<p>We are in the middle of campus tours and interviews (4 out of 6 done) with my daughter. One school we visited which my wife, daughter and I all liked a lot was Pomfret. This is a school which doesn't get much mention on this site and I am wondering if anybody has thoughts or opinions regarding it.</p>
<p>It is a school that matches up well with my daughter's sport (I think they have been top 3 or 4 for the last five years). We liked the small size (we aren't even visiting a lot of the big schools that are talked about a lot on this site). Facilities seemed comprehensive and modern, perhaps not as overwhelmingly impressive as some of the bigger more well known schools but no obvious deficiencies. Beautiful location (although almost 3 hours from home and some of the other schools we are visiting are closer) and campus. Some interesting curriculum requirements (for example, students must take an arts (very broadly defined) course two out of three terms every year).</p>
<p>I anticipate people saying academics are a notch down from the top schools, although with a few exceptions (only three languages is disappointing) I have to say curriculum looks pretty good. Acceptance rate is higher and average SAT is lower than the big name schools, but I often wonder whether these measures and a lot of the other things which people on CC obssess over are really differences that don't ultimately make a difference for most kids. If a child has the skills and motivation to do well it seems to me there are quite a few schools out there that could be a good fit for them and where they will succeed (not just the 5-10 schools that get most of the focus on CC). I will admit that it seems like there are "athletic schools" out there where academics may be materially lower, but this doesn't strike me as one of those.</p>
<p>Long ways to go in the process (2 more interviews/visits, applications, waiting for acceptances, etc.) so really more looking for information at this point than anything else.</p>
<p>biffgnar, yes CC obsesses on a few schools. It's a product of young students not really looking deeply into schools and other various conditions that people suffer from.lol So bask to Pomfret, I think it's a fine school. It might be a bit easier to get into v some other schools, but it sounds like you and your family are beyond that condition/issue. It's definitely a school I would be proud to have my kids go to. It really has a rich history and according to my wife and D #2 who visited the campus over the summer, it is quite beautiful. IMO Pomfret is a school that has the academic rigor for all. I wish you and your family well and hope you find the best school for your child.</p>
<p>We didn't visit Pomfret when we toured last year because my son didn't want a coat & tie school. I just finished reading "The Greenes' Guide to Boarding Schools," and they recommend sending your child to a school in which that child can be in the top third of the class while being active in sports, arts &/or ec's. If your child could be in the top third at Pomfret and you all loved it, then I wish you luck with an acceptance there.</p>
<p>Burb parent, the greene's are saying top third as a spot to the top school? I posted some time ago stats of a few schools that showed 3 out of 4 students got into most competitive schools. I have yet to read the book, are they referring to s just a few top colleges/uni's?</p>
<p>biffgnar, what other schools is your d applying to?</p>
<p>It's lots of typing, but here is what they say: "When asked to define the philosophy or principle that underlies our counseling of students, we have a fundamental goal in mind. We want every student to enroll in a school that will enable him or her to become a top third performer both in and out of the classroom. What do we mean by this? The individual who performs at an academic level that places him in the top third of his class, while at the same time allowing for engagement in leadership roles, athletics, the arts, community service, and relaxed interaction with classmates emerges from school with the confidence and skill sets that may well define college and adult life. Given that acceptance into a quality college is one of the purposes in attending a boarding school, the good news is that the top one third performer is a highly appealing candidate."</p>
<p>Burb parent, thanks so much. No reference is made to any name school, but rather where you finish at said school. Wow, I would have never considered a place like exeter, when I could have gone to %*&^& and finshed in the top third. Burb parent, do you think that also applies to day schools?</p>
<p>Of course, some people are in the top third at Exeter too! I imagine it would apply to day schools as well.</p>
<p>The six schools we are visiting are Choate, Pomfret, Deerfield, Berkshire, Taft and Hotchkiss. Have visited Choate, Pomfret, Deerfield and Berkshire so far. Hotchkiss and Taft will be next week, although we visited Hotchkiss once already unofficially over the summer at the invitation of the head coach for her sport. Will be interesting to see if it feels different with students there. Inputs into choice of schools were her sport, size of school, setting of school, percentage of boarders v. days and distance from home. Nothing was a hard and fast rule (for example, there is a range in size in those six) but can use those factors to narrow a list. Has been interesting to see that every school has had a different feel when we visited. It is absolutely true what people say that you have to really should visit schools before deciding what you like and what you don't like. As we are going through the process I think my daughter sees those differences and it is becoming clear to her where she fits. Will just have to see if the admissions offices agree.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have a good handle on things and a good variety of schools.</p>
<p>I agree with being in the top 1/3 of the class to improve college choices (unless your daughter is a guaranteed Division I NCAA athlete). It also helps with FA as well, if that is a concern.</p>
<p>If your daughter's sport is a team sport, the best advice I can give is go where she is more likely to play significant time as a freshman on the varsity squad. It may be an average or weaker team, but the experience and exposure (college scouts) is more important. Your daughter is more likely to be noticed as the top talent on her average team than as an average player on the championship team.</p>
<p>I've been through the process in the last year and if you have questions, feel free to post or PM.</p>
<p>I don't publicly post my daughter's school of attendance as I don't want to steer the young participants one way or another.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure our children share the same sport. Your comments about playing time make complete sense to me. Getting a sense for where she fits in the talent spectrum (I have an opinion but it is naturally biased) is definitely something we are trying to do in the process. We started by contacting coaches at the end of last year, talking with them over the course of the summer, attending showcase tournament over the summer where some of the coaches saw her play and visiting some of the campuses to spend time with the coaches in person. On our interview visits we have been spending further time with the coaches. In the coming months some of the coaches will be making trips to see her play and we will video some of her games for those who can't make it to a game live. Discussions to date have been interesting. It most cases the coaches are very tactful about what they say regarding not guaranteeing anybody anything and holding tryouts. It has seemed like though there is an underlying message being delivered which thankfully in most cases has been if she can get in the school there is a spot for her on the varsity and she will be a contributor. It is encouraging since these programs are all top 10 in her sport and a couple of them are the very top programs.</p>
<p>Pomfret was highly recommended to us by an educational consultant several years ago. The only reason we ruled it out was because it didn't have spring track. It is an excellent school.</p>
<p>Biffgnar,</p>
<p>I am assuming that your daughter is in one of the more prestigous club hockey programs in the region, but has your current coach talked to any of the prospective coaches, with regard to your daughter?</p>
<p>I went looking for your previous posts and noticed the one about how graduates of certain schools are more actively recruited while graduates from other places have to take more initiative in order to get considered. I think much the same idea applies with hockey recruitment. I think if you look down the rosters and find out where these girls have played before, you will find the biases of the coaches involved.</p>
<p>Since my daughter played for a team nobody ever heard of, from a place where nobody comes from, we had an uphill battle to place my daughter. And the fact that my daughter's team in thier only game against Assabet ('05 Nationals) lost 3-1 despite being outshot 62-4 in a 36 minute game didn't open too many doors at any schools. There are some very strong coach preferences out there for which club you come from.</p>
<p>Unsolicited advice on video...</p>
<p>Coaches want to see how a player plays on a team, so the best camera situation is probably a long, full ice-shot from high up just behind the goalie. Which end of the ice depends upon which position she plays. High corner shots are fine too. Both angles show the play development and how well she reads the action and reacts.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that the coaches are delivering the correct message about getting in the school.</p>
<p>Most importantly, I'm sure you've heard of the broken leg test. If your daughter didn't or couldn't make the team (because of a broken leg - or even didn't perform well at tryout) would she still want to go to school there?</p>
<p>Good Luck and feel free to ask more.</p>
<p>Actually she doesn't play for one of the superclubs. We live in suburbs north of NYC. The closest of the high level clubs (Stars, Polar Bears or Colonials) are probably an hour and fifteen to an hour and a half each way and while I know there are families out there that sign up to commitments like that (and greater) for their kids to play that is not a realistic option for us. She plays with local girls programs but most of them are targeted toward more developmental girls. This is her sixth year playing and she is at a different level than girls that are only in their second or third year playing. She started playing in the boys game and continues to do so playing Peewee A last year and just starting the year as a Bantam B this year. The coaches of both her boys and girls teams are very supportive and have offered to be references to the prep school coaches, but as you point out the prep school coaches don't know them like they do the coaches of the superclubs.</p>
<p>My daughter has done summer clinics with Moe Tarrant, the girl's coach at Greenwich Academy and the guy who runs the CT Stars. Moe is one of the most dedicated people to women's hockey you will ever meet and he has offered to be helpful also. We will probably take him up on that offer as the coaches will know him and he has seen what her level of play is.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice on the video. Makes sense that they need to see the full ice and see how she is reacting to the play rather than just a close in shot on her. I think we will likely use some of her boys games for the video as the speed of play is faster and she tends to step up her game a little more. Shot from high behind the goalie isn't really an option at our home rink, but we should be able to do high corner shot. On the boys team she plays center so will probably pick the end of the ice where we expect most of the action to be (team is middle of the pack so there are games where they will control the offense and games where they will be pinned in their end most of the game).</p>
<p>Broken leg test is absolutely being discussed as we look at schools. Given that we aren't close to any of the superclubs the opportunity to play at a high level was one of the reasons she first started thinking about boarding school, but as she has looked into the schools and the experience it has become about a lot more than that. In fact, I think today if we told her she wasn't going to play hockey anymore she would still want to go away.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider now that you mention a connection to one of the larger club orgainizatons is the pre-post possibilities at the schools you mentioned. </p>
<p>Most of the superclubs 16U and 19U teams (and some of the 14U) are pre-post prep players. </p>
<p>There are advantages and disadvantages to this arrangement. The obvious advantages are more ice time, college exposure and connections within hockey.</p>
<p>However, I've heard stories that the extra time committment (practice on Saturday after your prep game and play on Sunday) on these girls can eat up all avaliable free time and in some cases interfere with their academic success.</p>
<p>It is probably something to consider having available for future years, but I wouldn't recommend it for 9th grade. My daughter has an open invitation from her previous 14U club to just show up (goalies can do these things) Thanksgiving, the Polar Bear, and her January break weekend to get in the minimum 10 games to go to nationals. However nationals is (and has always been) scheduled for the 1st week of spring term (I think this is universal to all prep schools, ugh!). While her school would probably (and has in the past to other players) give time off to attend nationals as her grades are excellent, currently she feels that she can't afford to take the time off and keep up those grades as she uses every minute of her 12 hours/week of study time and then some. We will let her make the call on this.</p>
<p>And where my daughter goes to school, there really aren't any superclubs available nearby for her to pre-post on in future years (her club only fields 12U and 14U), so my daughter will probably remain prep-only for the rest of high school.</p>
<p>And even if you do choose a school near one of these superclubs, there is no guarantee that you will have a pre-post spot. Most of these girls are just returning to their old organizations that they played 12U and 14U for. I don't know how the CT Stars run their program, but I'm sure that the coach could probably give you more insight as to the success of pre-post than I can.</p>
<p>And I'm glad to hear that your daughter is looking at prep school regardless of the hockey. Going for the education and life experience is a good thing. My daughter is very happy to be out of what is the "best" public school in our area and in a more challenging environment.</p>
<p>We have discussed the option of playing club hockey in addition to school hockey with every coach. Universal response is that of course it is not necessary and that the coaches worry about the girls burning out, but most of them recognize that many of the girls want to play more than just the winter season. I know my daughter starts to get a little crazy if she is off the ice for more than a couple weeks during the summer. With that in mind opinions seem to vary from coaches who are supportive and themselves involved with one of the clubs (Hotchkiss and Pomfret as examples where the coaches are also club coaches) to coaches who merely tolerate it (with opinions in between also). Location of the school seemed to have an impact on how many girls also play club (for example, much easier for Choate girls than for Deerfield girls given where the clubs are and where the campuses are). To a lesser degree it felt like at the top programs girls may be more comfortable that they are getting lots of exposure to college coaches and don't need to play club. I would guess that this isn't really an issue and that at almost every program the girls with the ability will not get missed. All coaches very clear that school commitments (academic and athletic, including other sports) come first, although it sounds like Nationals and Lake Placid tryouts are accomodated. One school did have a student who was on a national team and had to make further accomodations for that, but if you are that good I am sure exceptions can be made at a lot of places. I am sure I am not telling you anything you don't already know though if you went through the process recently. Understood that finding a spot at a club may not be the easiest thing either if my daughter hasn't been with the club before. This is all very secondary though. Our decision will be made on what is the right school for her and if a club option exists we will consider it at the time.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have an excellent grasp on things in the pre-post department and your priorities straight.</p>
<p>My daughter was on her skates for 50 weeks a year for the last 5 years (her choice not ours) until this last summer (injury at goalie camp) and I was a bit worried that she would go stir crazy off the ice.</p>
<p>She is now playing field hockey (a new sport to her) as a forward and enjoying it (even scoring). She hasn't had her skates on in a month (that will change soon, though) and she is doing just fine. Girls play sports for much different reasons than us guys, so I think their adjustment process is a bit different as well.</p>
<p>One other helpful tidbit...</p>
<p>I don't know how far you are looking down the road at hockey, but if you want to learn a bit more about the womens college hockey environment you might want to check out this board (if you haven't already)...</p>
<p><a href="http://board.uscho.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6%5B/url%5D">http://board.uscho.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6</a></p>
<p>Mostly they are college hockey threads, but there is a girls prep thread (currently inactive as it is off season without much to talk about) and a thread about getting into Division I that may be of interest to you.</p>
<p>I think I've about exhausted my general advice for girls prep hockey, now.</p>
<p>Good luck and keep us posted as to your daughter's journey.</p>
<p>Other sports is definitely an interesting topic when the girls are so committed to hockey. My daughter has played soccer the last few years and most recently was playing on a premier level club, although as a bench player not a starter (she is a much better hockey player than soccer player). She quit this year though. Makes our schedule much easier and we always tell her she can stop any of it (hockey included) whenever she wants. She started lacrosse last year for her middle school and may stick with that. She has resisted field hockey to date, although she listened this summer when we visited Hotchkiss and the athletic director/assistant girl's hockey coach/field hockey coach, who we met with in addition to head hockey coach, started to sell her on field hockey. She has also talked about trying crew if she ends up at a school where that is offered.</p>
<p>I do read the USCHO board also. Trying not to jump the gun and think about anything like that till the time comes, but it is interesting.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts. It is good to hear from people who have been in similar situations. Sounds like things are going great for your daughter. Congratulations on that.</p>
<p>Pomfret is a great school. I have sent some kids there including hockey players, and they and the parents have been very pleased.</p>
<p>Ok, now I have a question regarding Pomfret. Is it considered more a sport school or more academics. I understand that all schools are many things, but what do people consider Pomfret to be?</p>