While we were at BTBSA, I eavesdropped on conversations among parents and students. Many parents and students were also going to revisit -- or had already revisited -- BTBSB and Big Time Boarding School in New Hampshire that Feeds to Harvard (BTBSRed) and Sounds Like "Frirrips Tess Dexter", as well as Totally Left Field Boarding School (which apparently has us "on hold") and other Big Time schools. These schools are among the "Top 10" residential schools in the United States.
One studious-looking girl with spectacles balanced on her nose, said, "Yeah, I'm also doing revisits at BTBSB, BTBSRed, and Totally Left Field BS. This school is nice, I guess. But I will have to go with my *gut* won't I?"
OK, people. LaMai has said this before. This chickadee was not about her "gut" or where she really wanted to go. She wanted the Top 10. And she got the Top 10.
The things that attracted us to BTBSA were its sports teams, the fact that student bands (jazz, rock, blues, etc.) are common on campus, its affinity for the arts, and its dedication to the sciences -- the things that A is passionate about. It's the only residential secondary school that includes a concentration in the arts. There is absolutely no way we would have applied to BTBSB, which does not have an arts concentration program, nor a photography program, nor a sport in which A was already involved.
In other words, we have been looking at schools in which A's already-existing talents (or things that give A his "sense of self") could be nurtured.
So far, A's acceptances have come from the schools which fit his "type" best, and that includes Public High School/Early College, which is a smaller school than Stuy.
BTBSRed is in New Hampshire. Sorry, but my selfishness would warrant A coming home on weekends as often as possible.
There are lots of great schools out there. I just can't stand when kids -- and parents -- apply to EVERYTHING and are clueless about what might be a good fit. Unless they're just after labels.
But then -- that's what distinguishes a homeschooled student from everybody else.
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I went to an in-state private college, my best friend went to a university in a neighboring state.
After grad, she told me that her dad often wondered why I was "wasting my talents" at a small college.
Bah.
While in college, I asked my friend if she was still doing theatre, as she did in high school. She told me that at University, theatre majors did theatre, math majors did math, and she did accounting, for she was an accounting major.
Meanwhile, I was in band and orchestra, majored in math and comp sci, minored in French, got very involved in tech theatre, and took Kiddie Lit, Shakespeare, Astronomy, and a few other horizon-stretching classes. I learned cultural dances for the town's parade.
I'm an engineer who digs languages, an artist, a musician, a manager, and a homeschooling mom.
I agree that one should foster one strengths while stretching one's wings.
"Success is living the life you choose to live." -- by somebody other than me.
Kudos to you. That is exactly what I am proposing that students do for themselves.
Nurture yourself. Don't follow the crowd if it means compromising what you love and/or are good at. It makes for a better you, in the end.
Ugh. That's like plowing away at a job because it pays you a ton or has some "prestige" instead of because you really enjoy it and get a good feeling from the work you do. I couldn't live that way. And believe me, there have been times when I've been in those jobs, and I could've kept on, but no thanks!
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