Yes @girlgeekmom we are applying for 17/18 cycle. Just starting early so that everything gets done way before they are due.
I have tried my best just to let her take a peek at couple of brochures for girls schools. Nope, does not work for me. And I don’t want to push her either. Since we are flying from far, I don’t want to go for a visit and push for something that she may not like, at the end wasting both our time.
I love your list @msvmp27 ! Very thoughtful and smart. Once you figure out where you’re staying, look around on the map and see if there are other schools nearby that you could check out “off the record”. Off the top of my head, you could see Hotchkiss on your way to Berkshire. Literally just drive in the driveway and do a loop! Are Brooks or St Mark’s near NMH?
Brooks is in Andover and St. Mark’s is in Southboro. Not really close to NMH (probably an 1.5+ hour drive).
Hi, thank you all for your advise.
We just got back from visiting the schools in the New England and Midwest area.
The weather is nice all day long with few showers here and there, and the autumn leaf color is so beautiful, something that we do not see everyday in middle east country. its just green and brown here and sandy most of the day.
Anyway, we end up going to 8 schools in 10 days. The schools in no particular order are Berkshire, NMH, Loomis, Williston, Taft, Choate, Wayland and Cranbrook.
Generally all the schools are good and I am happy to let my kid go to anyone of them. Food that we got to taste during lunch in some schools were awesome. All dorms looks nice. The students are friendly, teachers smile and greet us as if we are already there. The interviews went well with AOs - at least that is the impression we got. The tour- one school doesn’t go that well because the tour guide was not that talkative - tends to be a bit passive and has deep voice that I couldn’t hear very well.
Now the hard part after the visit is to pick the best schools that she can fit into and apply to them. we will definitely apply to the one that has a bad tour guide - must have happen for a reason.
We will have to sit down, rank them think of the reach, safety and the best possible way to score in SSAT to get into these schools.
Some lesson learns from our visit.
- Plan to go to 2 schools per day. This will make the trip more worth it rather than spending time at premium outlets and Marshalls or Target (yes we don’t have Target here, but going to Target daily is pathetic).
- Try to bring your spouse during your visit. Its not fun to drive 2500km with your daughter while she’s always on the phone or sleeping and you are driving alone while listening to the same tune on the radio. Doing it for 10 days will expedite the growth of you gray hair.
- Prepare for cold breeze from hurricane Mathew - watch out for weather forecast. You may end up going to tour in cold windy weather while you are in summer cloth and end up catching cold the next day.
Just for fun:
Award for most awesome view - NMH
for the best dorm - cranbrook
Most friendlist community - williston
Most coolest teacher - choate
Now lets start the essay application…
Thanks again.
Premium outlets and Marshalls are where you get jackets and warm clothing after landing in shorts. 