@SculptorDad – Did Fay school give you a sense of how many spots they have? I know a child in that school. They got in the 1st grade and are planning to stay through 9th. I wonder how many switch out at the 8th grade.
@doschicos … I guess maybe the thinking was if we relocate to Brooklyn, we’ll definitely need FA? IDK. But anyway, to @SculptorDad too, this brings up the question of what is a hook, exactly? It can’t just be sports. Isn’t more any area of achievement as long as the achievement is really notable? I guess my DD needs to write a novel, although these days, any wealthy parent can publish it for them so really where is the achievement? Or maybe that still wouldn’t qualify as a hook.
@doschicos … my DD currently goes to a mediocre local BS and I’m heavily involved in the parents’ association. There have been many debates about what the school’s priorities should be to attract better students. Of course, I’d like to see the school focus on improving academics bc there’s no school anywhere around that has suitable programs for really bright, academically-gifted kids. But others argue and the consensus is that families are looking for BS with strong sports programs so that’s where development money should go. So from my one perspective, it’s less about matriculation and more directly about being an attractive school to a broad swath of candidates. In fact, this school I’m talking about brags about its matriculation list although, if you were really picky, you wouldn’t be that impressed.
You have an exceptionally well prepared student. Every school should be happy to have her. Don’t be discouraged by the rejection of one school. You should have choices on M10. Good luck!
@bookwormsmom – Are you part of the CTY Facebook group? There is some really good information there at times.
@SculptorDad – given how many credits your DD, have you considered just finishing college at 15? How do you break down the decision of an early college degree/highly competitive grad school vs BS/Highly competitive undergrad? I have a similar situation.
@laenen I just joined. Thanks for the tip.
I think there are two ways to view athletics: 1) perseverance, dedication, the Renaissance man or woman, being on a team illustrates non Sibi, well roundedness and so on. 2) brawn over brains, swaggering dumb jock, arrogant lacrosse players, arrogant X players, and so on. I believe that the effort required to be a talented athlete is huge. I believe that the best athletes are usually pretty bright. Of course it depends on the sport and the requirements of the individual. I believe that a physically fit and active person is a more dimensional individual. I believe that the classic prep schools embraced and still embrace the very wasp ideal of bright young men studious and yet noble athletes. ( a la Hobey Baker). There is much to value in athletics. I know that admissions in general would much rather have a talented athlete with good scores than a complete academic grunt.
@laenen About the 9th grade spot, no I didn’t ask and they didn’t tell me. But another school said they have small 9th grade class because many kids go to a BS after 8th grade, and Fay received application for it.
About graduating at 15. Yes we once planned for it, majoring Spatial Art at San Jose State University, but now she wants to experience outside of art world. BS wasn’t for colleges though. She wants to enjoy a cherish-able teenage surrounded by good age peers all time, and it fits the bill. We think she will be happier at a BS.
I think she will be a fine candidate when applying to colleges anyway. If not, she can return to community college for one year and try to transfer to good UC campus.
But I do know many families considered or are considering the two options you have. It depends on a lot of variables. Perhaps we should make a new thread or use messages to discuss your situation.
To add to @Center point, an athlete tends to have more social skills than the over the top academic. There are very few schools that truly cater to the teenage genius. Proof in SF might be one of the only ones.
I’m sorry @bookwormsmom. It is a very strange process. Your daughter sounds like a lovely kid.
Admissions are capricious. If your kid has stats that are way beyond a school, then you might not be getting in due to wanting to protect the yield. At schools with great stats, the numbers are just against you and the process has a random element. If you look at the results from last year, there are kids who got into only one school of a list, but it was the one HADES school, or kids who were rejected from 30% of their schools, waitlisted at 30% and admitted to the others. Obviously, those decisions are not really about the kid having some ability or deficiency.
I think many of us believe that school admissions operate have some element of academic meritocracy. Going through the process, it was clear that very academic kids (SET, Bradley scholars, etc.) are competing for very few spots. There are preferences for legacies, sports, faculty children, donors, geographic locations, international kids, siblings, and those things needed for the year – like a trumpet player but not a cellist, or a hockey goalie but not a swimmer for that year, etc. I think there are very few spots for huge numbers of applicants who are just smart kids seeking a better education and those odds are brutal.
I suspect your daughter will have choices in the near future. She only needs one good school fit. She has a great list of possible options and it will probably work out for the best. Congratulations on her many achievements already!
I would be very careful in your final choice of schools. Most of these schools make all 9th graders take the same English. For a very strong writer, this can mean being a mentor and help to others, but little learning until 12th grade electives. It is a very, very long time to wait. I’m guessing that your daughter will be very bored in 9th grade English at any of these schools.
@bookwormsmom, I think a published book can be a hook. It takes much more than just good writing skill though.
I think owning the publishing company is a bigger hook.
For once I agree with @Center about athletes. I think an athlete, and some sports more than others, require a certain type of student that can juggle academic demands on top of 10 plus hours of practice each week. The athlete brings that extra dimension that some schools seem to desire.
There are many threads about hooks. Because I am lazy, I will quote myself from one of them:
Here are some hooks from my DD’s school
- kid has a website that markets brand ambassadors. Up and coming wannabe preppie brands send stuff to brand ambassadors, so they wear the stuff, and then others want to emulate the cool kids.
- kid’s grandfather took the full contingent of Harvard lax team to Bermuda for pre-season. This would include the support staff of athletic trainers etc.
- kid is on the junior olympic team for the sport
- kid has the family name on the turf field.
I have 2 nieces that recently graduated from St Ann’s and a third who will graduate this year. They all entered in elementary school. You’re right, it’s artsy with a philosophy that minimizes grades and working solely for the grade.
Since St Ann’s School in NY doesn’t have a boarding school and your daughter is applying to 4 other schools with a boarding school component, it may not be unreasonable, to assume (from St Ann’s perspective) that St Ann’s was merely a back-up for your daughter…unless of course you had convinced them their school was the first choice. If this was the perception, I can see why they may have bypassed your daughter for another worthy candidate who wanted it more passionately.
Did the admission’s staff know where else your daughter was applying for high school? If you live in NY and were applying to only 1 day and 4 boarding schools one might conclude you’re really trying to get to boarding school and if that doesn’t work you’ll settle for the local day school–St Ann’s.
A bushel of of Caroline D. Bradley scholars are attending Andover.
@Center and @MAandMEmom Just to play devil’s advocate, couldn’t you say the same thing about a kid really committed to theater? Both require, to quote @Center, “perseverance, dedication, the Renaissance man or woman, being on a team illustrates non Sibi, well roundedness and so on.” It seems to me all of American society puts elite athletes on a pedestal. I’m not saying they don’t deserve praise … I’ve known college and professional athletes and they were definitely a hard working, talented bunch. I just am not sure I buy into the hierarchy that their achievements are any more valuable or require more dedication than the achievements of people in the arts, sciences, music, academics, etc. In the end, all these kids have their natural gifts and I think it sets any of them apart to find their talent and really work on honing it. But I don’t believe one talent should be considered more worthy than another. Easy for me to say. My kid isn’t an athlete.
When people pay to fill stadiums on Thanksgiving to listen to poetry readings, the arts will be “valuable.”
I think its perception along with a long history steeped in athletics that makes me personally think this. I may or may not be correct. I want to say that at every school the very first dialog between my daughter and the tour guide was surrounding athletics, and not prompted by my daughter.