College Prep in Boston. Co ed American and Int’l students
The Newman School in the Back Bay http://www.newmanboston.org

Huntley School Marton – Adventure for life; Boarders from Y4-Y8 http://www.huntley.school.nz

Private Schools San Diego; Preschool thru grade 12; Montessori
Creative & Perf Arts, college prep. http://www.ccpaasd.com

Study in the U.S. Interlaken Inn & Resort: Adjoins the Hotchkiss School, with deluxe rooms & resort amenities. http://www.interlakeninn.com

Deluxe boarding and placement at the best high schools in the U.S.
http://www.lexingtonprep.com

Q: I am really interested in this topic since I’m attempting to help a student apply for admission to boarding school in the States right now. He’s looking at entering grade 9 or 10 and is interested in art and design. – J.

A: Idyllwild Arts Academy is great for the arts. Idyllwild is a Karuizawa type of oasis in the middle of a beautiful but mostly barren part of the San Bernardino Mountains. Bill Lowman, the Headmaster visited Japan a few weeks ago. He came and talked to some parents at our school at my invitation. We have many such visitors. Your student would need a portfolio to apply–I think the information is all on their website.

Ditto for Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. They both very much welcome qualified international students. There are a great many other schools that are superb for the arts but do not require a portfolio or audition. The Putney School is my personal favorite, as I have mentioned. Hopefully the Headmistress will visit Japan this Spring. If she has an open reception, I will post that information here. You can find other schools that classify themselves as having pre-professional arts programs at:
http://www.schools.com/directory/arts.cfm

Walnut Hill School is the third and final one that requires a portfolio but it is very classical oriented and your student sounds more contemporary, for lack of a better word. St. Johnsbury Academy does not require a portfolio, but it has great facilities for the arts and is very user friendly–for example, they will transport kids to and from airports without charging the parents for it, unlike most places nowadays. The academic program also has many interesting features–for example, the students take three major subjects each semester instead of five all year, doing a year’s work in one semester. That means 6 major subjects a year instead of only five, so a student could take two years of Chinese in one year, or two years of math, etc.

Probably the most off-beat of the “TOP” schools would be Concord Academy, but I think he would have to be a top student to get in.

In Seattle, there is the Northwest School, a city school with some boarding students. It was highly innovative at the time it was founded and may still be. However, it is no big deal to fly to another State to visit relatives on vacations, so I would very definitely look for the school first and think about the location second. From what you say about him, unless (or even if…) he already has a great portfolio, I can almost see the word “Putney” written across his forehead. The risk would be if he is not personally responsible as the students are trusted with a lot of independence.

Try to get the parents to bring him to visit schools if possible. They are all very different. Visit yourself, too, and you may reluctantly decide to send your daughter off to one after all. Sadly, there is no comparison to what you can find in Tokyo. For her, maybe also visit the George School.

When I visited, I thought that was about as close as anyone could come to one’s mother’s arms away from home. There is something about the Quaker philosophy that is good for kids (note that Clinton and now Obama selected a Quaker school in Washington for their children) , though I have heard counter arguments.

[L]ook beyond the most elite schools, because there are so many great options. Maybe 70% or more of the graduates of some schools go to the most competitive colleges, but sometimes to be in that 70% may be more difficult than to be in the 30% that go from other schools or the 5 or 10% that go from international schools. The important thing is to do well in whichever school one does go to and, if one is targeting the more competitive universities, do well in the MOST ADVANCED program the school one goes to has to offer. If the school has AP courses, one must take them, but if the school has no AP courses, it may be sufficient to do well in the non-AP ones.

A friend taught at one of the very top schools cited by A. for 19 years, as did his wife. He told me the students were becoming more and more competitive and one-dimensional, working hard to become doctors or lawyers, etc. For him, becoming the Head of his current school (which would be a “lesser” one in terms of the rankings) was a breath of fresh air. I visited that “lesser” school. The student who showed me around, a senior, had been accepted (I think, early decision) by the University of Chicago where he intended to major in international relations. He was in this particular school for the drama program, especially, and loved it.

Maybe 30% or more of the students in “second tier” schools are equally qualified to the kids at the first tier schools. The universities all know that. Most international schools I would say are 3rd or 4th tier by boarding school standards, though certainly they would rank above most public schools in terms of college placement, in part a reflection of the fact that most of their parents graduated from college themselves. Better educated parents tend to produce better educated children, though I read I think yesterday that fewer American students graduate from high school
nowadays than their parents did. Considering the cost of education nowadays, it wouldn’t surprise me if the same is true at the college level.

Finally, in my opinion, the kind of snobbishness I think A. alludes to has been diminishing. Everyone knows life can be very difficult. However, when I still sense it in boarding school representatives, I instinctively shy away from that school. – SP