Thacher and Groton

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I was all set with Groton as my first choice. I also visited Exeter (too big for me), Choate, Deerfield and Hotchkiss. I liked them a lot, but Groton felt better. Then, my Uncle, who I only see once a year, told me that I should visit Thacher in California and somehow convinced my Dad to fly out there with me. My Uncle said that when he was at Stanford his two best friends had gone to Thacher and that they loved it.</p>

<p>Anyway, we flew out to Los Angeles, rented a car and drove about 90 minutes north to Ojai. It's a tiny town, but really relaxed with an excellent diner and a tiny place called Rubens for excellent burritos. We had Thursday night to hang out and then I had my interviews and tour on Friday. We didn't go back home until Sunday so were able to catch a game on Saturday.</p>

<p>So here's the thing. It's on the other side of the country from where I live, but I loved it so much more than any place I visited!!! I got to sit in on an English class, which was amazing. My tour guide was great, everybody said hello to him and I felt like he introduced me around and people would talk to me. The campus is amazing. The buildings at Groton and the other East Coast Schools are bigger and sometimes newer, but the buildings at Thacher seemed like they fit in better.</p>

<p>You have to take care and learn to ride a horse when you're freshman! I've never even been on a horse. My guide told me that he was the same way, but that it was actually one of the best experiences he's had. He told me that about 15% of the freshmen keep riding as upper classmen. </p>

<p>My interview was a blast. We got on the subject of some of the hikes that I've taken with my Dad over the years, not all of them so good, and were laughing about how they can have unexpected drama. She asked me a lot about my school work, how I liked to spend my time when I wasn't studying. It was such a different kind of interview than the others. She did ask me about my SSAT's which I had gotten a 94% on. When I asked her how important that was she told me that it’s only really important that kids be at least in the mid-80’s so that they can handle the work load, but that most were in the mid-90’s. She told me that they say “no” to loads of kids with 99%. “It’s all about the fit,” she told me. When I asked her if she thought that I would fit in, she just laughed and said “I think you’d be great.” That’s good, isn’t it??</p>

<p>On Saturday, we went to a football game. The tour guide had invited us. When he saw me and my Dad, he came up and started talking to us and invited me to hang out with his buddies on the side line. (I’m not a football player.) It’s incredibly beautiful there with the mountains behind the field. Some kids come down and watch the game on horseback, which you don’t see too often!</p>

<p>Well, I want to go to Thacher so badly now. I know that I’d be far away from home, but the people I met, the kids and teachers and even the lady in admissions, it was all perfect to me. Has anyone else on this site gone to Thacher? Any advice? I think my Dad was surprised by how much he liked it too.</p>

2

<p>omg, i'm like the total opposite of you LOL</p>

<p>i was DEAD SET on thacher. i LOVED THACHER. seriously. my number one choice was thacher.
until i visited it.
i'm glad you loved it there eastvswest (: for me, the best part of being in Ojai was the hostel, no joke. the assembly was outside with a bunch of bugs (and maybe it was just where I was because there were like five mosquitos next to the admissions office where I was standing during that assembly) and it just seemed not as good as I expected it. the dorms felt run down to me, but I liked the idea of the houses in upperclass year. I met some of my friends at thacher, but it just seemed weird to me that so many of them had free period (I know thacher's an awesome school that still manages to give students some free time, but it just seemed like some could be taking an awesome course instead of just relaxing in a free period)
the pastures were nice, the horses were gorgeous, but I despised the smell (not because I was there, but because I was thinking "baking temperatures + me + DNA heredity that forces me to sweat profusely in hot weather + working with a horse every morning + smelling this while sweating profusely in hot weather working with a horse every morning) and I could only credit thacher for the view it had (the view was amazing.)</p>

<p>then again I could be biased. I had only visited groton the day before. groton was AMAZINGGGGG. I met my friends unexpectedly, and it was somewhat reassuring to see them so, happy there. chapel looked gorgeous (we didn't really have an extensive tour, just a basic walk) from the outside, all the buildings were beautiful, and I understood why my friends were so passionate about being at groton; one foot on campus and you've basically stepped in prep school wonderland. I guess it was also nicer for me because the weather was colder XD </p>

<p>Please don't flame me ): I was shocked to find thacher was a school I was not applying to, and Groton was a school I fell in love with (Prior to the visit I never considered applying to Groton, it just seemed overrated to me at first)</p>

<p>i'm glad people love thacher though. cali pride (:</p>

3

<p>See....it's all about fit.</p>

4

<p>LOL. That's too funny! I didn't get the feeling that kids don't work hard, actually just the opposite. When I was in the admission's office they had a list of acceptances from last year. It was full of fantastic schools. I remember Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn, I think Harvard, lots of Stanford, Cambridge (in England), Amherst, Middlebury and a bunch of others I can't recall. No, you definitely work extremely hard. The work load seemed the same to me at all the Schools I visited - at least four hours a day.</p>

<p>As far as the smells go, I can't help you there!! I sweat a lot too but it usually doesn’t stink – it’s just sweat!!!, but then again I love the outdoors. The outdoor assembly was one of the highlights of the visit. I never saw a bug while I was at assembly and I loved sitting out in the sunshine and the people were so incredibly nice to one another. I think maybe you’re an indoors person, which is cool. Thacher doesn’t seem like the right school for an indoors person who doesn’t like to sweat, doesn’t like the smell of horses (which you only smell when you’re in the stables), doesn’t like being outside etc. That’s cool. There are lots of boarding school choices.</p>

<p>There are a ton of brand new buildings too at Thacher. They just built a freshman boy’s dorm which is AMAZING and a new Performing Arts Center and they’re building other new dorms now. They have a pretty big endowment I think, not as big as Groton’s though. Speaking of Groton, I really liked it too. The campus is kind of contained and has that perfect New England post card look. (But I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as those sunsets and Ojai mountains.) </p>

<p>For me westcoast_, it’s all about the people I’d be with: other kids, teachers, people who work around campus etc. I want to be around people who treat others the way I was treated and I want to be in classes like the one I visited where I wish that it could have gone on for another hour. I also got the feeling, and this is just my opinion, that the kids do stuff more than they talk about it. I’ve always liked that, people who do more and talk less. I really don’t like braggers.</p>

<p>Anyway, I’m glad you liked Groton. It’s a great place for sure. It’s just that I like Thacher so much more!</p>

5

<p>doesn’t like being outside etc</p>

<p>^ Oooooo I could kill you for that :P Nahh, I LOVE being outside. Just, I'm used to the smell of freshhhh wonderffullll grass (i grew up in a wonderful place in san jose :D) and crisp cold air etc outside. I hate hot and stuffy weather. (note why i despise sweating)</p>

<p>btw I also loved thacher because of its academics. trust me, stanford is my dream school, and I mean stanford and nothing else (you know how people here are in love with exeter, sps, etc? that's me :D i have a list of other schools I'd love to go to, but stanford is first and they are all tenth. some weird unexplainable void takes up the other 9 places)</p>

<p>part of why i hated it was because I got horrible rashes there. </p>

<p>OOOHHH you must have had that cool interviewer OMG OMG OMG I wanted to have him so bad XD
my parents and I had not-so-polite interviewers there, so we left with a not-so-great impression.</p>

<p>the students were nice though (:</p>

6

<p>There is a poster here who I believe is ThacherParent. You can pm him/her for more information on the school. The family is very happy with their choice.</p>

7

<p>east-v-west, your story is almost identical to ours. We pulled the trigger and sent our son to Ojai from Philadelphia. That was not an easy choice and not inexpensive. (We're not wealthy.) But, four years later after our son was graduated, my wife and I still tell one another that it was the best money we ever spent.</p>

<p>Thacher is not like other boarding schools. Like the headmaster says, "it's a whole different deal." You will love it! If you want to know anything more, definitely PM me.</p>

8

<p>E-v-W: Your impression of Thacher was almost identical to our daughter's, who is now a sophomore there. Her initial impressions have been validated, and it has been a wonderful experience for her. It is a unique, supportive culture where students are challenged to develop and grow in all areas. It sounds like it would be a great fit for you. Good luck!</p>

9

<p>hey, i'm a student at thacher! it took a lot of hard to get in, but let me tell you... it was so worth it. i love it so much. </p>

<p>we, as freshmen, do get a lot of free peorids... but they are well used working. if anyone has any questions, you are more then welcome to ask.</p>

10

<p>starrynite...You're so lucky. I want to go to Thacher so much. What has it been like for you to learn to ride horses? How are your teachers?</p>

11

<p>Personally, I'd say go to Groton hands down. It's got far more prestige and history than Thacher. Plus, you get to compete with all the other nice boarding schools on East Coast... Andover, Exeter, St. George's, etc. On West, the only boarding school I've heard of are Thacher and Cate. </p>

<p>But really, if you think Thacher's truly the place you will fit in for some reason, then definitely go there. You should feel lucky that you have a place you want to go so strongly. Most 14 and 15 yr olds I give tours to have no idea and just do whatever their parents say.</p>

<p>Also, I just wanna advise you that first impressions aren't everything. The school that I am currently at - I had a terrible interview, wrote a terrible essay, and the tour guide was so mean to me that I cried after I came home from the visit. Hahaha. I had absolutely no desire to attend, but when I visited again for the Revisit Day, it felt completely different!!! My host, quite different from my tour guide, was absolutely amazing. And now I can't even imagine myself at a different school. Every school when I revisited and attended classes felt somehow different from the first times I visited them. So think hard and just know that interviews and tour guides aren't everything that represent their schools. There is a difference between a true "fit" and first-time "feel."</p>

12

<p>I loved Groton when I visited and I had a great tour guide. Plus, two kids from my school go there. One loves it but the other not so much. I have nothing against the school. I wanted to go there before I visited Thacher.</p>

<p>Some of the reasons I liked Thacher more than Groton are that the people didn’t seem caught up in things like their own prestige and history. Everyone was a lot nicer to one another. The school spirit was natural. It’s hard to describe; it’s different there. You have to visit to know what I mean. Anyway, it’s just the place for me. But it’s hard to get into (less than 20%) and I’m probably going to be totally disappointed. Ugh!</p>

13

<p>my teachers are very, very decidated. they push you to do your very best, and though sometimes the academics can be stressful, they are ALWAYS there if you need extra help.</p>

<p>the horse program? well, i had never touched a horse before I went to thacher, much less RIDDEN one! but it's so much fun. i actually really love it, and i just passed my rider's test. the majority of the kids who come to thacher have little or no riding experience, so it's fairly equal. and everyone eventually gets on the same page. </p>

<p>believe me, prestige isn't everything. go to a school where you will thrive and be happy.</p>

14

<p>How do those lonely boarding schools in midwest or CA, like Thacher, arrange their inter-school sport games? Just curious.</p>

15

<p>it's usually with day schools if they can't find boarding schools nearby. thacher and cate are considered the andover and exeter of the west coast, but there are a couple other <em>lesser</em> known schools like stevenson and webb which I'm guessing are some of their other competitors. i know hockaday competes with day schools, mostly because there aren't many boarding schools around (i think they play with "st. mark's school IN TEXAS" haha i love how they distinguish themselves from MA st. mark's)</p>

16

<p>Thacher (240 students) is a member of the Condor League. The league includes seven other private schools in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties: Cate, Dunn, Happy Valley, Laguna Blanca, Midland, Ojai Valley, and Besant Hill. The Condor League is a part of the CIF, the California Interscholastic Federation – Southern Section. Thacher routinely competes for and wins many Condor League championships and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoff berths.</p>

<p>In the last ten years, Thacher athletes have played a variety of varsity sports for teams at Amherst, Claremont-McKenna, Stanford, Williams, Pitzer, Colorado College, Bowdoin, Cal Berkeley, Columbia, Duke, USC, Wesleyan and many others. It’s worth mentioning that while wins are coveted, sportsmanship and camaraderie are emphasized more. I did not meet any student athletes at Thacher who were not also fully and happily involved in every other aspect of School life.</p>

<p>Starrynite!! I'm so pleased to hear that you're doing well and enjoying your freshman year.</p>

17

<p>^ YEAH what thacherparent said :P</p>

18

<p>I really want to get into thacher, does anyone have any advice? In 7th grade I got all A’s and B’s besides for a C in health because i didn’t do my homework. I’m class president. I’m in a John Hopkins honors algebra coarse, and i’m aiming to get straight A’s and a 100% on my SSAT in 8th grade. The acceptance rate is really low so i’m just wondering if have a chance to get in. If there is another thing i need to know about how to get in pleese let me know.</p>