfortunately i don't have oh, 40 odd thousands dollars just sitting around (:</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to The Gunnery, and although she has chosen to attend another school, we were impressed with the school. The campus is beautiful, the faculty members we met were very engaging and friendly, and the girls dorms were probably the nicest out of all the schools we visited. One nice thing about The Gunnery is their inclusion of day students. Each day student is assigned to a dorm room (with 2 boarders), so she can go there to study at night and feel more a part of the boarding experience.</p>
<p>I went to Darrow for one year, prior to transferring to St. Mark's. During my welcome meeting at the school the Headmaster proclaimed that this entering class marked the fact that "Darrow is no longer a second-rate flunky school for rich kids". The irony being that is the best description of Darrow. With the exception of the 5-6 inner-city scholarship students, everyone had been kicked out of another school. Darrow was, and is, a second-chance school. I came to Darrow (after having been roundly rejected at the schools to which I applied the first time around and then found Darrow that summer) knowing that I would re-apply to other, more traditional (read: prestigious) schools. The Darrow experience is best described, as a poster suggests above, as alternative. It is a very small school with an interesting and engaged faculty but the academics are, at best, mediocre. I arrived at Darrow from a top-notch middle school with good grades and left Darrow with EXCELLENT grades having done little work. I'm not too familiar with The Gunnery so I couldn't compare the two but I can tell you that Darrow is not at all a place to go if you eventually plan to enroll in a competitive college or university. It is a place to go and spend 1-4 years and get out with a high school diploma.</p>
<p>I really like the whole school tie thing in Gunnery. There is just something about school spirit that I like. Hehe
Wow, USBA aLUMN.....that's really interesting?</p>
<p>What's the best college someone from Darrow can get into?</p>
<p>Darrow's college acceptances for 2008:</p>
<p>How would you rate that list? I can't really tell since I don't know that much about colleges, and usually I only look at how many kid's got into Ivy Leagues.</p>
<p>The Darrow list of colleges is strikingly similar to the college lists of public schools in the communities that surround Darrow. The biggest difference is that the public schools (in New York State) also send kids to just about every SUNY you could imagine. Another difference is that the public schools send at least a couple kids to the Ivys or colleges of nearly equal prestige. </p>
<p>Darrow has worked out well for several families I know, but in all three cases Darrow provided a second chance for kids who were underachieving in public school. We know several other families who had the same problem with their kids in public school and achieved similar results at Emma Willard and the Albany Academy.</p>
<p>Are there any good colleges that jump out of that list?</p>