<p>Newyorker,</p>
<p>How would you compare to NMH? My son has been accepted at NMH and Williston and waitlisted at Choate. We know CRH well, but don't know NMH and Williston well. He is not a team sports kid but does enjoy lacrosse for the game - won't be the star player though and is a B+ student with SSATs in the high 70s if memory serves.</p>
<p>As someone who actually goes to Williston (I’m a junior this year) I’d like to set a few things straight. I realize that no one may be reading this, as it has been several months since the question was posted, but in case anyone is, I don’t want them to have the wrong idea.</p>
<p>Williston is a great school, but it’s not perfect, and even though it was the right school for me, it may not be for you. Williston is not renown for it’s academics, but that doesn’t mean that they are lacking. It offers several languages, including Latin and Chinese, regular and AP science and social science courses along with multiple electives in both categories, a full math curriculum, regular English for four years and AP English courses for junior and senior years, along with electives. Williston also offers an incredible writing center, where students can go to improve their writing, have a paper (or college essay) looked over, or just get help thinking up an idea. All of this is done one-on-one with an English teacher from the school. In addition to all of the courses offered on campus, if there is a course that a student shows particular interest in and Williston doesn’t offer it, WNS is connected to the 5 colleges in the area, and a student may be able to begin studies through their programs.</p>
<p>The support that a school offers to students plays a large part in that student’s happiness there. My older brother went to a boarding school in Maine, and no matter how hard he tried, his advisor never seemed to have time for him. At Williston, an advisor is almost always also a coach, a teacher, and a dorm parent. They are involved in multiple aspects of their students’ life and are available whenever a problem arises. Apart from advisors, every dean has an open door policy and students can stop in at any time for advise, help or just to chat. Though this is Mr. Hill’s first year at Williston, he’s made a special effort as a headmaster to connect to all of the students, holding an open house every class Saturday.</p>
<p>As nyc pointed out, we do have a very young and new director of college advising, however the reviews from parents and students of him have been excellent, and my own experience there has been great. (I noticed there was a comment from someone complaining that their child wasn’t looking into Ivy League colleges, WHO CARES?!?! Yes the Ivy League schools are known world round, but that doesn’t mean that a student will get a superior education or be any happier there. A recent study was written about in the New Yorker, which showed that the people who ranked schools ranked them based on how well known they were, and then those rankings made the school more well known and the cycle repeated. The same way that colleges want more students to apply so that their acceptance rate can go down so that more students will apply, thinking that they are more elite schools, and the rate will drop again. DO NOT BASE WHERE YOU WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE ON HOW WELL KNOWN IT IS! And don’t try to influence your child into apply somewhere they don’t want to go. It’s not your life, it’s theirs. This year Williston had two people accepted into MIT and one of them for sure is not going. Last year we had a student accepted into an Ivy League and she chose to go to the Naval Academy. She was criticized a lot for her decision, but last I heard, she was very happy there.)</p>
<p>The most important part about Williston is not it’s academics or it’s sports or it’s ranking among other East Coast boarding schools, it’s the friendliness that is felt when one walks onto the campus. There are plenty of snobby elite boarding schools in the area, and for some people a sense of superiority is all that matters. But for the students at Williston, boarding school isn’t just about getting into the best college, it’s about getting the right education for each individual student, while balancing it with sports, clubs (there’s one for every kind of person), the arts, and friends. Williston is a college preparatory school, and that’s what it does. It helps it’s students know who they are while helping them grow, so that when it comes time to find the right college, they know what they are looking for and are ready to take on the academic challenge that comes with whichever school they choose. Williston is not about taking the most academically impressive classes. It’s about creating well rounded, happy, academically challenged students who know more about the world than just how to study for an AP exam. It’s about creating kids who enjoyed studying for that AP exam because it was on a subject they felt passionately about.</p>
<p>Williston is not for everyone, but trust your instincts, don’t listen to your parents, and do what you feel is right. If you don’t like it, you can always transfer. ;)</p>
<p>Great to see a good discussion of a school that is less talked about on CC. How are the teachers? What makes them good / not good? How accessible are they? What are the expectations of the student & how does the school work to bring out the best in that? If a student needs help outside of class, how is that handled? Is there a lot of turnover in the faculty? How good a job do they do in keeping parents in the loop who live far away? How good a job do the graduates feel the school did in preparing them for college?</p>
<p>Curious about the culture of the school. Liberal & progressive, teachers on a first name basis, etc. Is it cool to get good grades, or is the focus really not so much on that but the person as a whole. </p>
<p>There was mention of an annual report - how does one get a copy of that? And sorry for my ignorance, what is an annotated matriculation list?</p>
<p>12pierr- thank you so very much for taking the time to join CC and post about WNH and your experiences there. </p>
<p>I’ve often heard this school referred to as a ‘sleeper’ - overlooked by students/parents wanting the prestige of more well known schools. We visited their last fall and were extremely impressed by the facilities. </p>
<p>I hope you have time to answer some of the questions posed by 2kidsnoanswers and that others familiar with this school will provide input.</p>
<p>“The most important part about Williston is not it’s academics or it’s sports or it’s ranking among other East Coast boarding schools, it’s the friendliness that is felt when one walks onto the campus.”</p>
<p>^^ With a price-tag of nearly $48K, WNS should be offering the full package - - solid academics, ECs and friendliness. Also, I wouldn’t dismiss all academically superior day and boarding schools as “snotty.” And while I agree one should decide which prep school to attend based on the college matriculation list or which college to attend based on “how well known it is,” a long-standing reputation for quality academics is an important factor. WNS will get the occasional kid into a top LAC/uni, but even the worst inner-city schools have their grads enroll at top schools every now and again.</p>
<p>I found the quality of the academics lacking (easy vocab quizzes in Eng 11), ditto for the overall teacher quality/skill level (I would wince at the bad grammar) and an appaling lack of academic support (when D struggled briefly with for AP physics, the school could not recommend/offer ANYONE but a peer tutor). </p>
<p>D is now a senior at top LAC, but I owe her success to my vigilance and her k-8 preparation (D was one of a handfull of WNS students to receive NMS commendation; at her day school 30-40% are NMS semi-finalists). To me, it spoke volumes that when D was a soph or jr, the school mailed home info about an expensive driver’s ed course, but the school never sent any info regarding SAT prep courses - - this at a school where boarder’s can’t have cars! (When I inquired about SAT courses - - it is, after all, a 5 college area - - the college counseling office said, "our students aren’t intereste in that. Not true; lots of day students were getting prep. How could the advisors not have known this? And if theyknowe, why keep it a secret?)</p>
<p>WNS was not a good choice for my D (we opted for it over the “usual suspects” b/c we wanted her in a smaller school; D’s day school had fewer than 700 for k-12); it was too much of a step-down academically from her day school. </p>
<hr>
<p>The school is is western Mass, an area either known to deliciously (notoriously?) liberal. Students address teachers as “Ms,” Mrs." or “Mr.” </p>
<p>An annotated college matriculation list either (a) indicates where each student in the graduating class(es) ENROLLED, (b) reports precisely how many students applied/admitted to each college or (c) does both “a” and “b.” Stronger school - - Deerfield, St.Paul’s, etc. - - post annotated matric lists on their web sites. </p>
<p>Less rigorous schools, while insisting that Ivy placement is “not that important,” post “a sampling” of schools to which students have been “admitted.” The sampling allows the school to put Harvard, Yale, Duke, Brown, Amherst, Williams and Pomona on the list, w/o sreporting that those acceptances were the result of one stellar applicant, thereby suggesting an stronger college placement showing than the school has in fact. (Like a diet ad without the standard caveat, “dramatization, results not typical; your results may vary.”)</p>
<p>Thank you, foolishpleasure. Glad to hear that your D is now finishing up at a top LAC. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>A lot of BS like Williston have unrepresentative “college acceptances list”. What you need is a “matriculation list” instead of acceptances. Because someone might get multiple acceptances but only enroll at one university.</p>
<p>Im an avid longboarder and I was wondering if east hampton is a good place to board. Is it hillly? Smooth streets? Is there a bike path? Im gonna be attending Williston Northampton this fall. Also can i board around campus? is even aloud… all of my questions thanks! :)</p>
Hi Gsmile, I have an 8th grader who is considering Williston Northampton. I just wanted to know if you like the school since you have been there 2/3 years now. Thanks for any feedback that you can provide. She is a girl BTW 
There’s a newer thread on this further down the page-- from Jan. 3rd or 4th. Williston vs. Berkshire.
This thread was started 5 years ago and the last response id 2 years old. Most of these posters have moved on. Use old threads for research only. If you have a question/comment, start a new discussion. Closing.