<p>Taft was one of our favorite visits, but we were there on a day that involved a lot of travel so we didn’t get a chance to stay around and check out Watertown at all. Can any students/parents/alums or other applicant families fill me in a little on what there is to do in Watertown, and the extent to which Taft students get off the school campus to make use of what’s available? THX</p>
<p>Taft is one of the schools on my son`s list. Watertown has the basics, a coffee shop, a few sandwich shops and a drug store, from what I could see. I believe the school organizes a bus to the local mall on weekends.</p>
<p>Bump…or is Watertown really that dead? ;)</p>
<p>PM ExieMITalum. She’s a current parent.</p>
<p>there not really much going on in watertown its pretty dead…</p>
<p>I’ll ask my daughter. There’s another kid who used to post here that’s the same year as her. I’ll see if he’s around too. If you’re looking for a big city experience it’s not there. But there are weekend buses to the malls, etc. A movie theater in town. And the school arranges buses to other schools for dances, etc. </p>
<p>When I was at Exeter, I remember thinking it would be great to go to Boston on the bus, but after a while, it wasn’t as thrilling and I had too much homework (or there was too much to do on campus) for me to care. So it seems as if my D (who is a city slicker) hasn’t noticed any deficit being at Taft which farther from a major city.</p>
<p>Still - I’m not the best expert. I’ll see if I can dig one up for ya! :-)</p>
<p>I’m not sure what major boarding schools are in your list, but Watertown isn’t really bad compare to other boarding school locations…Waterbury which is 15 minutes away is fairly big, has malls, restaurants and other stuffs…Hartford and New Haven are 30 minutes away…Great school, wonderful faculty and beautiful campus…you are going to love it there as we have for the past 4 years…my son is graduating and we are going to miss Taft very much…</p>
<p>jcbae-</p>
<p>Ah yes, beautiful Waterbury!</p>
<p>For some kids, having a town to hang out in is very overrated. My d wishes things were closer, she is a big city girl, but selected what I considered one of the most rural areas, on purpose. She wishes things were closer, but has no doubt she would choose the same school now if she could do it again.</p>
<p>Remember, they are teenagers, there is always something not perfect. They are learning to live in the real world!!!</p>
<p>Remember, they are teenagers, there is always something not perfect. They are learning to live in the real world!!!
– amen to that, just check the EMT logs for Watertown.</p>
<p>@mhmm</p>
<p>What is EMT?</p>
<p>emergency medical technician = volunteer ambulance services</p>
<p>Where do you see EMT logs?</p>
<p>I check the fire department and it’s relatively quiet there according to their logs on “calls.” (See archives at top and number in the parentheses):</p>
<p>[WatertownFD.com</a> - Call History](<a href=“http://watertownfd.com/history.html?callyear=2010&callmonth=4]WatertownFD.com”>http://watertownfd.com/history.html?callyear=2010&callmonth=4)</p>
<p>Exie I pm’d you</p>
<p>fun is fun, Waterbury isn’t really a pretty city, as you must know…but being close to a city can be advantageous for students who are going to spend 4 years there… if your school is isolated and you have to stay on campus even on weekends then it would be quite stressful… that was the point that I was trying to make…</p>
<p>Jcbae-fun is fun is also my point. Having a great time is relative to each kid. </p>
<p>My d spent part of the day sledding down a day students drive way. The other night it was a hot tub and before the weekend is over she will ski and go to a museum. Other than the museum my d had done none of the activities before. She is loving Western Mass and wants to know why we never winter vacationed there before.</p>
<p>Being close to a city is not a big deal when you were raised and have learned to navigate the area for 4 years.</p>
<p>Different kids want and need different environments to be complete and happy.</p>