@PhotographerMom Thanks for pointing me in the right direction to look at hidden gems. I also appreciate the Berkshire school recommendation. I think that is something my D would definitely be interested in.
@ThacherParent I appreciate your thoughts on spending time on the opposite coast. That’s exactly why I want my kids to go to BS is to experience the wider world. I just don’t want them to feel out of place. For example, my daughters are never going to play or see Field Hockey where we live.
@SevenDad I appreciated reading your start to finish application thread. I liked how it was a whole family effort in your case. Do you have any thoughts on striking the right balance of parent effort to kid effort? I want my kids to be invested in the process, but they obviously can’t do some parts of it (specifically logistics buying plane tickets, and driving to the schools). And, we will definitely add St. Andrew’s to the list.
@FatherOfOne Thanks for the Westtown recommendation.
It’s interesting that both The George School and Westtown School are both Quaker schools. It’s definitely not a West Coast thing, so we have never thought seriously about it, but I have several friends on the East Coast that swear by Friends schools. I have read the marketing blurbs about what makes a Quaker education unique, but can someone translate that. Specifically, what made a Quaker education a special experience for their kid.
For the immersive experience - At what point, does there start to be a divide between Day Students and Boarders. My school was 50% day / 50% boarding. One of the relatively few things that I didn’t like about my school was the Day Student/Boarder divide. It was mainly that the day student parents could never imagine sending their kids away, so maybe our parents didn’t love us enough or we were bad kids.
Thanks so much. Even this little bit of advice and interaction has been helpful in further developing my thoughts.