Questions from an Oblivious Person

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hey all...</p>

<p>I usually post in the Harvard forum, but I felt a need to post here in the prep school forum. I currently attend Harvard College, and my parents, after long consideration, have decided to move from New York City to Boston for personal reasons (they basically hated NYC). My brother will be applying for private day schools in the greater Boston area.</p>

<p>He is currently attending a parochial school in New York City and received an overall average of 98.0 in the seventh grade. In the eighth grade, for those of you familiar with the New York State system, he will be completing his Regents Math A (the last two semesters) and will be completing Regents Biology as well.</p>

<p>That said, I was wondering if you guys could recommend any day schools to me in the area. We are completely oblivious to what neighborhoods are "good" in Boston, what schools should be "reaches," "matches," and "safeties," etc. Although we will be relocating, most of it stems from the fact that I have been through the NYC public school system, so we are completely clueless as to how to approach private school admissions.</p>

<p>Any help would be really appreciated!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Andover is a really good one, as well as Milton. Both are boarding and day schools.</p>

3

<p>A good resource for independent schools is the National Association of Independent Schools at <a href="http://www.nais.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.nais.com&lt;/a> . You can read about applying to independent schools, and you can search for schools in the Boston area. Another resource is <a href="http://www.petersons.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.petersons.com&lt;/a>. Look for the K-12 section. The Association of Independent Schools in New England is at <a href="http://www.aisne.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.aisne.org&lt;/a>. </p>

<p>I lived in Boston years ago. It's a wonderful city to live in! Here is a list of the better known schools either in the city or next to it: Belmont Hill School, Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Commonwealth School, Milton, Noble and Greenough and Roxbury Latin. I'm sure I missed a number -- so Boston people -- please chime in. </p>

<p>Depending on where your parents will live, they might also consider schools in the surrounding suburbs like Andover, St. Marks, Groton, Middlesex, Concord Academy, etc. </p>

<p>I have no idea what the appropriate schools would be for your brother. You are wise to put together a list of reaches, matches and safeties. </p>

<p>Some people from the Boston area have contributed to this forum, so keep checking for their answers. There is a thread on day schools, and there might be a list of Boston schools on that thread.</p>

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<p>Correction: It is <a href="http://www.nais.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.nais.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thank you for those wonderful schools, Burb Parent. I was wondering, as a former Boston resident, if you could recommend any neighborhoods in Boston that are in the middle-income range!</p>

6

<p>I'm thinking it will be next to impossible to get into these schools for this September.</p>

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<p>My brother will be applying for entrance in Fall 2007 for the 9th grade. It's not for this September.</p>

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<p>Neighborhoods in boston in the middle-income range? Ha ha ha! Hellooo gentrification. Boston is the most expensive city in the nation to live in--only SF has higher home prices. That isn't to say it's impossible, and the housing market is cooling down a little bit, but it isn't easy...</p>

<p>It depends on what kind of school your brother might like. Commonwealth, for example, is really fantastic--but it's very small. It can get a little incestuous. There are other good schools in the area, though. I don't know how they are relative to each other, though... however! I would strongly recommend picking up or looking online at Boston magazine's ranking of the schools in Massachusetts. They did one for public, one for private. It was an excellent survey based on what I think is a very good methodology. At the least, it would tell you where you might want to start looking--in addition to NAIS. </p>

<p>Lots of schools in Boston that are good... or near to Boston, at least. From Boston Latin to BB&N to whatever else. I can't say I'm hugely informed.</p>

9

<p>It has been too long since I lived in Boston. Probably your parents are the best to judge what they want. Will they keep a car? If not, they may want to live close to the T. If they want to live in the city proper, they might consider the area of Brighton that is close to Boston College. Brookline is very nice, although more expensive. There used to be parts of Newton that were affordable and convenient. Neighborhoods go up and down, so I don't feel comfortable advising you with old information. Harvard probably has an office that handles housing. Why don't you ask someone in that office to give you more information on middle-income neighborhoods? They can point you in good directions.</p>

10

<p>Boston Latin is a nice school you can look into.</p>

11

<p>There are quite a few day schools in the Boston area, as well as boarding schools that accept day students.</p>

<p>Downtown you'll find Commonwealth School and Boston University Academy. Both of these are very small, excellent academically, and not particularly sports-oriented. Commonwealth School is located in two very large adjacent brownstone buildings and has a feel like going to school at home. BU Academy is located in a sterile old building on BU's campus, but has all the facilities of BU available to it. Seniors take pretty much all their classes at BU.</p>

<p>In Cambridge you'll find BB&N (Buckingham Browne & Nichols). A lot of Harvard faculty kids go here, and this in part explains their excellent college matriculation results. They have a good academic reputation and are a big sports school. They are currently undergoing a substantial upgrade to their physical facility, and I don't know when construction will be completed.</p>

<p>Out in the suburbs you'll find two all-boys schools: Belmont Hill School and Roxbury Latin. Both are very good academically (some might argue that Roxbury Latin is second to none in the country academically). Belmont Hill is the more sports-oriented of the two, but RL takes sports seriously too. RL is very difficult to get into (about 15% acceptance rate into 7th grade and 10% into 9th grade). </p>

<p>Also in the suburbs is Noble and Greenough. It has a 5-day boarding program, though only a small percentage board. It is a good all-around school and has a very good college matriculation record.</p>

<p>Also in the suburbs are the boarding schools that accept day students. In Concord, you'll find Middlesex School and Concord Academy. Middlesex is about 80% boarding. It's on the small side for a boarding school and doesn't have the reputation of an Andover or Exeter, but it's excellent nevertheless. Concord Academy is 50% boarding and, while quite good academically, has the reputation as a more "artsy" place.</p>

<p>Milton Academy is another 50% boarding school in the suburbs. It's quite large and can give Exeter and Andover a run for the money in pretty much every category.</p>

<p>A little further out, you'll find Groton, another boarding school on the smallish side. It's a superb school.</p>

<p>Andover, while it accepts day students, will only accept day students from the immediately neighboring towns. It's a bit far away from Boston, so it's likely that if you live in one of the close-in suburbs to Boston, you won't be eligible to be an Andover day student.</p>

<p>There are also a couple of other schools in the suburbs that are good, but not at the academic level of the ones mentioned above. Rivers School, Beaver Country Day, and Brimmer and May are day schools. Cambridge School of Weston is mostly day, but has a small boarding population made up mostly (I think) of international students. CSW stresses the arts.</p>

<p>There are also some religiously-oriented schools are are quite good. These include St. Sebastian's and Gann Academy.</p>

<p>I'm sure I missed a few that others might point out.</p>

<p>As for which areas to live in that are reasonably priced, the rule of thumb is that the further out you go from Boston, the more reasonable the price. An area in the city to check out is Jamaica Plain. It might remind you a bit of the Prospect Park area of Brooklyn.</p>

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<p>Modestmouse, thanks so much for that detailed post! I actually know two of my classmates here at Harvard from Roxbury Latin, and they really stood out to me as being fantastic students and just human beings in general. 10% acceptance rate? That's just around Harvard's admit rate for freshmen!</p>

<p>Thanks so much for that detailed post! :)</p>

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<p>St. Sebastian's doesn't do as well as the others on the college front. I would say to look into it though, for a safety.</p>

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<p>Xjayz, you're welcome. Our family just went through the applications process this past year, so all this is pretty fresh in my mind. My son will be going to Roxbury Latin this fall and the applications process was just brutal (tests, tough interviews, etc.). I will say that the kids there are just about the nicest bunch of boys I've ever met.</p>

<p>Let me know it you'd like me to give you any more information or opinions about any school in particular I may have mentioned.</p>

15

<p>Thank you, frozenmouse! I have sent you a PM.</p>

16

<p>I just went through the high school admissions process and I lie IN boston as well. Firstly, tell your brother he should do fine by what you say about his grades. I applied to several schools and am attending Exeter in the Fall!!!! I was accepted to several day schools in the area though. I would recommend Boston Latin school (though this is public it's one of the finest public schools in the nation, and no interview is required... acceptance is based on a combination of grades and test scores.) I did not look at the boys schools (thouhg I did look at the girls ones) Roxbury Latin (RL) has a good reputation in erms of accidemics but is known as housing stuck up boys... Belomnt hill has less of an outstanding reputation but is a comprible. YOu might consider Dexter as backup all boys school, it's high school program is only a few years old but the elementry program has a great reputation. IN terms of coed schools BB&N is going under a major renovation but should be completed by fall of 2007. BB&N is a great school but I choose not to attend because of the construction and location. Nobles has a well rounded program though the social enviorment is very "preppy" and the college placements aren't as good as comprible schools. Milton is a fabulous option if you want the prep school atmosphere but living at home. COncord academy is way out in the suburbs and does not prepare students for the colleges they end up attending. The other day schools people have mentioned like Boston University academy (BUA), Commonwealth.... are not worht (in my opinion) your time. Look at Beaver country day and rivers as backups as well if you like. GOOD LUCK!!!!</p>

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<p>rbupe Interesting comment regarding Concord Academy. Are you saying that although they get into good school they are not well prepared? Or are you saying they do not get into good schools? If you meant the first, how would you know? Thanks for your comment, amd good luck at Exeter.</p>

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<p>rbupe,
what did you not like about BUA / Commonwealth?</p>

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<p>BUA looks very impresive on paper (college classes). But if you don't want to go to BU why attend a school that is just making money for the university. (same thing in respect to BC high) Commonwealth can't offer as a davanced courses as other schools because of it's size.</p>

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<p>I have a different take on BUA and Commonwealth. Why does it matter that BUA makes money for the university? It has a top notch faculty, a very well thought out curriculum (where learning is integrated across the different subjects), and students who are sharp as tacks. The academic program leverages the BU facilities and the students have access to everything to which BU students have access (dining hall, library, sports facilities). </p>

<p>As for Commonwealth, it's small, that's true, but not everyone is looking for a large school with course selections that rival those of colleges. Commonwealth has a cozy feel to it that some students may find preferable to the large campuses of many boarding schools. It's located in the Back Bay area of Boston just a couple of blocks from Newbury Street (which has all the fancy shops and cafes). It has a great faculty and the students are smart (pretty intellectual) and hip.</p>