Boarding School Suggestions for Average Student

[Anonymous]

The Thatcher School in Ojai CA. It's a very special place. Wonderful school.

[Anonymous]

My autocorrect kicked in - Thacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out George School in PA. DD loved it but we could not afford it.

It’s funny to hear people mention Emma Willard. I’m from Troy and while the campus is beautiful the surrounding areas are not.

Do you go back much? Troy is hip now, haha. And the immediate neighborhood around Emma has always been really pretty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out George School in PA. DD loved it but we could not afford it.

It’s funny to hear people mention Emma Willard. I’m from Troy and while the campus is beautiful the surrounding areas are not.

Do you go back much? Troy is hip now, haha. And the immediate neighborhood around Emma has always been really pretty.

Troy is hip?? My RPI-grad DH (who hated RPI!) will be stunned. 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Thatcher School in Ojai CA. It's a very special place. Wonderful school.

Thacher is not a good fit for an "average" student. The typical Thacher kid usually also has offers to east coast powerhouse schools like Andover, Exeter, Choate, Deerfield, Lawrenceville, etc. The work at Thacher is very rigorous and admissions there is very competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pomfret, Loomis, Miss Porter's, Governor's Academy

Loomis shouldn't be grouped in with these schools. Loomis is a part of the "Ten Schools" group, which includes Andover, Exeter, St. Paul's, Choate, etc. While it is not considered quite at that tier, it is still very rigorous and intense. If Exeter/Andover are akin to Harvard and Yale, Loomis is like Cornell.

[Anonymous]

St Timothy's school outside of Baltimore. Girls do IB there and there were some truly outstanding students when I taught there but few and far between. Most of the girls were average in terms of academic ability. Sports every day but you could also do drama or maker lab instead. Not competitive .

[Anonymous]

St Timothy’s near Baltimore. Has a great international community. The top students are challenged by the IB diploma program, and others are really supported by faculty who care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out George School in PA. DD loved it but we could not afford it.

It’s funny to hear people mention Emma Willard. I’m from Troy and while the campus is beautiful the surrounding areas are not.

Do you go back much? Troy is hip now, haha. And the immediate neighborhood around Emma has always been really pretty.

Yes, the area right around Emma Willard is nice and there are some beautiful old houses, but there are many run down areas a very, very short drive away. A woman I know took her kid to visit RPI and was telling me about how Troy is a shit hole. She apologized when I said I’m from Troy. I wasn’t offended because it’s true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the domestic market for boarding schools has shrunk. To schools can still fill their classes, but if you go a level down, some schools have a majority of students coming from overseas. They are looking to become more proficient in English and set themselves up for US college admission. It doesn't sound like a great experience for the few American boarding students (usually legacies following in Daddys footsteps) in a sea of foreign boarding student classmates. But that's how these schools are staying afloat.

I would say this international component was easily one of the best features in my daughter’s experience at St Timothy’s near Baltimore. She left high school with good friends from Germany, Spain, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Hungary, Japan and China and I am surely forgetting others. She spent time visiting three of them. It informed her decision to study international economics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madeira has boarding and is wonderful if it’s a good fit for your girl—the mod system is not for right for everyone.

Madeira is not suited for an "average" student, nor is it likely to admit one.

Strange. Both girls I know who went there were definitely not academic superstars. Guess they take a range of abilities.

[Anonymous]

St George's in RI is lovely

[Anonymous]

+3 Garrison Forest is a really nice school.