<p>Haha creative...;) Who knows, I could end up being an admissions officer there in a few years? JK...</p>
<p>Of course the view books are now arriving daily.<br>
One thing I can say that is a differnece is that for the most part, the books do not give a completely different feel than that site (except maybe Millbrook - and I couldn't even read the view book, it gave me a headache it was so busy with no white space on any page!). BUT...since the web sites can include every piece of information available and the books can only include selected amounts, the books are a good judge of what is important to the schools. Or what they think (want?) their potential students will want to be important.<br>
While the web sites are really not all that different (the look different but the info isn't really), the books are VERY different.</p>
<p>Deerfield's draws you in with stories
St Paul's has beautiful pictures
Trinity Pawling instantly captures the "why" of an all-boys school
Millbrook was wayyyyy too busy
Suffield was into some numbers theme that I didn't get
Cushing has student "favorites" of differents things about the school along the border of each page</p>
<p>They really do give you a whole differnt look at the school, even though they are in the same "theme" as the web sites.</p>
<p>I don't know if that translates into what the Board of Trustees or the educational leaders believe are priorities for the school and its current students as much as it shows you what the Admission Office and a public relations consultant have determined to be the most important points to market to prospective students.</p>
<p>The schools are sending you advertising materials, not a prospectus (although that's the term Lawrenceville uses).</p>
<p>They're a valuable piece of the puzzle, to be sure, but both web site and viewbooks only lead you to marketable information about the school. It's not necessarily how the school views itself. It's how the school's marketing arms want you to see how the school views itself.</p>
<p>Getting a feel for what the school is actually like for the current students requires the tour, a productive interview (where you're gathering information as much as you're trying to "wow" the interviewer with your marketable information about yourself), and establishing personal contacts with members of the school community outside the Admission Office who can answer questions you may have.</p>
<p>I think the interview is extremely important...but not in the way most people assume it is. I'm sure it's important to the admission committee in making a decision about you, but for many applicants it has to rank as perhaps the number one opportunity to gather information that will be critical in making your decision about the school. I think most people fail to grasp that...and walk into their interviews under the impression that it is a process for the school to gather more input for the application. It is that...but that's too focused on the school's needs.</p>
<p>Two of the biggest problems that I believe trip up many people with interviews are (1) the shell game and (2) the passive-active role-playing.</p>
<p>In the shell game, one party (either the applicant, school official or parent) is trying to disseminate or project an image through a marketing filter. The information going out is hopefully "best foot forward" information. BUT, at the same time, what that person needs to be doing during this time is acquiring candid and frank information. And there's a tension, to be sure, when it comes to projecting sweetness and charm while being businesslike and methodical in your quest for information. The difference is that most people -- parents included -- are dilettantes when it comes to wearing these two hats at once. The school's interviewer, however, is well-trained and experienced at this. The inexperienced person generally resolves this by choosing one role over the other -- usually the sweetness and charm role.</p>
<p>The second obstacle that students and parents have to overcome is that the assigned roles suggest one party is passive and the other is active. The interviewer is naturally going to be the active person, the one who does the asking. The interviewee is the passive player, reacting to the interviewer -- not setting the tone, or shaking up the assigned roles so dramatically as to reverse them. Yet the interview is a great chance -- a rare one for many applicants/parents -- to have someone sitting in a chair who can tell you almost anything you want or need to know about the school.</p>
<p>Here again, it's just a lot easier to react than to prepare and be assertive about gathering information. So many interviewees accept their role and play it to the hilt. A few will bust out of the shell for a few moments and ask a few questions -- usually questions that are calculated to project "sweetness and charm" and often only after being invited to do so by the interviewer, so it's not the least bit confrontational.</p>
<p>If I had to put it blunt and succinct terms, these obstacles boil down to "insecurity" and "laziness" on the part of the applicant/parent tandem (in the case of school interviews, though this applies to job interviews too).</p>
<p>Do your homework, prepare for a dialogue, and understand that you're putting your best foot forward by gathering information and exploiting what might be the best chance you have to get the information you will need to make an important life-altering decision. If you regard the interview as a decisionmaking tool for the school, you're blowing an opportunity. Don't be so selfless. It's a decisionmaking tool for YOU, and you get one shot at it so use it wisely and effectively.</p>
<p>As parents, we are certainly going to use the interview as a fact finding mission about the school. </p>
<p>You are right about the books and the sites being marketing of course. I was thinking about 2 schools I know quite well and thier materials really do reflect the school. For example, one of them is known for not being the "easiest" place to be as a day student. Their priority is boarders (years and years ago, day students had to go 5 years to graduate! LOL), the day student facilities are not as good as others, there is a definate divide between day and boarding students, unless the day student makes a big effort. In reviewing the materials, most schools put day student info under "student life." This school includes it in "admissions, tution and financial aid." An interesting place. </p>
<p>Definately, going there is the only way to be sure, but the books are helpful in narrowing down the visits.</p>
<p>View Books on Choate</p>
<p>Choate's view book is very "artsy." It's cute and veeery busy. There are little boxes all over the page and colored fonts and happy boarding school kids talking about their school. It's fun and makes your eye go in every direction on the page.</p>
<p>olivia wrote:</p>
<p>Choate's view book is very "artsy." It's cute and veeery busy. There are little boxes all over the page and colored fonts and happy boarding school kids talking about their school. It's fun and makes your eye go in every direction on the page."</p>
<p>That's exactly what my impression of the Exeter viewbook was. It was like....wow, what a fun wacky group this is.... Nothing too highbrow or serious. The only thing serious about it appeared to be its desire not to appear too serious. Also, the Exeter CD was also emphasizing a playful side, I thought (the DJ, etc.)</p>
<p>No two ways about it - you just have to go and visit these schools to get a real feel for them.</p>
<p>Yeah I liked Choate's "5 things about Choate or w/e from the dean.</p>
<p>An I LOVED Exeter's viewbook. It was so.. intellectual, but not highbrow. Like smart kids casually discussing (around a Harkness) interesting things. Casual, but very smart.</p>
<p>Oh, I LOVED Loomis's book too.. reallly great. If I based my decision on the books, I probably would have chosen Loomis. But I don't like Loomis and didn't apply.</p>
<p>wow my little brother wrote something profane</p>
<p>sorry for anyone who saw the above... he's a bit of a troublemaker.</p>
<p>Hah, that's all right, I don't think anyone did.</p>
<p>The all boys view books have done a great job of marketing the benefits of single sex education and specifically from the teenage boys point of view. We will definately be visiting them.</p>
<p>Wow. You got farther than I did. He wouldn't even look at those viewbooks. When I played the "I went to an all boys prep school and look at me" card, it was game over.</p>
<p>"When I played the "I went to an all boys prep school and look at me" card, it was game over. " :)</p>
<p>He never ruled it out, even before the books. Although, I think in the back of his mind, they weren't his first choices. After the books he came to me and said "I think I really want to go to an all boys school." We'll see when we do the tours.</p>
<p>
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Wow. You got farther than I did. He wouldn't even look at those viewbooks. When I played the "I went to an all boys prep school and look at me" card, it was game over.
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<p>Better not tell him where you went to college!</p>
<p>Mom and Grandpa went to Chapel Hill. His favorite cousin is there now. So...let's see: North Carolina or South Bend, Indiana. Hmmm....if you had to go out on a limb, how do you figure that's going to play out? The all boys school was the last chance I had to get some respect for paternal-side family tradition from the lad.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mom and Grandpa went to Chapel Hill. His favorite cousin is there now. So...let's see: North Carolina or South Bend, Indiana. Hmmm....if you had to go out on a limb, how do you figure that's going to play out? The all boys school was the last chance I had to get some respect for paternal-side family tradition from the lad.
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<p>Time to start wearing that UNC stuff around. Perhaps you can change his view on powder blue? LOL</p>
<p>Ok...
This is my visit plan at the moment. Subject to change of course based on info my son gets as these schools (and others! yikes!) visit his school to recruit.<br>
1st - (same day) Holderness and Kimball-Union
2nd - either: Canterbury and Trinity Pawling OR Cushing and Suffield
3rd - Cushing or Trinity Pawling
(Days 2 and 3 will be based on him narrowing down between Suffield and Canterbury)
4th - Avon Old Farms
5th - Salisbury
6th - Deefield - NMH
6th - St. Pauls </p>
<p>That gives us 10 visits. From that, I'm thinking we can narrow it down to 6 or 7 to apply to. We should know by November if what we are thinking for very solid matches is correct, and may only apply to one real "safety." </p>
<p>But then, the visits by admissions people to our school may ADD to the visit list.....</p>
<p>I assume St. Paul's is 7th not 6th? Deerfield/NMH are very doable in one day but not adding St. Paul's on top of that.</p>
<p>Ya, that's what I meant. St. Pauls one day and DA and NMH one day. I just can't count. LOL</p>