curioustudent

My parents want to move to the Los Angeles area, so I will not be able to attend my current public school in Massachusetts. Consequently, I have to make a decision now. My parents gave me the choice of attending a private school in LA and living at home or staying in New England (I love it here!) and attending a boarding school. Even though I cannot even imagine not being in New England, I'm leaning towards going to LA. Going to a boarding school is so much more expensive. I think I will apply to Harvard-Westlake, Brentwood, and Marlborough. I kind of want to see some options for New England boarding schools just in case though. Does anyone have any thoughts? Oh, and I am going to apply for my junior year and I am currently a rising sophomore.

Some info about me (I not really sure what to put)...
Grades: 4.0 unweighted/5.0 weighted
Testing: I have not taken the ISEE/SSATs yet. I take them in November.
Instrument: Clarinet (6 years)
Sports: cross country
Other: Peer mentor, photography, other stuff....

Sorry. I have not really thought about any of the above before. I guess I will stress out about extracurriculars this year. In my freshmen year, I just kind of dipped my feet in the water. Haha

curioustudent

Oh, and I am in the band (yeah, I'm a band geek). I am switching to orchestra though because I hate playing marching songs and the jazz program at my school is way too intense and I cannot play jazz music for my life.

curioustudent

........bump?

flakothetaco

Are you applying as retake or sophmore ?

AlexMac

You could try some of the schools that are listed in GLADCHEMMS. They are:

-Groton
-Lawrenceville
-Andover
-Deerfield
-Choate
-Hotchkiss
-Exeter
-Milton
-Middlesex
-St. Paul's

There are also a lot of other boarding schools in New England, and you can check out the school's profiles, reviews, and list of stats at boardingschoolreview.com .

curioustudent

I'm applying as a junior not as a sophomore or retake. My family is just moving the summer before I become a junior.

And also I've heard things about Andover and Exeter. Are they really that rigorous? I want to attend somewhere that will really challenge me and make me work hard.

rizzledrizzle

Yes. From what I've heard they work you hard, but it doesn't mean it isn't manageable.

HADES98

You can try Peddie School in New Jersey, pretty far but still a good choice, or Blair Academy or Mercerburg Academy

dogsfriend

I don't know if you're now leaning towards boarding school, but I live in LA so I can tell you a little bit about the schools you mentioned:
Harvard Westlake is very rigorous academically, and when it gets to high school they tend to choose students who are exceptional at sports, music, art etc., but I have one friend who got in for junior year on his superb grades alone.

Brentwood is a good school, and I know people who have gone there and been dissatisfied, as well as people who have loved the school. It's kind of a toss-up. They have a beautiful campus, though, with excellent sports facilities.

Marlborough is also very, very academic, but I know plenty of girls who are happy there. I hear it's a warm community, except for the fact that they get a crazy amount of homework each night.

I don't know if you've looked at Archer, but it is a superb school. It's right across the street from Brentwood, and it's all-girls like Marlborough. They have very small classes (I think the average is around 14) and it's a great community. They make learning fun for the girls, and the sports programs are getting better and better every year. They do famous plays and musicals, and their orchestra and choir have won countless awards. I'd encourage you to go take a look.