My daughter will be applying next year to BS schools but it is not clear to me what kinds of grades the schools are looking for as I don’t see this information published anywhere. She is an A student except for math where she is a B+ student. I don’t think she will take the SSAT as it doesn’t appear to be a requirement anywhere. She is Mensa Junior Honor Society member and has been published with them. She is not an athlete but does play club tennis and a musical instrument. She also has a ton of volunteer hours. Teachers love her and recommendations will be strong. We are interested in smaller boarding schools in CT or NY. Thoughts? Recommendations? We are not sure if we will apply for FA- we could use it but we could also survive without it.
I don’t think a B+ in one subject is going to tank anyone’s application. My advice would be to figure out what your daughter is looking for in a school and then find schools that offer those things and feel like a good “social” fit for her. My daughter was looking for a “kind community” of students and teachers, a smaller size (about 300-400 kids), a theater program, a XC team, and a healthy academic/life balance (so no “grind” schools for her). That helped us get started and then visits, virtual panels (we are not close enough to attend in-person events regularly), and more research/thinking allowed her to figure out what was important and what she could live with (or live without). In the end, she applied to six schools this year as an 8th grader. None of which would be considered in the “top tier”, but all of which fit each of her criteria and she would be delighted to attend any of them.
In terms of schools in NY or CT, my daughter applied to Emma Willard, Millbrook, Suffield, Pomfret, and Miss Porter’s from those two states.
Thanks. The list so far is Millbrook, Canterbury, and the Gunnery but it feels like we need to add some more to the list. I’ll take a look at your suggestions! Any thoughts on whether asking for FA will effect admission acceptance?
If the school believes you’ll need a lot of aid, then yes, applying for aid will lower your chances of admission.
I would go ahead and take the SSAT. You might as well see how your kid does. Maybe she’ll have a high score which would indicate she could, if she wanted, do well at a more rigorous school. On the other hand, a low score could indicate she’d struggle in a challenging school. You don’t have to submit the SSAT score after all.
My kid applied TO and is a freshman at Emma Willard. Super happy at an all-girls school. She’s making a mix of grades but the school’s many hands-on learning opportunities suit her well.
Given that most of the schools discussed here maintain a roughly 70/30 full-pay/financial aid ratio, chances are definitely better in the FP pile. If you apply for financial aid, you will complete and submit a Parent Financial Statement (PFS) to the SSS which will return an Expected Parent Contribution (EFC) to each school your child applies, and each school will know if you have the ability to be FP. If the EFC indicates you can be FP, each school will expect you to be FP each year your child attends unless some financial circumstance seriously and demonstrably changes.
There are lots of threads here discussing this issue. We are an example of a family who did not think we could possibly be FP and applied for (partial) FA only for the EFC to determine that we did not qualify. Two schools contacted us on M9 (one day before decision day, M10) to say they would like to admit our son but only if we could we could be FP as they could not award any aid to us based on our EFC. We had 24 hours to decide. It was a gut-wrenching time in our house as pulling that trigger meant a draconian four years for us, but we did it, and (12 years later) have no regrets.
Bottom line: You really don’t get to decide whether or not to be FP if the SSS decides you can write those checks. Best to just apply FP outright as not all schools will call/move your child’s app to the FP pile if don’t qualify for FA. Don’t take that risk.
Your kids were lucky, the parents could afford the tuition. For some families, it is simply not affordable to spend $75K tuition per year. I would rather stay at public school if I could not get financial aid.
If you are looking at Canterbury and Gunn, you should also take a look at Westover, Taft, and Miss Porters. Not sure where in CT you are, but Westover and Taft are reasonably close to Canterbury and Gunn.
So many great options out there and it sounds like you’ve already identified some good ones. Starting early provides you with lots of time for your child to research and tour. Even visiting the campus to watch a spring play or sports game to get a feel for the school and student population unofficially would be helpful. One thing that I’m sure you’re aware of is that Canterbury is Catholic. Not sure if they require mass attendance, etc. and not a big deal for many people even if they’re not Catholic but just something to consider with any school with a religious affiliation. Side note: we discovered Millbrook after visiting a nearby school and were curious so drove through. We’d known nothing about it and were so intrigued that they have a zoo! In hindsight it would have been a great consideration for one child who at the time of applying thought they wanted bigger schools but after choosing a larger school discovered they craved the opposite. Best of luck!
We are also in CT and my son wanted a smaller school not too far away. He ended up applying to 6 in CT and MA.
Kent and Hotchkiss are two more you might want to look at. Hotchkiss had the most amazing music facilities of any school we saw – great practice rooms and performance spaces. If you are willing to go towards MA or RI, St Georges, St Marks and Williston are also on the smaller side. Good luck!
I don’t know—I worry that it’s one of those cool things that everyone is too busy to actually ever take advantage of. I’d recommend asking your tour guide how many times they’ve visited the zoo.
The Zoo is built into the fabric of the school! Everyone does community service, and one set of jobs is caring for the animals! Every student rotates through the zoo, and if they like it, they do more. My son’s favorites were the lemurs. You can hear the red wolves howling right near you. The Zoo has resonated with some kids, influencing their careers and life paths. (For example, Thomas Lovejoy: "Godfather of Biodiversity" Thomas Lovejoy Dies at 80 | The Scientist Magazine®)
I actually am surprised that more people don’t realize the significance of the zoo. It is accredited and part of wildlife conservation efforts (e.g. to reintroduce red woves into the wild). It is the only high school in the world with a zoo!
I love that the animals are in as natural a habitat as possible. For example the river otters have a fairly large river flowing through their enclosure.