<p>Thank you Italianboarder. Rigorous is good! We like rigorous! Just want our incoming freshman to keep his head above water during the transition period. I know he will find the right level of effort to be successful.</p>
<p>Yaaay NMH. Hoping to get in pretty badly…</p>
<p>Prep School Homework: Freshman classes generally only have 45 minutes/class/night, rather then the 1 hour/reg; 1.5/honors, 2hr AP/night/class requirement. Freshman who have come from less aggressive schools tend to have a tired, deer-in-the-headlights look. Some experience “hitting the wall.” But they get past it.</p>
<p>The school knows that ALL the freshman will be going through a transition - it is hard, very hard: increased workload, lonely, lack of social niche. NMH supports them through the transition (rumor has it that NMH is a real star in this area); most are fine by spring, with friends and social structure and understanding of the system. Probably about 10 to 15 don’t make it, particularly with weak executive or organization skills - or with parents who set them up to fail in the first place: “honey, if you don’t like it you can come home,” rather the “I love you and believe that you can sort this out. Other kids are lonely and lost too, but keep kicking. You can do this.”</p>
<p>Also consider the context - all the students are doing lots of homework - tons of peer support. It becomes part of the rhythm of their lives. All boarding schools keep their students very very busy - because students with free time tend to get into trouble.</p>
<p>The tricky bit: Prep Schools offers so many electives, clubs, arts, sports that freshman sign up like kids in a candy store. By Christmas, the workload reality sets in. Chorus shrinks from 150 to 90. The three-season athlete discovers the joy of a season of a 3-hour/week PE commitment rather then the 19-hour athletic team commitment. The students learn to make choices. </p>
<p>Parents can really help provide a context or criteria for that decision making. Make it clear to your freshman that level of grades, academics or ECs you want to see on college apps. Photography, bio ethics, and basket weaving, or debate and AP Calc? The prerequisites or the trail to the advanced academics or sports that top colleges want to see is set up in Freshman and Sophomore years. The block schedule allows doubling up in a topic: Precal+Cal in a single year; Spanish 2 + Spanish 3. Preps offer so much that your student can’t do it all; they will have to make choices. Help your student by identifying a clear criteria for decision-making, balancing self expression and fun with college app goals. And remember, college apps are based on JUNIOR year grades and test scores, not Senior.</p>
<p>Don’t count on your advisor or DL to think in terms of a 4-year plan. You have to do that. Advisors are more focused on your student’s emotional well being, not his/you college aspiration.</p>
<p>Good luck - Prep schools are a great growth experience.</p>
<p>Thank you, Toadstool! What a wonderfully concise and articulate explanation of the homework load and course selection advice. It is just wonderful to have these insights into what our freshmen can expect in their first year. Superb.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if the schools have already decided on which students to accept at this point, or are the admissions officers working up until 11:59 on March 9 to finalize their decisions? Doesn’t matter one way or the other, just curious about the process.</p>
<p>Well they’d have to write the acceptance letters quickly…I heard its quite personal.</p>
<p>Don’t worry; the acceptance rate is going to be astronomically high this year. I know a faculty member on the Admission Committee, and she told me that they are preparing for an under-enrollment problem.</p>
<p>^^Sadly (for the school, and the economy, not for applicants) this may be true. BS is a luxury far fewer families today can afford. I suspect, though, that such an underenrollment problem may be due in part to unwillingness to take truly undeserving candidates, which is a smarter long-term strategy. </p>
<p>The real bloodbath will be when the schools cross-admit qualified, full-tuition applicants. The fight over such students may be unprecedented this year. </p>
<p>Also consider the context - all the students are doing lots of homework - tons of peer support. It becomes part of the rhythm of their lives. All boarding schools keep their students very very busy - because students with free time tend to get into trouble.</p>
<p>This is absolutely true. One of the great advantages of scheduled study time is that all of your friends and classmates are all studying. In public school, in any given moment, ten friends may be texting you begging you to come out and play. Not so at a boarding school.</p>
<p>lego8, What you heard from a faculty member about a very high acceptance rate, is that about Northfield Mount Hermon specifically or just a general comment about all boarding schools this year?</p>
<p>I second nyshcoolmom! lego8 please please clarify your astounding statement!</p>
<p>lego…astronomically high acceptance rate and underenrollment do not necessarily go hand in hand…could be they will be underenrolled because they are still trying to maintain a high level of selectivity and not let the acceptance rate go up. Did you specifically hear the acceptance rate would be high? This concerns me.</p>
<p>Of course, every school tries to maintain a high level. I do not think lego is trying to give a bad mouth about NMH. lego posted an information that lego heard. It may be true or not true just like any thread in the forum. NMH acceptance rate has been high in the past(about 50% some times higher than 50%) several years, and their SSAT average has been under 70 percentile. Those numbers do not reflect the quality of students. However, it provides at least an aspect of the students body profile. As somebody said in this forum, if a kid is doing very well in NMH, he or she can go to even Havard. Even some kids at Andover and Exter do not go to a good college.</p>
<p>Correlating under enrollment and selectivity implies a linear relationship or logic. I’ve seen fabulous kids turned down by preps at the same time the preps have empty beds. Don’t read too much into admissions decisions; sometime they are just plain bizarre.</p>
<p>Cross acceptances are going to be wild and unpredictable this year. Lots of increased FA requests, lot of acceptances, followed by lots of “oops we can’t afford to go” responses. That’s a factor that admissions yield models have not had to deal with before.</p>
<p>hellosunshine-</p>
<p>awwwwww that makes me so upset 
i was accepted but i wasn’t given any FA. DOES THAT MEAN THEY DONT LIKE ME? id do ANYTHING to get into this school! i even offered to get a loan out of MY account for all 4 years (ABOUT $200,000!) and i would work everyday in the summer FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE to pay it back! i would sell everything i own and I AM NOT KIDDING. NMH is the most beautiful campus i have seen in my life and just giving up because i cant afford it doesn’t seem realistic. i know there MUST be a way. do you suggest i confront the school about my situation? i dont wat to be obnoxious about it though. i don’t want them to think i am just special and i deserve FA. i know they choose these things carefully but i wont give up. i came so far already.
i know it is probably out of the question; they don’t give people FA just because they call but i feel like the worst thing that could happen is they say no! it would kill me inside to hear that but so would be giving up. i idol you for going and i am so jealous. you should be proud of yourself 
if i went to a school like this i would always imagine my future if i felt down. if i ever felt sad or worthless i would imagine all that i accomplished by being where. if i went to NMH i would always have something to look up to, something to be proud of. don’t forget it :)</p>
<p>Is work on the farm required?</p>
<p>I believe that work on the farm is common for sophomores taking biology, but in my four years at NMH I never worked on the farm, so it’s definitely not required.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. On the NMH website their are a few listings of off-campus seminars. How good are those programs?</p>
<p>People tend to really equate NMH with “farm types” it seems. Nothing could be further from the truth. For the majority of the students, the farm is nothing more than the place where handpressed cider and homemade ice cream comes from. It is a “normal” prep school that just happens to have a farm.</p>
<p>The study abroad trips here, or seminars, are outstanding. There are oppertunities to travel around the world at NMH, including to the Middle East, South America, Asia and Africa. The Humanities 2 trip for sophomores is an annual trip, and alternates between South Africa an Brazil.
Also, the farm is simply a workjob that is offered. Workjob assignments are random, and most freshman will work in the dining hall. Most kids never go to the farm outside of their workjob, if they are assigned there.</p>
<p>On Private School Review it says a whopping 56% rate for NMH! It’s profile was updated on 8/1/2011 but I’m still a bit skeptical…</p>