<p>My daughter is applying to the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Natick, MA. I'm curious if anyone out there has had a child graduate from the school (specifically the writing/publishing program) and what they've thought. How were the academics? Where have they gone on to college? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>You might have more luck posting in the performing arts thread, even though your daughter is a writer. I’d think that some of the parents there might know more about how kids in various disciplines did. </p>
<p>A friend’s daughter went to Walnut Hill (ballet) – her roommate was a writer. Friend’s daughter got admitted to some very highly respected direct entry nursing programs, which is what she wanted.</p>
<p>The direct links to the performance sub forums are here:</p>
<p>[Dance</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/dance-major/]Dance”>Dance Major - College Confidential Forums)
[Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums)
[Theater/Drama</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/]Theater/Drama”>Theater/Drama Majors - College Confidential Forums)
[Musical</a> Theater Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Our D1 was a serious ballet student for several years. She went to summer intensives with student’s from Walnut Hill. She spent a full year of high school at a ballet conservatory (freshman year) in New England before returning home to pursue college instead of a ballet career. Hers was a location with a strong ballet program but not a strong academic program. Walnut Hill had the reputation for strong academics, with more ballet students going on to college rather than ballet. For those in the dance division, this was GOOD NEWS from a parent’s persepctive as so few “make it” into a company. While we looked into iWalnut Hill, that was 7 years ago, and no recent info.</p>
<p>My Ds both attended summer programs at Walnut Hill. They have lots of friends who have come through the dance and theatre programs and gone on to conservatories and good colleges including places like Columbia and Vanderbilt. My older D, a dancer, spent a day there when she was considering where to go to HS. The day was two hours of classes in the AM, and then all afternoon and evening for dance classes and rehearsals. Not sure what the writers do during that time. I would ask for a breakdown of where specifically the kids graduating from the writing program went to college.</p>
<p>My D is currently attending as a theater major. This is her first year and when we visited admissions we asked for a list of colleges attended by the theater majors class of 2010. All the students attended strong academic schools like Yale, Northwestern, NYU, U of Michigan, etc. or top conservatory programs.</p>
<p>D has a close friend there for the Writing program-- she is really a brilliant girl. Friends whose D graduated from the music program felt the academics were lacking and chose to keep their equally talented 2nd child in public school here.</p>
<p>Yale, Princeton, Northwestern and the other schools mentioned above obviously felt the academics were up to their standards or they would not have admitted the class of 2010 students to their schools. Sometimes people give explanations for their actions that are not the real reasons for their choices. Perhaps the friends who aren’t sending their second child are having financial difficulties or some other reason you are not aware of.</p>
<p>I think the academics at the top arts academies are excellent. My experience is with Interlochen, but I have heard that Walnut Hill is equal or better with respect to academics. My daughter went to Interlochen from the top prep school in our major city, and felt that the Interlochen academics were equally good, but with less “busy work” since the students had to practice their art. She scored 5s on all her APs at Interlochen and went to Rice for college where she graduated with high honors. Other Interlochen students were accepted to Ivy schools and other highly selective colleges and also were very well prepared. I believe Walnut Hill is the same, but I don’t have personal experience.</p>
<p>For a recent perspective, Interlochen grads are attending a good range of challenging academic institutions along with those at the top music, dance, theatre-specific schools or conservatories. I would guess Walnut Hill is fine but have no specific experience with it.
One method is to transfer during HS into an arts academy/school - can take the best of both HS’s that way (certain courses, teachers, etc.)</p>
<p>We found the academics at WH somewhat lacking. Transferring from a public school, our daughter could have graduated from Walnut Hill taking only one academic class in senior year. In the high school she ended up attending, she took 5, plus music classes on weekends.</p>
<p>For some kids, high school is too early to specialize. For others, it is just what they want.</p>
<p>WH can be great for ballet students, but musicians can instead study, practice and play at weekend conservatory prep programs. I don’t know much about the WH writing program, at all.</p>
<p>Writing is a bit different in that there is really no hurry. People often do their best writing when older. Ballet dancers have their best years right after high school, or even during, so the early focus makes sense. Musicians are on a similarly intense path. I would think a broad background would serve a student writer best, but I really don’t know what is offered.</p>
<p>Compmom-I don’t think you understand the way academics at WHS is structured. Yes, your daughter “could have” graduated with the one course, but if she wanted to she “could have” taken the many advanced courses offered at WHS. There are advanced courses in biology, creative writing, Calculus and many others for those who want them. In addition, the teachers will often form special class sections for advanced students. This is what has already been done for my D. The individual attention and caring from the academic teachers in phenomenal so far. My D attended a top public HS for ninth grade and was in all honors classes. She wanted to attend WHS to better coordinate her academic and arts work. Musical theater requires coursework in voice, dance and acting and trying to fit all those classes in with the academics at her previous school was a logistical nightmare. Now she can get everything she needs in one place.</p>
<p>researchmaven is correct. You can “graduate” from an arts academy (or many other high schools, for that matter) with a very light academic load and weaker academics. Part of our deal with our daughter was that she continue to take as rigorous an academic load as she would have had at her prep school back home. She kicked and screamed about calculus senior year because she was on the road a lot for auditions and doing all the college apps, etc., but we didn’t let her drop it. When she got to college she told us how glad she was that she stuck with it and got the AP 5 to get that requirement out of the way.</p>