How difficult is Holton Arms actually?

[Anonymous]

I have met HA alums who claim their high school experience consisted of late nights, burnout, and depression due to the "pressure cooker" nature of the school. I have also heard from current/past students and their families who say that the workload, content, etc is incredibly manageable and have plenty of free time outside of academics. Does anyone know why this is? Or what type of girls will have an easier time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have met HA alums who claim their high school experience consisted of late nights, burnout, and depression due to the "pressure cooker" nature of the school. I have also heard from current/past students and their families who say that the workload, content, etc is incredibly manageable and have plenty of free time outside of academics. Does anyone know why this is? Or what type of girls will have an easier time?

Mine went there. It was a complete and total grind. I let her take days off to do her papers. She went to HYP from there. For girls aiming lower, it would be easier. For example, a girl in my dd's class went to High Point U. I had never heard of it. She thought Holton was fun ( it wasn't).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have met HA alums who claim their high school experience consisted of late nights, burnout, and depression due to the "pressure cooker" nature of the school. I have also heard from current/past students and their families who say that the workload, content, etc is incredibly manageable and have plenty of free time outside of academics. Does anyone know why this is? Or what type of girls will have an easier time?

The students who have balanced lives are the ones that use their time wisely. If they can knock out 2~3 classes worth of homework in school by using study halls and time before or after sports, the evenings are more than manageable.

Teens procrastinate by and large but efficiency is key. I don’t think this is exclusive to Holton; I think every well rounded student is time efficient. Having the extra time then allows extracurriculars, sports, jobs, fun with with friends. Every one of my dd friends that is (relatively) happy and had great college application results is like this.

[Anonymous]

While there are definitely a number of students that excel and make it a grind, I think a lot of it is marketing. If you look at their college placement it really doesn’t match with how they market themselves as STEM heavy or churning out women leaders.

[Anonymous]

OP it's like any school. Some students are faster workers than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While there are definitely a number of students that excel and make it a grind, I think a lot of it is marketing. If you look at their college placement it really doesn’t match with how they market themselves as STEM heavy or churning out women leaders.

I'm always curious when people make this comment about college placement from Holton.
Where do you want them to go?
No school is going to send every single kid to one of the 8 Ivy League schools - this year's class has 7 kids going so far, plus 3 to Chicago, 4 to Michigan, 1 to Rice, many to top small colleges, and several to specialized programs like RISD.
What more could you want? Especially at a time when it's actually harder for girls than boys to get into college because so many more apply.

People in the DMV think that only 10 out of the 3500 colleges in this country are acceptable.

[Anonymous]

It's what you make of it. Like in college, a lot of it comes down to managing your schedule and priorities.

Our DD makes use of study hall times and generally isn't that stressed.

Reminds me of when I was in college ages ago -- a lot of my dorm-mates would spend a lot of time complaining about all the work they had to do. Meanwhile, I'd head to the library and just crank mine out. I'd come back 2 hours later and they'd still be sitting around complaining but not actually doing anything about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP it's like any school. Some students are faster workers than others.

This completely. If they are taking the harder classes in HS then there will be more work and time management involved, some of these students find this very manageable and will be mildly stressed by this even while doing very well, others will find it totally overwhelming. Same at any school. Student dependent.
The question for you, OP, is what is your daughter like in her current academic environment? If she is a naturally organized and academically minded person without learning differences (or if they are mild and managed easily) and doesn't procrastinate then she will likely not find it overwhelming. Personality plays a big part in this. Some people try to push a square through a circle and they are surprise when it doesn't fit easily (or happily), no matter how much the parent wants it to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While there are definitely a number of students that excel and make it a grind, I think a lot of it is marketing. If you look at their college placement it really doesn’t match with how they market themselves as STEM heavy or churning out women leaders.

I'm always curious when people make this comment about college placement from Holton.
Where do you want them to go?
No school is going to send every single kid to one of the 8 Ivy League schools - this year's class has 7 kids going so far, plus 3 to Chicago, 4 to Michigan, 1 to Rice, many to top small colleges, and several to specialized programs like RISD.
What more could you want? Especially at a time when it's actually harder for girls than boys to get into college because so many more apply.

People in the DMV think that only 10 out of the 3500 colleges in this country are acceptable.

I agree with the above. Also, outcomes after college, such as grad schools attended are more interesting to me as this shows the level of academic dedication and how well they were prepared for whichever undergrad institution they attended after Holton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While there are definitely a number of students that excel and make it a grind, I think a lot of it is marketing. If you look at their college placement it really doesn’t match with how they market themselves as STEM heavy or churning out women leaders.

About 20 percent of this year’s class is going to Ivies plus Chicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins. Another 30 percent is heading to schools like Rice, CMU, WashU, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Emory, USC, and UVA. About 10 percent are going to top LACs such as Davidson, Colby, Bates, Barnard. A few girls are headed to highly competitive but specialized places such as Naval academy and RISD. That’s about 2/3rd of the graduating class…As another poster said, “What more do you want?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP it's like any school. Some students are faster workers than others.

This completely. If they are taking the harder classes in HS then there will be more work and time management involved, some of these students find this very manageable and will be mildly stressed by this even while doing very well, others will find it totally overwhelming. Same at any school. Student dependent.
The question for you, OP, is what is your daughter like in her current academic environment? If she is a naturally organized and academically minded person without learning differences (or if they are mild and managed easily) and doesn't procrastinate then she will likely not find it overwhelming. Personality plays a big part in this. Some people try to push a square through a circle and they are surprise when it doesn't fit easily (or happily), no matter how much the parent wants it to.

OP here. She enjoys schoolwork and often will spend more time on assignments than necessary in order to ensure academic success and being proud of her work. She has historically been a bit of a procrastinator, but I feel when the school environment calls for efficiency I hope she can rise to the occasion. There is honestly know way of knowing how she will cope, which is why I asked on here.

[Anonymous]

I think the girls who enjoy Holton are the ones who truly enjoy learning and who have a certain degree of self-confidence. It it not a healthy place for girls who are prone to anxiety or have ADHD or related struggles. It’s an amazing opportunity for those for whom it is a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the girls who enjoy Holton are the ones who truly enjoy learning and who have a certain degree of self-confidence. It it not a healthy place for girls who are prone to anxiety or have ADHD or related struggles. It’s an amazing opportunity for those for whom it is a good fit.

It’s quite ignorant of you to assume that a girl with ADHD cannot be self-confident. Fwiw, my daughter (who has ADHD) is thriving at Holton, particularly because the school made her much more self-confident.

[Anonymous]

It’s very manageable if you are organized and efficient and use your study halls. If you socialize during study halls and waste time, it becomes more difficult.
Not everyone there is a serious student. There is definitely a mixture both in terms of academic ability and desire.

[Anonymous]

My brother's girls went there and did not find it difficult at all and did not feel they were spending a lot of time on homework. They did take the hardest classes, one went to HYP and the other another Ivy. The older child did get in to their area's competitive magnet (Blair or TJ) the year she was applying to Holton so it tells you the type of student they are. The younger one started at Holton at a younger age but she's the same type of student.

They are not grinds but just very bright.