Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 07-24-2008, 11:26 AM
 
19 posts, read 113,229 times
Reputation: 23

Advertisements

My husband's going to be working for a company in Amherst, Mass. We are looking for a place with easy access to both Amherst and Boston (train access would be the best). We would also appreciate recommendation from the Forum members on secular private schools (middle and high) in the area. One reason we are looking for a place between Boston and Amherst is because we have some information on Boston private schools. But we don't know much about private schools in Western Massachusetts area.

Thank you so much for your help.

Regards,
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-24-2008, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Boston
1,126 posts, read 4,552,230 times
Reputation: 507
too far apart.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2008, 12:06 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts & Hilton Head, SC
9,948 posts, read 15,538,797 times
Reputation: 8551
It IS far, but I suppose if you were determined to do it you could live in the Worcester area. You can get the train to Boston from there. Your husband would have to drive to his job in Amherst though, and it would be well over an hour. I wouldn't want to do it in the winter.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2008, 07:10 PM
 
Location: Amherst
123 posts, read 472,845 times
Reputation: 56
I would not commute from even the Worcester area to Amherst, and certainly not for the sake of a private day school. Maybe there is a particular private school you are drawn to in Boston (British School?). There are fairly good options for private schools in Western Mass, so let me know the ages and genders involved, and level of academic expectations you have, and I can give you some pointers based on my somewhat limited experience.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2008, 08:15 PM
 
19 posts, read 113,229 times
Reputation: 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenos View Post
I would not commute from even the Worcester area to Amherst, and certainly not for the sake of a private day school. Maybe there is a particular private school you are drawn to in Boston (British School?). There are fairly good options for private schools in Western Mass, so let me know the ages and genders involved, and level of academic expectations you have, and I can give you some pointers based on my somewhat limited experience.
Thanks!! My only daughter is in 6th grade now. I'm looking for good college prep schools like Andover Academy, or Science focus schools like Boston University Academy, or International Baccalaureate schools like the British School.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-24-2008, 08:48 PM
 
Location: Amherst
123 posts, read 472,845 times
Reputation: 56
Hey - that was quick!

Solid private prep schools out in this area include Williston-Northampton (Easthampton), Northfield- Mt. Hermon (Northfield, up by the border), and Deerfield. I think Deerfield has started accepting Girls. These are not quite at the level of an Andover/Hotchkiss/Exeter, but a strong student from any of these schools will be very well prepared for the college admissions process, and for any elite college. There is a private school run on the Smith College campus, which I know little about, but may be analogous to the BU school.

A trickier question is what to do for the middle school years. I took a close look at a gifted and talented school in Springfield (Academy Hill) that goes up to the 8th grade, and was very impressed with them. When I was a lad I went to Eaglebrook, in Deerfield, which was a prep-school prep school, but I think that continues its policy of only admitting girls whose parents work there. In any case, the kids were so snobby there that it turned me into a bit of a Bolshevik, but I digress - academically it ran a really outstanding program, and placed kids in the most competitive boarding schools at an impressive rate.

In spite of my private school background I am sending my kids through the Amherst public schools. We just have too many kids (5) to do otherwise.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-25-2008, 08:17 AM
 
39 posts, read 168,637 times
Reputation: 19
Deerfield Academy might be tough to get into. Their acceptance rate is around 16%. Northfield is around 55% acceptance. I believe Stonely in Greenfield is a private girls school. I dont know much about it but it is a lovely campus. Deerfield Academy and Andover looks like there the top two picks in mass. Andover is 90 minutes away from Amherst and Deerfield is 20 minutes away.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-25-2008, 08:38 AM
 
19 posts, read 113,229 times
Reputation: 23
Thanks for thoughtful response. This helps a lot.

To complicate matters for myself, I live in Cary, North Carolina and my daughter goes to a good college prep school here. I have been digging my heels in waiting for her to complete her school year before moving and this year, right at the appropriate time, my husband said he would need to change his job. He has been working in Boston until now, and we were going to put my daughter in British School. Now I have to wait a year more, and during this time I must do research on Amherst schools. Hope he will stay on in this job He's in IT and works for start-ups - so future place of work is never very certain.I have a stable job here, and at a certain stage in our children's lives stability becomes suddenly very important

So I really appreciate all the leads you have given me about Amherst schools.

Regards,
Srilatha
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-25-2008, 01:12 PM
 
Location: Amherst
123 posts, read 472,845 times
Reputation: 56
Well good luck!. I had a couple couple kids at the British school back when it was starting up. Very nicely run school, although it started out in Dedham as something bare-bones and affordable, then moved to Boston, where it morphed into some much more pricey and elite. They have rolling admissions, which is a wonderful thing, and I am sure they have done a great job with their IB program. So if Boston is where you may end up, do keep it in mind. The BU school may be the best secondary program in the country, though.

Best of luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:26 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top