Quality In-'N'-Out

Where do I sit at Assembly?
 

It’s a fair question at the start of a Thacher career—among a million or so no doubt pinballing around in any new Toad’s brain as the dog days of August tick by and Opening Day grows closer.
 

The answer for a 9^th grader: the Freshman Wall (despite the sophomores having begun to mooch some of that Pergola area real estate a few years back). And those plopping down thereon in a relatively few days—as well as those joining the Classes of 2013 and 2014—represent the choice, very narrow end of a highly rarified funnel. At its broad start, approximately 500 applicants were winnowed down to 85 who were offered admission (a 17% acceptance rate). 80% of those said, “Yes!” (some with two exclamation marks!!)—and voila! New kids on the block are a bunch of hits and ready to help make 2011-12 The Best Year Yet, talent and smarts (average SSAT score 90% percentile) and passion sharpened by the anticipation of becoming a member of the Thacher fam. And they are a diverse group, as well—having packed their duffels in 15 different states and six other countries, bringing all-school totals to 28 states and 11 countries. Self-reporting as students of color are 36% of the newbies, and 28% are receiving some form of financial aid (30% in the school at large).

 

As for the other freshmen—the ones we called “Seniors” just three months back, then, on June 4, “Graduates”—they may or may not find a setting as intimate and inclusive as the Pergola, nor an all-community gathering three times weekly. But with or without a wall, freshmen they are, and, gap years notwithstanding, here’s where they’re headed. We expect that they will influence their new academic environments, from SoCal to Canada, and across The Pond to London, as positively and productively as they did this place.

(Be sure to check out the Before-and-After gallery for photos separated by a mere three or four years.)

 

California College of the Arts—1

Carleton College—1

Colgate University—2

Colorado College—3

Colorado State University—1

Columbia University—1

Dartmouth College—2

Duke University—2

Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts—1

Georgetown University—3

Harvard University—2

Johns Hopkins University—1

Kenyon College—1

King’s College London—1

Marymount College—1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology—2

McGill University—1

New York University—2

Northeastern University—1

Occidental College—1

Oxford College of Emory University—2

Pepperdine University—1

Reed College—1

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute—1

Seattle University—1

Sewanee: The University of the South—1

St. Olaf College—1

Swarthmore College—1

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—1

Tufts University—3

United States Naval Academy—1

University of California at Berkeley—1

University of California at Los Angeles—1

University of Chicago—1

University of Colorado at Boulder—1

University of Michigan—1

University of San Diego—1

University of Southern California—2

University of Vermont—1

University of Washington—1

Washington University in St. Louis—1

Wesleyan University—3

Williams College—1

Yale University—1