Basically...

I rock! Choate went wonderfully. Here's the synopsis I gave a few online-buddies...

Before visit: " I'm sitting in the Executive room at the hotel we stayed in last night after a 5 and a half hour drive!!
I forgot a bra and razor at home, so an emergency stop at Target was necessary. We're leaving 15 minutes to go to Choate, and its rainy and miserable. But I can't stop smiling!"

After visit: "Wow, you are psychic.
I felt WONDERFUL. I was comfortable, and the campus made me want to literally cry with joy. I had braced myself for disappointment, thinking that- Oh, it can't be the paradise I want it to be. The website just highlights the best parts. It can't be like this in reality.
It was... AMAZING! I can't say it enough, I loved it. I raved about it during the entire 5 hour car drive home after the tour and interview. The presentation given at the Saturday Showcase was brilliant, the admissions people were kind and considerate, and I met with the volleyball coach. The atmosphere is brilliant and comfortable, and I didn't feel out of place no matter where we went. The interviewer was kind and very accommodating. There was no anxious waiting in a waiting room outside her door, either- it was more of a reception with parents of current students and the other applicants type of thing. Wonderful. I was interviewed by Terry Burditt (spelling? haha), a wonderful lady, very kind. She asked me how things were in the classroom, what I am passionate about, and how would my teachers describe me. We spoke a lot about my interests in volleyball and oboe, and what the school was like and what it offered. The tour was very nice, even though it was POURING rain. The tour guide and I hit it off great, we each spoke a lot about our individual passions and she was great about taking me to places I wanted to see or where she thought I would like. I'll be a new fourth former, so I got to see the BRAND NEW, gorgeous 4th form girl dorms. It was great, and majority of the rooms are singles. The athletic and arts facilities were great! The interviewer spoke to my mother, and said I was mature, poised, and she was very impressed. I would be a good fit in the school, according to her, and she also told me I did wonderfully. I'm not saying all this to brag, but to tell people that cHOATE IS AMAZING!(And I was totally right in assuming this would be my top choice school!!)"
"OH MY GOD AMAZING DORMS. They are BRAND brand new, just opened this year. A large portion were singles, but the double room I saw was LARGE, larger than my room right now. The closets had shelves and the beds had drawers underneath them, they had bookcases and posters covering the wall. The walls were white, obviously, and the furniture a light colored wood. It takes a key card to get in, and it's great. Very pretty! And all the rooms are just as gorgeous, I've been told. The mixed form dorms aren't new, so try to get in the 4th form girls dorm!! It's amazing The campus in general felt cohesive, comfortable, and I could see myself walking around there everyday for classes!"
"Haha, no, I haven't seen the other schools. I know I should withhold judgement until then, but I really do love Choate. I'm applying to Exeter for financial aid (and yes, a little prestige), and Andover because of need-blind admissions (and yes, more prestige). Choate was narrowed down from a list of 8 other schools, when I knew my mom would only let me apply to 3. I chose it because of its friendly atmosphere, comprehensive athletics AND academics AND arts programs, because I'm prevalent in all three. I'm simply amazed at how accurate my feelings from the website were, and how awesome it was in general. I love Choate because of Choate, not because of financial aid or admissions. "

( Checklist )

I have been wonderfully productive recently! And woefully annoyed by math. I shall fail quite horribly. Oh well.

So, I've done quite a few essays for schools in the past couple days.
I still need a ton of stupid stuff, though.

Choate interview in 18 days.

( Checklist... )

So... Boarding school. Its been going well. I took the SSAT a week or two ago, and it went amazingly well- the writing is the only part I'm actually nervous about. And that's not even a scored part! Wow. So, what have I done boarding-school-related since I last did a checklist?
Not much.
I handed out the Math and English, and the majority of the Personal, recommendations, but those don't need to to be done for a while. I took the SSAT... easy, anyways. Next on my list is TONIGHT, to sit down and continue filling out forms and the like. Also, to actually start on the essays. I'm in deep shit here- I've only completed one out 7 essays (though maybe it can be reused) and too-many-to-count short answers. Argh.
Although I've gone up from 8 things done to 19, the list of things to be DONE has gone up from 45 to 61, mostly because of adding MAIL to the lists. Argh.

Choate interview in 23 days.
March 10th in 138 days.

( Checklist )

I'm in school with a sore throat and aching body. It's been a tough week, trust me, haha.

I started dating Ben last Friday. I asked him out in Spanish- I stole his agenda and wrote "Hi. We should go out!" in cutesy letters. I held his necklace of guitar picks hostage until he gave me his answer- he held me in suspense for the entire period. His answer was to tell me to keep the necklace, because he says yes- it was very cute.

He made me my own necklace on Saturday- three guitar picks, a reddish brown one, a Hot Topic one, and a blue one, on a plain metal-beaded chain. It's cute and was very sweet. I like him so much- his bass playing turns me on like no tomorrow. He's really hot when he plays- and he's really good. I've only seen him play once and it practically made my heart stop! Haha.

I'm sick. Volleyball has been going well- we won last night, but lost to our biggest competition so far on Tuesday. So did Varsity, but the other team's varsity was amazing on Tuesday. It was sad- the referee was a bitch.

I'm so tired. My throat hurts like fuck. But we do this thing called Big-Sis - Little-Sis between Varsity and JV, and it's so awesome! Right now it's the Big Sis's turns to get stuff for the Little Sis, and I got a sweet card on Wednesday, a poster on Thursday, and today a BIG bag of Sour Patch kids!!! It's so nice and it makes me day just seem perfect.

Volunteering, which I started Monday, has been going well too. I've only gone twice because Wednesday I had Envirothon and Thursday, we had a team-emergency with warmups and getting dressed and the bus getting here too early. Oh well.

So... Boarding school has also been great. I've been emailing some department heads a little bit, saying who I am and my specific interest in their department/sport.

I have to go- I'm too tired to think.

Yay! Interviews are SO scheduled. (Mostly).

Kickass.

November 15th, Choate! A "Saturday Showcase" (whatever that is) at 9 a.m. and interview at 11 a.m. Also, the New England Volleyball Championships are being held, there, that Saturday! OH EM GEE I might get to see my future team playyy!!! Sorry to sound retarded, but that's flippin' awesome!

December 5th, Exeter! 9 a.m. tour and 10 a.m. interview. Once again, kickass. Too late in the season to watch volleyball, but the coach wants to meet me- awesomeness! I definitely want to see swimming or diving, and hopefully ice hockey (and Emma??) because those are my "potential" winter sports if I do leave for boarding school.

December 6th, Andover! 10:15 a.m. tour and interview. Not so kickass, because they have shitty information in their viewbook and their website is very bare-bones. I can't get any useless yet interesting information out either! Yawn. I don't why but I'm not so excited about Andover- I think it's like my last choice out of the schools, even though it beats Choate and NMH by miles in academics/endowment/whatever.

NMH hasn't been scheduled yet, though, because they don't offer Saturday interviews (PISS!) so Mom and I are waiting to see what weekdays would be easiest to schedule and so mom doesn't miss something sooo important, and I don't miss something existential to my life. I don't know! Haha.

I've also been working on an essay, and it is pretty dang kickass, if I do say so myself. And I don't HAVE to say it myself, seeing as a friend of mine called it "bonerific". My God, I love you Em! You're hysterical.

On other notes, school starts Wednesday for me. Oh, God, I'm screwed. I've got the cutest effing outfit ever and now I'm worried I'll be sweating my tits off. It's supposed to hit 85 by 3 p.m., and school ends at 2:30, so I'll be dealing with high 70s-low 80s temps alllll day. Straight-cut jeans (size 0!! SQUEE~!) and a t-shirt that looks like I'm wearing a dress shirt underneath it but I'm SO NOT (it's very cute) because it's a one-piece shirt.


I organised my desk today, and planned this week's outfits so I'm not tweaking out on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. I also have my bag packed for tomorrow for the volleyball game against NF (OH EM GEE I might get to see Emily NF!! I must txt her...) and a bag half-way packed for the first day and for practice on Wednesday. I don't want to bring my big backpack or huuuge UA athletic bag or my volleyball team-issued bag (even bigger than the UA one) because I need to fit it into my small-freshman-locker because they don't issue lockers until... Forever.

I've decided to discontinue the use of the Timeline... It bothered me.
 

( Checklist )
 

 

I felt like I should update. Especially on boarding school and my own public school.
Boarding school seems more exciting, so... Yeppers.
Updates? I received information from Choate (DVD!), Andover (suckiest viewbook evahr), Exeter (twice, and DVD!), Deerfield (eh), Hotchkiss (DVD), Dana Hill School (don't ask don't ask don't ask), and NOT from Northfield Mount Hermon.
Ew, by the way, my hands are doing the weird sweating thing that happens when I'm sick/tired/BLARGHzombie.
I haven't done any actual work... Either because I'm absolutely retarded or my mom won't do anything... I've asked her to schedule interviews or at least talk about it because we got my volleyball schedule and I have several free weekends... Argh. I think I'll start on essays though, probably tonight when it's past midnight and I'm sleep deprived. Random essays that don't make sense that can be refined later will work juuuust fine.

For regular school news... Not much. I'm calling on Monday to get my schedule. I heard that they called Honors Bio "Earth Science" on the phone to some guy in my grade.... I've been looking forward to Honors Bio since 7th grade or so!! If they change it up I'll be pissed... though they probably didn't. Ugh. The suspense is killing me.

I'm applying to boarding school!

I love th atmosphere, the all-inclusive package that it offers. the fact that your teachers, your coaches, your best friends, and your classes are all five feet from each other. Not literally, true, but it's all on campus. Life is on campus. I'm applying to Phillips Exeter Academy, Phillips Academy Andover, Northfield Mount Hermon, and Choate, at the very, very least.

Pros of Boarding School:

• Independence. I would learn time management in high school, instead of being thrown into the college world with no idea how to succeed in a high risk, independent atmosphere. without my mom standing over my shoulder, waking me up, making sure I eat, making sure I get good grades or study, I'd have to learn how to take care of myself and be dependent on my own skills.
• Academic Rigor. All these boarding schools I'm applying to (Exeter, Andover, Choate, and Northfield Mount Hermon) are extremely rigorous and tough with their academics. They all over 200+ courses, with many AP classes and dedicated faculty. A student who makes straight A's at their public school may only make Bs or Cs with the same amount of work and study they used in public school, so they learn to work hard for everything because no good grades will be handed to them. Right now, I am resting on my natural intelligence at public school. 9th grade won't pose a challenge in the least.
• Intense Athletics. 60+ teams at these schools, with Varsity, JV, and in some sports, freshman-level teams, and there are many intramural (club) opportunities. Sports that aren't even offered in MY public school, such as water polo, lacrosse, field hockey, indoor track, and tennis (and more), are guaranteed at at least club level, if not varsity. And all the schools compete against eachother, other boarding or private schools, so recruited athletes are the norm, so the level at which they play is very, very high.
• Social Growth. These kids live together. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 32 weeks out of the year. You learn to deal with people, and become more tolerant of other people and their downfalls and faults. That annoying kid in your 5th period class can also live across the hall. And then you can't ignore, because they are there. All. The. Time. Social growth, character and moral developement, is a major concern and factor in boarding school.
• Escape. My public school is pretty bad. For a small school, it's great. Clean and new(ish) facilities, and we have very dedicated faculty. But you can't ignore the fact that there are 60 kids in a class, with probably less than 5% of them "of color", and all your friends are exactly the same. It's the trap of a small, public school. Also, there are not as many opportunities. Maybe I'm an undiscovered tennis star. But we don't even offer tennis in gym, and we certainly don't have a club team nearby. The classes are 25 or more students and one teacher, making it a "I'll lecture and you write down what's on the board" experience. And the people are prejudiced, angry, and cliquey. No one likes that, myself the least.

Cons of Boarding School:

• Leaving Family. I'd miss my mom and dad and brother. My mom's worried about not being able to give guidance, and not being a part of my everyday life. I'd only get to see my family 5 weeks or so out of the 32 week school year, and I'd become a different person than if I stayed with my mom.
• Money. I'm applying for financial aid, and if I get accepted at Exeter, I'm guaranteed a free education. Tuition, room and board, fees of all kind. But my school supplies and a computer, while Exeter can cover these, will still add up. Private school is expensive, from fees to spending money to extra food on the weekends to travel, which is below.
• Travel. I live 600+ miles from most of these schools. Travel, what with gas and plane tickets rising and rising in cost, would be so expensive. I have to interview at each school, and that alone will be over 2400+ miles. Exeter can help cover travel costs if theya re really that significant, and that impossible for a family to cover, but before I get accepted (IF I get accepted) it's all on me.
• Snobbish Stereotypes. Everyone thinks boarding school students are rich, snobby, and mean. Yes, the rpestigious schools obviously attract richer families, but they are really striving for soocioeconomic diversity. Exeter and Andover have pledged a need-blind admission policy, which means that they will accept students based on the STUDENT, not on if they can pay or not.
• Stress. It is very academically focused, and rigorous, and pulling all-nighters are not uncommon, in fact, they can become of the norm. But of course, good time management is a skill and can be learned. Without this management, though, stress can abound. Not to mention, if I did everything I'm doing now at boarding school, I would probably break down into tears in a week. It's all about downsizing and priorities.

So, here's an applications timeline and a checklist.

( Timeline )