<p>I have seen Westover mentioned a few times here in the forums. I have a current Junior who has attended Westover since 9th grade.</p>
<p>We are very happy with her experience there - any one with questions feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Hi! Did you and your daughter look at any other single sex schools? What contributed to her ending up at Westover?</p>
<p>We looked at Porters. The final decision was not easy for her - it was a choice between two really great schools. We, as parents, were happier with Westover than Porters. Re-visit days are tough - you get just a day’s snapshot of a school, but on our particular visit we didn’t get a great feeling at Porters. There seemed to be a large difference in student behavior between the “scripted” and “unscripted” moments of the day and that gave us pause. Again - it was just our impression on one particular day. And to be fair - revisits are really a pain for current students. They are terribly disruptive - and for seniors are also coming at a time when college acceptances are being posted.</p>
<p>Westover is a good fit for her socially and academically. It was extremely nurturing when she was a homesick 13 year old 9th grader, and is still a good fit for a now 16 year old who needs a bit more freedom. Weekends can be a little quiet - having a strong posse of day student friends helps immeasurably if you want to get off campus. Westover is, if not actually rural, at least not connected to a town of any sort. Waterbury (the closest city) is a real dump - as far as I know she avoids going there except to the occasional movie. Now that she’s older she goes into NYC fairly often (school transport) or New Haven to shop and have fun. Porters has a definite edge with the social scene - there is an actual town that students can walk into and their connection to Avon Old farms is strong - so boys are on campus fairly regularly. Good or bad - it’s whatever your family prefers.</p>
<p>She likes the feeling of living in a big house (though there are other buildings on campus, the dorms and many classrooms and offices are in the main building) versus a huge walking campus like Exeter. It is nice in bad weather, for sure. The teachers are incredibly supportive and accessible - really at all hours - for conferencing and discussion outside of class time. Girls schools seem to do the ‘dorm family’ thing much better than co-ed institutions. At least at Westover (and Porters) the dorm parents were just that - they weren’t the Triple-Threat model (teacher, coach, dorm parent, etc) that exists at a place like Exeter. My son graduated from Exeter - and though it is a wonderful place for the right student - it is not warm and fuzzy. </p>
<p>She was drawn to Westover for its arts programs - she started off with just one interest and has been able (and encouraged) to explore and expand her horizons to include other activities - within the arts and beyond. Many of her friends are part of the WISE (women in science and engineering) program, though she is not. They all go to each others dance or sporting events - the girls seem to embrace and support their many varied interests. Community service also is a huge part of the programming at Westover, as well. Though I suspect that Emma, Porters, etc. also have a deep commitment to community service. Picking among these wonderful schools is really splitting hairs at some point - it will usually be some little thing that tips the scales in favor on one or the other, rather than some pedagogical strategy that sends you running from your seats on visit days.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for that message! I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I learned about Westover a little later than I wanted, but now I am very interested. Thank you for talking about the programs. I think the W.I.S.E. program is really cool. I am also interested in the orchestra and it great to hear that they have a thriving arts program. It is very important for me to have friends that have a variety of talents because it is very enriching. I am actually looking at all of the girl’s schools that you mentioned. These are such amazing options it is bewildering! Unfortunately I can’t visit Westover as soon as I would like and I might have to do a Skype interview and visit afterwards. I was online and I saw a video of a girl in a huge dorm room, but then in other pictures the rooms seemed smaller. How does rooming work? Do the dorms vary in size with each building? Thanks again.</p>
<p>Cakeboss, when my daughter was looking at schools, we added Westover to our long list as a “practice” interview. Both she and I were quite surprised when our “practice” school rose to near the top of her list after the visit ahead of several GLADCHEMMS. We sat in on different classes and both of us found the teachers to be excellent and the classes quite rigorous. The students were serious and engaged. Of the all-girls schools we visited, it seemed the most intellectual. The main building was lovely. We thought the dorm rooms (at least the one we got to see) among the prettiest we saw on any campus. The option to study music at the Manhattan School of Music in NYC really impressed us. The week we were there, the whole school was going into NYC to see Blue Man Group. The only sticking point for us was that FA is a bit tight there.</p>
<p>The dorms are ridiculous!
My daughter is an admitted clothes junkie - and perhaps this is one reason she loves Westover so much 
All the girls’ rooms have TWO walk in closets - like 5X7 rooms with poles on 2 sides and a wide storage shelf above. Enough room for a dresser in there if you wish. She actually has a lamp and a carpet in there and uses it as a quiet thinking space - or perhaps she is just admiring her sweaters, I really will never know for sure. There are also 2 more shared closets - a ‘wet’ closet - one with marble shelves and towel racks on the back of the door. You put your shower stuff in there in order to keep your room nice and neat. Because the shelves are marble the wet bottoms of your toiletries don’t mar it. The other shared closet is a pantry-type on the top half (with doors) for your snacks and pull out drawers on the lower half for other items. She and her roommate have room for 2 large chairs and 2 medium size carpets ( floors are hardwood). The beds are regular twins, plus the two dressers, two shelves, and two desks.
They also have a full length window seat along the windows wall (not all the rooms have this feature). I made cushions and pillows for it. All rooms vary slightly (it is a turn of the century Edwardian building - so it is quirky) but they are mostly huge. All the dorms are in the main building - they are grouped by ‘corridors’ (maybe 8 -10 rooms per dorm parent apartment?) and by class level.
I did forget to mention the outstanding music offerings -including the Manhattan option, the orchestra, and the handbells. My daughter is more on the performing and visual arts side. Please pursue a Skype interview -you will be glad that you did.
As an aside - for us, Westover was far more generous with FA than Porters, which has a bigger endowment. And actually - when our son was also in boarding school at Exeter, Westover was still more generous than big- fancy- billion- dollar-endowment Exeter, comparatively. So FA is one of those 'you never know until you know ’ things - we were really pleasantly surprised by the package offered.<br>
Just ask if you’d like to know any thing more specific.</p>
<p>In case others have interest: Westover revisit days are 3 April 2014 (Thursday) and 4 April2014 (Friday) this year.</p>
<p>I am applying to Westover and I was just wondering what the academic atmosphere is like? DO the kids really care about learning? Does your daughter find the classes rigorous? And I am also interested in the arts – does it have a good arts program? I know the photography department is great.</p>
<p>Indeed - the Photography department is wonderful, as are all the arts classes. She has been involved in dance, plays, photo, and fall season sports through her 4 years. The academics are extremely rigorous, and students are very serious about their work. Teachers are available for weekly conference times, however, if students need extra help or clarification on the subjects that prove difficult. </p>
<p>Actually, conferencing with teachers on a regular basis is encouraged and expected of all students at Westover, not just students who may need occasional extra help. In fact, it’s the top students who actually conference the most.</p>