hi
my son is currently in 9th grade
he wants to go to a prep/ boarding school in ct
to play hockey in the new england league
i am really only interested in a school that has good not the best academics as well.
my problem is that i am reading a lot about the ssat scores and have concerns
about his first and only test score taken with out any preparations… the score is not good.
he is an honor roll student taking advanced classes approx 4.0 gpa
and very good recommendations and a good interview. he is currently playing club 16u tier 1 and hs.
he had chosen one school (that i dont want to name) that we looked at and interviewed at…
before the interview the assistant hockey coach came to see him play at a tournament and spoke to him after the game.
we met the head coach at the interview and it seemed to go very well. also the team currently has one of his past teammates on the roster… a few other prep coaches have approached him at tournaments but those schools are too far away.
having major anxiety over what other schools to apply to. need a safety school asap …
we also will be applying for financial aid.
do you think i should pull any strings i may have before the application deadline ?
pleasssse help
can some one give me an opinion on the list we made and any suggestions for another school as a safety .
our list in no particular order:
the gunnery
canterbury school
kent school
salsbury school
one more question…
do we apply on our own to repeat 9th grade or apply for 10th and wait for them to suggest a repeat?
thanks i’m sure many of you on here are just as stressed out i appreciate any guidance!!!
what is your goal? Prep hockey is dreadful. If you are hoping for college interest find a top full season club like the NJ avalanche. If you MUST go–Avon and Selects Academy are the best of the bunch because they are hockey schools. You cant get great hockey and a great education.
hi thanks for replying!
thats so weird… avalanche reached out this season but we had been committed. goal is college interest d1 decent to good academics not expecting ivy league. feeling pressured to go the prep route travel to and from the rinks are brutal
last year we travelled over an hour to the rink. avalanche also is over an hr. why is prep dreadful? isn’t avon as hard or harder to get in like the list i gave? as of now i am not planning on allowing him to go to south kent or shattuck even if he got in…i am not trying to just get him to the nhl just a good college with good hockey for now…nhl would be amazing though hahhahaha…
You should definitely look at Avon Old Farms. Maybe also Lawrence Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon. Not sure I would call any of these are “slam dunks” though. Kimball Union, Thayer, and Cushing all have strong hockey but am not familiar with the academics at these schools.
@hockeymomnj, I don’t think any schools are slam dunks, but my impression is that aof has such strong hockey that it might be easier for a good player than it would be for others. I honestly don’t know a ton about it today (except that it has great hockey!) but my understanding is that the academics are good and it’s a bit less selective than many on your list, as is the case for most that are single sex and/or not acronym schools.
You can ask about repeating 9th when you interview. They tend to be very helpful in this if it’s going to make a difference to them.
Also, you may have done this already, but check out the schools’ athletic schedules and watch live-streamed games. I think Salisbury’s game this afternoon will be streamed.
I agree that Avon should be on this list, maybe at the top if hockey is the primary interest. Prep hockey may not be as strong as year round club teams but plenty of prep hockey players land in D1 programs. Boo Nieves played for Kent then played for Michigan and is now a NY Ranger. I’m an alum so take this with a grain of salt but I’d put Kent at the top of this list for a combination of academics and hockey.
@Temperantia Pretty much the only kids getting D-1 are getting it based on their club showings. Outside of the Flood Marr and a couple lesser tournaments, college coaches don’t even bother scouting prep any more because the hockey is so BAD. The only real hockey powers rights now are KUA and Salisbury (changes from year to year based on 1 or 2 players or a great goalie) --problem is once they play each other they have to play the rest of the field, where they pretty much get NO competition. Kent may do well against the western CT schools, but got smoked this year 6-0 by Exeter, no one’s example of a power house. @hockeymomnj You’d be a fool to turn down the Avalanche if its still available. Kids drive from further than an hour–or even billet–to play for them bc they do get their kids D-1 deals. Most the D1 kids who come out of prep go for 1 or 2 years like Boo Nieves–which was several years ago before the huge expansion in club teams. When you talk to prep schools ask them for a list of their recent–if any–commits. Something to keep in mind (I know you aren’t looking at those schools but its important to know) that with schools like Exeter and Andover, the Ivies often use their players to increase the team AI–i.e., they’re just “recruited” so that their prize recruits are eligible to play.
Boo graduated from Kent in '12, I think. A friend of a friend has a kid who attended Avon and will be playing for BU.
From the website:
"Recent alumni have continued to excel on the ice and in the classroom at colleges such as Harvard, Brown, Michigan, Providence, Northeastern, Vermont, Massachusetts-Lowell, Penn State, Vermont, St. Lawrence, Army, and several other highly competitive NCAA Division I and III schools. " https://www.kent-school.edu/athletics/team-pages/boys-varsity-ice-hockey
Sure, Kent is not the biggest fish and it’s in smallish pond but it works for some kids and again I think that among the schools under consideration it’s the best bet. Exeter wasn’t on the list. The way I read the o/p is that the child is smart and other than an unimpressive SSAT has some good stats and is talented at hockey.
@momof3swimmers
hi
my problem is that i can’t figure out what the academics are like for the top hockey schools such as south kent…we are not looking for the most elite “selective” academic schools but don’t want him to go to school just for hockey. can you shed any light on the academics ? it seems that many people discredit the academics at “the best hockey schools” .
does anyone have an opinion on whether or not any boarding prep school is better than a local public high school in nj academically? thanks
@Temperantia I didn’t say Exeter was on the list -in fact I acknowledged that it was not on the list. I was giving examples of the ways prep hockey can be very misleading and inconsistent (Exeter beating Kent 6-0, and Exeter beating Thayer 7-2 or losing to St Sebs 0-6) and to go to prep school (especially as a 9th grader) expecting D1 is foolish. Once again Boo Nieves only spent two years at Kent which is very common for the better players-they go to repeat a year, make sure they are eligible and are playing club hockey in the Fall (ie River Rats, Mid Fairfield or Yale) . Even since Nieves was there prep hockey has fallen precipitously as a place for hockey development. I am not going to argue over this-prep school hockey is abysmal. Embarrassingly so. In fact prep hockey is so bad that MOST kids have to go play Juniors for 1 -3 years afterwards to learn to really play. Meaning they don’t go to college right after they graduate-they go to the USHL or the BCHL or the NAHL. If they don’t perform out there they get their commits and scholarships yanked. Happens all the time. BTW: South Kent is not good hockey-Selects Academy at South Kent is the real hockey program attempting to emulate Shattucks. Even Shattucks is not as it appears: they have lots of teams full of kids whose parents are drinking the kool-aid and they are not on the top teams.
@hockeymomnj The SSAT is critical to assessing the quality of the education at any school. If your kid’s score is in their published range then it is probably a good fit regardless of your son’s GPA. The SSAT validates grades because grades from school to school are wildly inconsistent. NO most boarding schools are not better than a good public school. Most boarding schools/private schools are simply that: private schools. Smaller classes, nicer environment and so on. Once again you don’t get great hockey and great academics together. You may get very good hockey and solid academics. Again you need to be very honest with yourself about your priorities.
@Center i must admit you have my mind going. i hear you loud and clear on every point. you do make a decent argument. the clock is ticking app deadlines fast approaching…my son is fully on board with this prep thing being the end all be all… my husband and i are on the fence… i honestly dont think staying home 1 more year is a bad idea …but on the other hand may be harder to get in as a repeat sophomore. i too am feeling the pressure of him being at the right place at the right time and is it club or prep…he is a really hard working decent good kid all around, i dont think he needs prep to mature but the experience and education may be worth it. on a side note not skating all year long is a slight concern for him as he does like to train all year which being home and playing club would allow for but also going prep may allow him to feel less pressured to train all year and playing additional sports may be a good thing for him. my priorities ? not sure. all i know is i wont let him ditch academics for hockey which he is not interested in doing anyway but trying to find the perfect balance. he just turned 15 and he has some time ahead of him so im not about to crush him with stats that may prove the chances of d1 any less than he feels he can make it happen. i teach both my kids that they can be whatever they want and whenever they want…no time limit just hard work and determination and they can make anything possible. … cliche maybe … and am i all over the place yes for sure!! thats why i need advice. thanks for your time its much appreciated!!
If you have a few colleges in mind, go to the rosters and see where the players went to high school/played club. You’ll probably find multiple players from one club/school and can figure that college coach trusts that team/club coach for referrals, both academically and athletically.
