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Culver Academies

School rating 4 / 5 by

1300 Academy Road Culver IN 46511 United States
Boarding
9th to PG
Day
9th to PG
Gender
Coed

Academic

Culver Academies review by .

Academics are what you make of it at Culver. They offer a wide selection of classes, and you can enroll yourself in all APs or regular courses. There are a few core courses that they make you take (Humanities i.e.) but they are not difficult and provide room to learn and think. The teachers here have a great focus on learning the skills instead of grading. Math/Science are pretty consistently great at Culver and Humanities can be hit or miss depending of what teacher you have. Generally, all the AP teachers are excellent. The only negative is that some of the best teachers have a very harsh grading policy to make you work and think harder. This can make an adverse impact on college admissions. Class size is around twenty students. The great thing about Culver is that the teachers are ALWAYS available after school. You establish great relationships with your teachers and they will take you to the coffee shop and even their house and will give advice on anything you need help with. Work load can be pretty tough once you get into the more advanced classes. They teach you how to manage your time with a mandatory 2 hour individual study session every weekday night. However, with the block scheduling, you really can't take more than 4/5 classes, and this can both not let you take as many courses as peers at other schools but also limit the fountain of homework. Overall, I think the classes are casual and discussion based. Students are congenial and there is barely any sense of competition. Talented/advanced students should try to take mostly honors/AP. There is a big gap of academic curiousity between regular and honors. In the end, every student will learn how to critically think and have a solid foundation for college.

College Counseling

They have a vast and expansive college advising program. It's one of the things Culver....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

I don't really remember much about the admissions process. I think now it's a 30%....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

All kinds of people come to Culver. I would say 60% to 70% is from the Midwest. As with any private school, there are many well off kids, especially the international students. Culver has a huge portion of international students and they interact pretty well with the rest of the student body. You will meet people from race and socioeconomic background. There is no crime even though they lock the girls' dorm. The worst thing is like someone running away and they had to go look for him. Huffington Library is AMAZING, so beautiful, right by the lake and a great....

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