Secondary School Placement

Our graduates move on to a variety of schools after Sage, both public and private, boarding and day, single sex and coed, urban and suburban. Our secondary school placement process thoroughly prepares students and their families to make thoughtful and deliberate choices about their next school. Just as making the choice to come to Sage was challenging and exhilarating for the parents in helping shape their child's future, the secondary school choice is equally important, and therefore, can feel daunting. Our placement process is designed to help parents and students move smoothly from the initial brainstorming to the final decision. How do we do this?

Spring of seventh grade:
In the spring of the students seventh grade year, our placement director meets with the rising eighth graders and their parents to discuss what they are looking for academically, and socially in a secondary school. From these discussions we create an initial, broad list of schools for the family to consider. Over the summer families explore these schools by reading online and print materials.

Fall of eighth grade:
In the early fall, the placement director again meets with parents and students to discuss impressions and reactions to the long list and integrates new ideas regarding secondary school. A narrower list is made and families begin to schedule interviews and tours of all schools, both public and private. The placement director helps students, and sometimes parents, hone their interviewing skills and practice asking good questions. As the application process draws near, the students also get assistance with how to organize all of the paperwork, how to approach essay writing and when to take the Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT) or the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE).

Each fall we also host a panel of representatives from different secondary schools (public, private and/or parochial) to address a chosen topic. This panel is open to all middle school students and their parents.

Spring of eighth grade:
Once students hear from the private schools, if they are applying to them, they receive help on how to make the decision. The placement director often meets with families to discuss options. Families are encouraged to attend the revisit days of the schools to which they are accepted, or to re-visit their local public school in order to determine the best school for the student. This is, no doubt, both exciting and scary. Again, we work together to address the questions and the concerns of the families. Once decisions are made, we also work with the receiving schools on any placement questions they have regarding our students.

Overall process:
The secondary school process is designed to help families navigate the uncertain waters of where to go after Sage. While it is wonderful that our students are happy and successful at Sage, they are well-prepared, ready to graduate and need to feel good about where they will continue to be challenged academically, socially and physically. It is a big step to leave the comforts of Sage, but our students thrive when placed in the right school for them. Our goal, in the secondary school placement process, is not just to create a list of only the top schools in the northeast, but to create a diverse list of schools that match the needs of our diverse students.

Sage alumni have attended the following secondary schools:

Acton-Boxborough High School
North Attleboro High School
Belmont Hill School
Bishop Feehan High School
Boston College High School
Boston University Academy
Cambridge School of Weston
Commonwealth School
Concord Academy
Dana Hall School
Emma Willard School
Falmouth Academy
Gould Academy
Hopkinton High School
King Phillip Regional High School
Lincoln School
Mansfield High School
Millis High School
Milton Academy
Moses Brown School
Needham High School
New Hampton School
Newton South High School
Northfield Mount Hermon School
Phillips Academy Andover
Pomfret School
Portsmouth Abbey School
Providence Country Day School
Roxbury Latin School
Southfield School
St. Marks School
St. Pauls School
Walnut Hill School
Westover
Wheeler School
Xaverian Brothers High School

Additional schools to which Sage alumni have been accepted include:

Beaver Country Day School
Fontbonne Academy
Groton School
Kimball Union Academy
Kingswood Oxford
Lawrence Academy
Loomis Chaffee School
Middlesex School
Miss Halls School
Miss Porters School
Mount St. Charles
Noble & Greenough School
Notre Dame Academy
Proctor Academy
Rivers School
Tabor Academy
Thayer Academy
Westminster School
Wilbraham Monson
Williston Northampton

Colleges Sage alumni have attended:

Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
George Washington University
New York University
Ohio State
Sacred Heart College
Simon Frazier University
Simons Rock College
Stanford University
UMASS Amherst, honors program
University of Miami
University of Rochester
Westpoint
Wheaton College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute