Thanks for your perspectives! @missinghome21 I wish it were so easy! Her major interests were the instigator for the school search, and also the first “cut” in the admission process - in fact, it’s why the LPS is not a good HS for her. Both schools offer what she wants, though in different ways (different size plays a role here, but not enough to rule one out).
@cababe97 - You’re right, of course. Revisit days will probably bring clarity. The thing is, she can see herself in both places. Maybe we need to recommend a projection - can she see herself Junior year - college apps, prom, etc.? Even driving distance isn’t a decision helper - they’re comparable and better than what we do for after-school activities now!
@buuzn03 - We did rule out one acceptance based on it’s rank on the seclusion scale. That was actually an easy decision. Had it been her only acceptance, it would have been a great choice, but with other, more preferable, types of locations available through other acceptances, we were able to whittle the list down.
I found a couple older threads with food for thought:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1434118-i-dont-know-how-fit-works-really-p1.html
And I found one more (lost the link!) that had a great weighted average suggestion - make a list of 20 items important to [student or parent], select the top 5 and double-weight those. Then rank each of the 20 and add up the totals. I went through the exercise, and found my rankings to be 86 and 88. So these schools really are difficult to choose between! I plan to have D do the same thing, but choosing her top 20. I also included the LPS as a control point, and as expected, it did not rank as well, though it wasn’t as far behind as I thought it would be. An interesting exercise!
We’re working hard on our question lists, and reaching out to other Day students in the area too.