<p>The only school I got accepted to is Concord Academy. Could you please give some feedback about this school? I am really determined to study in Ivy/Stanford/MIT. How big are my chances of getting in there if I attend Concord? Is it considered to be one of the best schools after all? THANK YOU!</p>
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<p>First of all, you definitely shouldn’t attend a school, for the sole purpose of having a “higher chance” of being admitted into an Ivy. </p>
<p>Let’s put this into perspective. “In the big scheme of things”, is prestige really that important? Concord is an excellent school. They have a wide range of extracurricular opportunities, a vast course selection, and an above-average college matriculation list. Concord will definitely prepare you for entry to any university, Ivy or not. Excuse me for my language, but WHO CARES if they are “one of the best schools” or not. Frankly, that’s not important. I applied to Concord, because of the school’s liberal culture. Definitely not because they have a stellar college matriculation list…</p>
<p>Don’t become overly consumed in prestige!</p>
<p>We toured and interviewed at Concord. It is a super school and I would certainly be comfortable to see my child there. The campus is charming - very New England. You can easily walk into the historic town center which is quite safe. </p>
<p>The school has a decent campus and holds a high standard, although you can point to rival schools with bigger buildings and more opulence if that is important to you. Lately they are building nice new athletic fields.</p>
<p>Two things stuck out for me about Concord. First, it is AMAZING for humanities. Writing, arts, music, acting all flourish here. Second, the students gather weekly for “chapel” speeches - which are not religious at all, rather they are speeches by the senior class, summing up something about their lives and their four years at Concord. Many students rate these speeches as the most memorable moments of their time at Concord.</p>
<p>There is a mix of day and boarding here, which appears to combine well since day students often stay late and boarding students cannot go back to dorm during the school day. The school has plenty of events that bus or train people into the city, go to movies, or visit area events so there is always something for the weekend.</p>
<p>Students assert the food is VERY good; we did not have a chance to try it.</p>
<p>The student body at Concord has a high SAT average around 680-690 across math, writing and reading. They place about 5% of graduates into HYPMS, about 10% into Ivies. That said, a parent tour guide told us that if you are consumed with getting into HYPMS above all else, you might not fit into Concord. Concord kids work very hard but they are marching to the beat of their own drum. They send a lot of kids to Brown, Columbia, Carleton, Tufts and NYU. </p>
<p>Math and science do have a role here. Concord has decent offerings and there are a couple of kids going to MIT every year.</p>
<p>Students at Concord we met told us they are happy and enjoy a warm and supportive atmosphere that accepts people for who they are and respects intellectual effort. Around Boston, this school has a reputation as giving students a lot of room to make their own decisions - consistent with the humanities theme there is no uniform dress code - intead lots of individuality.</p>
<p>Lastly, one parent from Concord told me that a surprise bonus for him is the lack of a football team. Instead of football and cheerleading being the center of high school staus - as it is at other high schools - here people are valued more for other areas. Athletics here are competitive in their league but overall more about developing the whole person. You also have a higher chance of playing on a varsity sports team since Concord is in the EIL league which is a bit smaller than the ISL league. The pride of Concord athletics may be the ski team which is top notch.</p>
<p>Overall, this is heaven for many kids and especially bright, creative kids who want to express themselves. You should avoid it for immature kids who need a firm disciplinary hand, or who want to follow a set formula for studying, or who put athletics first. Anyway that is our impression.</p>
<p>@ Bostdad2:
What a wonderful review! DD was accepted there, and we found your comments VERY helpful. Thank you for writing it.</p>
<p>They have pages and pages of art courses, including photography, filmmaking and screenwriting. They also have an actual Computer Science department, a surprisingly rare find and even more so in a small liberal arts school, with six courses.</p>
<p>Concord has the lowest percentage of boarders of any school my d applied to, and I tried to steer her to schools with mostly boarders since we live very far away, but with the proximity to Boston I felt confident she would make local friends and become a part of Boston. Boarding students can arrange to be matched with a local family as a sort of host family, and day and boarding students can arrange a swap night.</p>
<p>My parent guide had sent 3 children there and volunteered her time as a guide for about 5 years.</p>
<p>We were favorably impressed. I consider it one of the hidden gems. It was d’s second choice out of 4, above Andover. She didn’t even want to apply to Exeter even though we had a very friendly reception with the Director of Admissions there.</p>
<p>Concord will appeal to students who want a more intimate and informal environment than some of the more famous schools. Dorms are old colonial houses right on the street. Buildings are small scale rather than imposing.</p>
<p>Henry Kissinger sent his son there, Caroline Kennedy went there, Queen Noor went there…and it’s not prestigious enough for you? Compared to The Groton School and Middlesex School, Concord Academy has sent MORE students to MIT over the past five years than the other two school COMBINED.</p>
<p>It would be refreshing if you did your own research.</p>
<p>No need to be rude.</p>
<p>The child wrote an uninformed post. <em>yawn</em></p>
<p>bump10char</p>
<p>Guys, I’m a freshman at CA and I can honestly say that it is an amazing place and everything that bostdad and alooknac said is true 
(though we have chapel 3 days a week actually). As they said, humanities and arts here are excellent, but in my experience math and science classes are also great, and the computer science department is AMAZING, led by a CA grad who previously worked as a programmer for Apple. Our college counseling department is great, and if you work hard you can get into any college from CA. Also, the food IS excellent!</p>
<p>Concord Academy is really a top notch school overall. I am a junior there and my favorite thing about the school is that you can really be whatever sort of person you want to be. There are kids that are really passionate about athletics and devote a huge part of their energy to that, but there are also kids like me that have sports they like to play, but for fun and excersise more then a lifestyle. The theater program is very competitive, but there are also wonderful oppurtunities for work in technical theater so that people that aren’t cast in shows can still be involved in shows. I have found the academics to be quite challenging, but in an overall positive way, and the teachers are really great about working through any difficulties that I have had. The teachers are just amazing people that I really look up to, and they treat us like adults which really makes the classes a lot better, but at the same time they expect us to act like adults, so it all works out. In general I would say that concord is an unpretentious yet elite prep school and I would wholeheartedly suggest going there.</p>
<p>This is a great thread about CA. It’s high on our list, for all the reasons mentioned.</p>