<p>Linda--how about if we split the list to save time and energy. I'll visit one half and you the other! We could have our boys wear Groucho Marx disguises. :)</p>
<p>I'm curious about what others have done regarding the common application recommendations. It seems quite burdensome for teachers to fill out multiple copies.</p>
<p>I've heard that schools prefer to see the original on their own application forms presumably indicative of the applicant's preference for that school, but this is purely anecdotal.</p>
<p>Does anyone have hard data on this?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Linda--how about if we split the list to save time and energy. I'll visit one half and you the other! We could have our boys wear Groucho Marx disguises.
[/quote]
Good thinking!</p>
<p>I don't know about the common form but will ask our school.</p>
<p>The reccomendation forms were very stressful for us, trying to decide what do to. After emailing the schools a few times, I had my school teachers just fill out the common applications, becuase they basically asked the exact same questions. For my extracurricular applications, we had a writing tutor of mine who was a friend of my dad's fill out the individual ones, because she would have the patience for it, and had the teacher I worked for and my fencing coach just write letters in their own words.</p>
<p>PCK-thank you for sharing! Sounds sensible.</p>
<p>If one does NOT use the common recs., the burden is fully on the teachers and increases the chance of typos, etc. Not to mention the time factor involved.</p>
<p>There is a common application on TABS <a href="http://www.schools.com%5B/url%5D">www.schools.com</a> . We used this English & Math teacher recommendation form for all schools. It doesn't have the name of any school on it.</p>
<p>Yeah. Some of the schools asked that I use their own, but, except for extracurriculars (I looked over them and concluded that they truly did ask different things, unlike the academic ones), I thought it was just being incosiderate of my teachers. I really don't think they minded; they basically said the same thing that they would have, but on a piece of paper with a different letterhead.</p>
<p>I called two schools before the applications were due last year and asked them whether they preferred the Common App or their own proprietary application form. In both cases I spoke with the interviewer. In both cases, the person said it really makes no difference to them.</p>
<p>Now maybe they were saying that they planned on voting to reject D'yer Jr. either way...but I took it to mean that they really weren't swayed by that sort of thing and weren't conscious of any bias for or against common apps.</p>
<p>One Dean of Admissions I spoke with on another topic altogether was very concerned about the stress that applicants and parents create for themselves over decisions like this. He joked about people reading an instruction on a form and taking it entirely too literally. They worry about using the "right" stamp on the envelopes. They assume that everything is a "test" that is used to weed out applicants. They believe the admissions officer will not only notice -- but take exception to -- an applicant who mistakenly chose the rival school's colors for their interview dress or tie. He said that one of his major objectives is to remove that sort of needless stress from the application process at his school.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, now that I think about it, his school allows for a common application and a school-exclusive form. I bet he was thinking that the added option makes life easier for applicants when it actually is just another foothold for stress to enter the process!</p>
<p>I think this sort of manufactured stress is like a river...it will find its way to lower ground no matter what you do to stop it. Lord know that I start imagining all sorts of gremlins standing in my son's way. The practical pointer isn't that you shouldn't imagine these sorts of things. You will. The better advice is to laugh about them and not let them get you twisted in knots.</p>
<p>Ok, the visits have been scheduled...
Day 1- Kimball-Union
Day 2 - AM- one of Suffield - Loomis - Westminster (yes, new one to list possibly) - this one still undecided.
Day 2 PM - Avon Old Farms
Day 3 - NMH
Day 4 - Salisbury
Day 5 - AM -Canterbury
Day 5 - PM - Trinity Pawling
Day 6 - St. Paul's
Day 7 - DA
Day 8 - Cushing</p>
<p>Not scheduled (and may not be) Proctor, Holderness, Millbrook.</p>
<p>Most of these schools, except DA and SPS, will be visiting my son's school to have lunch with the interested 9th graders giving him another opportunity to get information and meet them. </p>
<p>As for my original question...how to narrow down the list, the view books really did do that. Hopefully we won't ADD any more visits from the school meetings, but we'll see. With 8 different days, he'll certainly get good use out of that suit... LOL</p>
<p>If you wish to reduce your schedule, I think it is doable to hit NMH and Deeerfield on the same day.</p>
<p>I would be sure to take a camera and take lots of pictures - and a journal in the car to immediately make notes on your observations. Your list is aggressive - and I think the memories will all run into each other unless you make overt steps to distinguish your visits to various schools.</p>
<p>If you are slightly obsessive ;) (who me?) you could do what I did with D's college tours. I took tons of digital photos, then printed them out and put them in inexpensive albums (Walmart). Since D was at BS, I sent them all to her so she could peruse them. At the end of senior year she gave them to her school's college advisor office so that future kids who may not be able to visit could "see" the schools inside and out.</p>
<p>Another source for photos of schools is to find them on-line. There are a number of photo-sharing web sites that have pictures available for public viewing. One that is easy to search is flickr.com (run by Yahoo!).</p>
<p>For example, if you go to flickr.com and search all photos for "Choate" (shout out to olivia), you would go to this link and pages of photos:</p>
<p>Because student photos are included, you're not getting just the same viewbook perspective of campus. Every day isn't a beautiful autumn or spring day. Sometimes...there will even be SNOW (or slush!) on the ground. Sometimes people will be doing stupid stuff...not just Nobel-level research or community service.</p>
<p>If you create your own flickr account, you can upload your photos to the account (and mark them "private" or make them publicly accessible, depending on how personal they are to you), which makes it possible to share the images with a wider group of people, from your selected family and friends to the entire world, without slogging paper-based photo albums around.</p>
<p>THE DIARY IDEA IS EXCELLENT. Applicants should keep a journal for themselves through the process. Parents should leave it alone. (They can keep their own journal.) Around March 10, when there are decisions to be made, it will be useful to see how your views evolved and developed and priorities changed.</p>
<p>We will definately be taking notes in the car on the way back or between each visit. Thanks for the suggestions. Pictures are a great idea too. We have a really small digital video camera, that might work well too.</p>
<p>NMH documents virtually every campus activity with photographs and puts them online. You can view them by visiting the NMH website and clicking on the "photo of the day" in the upper lefthand corner. There are archives dating back several years. They have recently begun putting the pictures on FlikR as well. It is a wonderful way for distant families to feel more a part of their child's daily lives.</p>
<p>At Groton, parents can watch students perform recitals and such via webcam. I believe videocasts (even if they are delayed and edited as podcasts) of school events will become the norm. Parents and alumni can log in, watch an event or even watch the school newscast. The new extracurricular activity for those who don't think the school paper is high-tech enough will be the Virtual TV Station or Satellite Channel. This will be a ubiquitous development for BS life inside of five years. It will help close the gap some parents might feel regarding being unable to attend their child's games and events. And applicants will have some limited access to these video experiences, too, giving them more information to soak up and more ways to kill the days until March 10.</p>
<p>I looked at youtube. Not much there though. You see the movies or short clips the students make, which reveals their personality and not much about the school. But there was this dance presentation from Andover, some musical recitals at Hotchkiss, etc.</p>
<p>Not to add to an already huge list, but your son sounds like a great candidate for Woodberry Forest School. All boys, very strong academics, huge wooded campus in Virginia, good matrics. Back when I was in high school they had a very strong Japanese program, although I suspect they are phasing that out in favor of Chinese right now like everyone else.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son with Japanese--if he's not intimidated by the fact that it is basically the most difficult language for a native English speaker to learn (yes, harder than Chinese) then he will find it very rewarding. And, despite what people say, you CAN eventually get good at it. If he doesn't choose a school that offers it, there are always summer opportunities.</p>
<p>Interesting when I googled Woodberry, this was in the description:
"Several possibilities for full language immersion programs"
It does sound great, however, at this point we are keeping the list a little closer to home. Although Hawaii prep is coming to his school and he's going to that meeting...LOL. Woodberry will definately stay on my secondary list if we don't find a couple of perfect schools in our first group of visits.
THANKS for the info!</p>
<p>Woodberry Forest has a great reputation for sportsmanship and academics. We have several friends who teach there.</p>