<p>Just register my son for SSAT test for the bundle package . We plan to apply for 10th grade boarding school. Plan to see how SSAT score go. I think he will be above 80 percentile(SSAT range). He is in gifted program of public school. We live in NorthWest suburb of Phila. My son like casual school setting. Hill is not his type. Peddie seems hard to reach. We visited some schools closed to home like Geoge and Westtown . We do not like it. I am looking for schools which are about two to four hours driving distance to from home. We plan to apply for five schools. We will not have the safety schools at all. </p>
<p>Any suggestion for schools ?</p>
<p>I feel a bit overwhelmed for the application process. </p>
<p>Browse the package from schools.I do not know how other people deal with the recommendation letter. If you apply for five schools, you need the teacher fill out five forms. It seems a lot.</p>
<p>As has been suggested on other threads, a good place to start compiling a list of schools to consider is boardingschoolreview.com. You can search for schools by region, competitiveness of admittance, acitivities offered - a broad range of information. But the cautionary note is always offered that the info on BSR can be out of date so you should only use it as a first pass.</p>
<p>A few schools to consider that are discussed a fair amount on this site are Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, Mercersburg School in Mercersburg, PA and Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ. I don’t know much about these schools but, as I say, they get a lot of “play time” on this site.</p>
<p>Regarding the recommendations, while it may seem like a lot to ask of a teacher to write 5 different recommendations, in fact most schools use the same form (or something like) so it isn’t that large a task to fill them out. Your son (or his secretary, that is to say, YOU!) completes the identifying info at the top of each form (name, current school, etc.) and then the teacher ticks off boxes, makes short sentence answers and perhaps writes a paragraph-long essay in support of your son. Of course, you want to make sure that your son asks teachers who won’t find it a burden because, among other things, that probably means they will be able to take a positive approach to endorsing your son’s admission. But teachers who are likely to write a good receommendation probably won’t mind the extra work anyway. Just as a courtesy, it’s a good idea to ask early (like soon). Although the forms aren’t due until mid-winter, the teachers will certainly appreciate knowing about the extra work sooner rather than at the last minute.</p>
<p>The first step in this process though is to compile your list of schools. Request viewbooks from as many schools as might interest your son. Then set up interviews and tours of the campus for this fall. This will allow him to narrow his list to the 5 you think he will apply to. Then make a calendar of dates: when the SSAT test date is, when he should get the recommendation forms to teachers by, when he should comlete and file his own applications, when he should ensure that the teacher and school recs. have been completed and sent. It is a lot to orchestrate but planning ahead helps.</p>
<p>HOW I HANDLED THIS
I gave each teacher/recommender the original form for each school as well as a common form. I included a note that explained that each school needed one form and that they could choose between doing the common form or using the form for each specific school.</p>
<p>SCHOOL COMPILES RECOMMENDATIONS/TRANSCRIPT
The school collected the recommendations from the faculty recommender’s and sent everything up to each school in one envelope. That was nice for two reasons. First, the school office made sure the recommendations got done and I only needed to pester the school secretary for updates (never needed to) AND one of the faculty members apparently did an awful job with her recommendation so the head of the school told her to redo it. I learned this because the teacher asked me for extra copies of the recommendation forms and she told me why, thinking I knew. This is a problem people should be sensitive to when asking middle school teachers to write recommendations if BS is an unusual option for students at their school. Some people just don’t know how to write a good (as in useful) recommendation or they don’t appreciate the significance of writing a personal and thoughtful recommendation.</p>
<p>TRANSCRIPT OR REPORT CARD?
I learned after the decision date that the school doesn’t have “transcripts” for students. They just took his report cards off the school computer and printed them out. This meant that the schools actually received lots of little pithy comments from teachers – intended only for the parents when they were written – that are part of each report card. It wasn’t a horror story, but those comments were like a white glove test. If I understood that those items would be going in I would have a) convinced them to just send grades, not comments; or b) taken care to make sure that any of the little “zingers” from some teachers were addressed or explained. The lesson here is to communicate with the school so that you understand what they are taking charge of and how they are going about handling things. I just let the school do its thing. With regards to quality control for recommendations, the head of school was a big help. In terms of interpreting what was needed to satisfy the transcript requirement, I think better communication would have helped.</p>
<p>ONE TEACHER’S APPROACH TO CHOOSING THE CORRECT FORM
One of my son’s teachers – this is one who put in lots of effort and understood the importance of a thorough recommendation – went through the various forms from the applications as well as the common form I gave all the recommenders and chose the form that he felt allowed him to best express his thoughts. I never saw the recommendation, of course, but I recall him explaining his process. He’s been around BS for years and has mentored faculty at a number of the schools mentioned here, so I might have worried otherwise when he chose one school’s form and then copied it for all the recs. But he said the schools wouldn’t care. He was giving the best information he could and that’s what they wanted; not to see their school’s name preprinted on the form that’s sent in. It was much more stressful at the time, but now that I’ve stepped back from that scene I think he was right. But who knows?</p>
<p>Looking westward, if you go a little over 4 hours, you could consider the Kiski School (all boys) outside of Pittsburgh. To the south, you’re easily within range of Episcopal HS in Alexandria, VA and can make it under 4 hours to Woodberry Forest in Virginia. Going into New England, your outside limit gets you close to Deerfield and St. George’s (and obviously the Connecticut schools you’d drive past to get there). But if you think you can get through NYC traffic quickly and you have a heavy foot and the weather cooperates (or you’re willing to expand your acceptable driving range), you might even consider a ~4.5 hour drive to Groton, Middlesex and Andover. But I’m predicting you’ll cover the MAPL schools pretty well and find them most attractive. I have to say that the location is more important than I thought it would be…so I think you’re making a wise call by drawing a circle and looking at what’s available inside it.</p>
<p>TIMING OF GIVING TEACHERS RECOMMENDATION FORMS
Unlike, smiledog, I would suggest waiting a while to give the teachers the forms. Since these forms usually need to be filled out by current teachers, I think it’s best to wait awhile to give the teachers time to know your child better. If you drop them off right before/after Thanksgiving break, that should be plenty of time for the teachers to get them in by January.</p>
<p>As D’yer mentioned, some BS offer the choice of using their own school application or the BS common application available from the Association of Boarding Schools which is accessible over the internet at <a href=“http://www.schools.com%5B/url%5D”>www.schools.com</a></p>
<p>Actually, for clarity, I wouldn’t suggest giving the teachers the recommendation forms yet either. Just asking them if they would be willing to write one.</p>
<p>What happens if they do now know how to write a recommendation? I couldn’t ask them to rewrite it since I wouldn’t be able to read it in the first place. Also, can I just ask the secretary to collect the recommendations from my teachers to send them in with my transcripts?</p>
<p>You or your parents might CONSIDER asking a trusted school official to help the teachers with the recommendation process, even if it’s to review the letters or just sit down with them together once you have the forms in their hands. Perhaps that teacher can give them their forms. Or maybe there’s a conversation about this when your parents give the teachers the forms. This can be an extremely touchy issue requiring extraordinary diplomacy and a keen understanding of how each teacher might react to such guidance, so it might be best left to the parents to address this concern and they, in turn, may decide that it’s best left untouched altogether.</p>
<p>Yes, ask the person responsible for the “head of school/guidance counselor” transcript to gather all the recommendation forms and send them in to each school in a single envelope. (Teachers may prefer to seal their individual recommendations in their own sealed envelopes first, which is fine.) I think this is preferred or requested/suggested by a number of schools. That person will decide whether to assign that task to a secretary or not. I don’t think a student or parent should make those assignments to school staff.</p>
<p>And lastly, I believe most – if not, then all – schools do NOT want to receive recommendations from this year’s teachers before November 1. Preferably after one full marking period. Putting recommendation forms in the teacher’s hands long before then invites trouble. Asking them before then is a courtesy and it allows them to work with you and help you and critically observe until it’s time for the recommendation. It doesn’t hurt to have the teachers feel that they have a vested interest in your successful entry into a school. Ask now, keep them apprised of your search status/progress, and give them the forms when it’s time for them to start working on them.</p>
<p>Schools here started last June, and we are already in the second quarter of the school year. But I’ll just ask for the recommendation on our Semestral Break, in November.</p>
<p>I am kind of expecting my math and english teacher to give me a low effort mark. Do admission officers expect perfect, or close to it, recommendations? Lots of people said that recs are even more important than grades or something like that.</p>
<p>Okay, here’s the reason to tell them now and give them the forms later.</p>
<p>Tell them that you’re interested in BS now and that you are going to seek their recommendations later. Tell them that the prospect of BS has really inspired you. NOW WORK HARD! Then, when you hand them the forms, remind them how excited you are and thank them for helping you capture that excitement level and build on it. It could actually be to your benefit to tell them now and have them think, “Well, I suppose I’ll have to write down that cate_intl just isn’t showing much effort in class.” If they remember that awkward moment when you return with the forms after dazzling them ever since then, you might have some recommendations that will really impress the schools. Your teachers will get this. You won’t have to spell it out for them. Let them decide how to attribute the turnaround you’ve made in terms of effort. Your job is simply to do the pirouette.</p>
<p>Rather than dreading what they’ll write NOW, remember that they don’t need to write their recommendations for at least 2 months. If you don’t think you can turn around your effort in that time, you may need to reevaluate this entire process.</p>
<p>ALSO, your focus on giving your best effort is something you need to commit to sustaining long after your recommendation and applications are sent in. Understand that the BS might read the recommendations and wonder if you can show a high level of effort beyond a 2 month window. They may call the school for an update in early March or they may even “waitlist” you – with the expectation that they’ll “upgrade” you to an offer if they receive favorable feedback from the school. One school dean of admission said that this is what they do with some of the students they put on their waitlist. They follow-up. There’s actually a space waiting for that student…nobody needs to withdraw or die. The student only needs to have sustained their level of achievement into the spring.</p>
<p>It sounds like you might be in that category. You’ve got something to prove. Don’t worry about what people might think now. Take care of your business and KEEP taking care of your business by giving your best effort.</p>
<p>I’m trying to show a little more effort starting last week. I kept on asking questions, consulting my math teacher for short-cuts (we’re tackling division of polynomials) and factoring (it’s our next lesson) and I raise my hand (though she never calls me :(). I’m hesitant about outwardly telling her about BS in the classroom with all my fellow classmates listening in coz I’m anxious about her reaction. I know it’s a stupid reason but I’m thinking of how embarrasing it will be to be rejected and end up going there again next year after I have been so excited about BS. But anyway, I will definitely turn up the charm. ;)</p>
<p>Additional info: I’m really friendly and I talk a lot. My math teacher is somewhat the quiet type though, so I have no idea what she thinks of me. My english teacher admitted that she “honestly doesn’t like some of us”. O_o. I’m hoping I don’t fall under that category. And I almost fell asleep in her class a few weeks into the school year. Whoops. I don’t know if she noticed. But I am now always attentive, if that helps.</p>
<p>Can I give my other recommendations to my aunt, whom I worked for over the summer? Or is this not allowed since she’s family?</p>
<p>Well, to echo D’yer and speaking like a parent [since I am one:)], how about getting those effort marks up between now and early December? That’s definitely something in your control and it would be much better to see some improvement in that area.
Not surprisingly, schools are looking for the overachievers more than the underachievers.</p>
<p>I would not give a recommendation to a family member.</p>
<p>Hahaha, ok creative. Yes, it would be GREAT to see improvement in that area.</p>
<p>Who are the usual suspects for additional recommendations? Who are NOT supposed to be asked for recommendations? This is the part I am really nervous of since I have no control over it. </p>
<p>How else do people show effort? I mean, I get the lesson anyway and I don’t find much hardship in them. So besides asking questions, I’m kinda lost. I even made a short-cut for the multiplication of polynomials. This was part of my “gotta-show-effort-plan”.</p>
<p>“Not surprisingly, schools are looking for the overachievers more than the underachievers.” I got a 96 for both English and Math for the first quarter. Compared to American standards, is this low?</p>
<p>Last year I asked the recommedation letter from the English teacher and math teacher in Oct and tell them the due date using D’yer Maker’s approch . My thought was giving them enough time to prepare M teacher told me. she did not know my son well enough to write him a recommedation letter and asked me to approach the previous year teacher. I contacted the schools I planed to apply. They said they need the current teacher’s recom. The E. told me my son can success in the public school , too. If he was determinine to do that. ..I did not feel so well about the process. Athought my son got a ccepted to more than half schools ABC refered us. This year, I asked my son tries to establish the relationship with the teachers. you know kids…</p>
<p>Today I contacted some schools to inquire about the openning in 10th grade opening . They seems they are not sure how many opening roughly about right now.</p>