Tips for Choosing a School

Prep School Admissions
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<p>Add your own. This can be for revisits or for those people just getting ready to start the admissions process.
I'll use myself as an example, but you know when to sub in what your wants and needs are.
Let's say there are sevem schools, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Take your biggest passion. For me, I love writing and English in general. Let's say schools A-F have good writing and English departments. Move those to the top of your list. Now, take the sports you play. I run cross country and I row. Consider how good you are at them, and how rigorous you would like the program to be. I am only so-so at both, but I'd still like a fairly rigorous (though not deathly) program, so I can improve. Now, if any of schools A-G does not have cross country/rowing and I'm not willing to throw either of them out (I'm not), automatically throw that school out. However, let's assume A-G do have both programs, and that B-F have programs that are not overly-rigorous but still sufficient. I move A towards the bottom of the list, but ahead of G (However, if you are more into athletics than academics, reverse that). Now comes the visits. You visit A-G. The people at D and E seem a little snobby for your tastes. Your tour guide acts like she'd rather be elsewhere. Move those suckers down! So now, B, C, and F are at the top of your list. You and your tour guide at B and C hit it off REALLY well, and at F everyone seemed friendly and stopped to say hello. At C and F everyone seemed to now everyone, which is good. It fosters community. All of your interviews go really well, because you are a brilliant and lovable student, of course. So you have a decision on your hands. Now, I know people say NOT to look at college matrics but think about this. There are some colleges that have had issues with a certain school in the past, and they stop taking their applicants. Now, yes, you could change this, but I would still make sure your top college or two are on the list. It doesn't have to be their top school (and if it's a less-known school this step can be skipped). So let's say B and C send kids to college Z, but F does not! B and C are now at the top. My advice is to look at student:faculty ratio, and litle nitpicky things like food, dorms, classes (aside from the aforemention English) etc. Also consider focus on academics, how pressurized the environment is, distance from home, etc. And then...School B (or C) comes out on top!</p>

<p>Any more tips?</p>

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<p>Just it would be nice if you used some paragraphs, so that it would be easier to read your post.</p>

3

<p>Oh, sorry! But…the edit button isn’t there?</p>

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<p>Nice stream of conscience on the decision process. If your tour guide acts like he’d rather be somewhere else, is there a way to still find the good in a school, or should you take this as an indication that this school is not for you? After he/she have left you feeling uncomfortable over a span of a few hours, can you overcome this and still end up loving the school?</p>

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<p>snowedin, of course! Honestly, I didn’t like my tour guide at one of my favorite schools, But I met other people I ended up liking. These are just tips, of course, how I would choose a school. However, keep in mind that tour guides are who the school chooses to represent their school.</p>

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<p>I didn’t mean to sound silly about this. It’s just that we didn’t anticipate how much of an impression a tour guide could make - making it hard to focus on all the good things we see in a school.</p>

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<p>Ohh you didn’t sound silly :)</p>

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<p>I agree with you snowed-in. We weren’t impressed with a tour guide from one school we visited, and although my daughter was accepted to that school, she doesn’t even want to go back for a revisit, to see if her original opinion was mistaken.</p>

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<p>Jenny, at one school I looked at, I thought the guide was on drugs, her eyes were constricted and she talked fast, etc.</p>

<p>But, I am learning something on another thread in that you are going to be somewhere for 4 years. Be sure to go somewhere that has your own value system where you are comfortable. I wear old beat up boots everywhere. I don’t think they will fit in at some schools. While I could do it, wearing a coat an tie and shorts seemed pretty goofy to me. Finally your own moral compass is probably most important. I argued with my Dad about a couple of schools and am now starting to understand him after this other thread. Gee, maybe “Father does know best”</p>

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<p>What thread is this? Sounds helpful.</p>