<p>I would like to know every and anything that you know, have heard, or have thought about Williston Northampton. I am interested in this boarding school, have looked on the website and it seems pretty good. The main thing I want to know about is their ACADEMIC REPUTATION. are they known for having good academics and sending kids to top tiers colleges? is it one of the better academic boarding schools?</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all responses.</p>
<p>Sorry...all I know is that the campus is pretty and they have an excellent soccer facility. The town of Northhampton is also unique with lots of architectural charm and interesting shops.
It lacks the prestige of the more well-known schools, but could still have top-notch academics.</p>
<p>I'm from Easthampton, which is the town that Williston is actually in. It is a really good school and as far as I know they send a lot of graduates to top schools. My friend graduated from there last year and she goes to Columbia. Also, Ben Stein's son went there and got kicked out for marijuana distribution hahaha.</p>
<p>oh that guy in the eye drop commercials with boring, droning voice?</p>
<p>how ironic that the father of someone expelled for marijuana distribution is seen on TV promoting eyedrops to restore clear eyes</p>
<p>hhahah lol the son must of used a lotttt of eyedrops to clear his eyes. i dont get why he would even need the money</p>
<p>my cousin goes to Williston Northampton..
she LOVES it. she's only been there for a couple months, but she said hands down it was the best decision of her life. academically it is a very good school, not as good as hades, but still WAY up there.</p>
<p>my cousins sister is applying for next year.</p>
<p>thanks "smile its magic" </p>
<p>do you know anything else about this school. it seems like a great school, i hope to visit the campus soon and get a feel for the community myself.</p>
<p>wats the average ssat score?</p>
<p>Easthampton is a really small town but you can always find something to do. You can always go to Northampton or any of the other towns nearby for fun. Boston isn't too far away either. Oh ya Williston is in a nice part of Easthampton so that's a plus.</p>
<p>"they send a lot of graduates to top schools"</p>
<p>That's just not true - - and you'll have a difficult time getting a straight answer about college matriculation. Like most second/third tier schools WNS posts an unannotated college list; the fact that Harvard, Yale, Amherst and Columbia appear on the list often the result of ONE student's acceptances - - not one student at each school, but one strong student who was accepted to all four. And since these lists usually cover a 5 year period, that means one student at Williams over the past 5 years. (The only place I've seen an annotated matricuolation list is in the annual report.)</p>
<p>I'm NOT suggesting that college placement should be the sole factor in school selection, but the placement stats do say something about the quality of the academic program, the academic prowess of the student body and the school's academic reputation. I don't recall the average SSAT, but I know that the SATs are generally average (in the 500-520 range; 2-4 NMS commended students per class, 0 NMS semi-finalists).</p>
<p>Also, in recent years, WNS has had difficulty retaining the stronger students from its middle school (a day school program for 7th and 8th graders). With the exception of 8th graders whose parents are WNS faculty, the strong middle-school grads enroll at top schools rather than stay at WNS, even as day students.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that the students are happy there, as a number of posts above suggest. But quality academics and happy students are not mutually exclusive, and if you want both WNS is not a particularly good choice b/c it doesn't really deliver on the academics.</p>
<p>^^ I agree with what you said about matriculation data, some schools are very ambiguous.</p>
<p>The average SAT score at Williston is 1757 according to Boarding School Review.</p>
<p>On the WNS website, it states that 2008's graduates have matriculated at Amherst, UPenn, Cornell, Haverford, Bowdoin, Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, Stanford and West Point among others.</p>
<p>^^^ That may well be true, but still it's only 9 strong schools out of a graduating class of 140. And there's to tell whether those outcomes were typical, or better/worse than usual. </p>
<p>I do see that Williston has a new (and VERY, VERY young) director of college advising. The previous director lasted no more than 3-4 years, and the change in personnel suggests there were definite problems.</p>
<p>Anyway, the college list accessed from the college counseling page contains the following statement,</p>
<p>"Williston students have many diverse talents, interests, and goals, and they choose from a wide range of colleges and universities. The following is a SAMPLE of schools that have ADMITTED our students over the LAST FIVE YEARS."</p>
<p>Describing the lsit as a "sample" gives the school the option of listing the good/strong school, but NOT the weaker schools. Also, it doesn't give you any idea of how many students are admitted to UPenn as opposed ot UMass. And as indicated in post #11, all or most of the strong schools could be the result of a couple of strong student - - worse still, a couple of strong students four years ago (and no one has been admitted to those schools in the past three years)!</p>
<p>One of my sons is at Williston. He's very happy there. Faculty members are supportive. My other son is at NMH . Compared to NMH, Williston is less isolated and has a dresscode</p>
<p>Since the students are "diverse in their talents and goals", however, suggests that they don't all necessary aspire to Ivy and Ivy-type schools. You can be a top student and go to a rigorous high school; this does not mean you have the drive to go to an Ivy. Remember the whole "fit" thing. We very much are hoping my son will choose to look into one of the Ivies in particular and he is totally against the idea. It kills me because he is on track to be competitive and has a great athletic hook (which is one of the reasons he is against an Ivy....weak in athletics compared to many of his other prospects).
No doubt Williston still provides a much stronger education than the majority of public hs. It doesn't have to be a member of the "elite tier" to do that.</p>
<p>Williston provides a stronger education than the majority of public high schools, but by definition fully 49% of the public high schools provide a stronger education than the majority (ie the bottom 51%). In choosing Williston, I was opting out of the ultra-rigorous/competitive environment of D's Ivy-feeder day school in favor of solid, challenging academics, but in a less competive setting, where D could enjoy the social/athletic aspects of high school life. </p>
<p>Williston was a disappointment on almost every level. The curriculum was not particularly challenging and became more limited as a variety of upper level electives were dropped. Overall, the quality of teaching and advisement was poor for a private school. There were some outstanding, supportive teachers, but sadly they were the exception rather than the norm; even houseparents were shockingly unavialable. In short, Williston did very little to assist most of its students (particularly the boarders) in realizing their academic potential - - regardless of whether one had Ivy, or more modest, aspirations. (Good outcome for my D only b/c of my micromanagement and solid academic foundation from her day school.)</p>
<p>The one thing that Williston has going for it over many other prep schools is location - - specifically, its proximity to Northampton.</p>
<p>I'd like to push this to the top. Any other comments on Williston?</p>
<p>So interesting to read these comments, especially from the current parents. I have found that Williston is a good choice for kids who are B/B- students with SSAT around 50%. The kids I have known who went to Williston fit that profile and also wanted a school which was less preppy, more casual, less intense academically. With all 3 of them, their goals were met and they were happy. Their grades went up a bit, their involvement in school activities went up, and they were happy. It isn't a school I'd suggest for an excpetional student, who is very motivated, but for the right type of student, I thought this one was a good choice.</p>