<p>Student perspective here. My belief is that any lists that are made are with the intention of figuring out what will be best for the child. A family may have multiple kids that are of BS age at the same time and each of those lists may or may nor be different.</p>
<p>In my case, BS is a tradition in the family, but prior generations’ thought processes were different. My dad went to his BS because that’s where his dad went, etc. BS was not really on our radar screen because it is uncommon in my country. However, my former preK-12 intl school suggested to my parents that they explore other opportunities as I would exhaust their math, science, and foreign language curriculum by the end of 10th grade. The cc route is not available where I live.</p>
<p>At the time, I did not know this board existed,probably a good thing. I certainly didn’t know the term “acronym schools” for either BS or colleges. In fact, the only schools I probably knew of were ADE.</p>
<p>My parents let me do most of the legwork, keeping them in the loop. There are many parameters to potentially consider which are covered in depth on another thread. For me, I had 3:</p>
<p>1/ Availability of sufficient math/science courses beyond AP to keep me engaged for 4 years.
2/ Offered my less commonly taught FL. I knew I would probably exhaust that at whatever school I went to, but since my school persuaded my parents to enroll me in said class to give me the “challenge”, I might as well see it through.
3/ Offered my primary sport and/or had a local club that offered said sport.</p>
<p>My parents added 2 more.</p>
<p>4/ School offered ground transportation to nearest major airport (i.e. not Bradley or Manchester) at the start and end of every break and/or was easily accessible by public transport/reasonable taxi ride, because they made clear that the only move-in/move-out they would be attending were freshman move-in and senior move-out.
5/ Major airport was a direct flight from my home city for airlines’ UM rules and because connections are a pain.</p>
<p>Most other parameters mentioned elsewhere were not deal-breakers to me. The high school portion of my former school was about 400 and that was a bit small for me, so I wanted a bit bigger, but was not critical. Neither was traditional classroom layout/ talking around a table. I still can’t fathom how Edward Harkness got these schools to drink the Kool-Aid. BTW the first time I heard “Harkness table” I thought of Agatha Harkness and the Scarlet Witch conjuring spells around a table. LOL My younger comic book geek coming out.</p>
<p>That ruled a lot out. From the remaining schools that fit the parameters, we reviewed their lookbooks. I eliminated CA schools because some of their sports are in a different schedule (who would have thought) and 2 of my sports would have been in the same season. I came up with a list of 5, and my parents added a 6th acronym school which I had eliminated due to it was a 3 hour bus/train ride from airport, but otherwise was a good match. We ended with a list evenly split between acronym and non. I scheduled the visits/interviews during my fall break, and we made a family road trip out of it.</p>
<p>We also did a couple of drive-bys to schools that my younger brother thought looked good for him. The visits and the interviews all went well. Although I did find one school a bit aloof. Nice, but a bit cold. Or as my Dad, who thought this would be his choice, said, “Why do they all act like they have a stick up their…?” This coming from the Brit.I ended up eliminating 2 schools after learning about Amtrak’s UM policy on our visit. I eliminated a 3rd school because, while they offered my sport, they did not have the facilities for it, and the 1-hour RT van ride to the area college seemed like a time-suck to me. </p>
<p>So in the end, I applied to 1 acronym and 2 non-acronym schools, with the back-up plan of staying in my current school for another two years, at which time, the FL and Amtrak restrictions would be removed, and I could cast a wider net, if needed. I received 3 acceptances M10, and I am sure that I would have thrived at any of those schools, I am happy with the acronym school at which I enrolled.</p>
<p>4 years later, I’m beginning the process all over again. Yes, my EA/ED choice will be an acronym school (still don’t know which one),but my total list will have some other schools as well, and one of the HYP schools I will not be applying to because it is not a good fit for me. I recognize that other students will thrive there. My own father shakes his head that this forum exists. He’s happy for my success but never pushed me on it. He jumped for joy over his own 2:2 for Oxbridge and he turned out quite well.</p>
<p>Bottom line, we made the choice on what was best for me. My brother did the same. I would never suggest that someone include/exclude acronym schools,nor would I suggest anyone choose a school for their ability to get into an acronym uni. The choice should be what schools best fits the student.</p>