Not looking for HADES, not targeting HYPSM

Momof7thgrader
Sat, 23 Nov 2013 17:38:12 +0000

I’ve been struggling to reply since we were in a similar situation however I’m not sure exactly what info the OP is looking for.

Daughter was a B/A (not A/B) student, SSATs in the 70’s and not a kid who sought out academics outside the classroom. We actually have a good LPS option but thought the experience of BS would be beneficial all around. She applied to a wide variety of schools (almost none of which are widely discussed here) and was accepted everywhere but chose the school that she felt would give her that “life experience”.

She’s doing things she would never get to do (or even want to do) at home. As for the academic stepping stone, the way I look at it is as true college prep - not just academics which are a given but learning to be independent, manage your time, do your laundry, work it out with your room mate etc - all those things that drag a lot kids down in their first year at college.

For admissions we used a consultant. If you aren’t in the boarding school world of the greater Boston area it can be very daunting. I really didn’t know anything about these schools beyond viewbooks and what I could find on the internet and was terrified about sending my kid off to a school that would be the wrong fit (#1 thing I learned on CC - fit is all-important). Our consultant was invaluable for that very reason plus she was well known/liked at every school we visited.

Most of the valuable info I got from CC was via private message - there are several non-acronym school parents but they tend to post less.