The time when all the prospective students come by Thacher to see if it is the right choice for them or not. I did not take a “second visit”, as these are called, since I live in Hong Kong. But from what I have seen, these visits were instrumental in deciding whether to come to Thacher.

To give some insight, I’d like to share my story with you. I first learned about Thacher from my aunt, Loretta Zhang CdeP 1989, who told me all about the challenging Thacher experience. Naturally, I had to come see with my parents to understand all the hype. From the moment I stepped on to campus, I knew this was the place for me. Even though I didn’t visit when school was in session, my tour guide was engaging and gave me plenty of information on what to expect at Thacher. I was extremely interested in how classes were taught here – back in Hong Kong, classes were 30 students each with a lot of memorizing and lecturing. I absolutely hated the learning experience there, and simply thought the small group, discussion based learning was a lot more effective.

I was also intrigued by the Horse Program. It’s definitely something that you need to be mentally prepared for, and although it does teach you a lot of life changing skills (controlling a 1000 lb animal while taking care of it everyday), it is not an experience for the fainthearted. I totally didn’t mind it, and I had a lot of fun with the Program.

I was especially impressed with the sense of community at Thacher, specifically the bonds you make with your classmates and the honor code. The fact that you can leave your computer lying around and find it completely untouched the next day is something that does not exist at other schools. And, you get to really know what’s going on with your friends and classmates. It’s pretty much one big family.

Those are just a few reasons why I chose to come to Thacher. The only way to find your own reasons would be to come and have a look-see by yourself!