Prep School

[CaptainZbubble 0]

Hey everyone,

My school year is wraping up and next year im was thinking about goin to prep school for hockey, then a junior's for a year or 2 after i graduate. Im not exactly sure how the enrollment for prepschools work since this is new to me. I was looking for any good insight is to how to apply for a school and play at the prep school level. Ive been to a few schools for travel tournaments and iam taking deep thought into going to one. I live in upstate new york and wanna leave,Also play AAA, im looking to achieve a higher level. For anyone that could guide me in the right path for how to apply and what schools are good, please share.....

*ive been to gilmour academy in cleveland

Here is some backround(if it helps):

- 5'9 age 15.....16n Augest

-6 years travel (AAA & AA tier 2)

- 87 % school average

-Defense with 2 years as captain

*Hardworking and desire to play at highest level possible*

Thanks,

CaptainZbubble

[sherwood21 0]

K, I'm sure #94 can help but I'll go for it too.

Gilmour is a good school, MPHL league is moderately strong. They aren't too tough to get into but I'm sure you will find the academics to be a step up from what you're used to.

Taft, Salisbury, Avon Old Farms, Cushing are consistent and very good for hockey.

Academics and hockey (Highest SAT to Low), you're looking at Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, Milton, Hotchkiss, Deerfield.

You sound like you are good and all, so playing there won't be a big problem.

You need to go to the School's website and I'm sure you will be lead from there. Get your parents to call and then you can write an application/entrance exam. Most schools call for an interview, and you go and do that and you're accepted/not.

If youre gonna go to Gilmour, Ill play you probably 10-15 times next year ;). I'm going to SAC in Toronto.

Edit: copied this from another site, some top schools

Deefield leads the list. Top academics ( 1335 or so SAT average ) and great hockey. Frankly your son better be very good in the class and on the ice..or it could be a difficult time. There is an expectation that Deerfield hockey excels. Every time I see a Deerfield team play..it is a tough game. Hockey, soccer , lacrosse, football....never a walk over. Traditional prep campus...very prestigious. Great resources. Large endowment. One upside is that being a Boston area school the exposre is greater,

Choate..1330's SAT.s decent hockey. Presitgious school. The rink is a bit of a barn. Marvellous Arts facilty ( Mellon Centre ) Great campus although a bit spread out. New coach. This year will speak volumes. I saw them play last year and was not overly impressed. Also good resources.

Taft....Beautiful school. Great rink. Athelic complex.Very good hockey. Getting stats on their academics is harder. I assume they are good. Also prestigious. Of the campuses that I have seen ..my second favorite.

Pomfret...smaller school. SAT around 1175. Decent hockey. Beautiful smaller campus. All in all could be a really good fit for a good hockey player decent student.

Berkshire..Hockey has struggled for the last few years. They improved last year to around a 500 club. Academics are 1140's SAT average. Mike Maher who was at Taft for years is now the Head of School. He is a force in hockey in the area. They will be better. The campus is big..at the foot of a mountain...I have been there a few times....Architechturally I am not a fan...but a great location.

What it boils down to is What is the right fit for your kid? Choate and Deerfield are very challenging acdemically, expect 2-4 hours studying a day. .....if he is a top student or naturally bright but could use a nudge toward better study habits and work habits..go for it. Taft is proably is the same catergory. Although SAT averages are just one criteria...it is a valid one. Any school with a SAT over 1300 and you have to figure they have high expectations.

Berkshire and Pomfret are very good schools with good hockey programs. Your sons test scores will be a big factor. For the most part...if a school thinks a kid will be over his head ..they won't accept him and set him up to be overwhelmed. With the depth of the curriculms at most Preps and the way they test kids to determine what level they should be placed at I am sure that the top students at all of these schools are comparable. You will be well served at any of these places if they are a good fit. .

[Gongshow11 1]

i went to williston for 2 years, not the best puck but a great experience. i was on a shit teama nd now play colelge hockey, you have ot make the best of your experience. call the coaches, send in vids, and fill out the apps online. its too late to apply for this upcoming yr, next yr perhaps.

remember tho the prep feeder for college is fading out quickly, so jrs is a good addition if you dotn have great offers.

go to www.newenglandprephockey.org and go to the forum, lots of questions there are answered already.

[rausch27 1]

what college do you play for?

[gullsplaya33 0]

I am acctually attending deerfield next fall entereing as a sophmore, if u have any specific questions about the applications or any thign in general i will be more than happy to help u out, just pm me the ?.

[#94 3]

Sherwood called me into this one, so I'll offer some of my knowledge...

First off, a lot of prep schools will find you. If you are expecting to be a top player on a top 20 prep school team, one of those teams would have already found you and asked what your plans are for the future. Even if it were just a quick conversation, it would have happened.

This is all from my experience. What happened with me? I was playing in a Midget AAA "tournament" (more like a series of games) at a rink in New England. After the 2nd game, a coach approached me and after the 4th game a coach approached me. They asked me what my plans were, and I just told them I was looking to advance in hockey... That fall, I was at prep school.

The applications are easy, but they take some time to complete.

Sherwood provided some backround for some of the schools.

As he said, your best prep schools for hockey are Avon, Taft, Cushing, Deerfield, Thayer, Salisbury, and some may say GDA, Tabor, and others...

Honestly, it doesn't matter where you play. If you are a standout on any team, you'll advance to the next level.

If you have the grades, go for the upper tier schools academically. If you play well there, you'll advance. If you don't play well, you got one hell of an education.

In my opinion, I would go for the best hockey school. They are all good schools for academics, but being on a great hockey team is key. You want to have fun. You want to booze. You want to throw lips all kinds. You want to wheel the broads (go to a coed school). You just don't wanna get caught.

One last piece of advice...

Make sure the coach has a good number of connections. Sometimes scouts don't show up at all if your coach doesn't let them know...unless it's a tourney...

Good luck, keep posting if you have more questions.

[CaptainZbubble 0]

Very helpful stuff guys. I dont find academics a problem but if something like hockey is on the line for consistant average in the classroom i get the job done. Im going down to boston late july/ early augest. Hopefully id get noticed because im pretty easy to pick out of a crowd due to my size vs. skill/speed.

Im not lookin to find my path to the nhl or anything crazy like that but i just wanted some backround. Is it possible to e-mail coaches about big touney's like boston and give them a heads-up? Im sure its worth a try but i just wanna take the intial steps to get where i'd like to go...

Is regestration for next years shools already closed? Thats kinda a shot to the nads but its worth finding out for sure.

ill keep the questions goin as they come.

#94, as you mentioned; there was a kid from a local high school that sent some "i want -in's" to coaches and got a sweet deal to conneticut. I played against him many times and im very compareable if not better on most days. so its not completely out there for me

Any extra tips to being more noticeable as defenseman?

Thanks,

CaptainZbubble

[NCPUCK26 0]

I go to a boarding school in New England too and play puck there. You can still apply and get into schools, depending what it is. You need to talk to coaches as soon as possible so they can come see you play, and if they think your good enough, they'll give you the opportunity to apply late and come to their school.

My best buddy at school didnt apply til like July last year, so in reality, if you've got skills, its never too late. Start looking on the boarding school review website, checking out schools, and e-mailing or calling the coaches, see if anyone will come see you play and give you a chance.

Hopefully you have a tape or somethin to send out, or tournaments in the new england area for coaches to come. Hope this helped, let me know if you have any more questions. I applied regularly to a number of schools and did everything the normal way, but I know a lot about schools.

[CaptainZbubble 0]

Did anyone get to play and board on a scholorship type of deal? im not sure if they do that but if so, how much financial give outs did u recieve.

Thanks,

CaptainZbubble

[Jason Harris 31]

Most of these schools don't give athletic scholarships. However they will give "academic" scholarships, which effectively works out to be the same thing. In the past, the student had to perform some work while attending school to earn the scholarship, but it could be different today.

As an Exeter alumnus, overall I had a really great time there. I don't know how it compares to other schools for feeding players into college, but I've spoken to the coach the last few years (he and I went to HS together) and he's told me he's had a number of kids drafted. Further, I know a number of ex-Bruins skate there on a Friday night pick-up, so I imagine the contacts are there.

It's expensive, though, so you're going to need that scholarship. I was just back for my 25th reunion and I was shocked to hear it's $30K for tuition only! Wow! It doesn't look like my elementary school daughters are going to be legacy alumna unless you guys take up a new brand of stick...... ;)

[hockechamp14 0]

Muphy at taft is the best coach around. He was captain at UMaine when they won NCAA, played with Karia, is INCREDIBLE when it comes to developing skills and defencemen. It is a boarding school, Co-ed, mid-line academics, and they are going to be good this year. He used to coach at my school as an assistant, but left for taft when the spot opened up. I would say call any school as soon as possible, contact thier coach, and do everything as soon as you can. Most of these schools have already decided who's been wait listed and stuff at the schools, so make sure you also talk to many schools.

Nice ad in the hockey buisness news Salming, if you were responcible for it. :)

[sherwood21 0]

It's expensive, though, so you're going to need that scholarship. I was just back for my 25th reunion and I was shocked to hear it's $30K for tuition only! Wow! It doesn't look like my elementary school daughters are going to be legacy alumna unless you guys take up a new brand of stick...... ;)

42K here B)

[Jason Harris 31]

It's expensive, though, so you're going to need that scholarship. I was just back for my 25th reunion and I was shocked to hear it's $30K for tuition only! Wow! It doesn't look like my elementary school daughters are going to be legacy alumna unless you guys take up a new brand of stick...... ;)

42K here B)

Does that include the room and board? Because I was shocked to learn the $30K at Exeter only included tuition -- in other words, Day Student pricing.

It made me go home and hug my mother, knowing what she did for me -- and I don't even like her....

Just kidding. :P

[sherwood21 0]

Hahaa

It's with boarding, to answer your question. Still preeeeetty pricey though.

[LkptTiger 1]

...A few years ago, before my ninth grade year, I was looking to play at Nichols (Buffalo, NY). So, I went and took all the entrance exams, went and met with the coaches and went and shadowed there a few times. I figured I was pretty much in...

...BUT, the whole thing was nixed when we got my letter of acceptance and found out that I would be getting almost no financial-aid. As my family is not exactly "well-to-do," we pretty much figured it would be ridiculous to spend that much money (I don't remember the figure, all I know is it was STEEP) for essencially no reason besides hockey (education was of concern - just not as much ;) ). My parents just told me I would have to wait it out and that they would ship me off to play Juniors if/when I was ready.

[mack 44]

At least some of you guys had decent hockey for the price, we just had a team that wouldn't rival most JV teams.

[hockechamp14 0]

Oh yeah, something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that financial aid is based on need. But if there are better stidents/athletes than you, step in line...

[freq019 0]

It's expensive, though, so you're going to need that scholarship. I was just back for my 25th reunion and I was shocked to hear it's $30K for tuition only! Wow! It doesn't look like my elementary school daughters are going to be legacy alumna unless you guys take up a new brand of stick...... ;)

42K here B)

Does that include the room and board? Because I was shocked to learn the $30K at Exeter only included tuition -- in other words, Day Student pricing.

It made me go home and hug my mother, knowing what she did for me -- and I don't even like her....

Just kidding. :P

My roommate in college went to a boarding school and his parents popped the champagne when he went to college since it was half what his high school was. I don't have much to add to this thread since I didn't play in high school but seriously weigh the cost versus the benefit, if you can get a scholarship to a top flight school academically it will open more doors than you can imagine as far as colleges go, and if you're not planning on playing pro then you'll need that education. Good luck.

[hockechamp14 0]

by the same token as freq, if you're just looking for hockey, you'll better off playing in the NAHL or USHL for your senior year than going to prep. At prep they'll likely try to convince you to repeat junior year.

[lesterhenson 0]

Culver has a really good hockey program too. I plan on going there for my sophmore year. As well, it is around the high 20,000's. But it is a military school "to provide a good atmosphere for learning leadership" etc. That what they said on a dvd I acquired from them. By the way, they have nothing to do with ROTC programs.