Deerfield/Taft/Tabor/Berkshire

neatoburrito
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:22:57 +0000

Has he taken a practise ssat, or do you have any idea where he will fall there? If his current school is difficult and does not inflate grades, and he does extremely well (80+) on the ssat’s, then Deerfield and Taft may be in range. There has to be both an academic and social “fit.” I seem to remember from when my son was exploring Taft that there were three levels of courses offered in most major subjects. I actually asked the admissions officer about it and he said very non-chalantly that it was a form of tracking. So maybe Taft accepts a wider range of academic talent than Deerfield.

Those are the only two schools on your list that I have actively researched. My son is not applying to either. For some inexplicable reason, he didn’t even want to look at Deerfield and he just couldn’t see himself at Taft. Nothing against either school, just not right for my son.

I have heard very nice things about Berkshire on this board and there are a few parents (fun is fun, I think) around who would probably be willing to share their experiences. We didn’t look at it only because we had to draw the line somewhere!

If you haven’t already visited Deerfield, you might want to think about adding Northfield Mount Hermon to the trip. They are pretty close to one another. It really seems like a school on an upward swing. A warning, though. The wind really whips around on that hilltop!

Good luck!