<p>Daughter accepted Chewonki and WL at Mountain.....both programs sound great and I was wondering if anyone has experience with one or the other to share.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Cannot speak for the Mountain School but Chewonki was absolutely an amazing and life changing experience for my son. His words, “a place where people care what you think” and “you can be yourself”. Giving up high school sports and his friends for a semester was the hardest part. However he now spends at least half of his social time with his friends from Chewonki and stays in contact with the teachers he had there. Chewonki has a good mix of experienced teachers and staff that have been there over a long period of time as well as a group of energetic young interns who keep it fresh.<br>
Chewonki was a big stretch for us financially but was worth every penny and more!</p>
<p>Bareers,
none of my kids did it, but a whole bunch of my D’s friends did it for a semester. I remember they pretty much applied to both, and went to whichever took them. There was not a situation where both took a kid. Except for one girl who desperately wanted one over the other and didn’t get into the one she wanted (it was b/c of a boy who was going to that one), everyone was pretty much happy with the option they got and thought of them interchangeably. The schools are a great place, they take your schools curriculum and teach it, so the kids were able to seamlessly come back to class.</p>
<p>I believe the schools have similar admission profiles and both are really competitive. About 250 applications and 80/90 enroll per year (so, divide by 2 for the per semester count). For the Mountain School, approximately 1/3 of students come from member schools. For Chewonki, 78% of students come from Independent Schools, with 40% from the 13 member schools.</p>
<p>My D. is at Chewonki this semester and absolutely loves it. In fact, she was crying when she had to leave for vacation and has missed it a lot these past few weeks. It has been a great experience for her in every way: academically, socially, environmentally (!), personally, etc. While the academics seem strong, and she seems to be surrounded by academically motivated students, she says that they all realize this is a “special” semester and that they are really trying to take advantage of all the opportunities presented to them.</p>
<p>For me, the most impressive aspect is the community. There is such a strong emphasis on including everyone and recognizing each individual’s value. There are 42 students this semester, and my D. seems to know each one well. She has also been very inspired by the adults who are part of the community, either through teaching, leading trips, farming, boat building, etc.</p>
<p>I think this is an experience she will look back on for the rest of her life as influential, fun, and broadening.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to the Chewonki School also, we are waiting to hear from The Island School next week. I am also interested in hearing feedback on Chewonki…sounds like a wonderful experience!</p>
<p>I attended Chewonki and had a fabulous, life changing experience. I also have best friends who went to other semester schools so I have a fairly good idea of the differences. TMS is the strongest academically and more competitive, but not much. I came from a competitive sending school and the academics were definitely up to par. It’s true, there’s a stronger sense of community at Chewonki. Also Chewonki focuses a lot more on the environment and sustainability (they’re trying to go zero waste for 2012!)</p>
<p>If I had to do it over again I would definitely pick Chewonki. My life is so different now. Every semester is different but every student leaves with a value of work, a connection with place and a knowledge of how the world is connected. </p>
<p>About spring vs fall: it’s generally recognized that spring is better since transitioning back to your home school is usually really hard. The only reason I can think of going spring is for sports. Let me know if you have more questions!</p>