<p>Wouldn’t know–D2 is working at camp for 2 more weeks and then will have exactly one week to finish all summer work (probably half done), fill out the straightforward stuff on the common app and start on college essays! </p>
<p>@rbgg: After a week of college tours following a 7 week internship, daughter just started doing the biographical info sections this week. So far so good… </p>
<p>On another semi-related note, while Uniqlo does have great prices, if you buy enough $29 items, you still spending up a lot of money!</p>
<p>FYI, even if MIT is not on your kid’s list, I recommend reading some of their blog posts. Good stuff (and a lot of it applicable to BS admissions process, too):</p>
<p><a href=“Our selection process | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/selection</a></p>
<p>Scroll to the bottom…“Applying Sideways” and “There is No Formula” are particularly good, IMO.</p>
<p>Funny, our search is driven principally by DC’s desire for southern/west coast location, so that knocks out many, many of the usual suspects. Have visited most of the top end schools and researched a bunch to have a few reasonable match-safeties, but it feels very much like a lottery. Glad the senior year curriculum looks strong AND like what DC has wanted from the get-go with high school. Hoping the college “sorting” will somewhat take care of itself. No more standardized tests until APs next spring, so it’s just the apps & essays at this point. Because of leaving BS mid year last year, no early applications.</p>
<p>Why would leaving mid year last year prevent him from putting in early apps? </p>
<p>B/c junior year transcript is split between the BS & the new school, and courses weren’t an exact match. Think colleges will need to see senior fall grades to be able to accurately evaluate the level of academic proficiency in this case. Counselor agrees…application will look strongest regular decision.</p>
<p>Was a little confused because the Fall grades from my child’s senior year will be sent out in time for EA and ED decisions. Agree that those grades are important for the college’s to see.</p>
<p>This is probably sacrilege to say, but did anyone else hate the Claremont colleges? S1 has visited quite a few schools and these were the only ones he gave total thumbs down to. I was very surprised. I didn’t do the visit w him. </p>
<p>I have a friend who’s a native of SoCal who had nothing nice to say about Claremont (the area). We considered the Webb School 4 years ago but he kept insisting there are a lot nicer parts of CA than Claremont. In the end, looks like we’ll have 5 CA school apps, none of them in Claremont, but mostly that has to do with other factors like size and programming.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7, what was it about the Claremont colleges that he didn’t like? D2 is interested in Harvey Mudd but we won’t be able to visit before she applies.</p>
<p>We toured the Claremont colleges w D13. She decided not to apply because it felt similar to BS, Pomona in particular. From a parents point of view it’s a lovely small town; feels very safe but may lack a night life. There’s a train station nearby so you can go into LA.</p>
<p>They are a fantastic set of schools, with some very unique programs and some of the advantages of larger schools while remaining intimate (you can take classes at the other colleges, though each school has its own personality and area of specialization). The town is cute, although it’s true the area is not in the most beautiful part of California. The new train, as noted above, has been great to link students in a pretty remote area to the rest of LA. Don’t not apply just because some kids didn’t love it-- that’s true of EVERY school. Look for yourself, and see if it’s a fit for YOU. It is true that Pomona probably feels the most like a BS (but is an EXCELLENT school academically). Harvey Mudd is very different: one kid we know from DS’s current school is now attending Harvey Mudd because of its pretty unique ability to combine a really excellent STEM education with a real liberal arts home. Again, no school will appeal to every kid.</p>
<p>
Of all the schools on S1’s list, I had the highest expectation of the Claremont colleges about which I have heard such abundant praise. I even have a family friend who got in as a development case (parents donated a wing of a bldg), so I was thinking, wow, these schools are worthy of serious bribery!</p>
<p>But this is the feedback I heard (FYI, he had already visit a holf doz other schools, for perspective):
“seems like a big office park”
“a big part of the presentation was the admissions people and students trying to cover up the limitations of the place”
“they aren’t lying when they say it’s all pretty much the same school”
“doesn’t seem like a real college”
“seems like they treat everyone like a special little butterfly” (I corrected him and said the prevailing term is “snowflake”)</p>
<p>I guess it wasn’t a fit… </p>
<p>Harvey Mudd was on our initial list, but we crossed it off due to distance/cost of travel to visit & attend.</p>
<p>Some people swear by the Claremont Colleges, so I guess a case of different strokes for different folks.</p>
<p>While the Claremont consortium means there are over 5,000 undergrads “on campus,” each college still has the feeling of a very small LAC. That in and of itself will appeal to some kids and not others (mine likes it). Each college within the consortium also has a different feel so I can’t imagine someone wanting to apply to all of them. Just like any school, it’s not a “fit” for everyone. My D liked a few of them, and also disliked one (which is a very well-regarded college).</p>
<p>On another note…</p>
<p>As ChoatieKid enters his senior year at BS, I am overcome with emotions: amazement at how time has flown, wonder at his transformation from 3rd form to 6th (who IS this kid?), pride in his accomplishments, anxiety about his college choices, and actual sorrow that his boarding school journey is ending.</p>
<p>We plan to attend the Opening Days program this year, not because CK wants us there (he most definitely doesn’t), but because we are cherishing every last moment we can with this school that has been the locus of our lives (and finances!) these past three years. Each contact we have with the school now will be a “last,” and we want to burn these events into our memories to savor in years to come. We hope ChoatieKid will be doing the same, but we know that he will do so less intentionally as he is anxious to move on. And that is as it should be.</p>
<p>So here we are making final preparations for that last BS drop-off knowing that all too soon we will come back to campus for the ultimate “last,” watching our son walk across a platform, well-earned diploma in hand, done with this adventure and eager for the next. </p>
<p>Is that a tear in my coffee? </p>
<p>Wishing every parent here a marvelous senior year full of lasting memories. Let’s freeze some of them here.</p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
<p>@ChoatieMom, I encourage you take heart - you and all the 2015s are just moving into the next phase of boarding school life. Your commitment, passion and support for your son’s school can carry over. You will always be a Choate parent and you can continue to help the school. Your son will be an alum for his entire life and your family will always be part of that fine old tradition. Perhaps you will have Choatiegrandkids to discuss one day.</p>
<p>What appears to be largely missing from these boards, and I suspect from the experience of most posters, is the perspective of generational boarding school families. Most every parent here comes to consider boarding school for the outstanding educational experience; few have boarding school backgrounds themselves. What many do not realize is that once you join a school’s culture - as a student, a parent, an alum, a friend - you have the opportunity to continue on with that culture for the rest of your life. There are very few such enduring communities in modern America. When I was at school, I couldn’t wait to get out into the “real” world; it took me many years to understand that I remained a part of my school’s community and while many friends and contexts waxed and waned, my school connection endured. Now I am a parent and a school volunteer. I see old classmates, I see their parents, their children, their friends. I know retired teachers, retired groundskeepers - and their children! - who stay connected with the schools. I love that. I think you will too.</p>
<p>Thanks, @Agincourt, for that perspective.</p>
<p>We visited the Claremont colleges last year and it was also thumbs down - Pomona was gorgeous, but that just made D feel like she “was still at boarding school.” Harvey Mudd was not a fit either, despite our interest and hopes. The colleges in the consortium are very different from each other. </p>