Thacher is our number 1 but we are wondering if he got an acceptance to a top tier east coast BS, how do we decide? Academics are solid both east and west coast; but does a horse program outweigh the learning you get with all things east coast? Can someone talk about their views on what you learned/experienced in an east vs west BS? Yes, fit is important but since there are no in-person visits this year, hard to make that call.
Also, if anybody out there has had to make the east vs west coast BS decision, could you share why you chose the one you did? Parent community; weekend life etc…Thanks!!
I’m from west coast, so I want to go to east coast BS to experience a different culture and get to know people from around the country and the world in those schools. But that’s just my personal preference.
I’m from the East, and I’m staying here because my parents don’t want me out of the south NE/Mid-Atlantic Area(I’m from southern NY), but if I had the option, I’d apply to Thacher and Cate in a heartbeat. Just because I love California and the west-coast culture. (it’s so beautiful by the schools so i’ve heard!)
Californian here and my kids wanted to go to boarding school “close” to home, so never looked at the East Coast schools. My kids got in to Cate and not Thacher, so the choice was made simple as that.
The horse program and camping are equally important to the Thacher experience. It is one thing for a school to be in a picturesque location, but it is quite another thing for kids to spend significant time in nature and learn all of the things it can teach them about self-reliance, grit, the need for preservation of natural resources, and their roles as stewards. On their own initiative Thacher kids will take day hikes, climb a mountain to see the sunrise, work on rock climbing techniques, etc. after classes or on weekends. These kids are deeply enmeshed in their environment and, as you may suspect, become very environmentally conscious and savvy. The campus is largely off-grid due to solar arrays and very conscious about water usage and conservation. Camping is for all four years (2 week-long trips a year and one short winter one) and most of the kids come to believe that it is one of the most important parts of their experience.
As to deciding, appreciate that it is much smaller than most East Coast schools and that the social vibe is different. Kids don’t care about designer anything (the biggest status symbol might be worn out Crocs) and are largely internally competitive, as opposed to competitive with their classmates. They care about academics and college admissions, but it’s never a zero sum game for them. Thacher kids are. for the most part, both nice and kind.
If you or your kid wants a boarding school for bragging rights, Thacher probably isn’t going to give you the right status bump. East Coast kids see it as the quirky “horse school” and fewer East Coast employers get what a Thacher education signifies. On the West Coast, people understand the situation.
Since Thacher has made it to the top of your list, then trust your gut. A lot of kids have no desire at all to take on the challenges that Thacher poses, so trust the self-selective nature of even applying there. If your kid is lucky enough to have Thacher as a choice as well as East Coast options, then probably keep trusting your gut. When my daughter had to pick between Thacher and several other outstanding options, I realized that she was going to have an amazing experience in whatever she chose. It was a very peaceful feeling. I am so glad that she chose Thacher, however, as it was such a unique and fulfilling experience for her.
I have posted my regrets about my ignorance of Thacher many times here over the years. We were (extremely) low-information applicants when our son applied to boarding schools from AZ in 2010. We had no clue that there were options so much closer to home. Of course, given their size and selectivity, his odds at those schools were so much lower. Thacher would have been my dream school had I been the applicant.
Hats off to those fortunates who call Thacher home.
We are on the West Coast, but applied to mostly East Coast schools, and kiddo ultimately chose Cate. Didn’t apply to Thacher (if they had a dog program instead of a horse program he might have considered it, lol).
Thacher is a great, unique school. If it calls to you, listen.
I would have been ok with having a kid across the country because I thought my kid was ready for the separation and he needed to be exposed to other ways of being. I had faith that the schools we were considering were fits, he would thrive, and they would care for him. And that I could adequately stay informed.
Our decision to stay in California was 90% fit and 10% geography. All things being equal, I would break a tie between schools with how easy it would be to get to a school in an emergency. Cate was a clear winner on fit, but it helps that I can get in a car and drive there in 6 hours.
Eta: ease of access may have more to do with how close an airport is - 6 hours in a car isn’t all that different than a non-stop flight. It is layovers and treks to airports that will get you. I calculated how long it would take door to door to each school. That was actually something the school visits really helped to understand.
Cate and Thacher offer very different experiences from East Coast schools. For me, at least, a lot of the difference boiled down to, IMO, the sharper elbows, more sarcastic tone, and old school pecking orders of the East where I had boarded “back in the day” versus the more welcoming, friendlier, peaceful and egalitarian atmosphere of Thacher. Our son gravitated to the latter and we were willing to send him across the country for it. Thacher academics are very intense but are offset by an equally intense connection to the outdoors, which has the effect of balancing the student’s life in a really nice way, keeping everything in context.
The other difference we felt was that Thacher walked the walk of its code “Honor, Fairness, Kindness and Truth.” It wasn’t just some idea carved in a stone tablet looking down over the pews in a school’s centuries-old church or something. It felt, to us, way more lived and practical.
Lastly, all schools struggle to do better, Thacher included. What was important to me as the Dad in the mix was the intensity of Thacher’s effort always to self-examine and improve. This made me feel good about the school’s priorities.
@ThacherParent
Would you say the student body has many “sharper edged, East Coast” kids? Or that those who attend are all trying to shy away from that atmosphere? Also, in terms of intense academics- how intense are we talking? 5 hours of homework for freshmen every night, with the load just increasing as the years go? Or intense in the classroom but the focus is more on work-life balance, so less menial homework tasks?
@buuzn03 No, that’s the point. It doesn’t have a lot of the sharp elbowed attitudes (or kids) of the East coast schools. For an East coast kid like mine, Thacher had a wonderful, gentling influence. Also, no, the kids are not “trying to shy” away from anything. It’s more like the atmosphere of the school encourages leaning into honor, fairness, kindness and truth. Those values, expressed by peers, teachers and everyone else on campus, become instinct for the kids. We loved that.
I think my son’s freshman year, he probably had between 2.5 - 3 hours of homework a day. The load increases as the years wear on, but so does the ability to time manage. Junior year is probably the most intense. There is a ton of support along the way.
The time spent in the classroom and outdoors is unusually well balanced. And because it’s SoCal, the kids spend lots of time outdoors with friends (or by themselves) looking over the mountain range, walking or riding a trail, laying on the grass and letting the sun beat down - whatever is needed to balance the classroom. Balance is probably the best word to describe the School.
@CateCAParent said “Thacher is a great, unique school. If it calls to you, listen.” And @Publisher’s view that Thacher would be completely wrong for his/her child together make the correct point that the School is not for everyone. My twin goddaughters who are in 8th grade today on the East Coast are applying to Cate and not Thacher while I am very much hoping that my granddaughter will apply to Thacher when she’s old enough. I have put three children through prep schools and college. The best education dollars that I have ever spent were on Thacher.
So many habits get settled between 14-18 year’s old. I wanted my kid to end up extremely well educated, but also happy, well-adjusted, looking out for others, and reverent of the natural world. I thought @Kthor626 said it perfectly.
Thacher seems to have some of the most unique approaches to building characters, which is tremendously important for sense of well being and happy life down the road. When I visited, I was most impressed with the sense of cheerful camaraderie I felt in their outdoor assembly, which seemed more like a morning picnic. Seeing is believing.
My daughter chose Cate over Thacher because she plays an orchestra instrument and they only had a jazz band. It is a great school, but I think a lot of resources go into the horse program and so there are some sports and other programs that don’t exist due to that.
If you are really drawn to the horse program, no other place has that. Other schools have equestrian programs, but that’s something else (and btw, better suited to a competitive rider.) So in some ways, that makes it easier to choose.