Starting to feel like bc my child does not do a varsity level competitive sport or play a musical instrument that she will not get into a school.
Why is that? If you do a varsity level sport, then you don’t have time to be a top level musician. I’ve never heard of Yoyo Ma playing varsity level sport.
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Did your child only apply to the absolute top schools with the lowest admission rates? If not your child will most likely get into a school, probably several.
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Sroo said “or” not “and”
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I know, that’s the impression you get from this thread, but it’s not reality, luckily. Schools are also looking for all around engaged kids – they even have a term for these kids. They call them the “glue” that keeps the community together.
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It’s helpful in the admissions process for the “tippy tops” to be either a fine musician, likely varsity athlete or both. But there are other talents the schools desire, depending on the particular school. There are schools who want dancers, debaters and artists, and I suspect all of them want female STEM kids with great potential in the sciences (applied or not). Legacy (parent and/or sibling) and URM also help.
All this said, I personally know two non-URM kids who got into Choate in recent years who did not seem to have any special talents, music, athletic or otherwise. Both were very nice, well-rounded top students at a school for ostensibly gifted kids.
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Where I live, most kids at public middle schools go to their LPS for high school. Very few kids at private middle schools, however, choose a public high school over a private one. As a sweeping statement, families who choose private schools K-8 see a different value proposition there and have the means (mostly) to fund it.
Many still want a day option although as a group, they are more likely to be open to boarding options. But with a preference for day and private, the kids from a school like the one @confusedaboutFA attended will all be looking at the same handful of local schools and there will be a number who matriculate to the same private high schools who also want to have a certain # of day students. The “feeder” nature of the private schools is driven more by numbers in our region – (@confusedaboutFA and I live in the same zip code more or less) than any real advantage or preference for students from those schools. The supply of 8th graders from private schools aligns pretty well with the demand of the independent high schools for local students. I realize that in places like MA, where there are more schools, the situation may be different, but what happens here in central NJ isn’t as nefarious as that statement makes it sound.
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My smart, normal, nothing crazy-high achieving daughter got into 10 of 12 schools (2 WL), most of those “tippy tops.”
Don’t let this board freak you out.
Ps. Ended up transferring from a “tippy top” to a “second tier” and it was the best decision of her high school career.
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Thank you for that - my son is sound like your daughter so you are giving me hope. We ended up applying to 7, with only two of them probably being considered tippy top (but I know so little about all this perhaps they are not).
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Re-read her statement.
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Sorry to be behind the 8-ball… what are JBS, LPS, and these acronyms everyone is throwing around??
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JBS =Junior Boarding School (usually through 9th grade)
LPS= Local Public School
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Do you guys know any YouTubers that have gone to boarding schools (US)? Or YouTubers that have blogs from there
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why did she transfer? Probably there were several reasons why but I’m just curious
@christiania do you mean channels made by students going to BS or just anyone talking about their experience.
There are a lot of day in the life videos and if youre lucky you might come across longer videos of people talking about their application and school life etc
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Vlogs/Videos about their experience
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Thanks! I’ve never heard of a JBS… when do they usually start?
I am not really familiar with junior boarding schools. The only one I know, Indian Mountain School, starts in preschool and goes through 9th grade. Boarding starts mostly in 6th grade, though maybe there are a few 5th graders boarding, I’m not sure.
Ramsey Hall in Ct starts very young and use to be a feeder to the Gunnery. And Eaglebrook, more of a middle school use to be a feeder to Deerfield.
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A couple big name JBSs around Boston are Fay and Fessenden. I think boarding generally starts at 5 or 6 grade.
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I read a lot of your posts. Especially your “A little story about donuts and M10” If your daughter wrote her essays like your posts, AOs must love her essays and remember her clearly.
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