Would love to hear any updated info about Walnut Hill (the performing arts school in Natick, MA) - a lot of the personal experience testimonials that I am coming across are older…
I have a 14yo who wants to apply for her sophomore year (specifically, the theater program). It’d be great to hear some perspectives on the culture, financial aid situation, and academics. Niche has some mixed reviews about coursework beyond the PA (performing arts) curriculum. While she is talented and I want to support her passion, I also want to be pragmatic because obviously theater may or may not work out on a professional adult level. I’d much rather her have a well-rounded college education (that still includes theater) so that she could pursue other avenues if she needs to. However, if the academics at WH are not great and don’t prepare her well for college life outside of the PA sector, then that would be a big area of concern for us…
Thanks in advance for any perspective/s!
While I have no first hand experience, I know 2 recent graduates (music performance ‘27 and music composition ‘23) who are stellar students and would not have gone to a school with poor academics. One is going to Rice and the other to St John’s.
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Calling @buuzn03 if she’s still around CC. Her daughter just graduated from there, class of 2026!
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No personal experience with Walnut Hill, but their current assistant head was previously a faculty member at the Cambridge School of Weston. (My kid had him for Mandarin at CSW.)
It might be worth comparing the two schools.
Walnuts Hill School for the Arts is unambiguously an art school for high schoolers. Everyone that goes there is some sort of artist.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a prep school that attracts artsy students. While it values the arts, it is not required that you be an artist. While you may avoid being on an athletic team by participating in a performance, you can also avoid being on an athletic team by taking yoga, recreational running, walking and meditation, etc.
I’ve added a link to Walnut Hill’s recent matriculation page, but as you know, colleges accept people, not schools. It’s more an indicator of the caliber of students that they attract.
Did you consider The Rivers School? I know harder to get into (may want to repeat 9th based on the numbers), but better balanced between conservatory and coursework beyond performing arts.