Is Squaw Valley Academy also a school or is it just for summer?

SVA is also a (mostly) boarding school. Warn your friend that if he doesn’t seem like he’ll go to college afterward, the rumors are they’ll find a way to toss him out and keep his parents $$$. (Or maybe a nice donation will keep him in.) They want to keep their so called 100% of grads go to college rate. It’s not a very good school from all I’ve heard and they had a scandal recently with a female teacher and a male student. The students say it’s a goof off school, lots of snowboarding. It’s not a school for top students, so if you like to party instead of study, it’s a good choice.

I would be MORE than hesitant to go there and this goes for anyone regardless of their GPA!!

Let me tell you some things…Dude, the boys dorm sucked I heard!! There was like total mice and no working vacuum cleaners. There was only one vacuum cleaner that hardly worked for the whole bldg. One of my friends had their own bathroom but hated to use it because it was so old. The toilet leaked and there was a hole in the shower ceiling so that when the kid above took a dump the water would fall on the kid below in the shower. There was no hot water. Everyone was always sick. The heating was a joke!! The three story bldg only uses a woodburning stove for heat.

The girls dorm is better but too many girls per room

LACK OF: Team sports, gymnasium or anything else

No freedom and no way to get to town

School sells a family environment. I was told that no one cared to listen except for a few people that worked there.

The school will try and sell you on the fact that it has a gymnasium and all that other stuff. It’s not true! The gymnasium costs EXTRA and isn’t on campus.

For those of you who play team sports, forget it! There is nothing AND no gear to even play on the soccer field BEHIND the apartment complex NEXT to the school (the school doesn’t have their own soccer field – they use this one).

I had some friends that went there. They hated it and said it was a joke and that they were lied to by the school. They said that they couldn’t get money out of their student accounts. They weren’t allowed to have cell phones with them. They always complained of no freedom. They weren’t even allowed to go across the street to the 7-11. They were banned from it unless they were with an adult. I heard that those kids that had using problems used more because of being bored and hating it there.

The students call it “prison”. Make no mistake, it’s not a college prep school. It’s better known as a rehab school.

The education there is lacking and everything else.

There were a few good people but the school never keeps the good people I hear. They always re-hire a new staff every year! I hear that you can have new teachers every two months or so. It’s stupid!

Make sure that you INSIST on an accounting of where your tuition money would go!! If they can’t provide it, don’t pay it and go somewhere else!!

Make sure you INSIST on seeing the teacher’s credentials!

Make sure you INSIST on knowing who is employed there and what their background is.

Get RECENT references from SEVERAL parents.

There is a school at Sugar Bowl. It’s a lot better I hear.