Not The Secret History.

December 8, 2015 8:40 PM

I would like to hear about experiences -- your own, your kids, or of people you know well -- at arts-oriented or other "alternative" boarding schools in the Northeast.

I would like to learn about people's experience at boarding schools that:
1. Have a very supportive, non-competitive ethos
2. Are not oriented towards athletics
3. Hopefully have a strong arts program. But not super competitive. (Ie not an Interlochen.)

Was the school supposed to be nurturing but really was socially cut-throat? What was the atmosphere like? If you were at a school that had a community/work component, what was that like?

posted by flourpot to Education (4 answers total)

It is entirely possible to go to Interlochen and have a good experience without being overly competitive. Or at least it was in the 90s. My understanding is that the current Interlochen president cares a lot more about money and attracting students with money than past presidents have. I can't imagine that has made the place more artistically competitive than it was. There were a lot of self driven students practicing for hours. And there were others who were there to be able to be challenged academically and artistically who had no plans to be a professional artists. I had classmates who left for east coast prep schools because they wanted to be in a more competitive place.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 11:05 PM on December 8, 2015

Socially, Interlochen was nerd paradise. I will always cherish that aspect.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 11:08 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Perhaps Interlochen wasn't the best example of an artistically competitive school, but in any case I am looking for information on schools in the Northeast only. Thanks...
posted by flourpot at 11:51 PM on December 8, 2015

Check out collegeconfidential.com, which will give you an inside look at secondary schools and colleges.
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:05 PM on December 9, 2015