Admissions Criteria

Candidacy for admission to Carlbrook School will be determined by careful consideration of all factors that suggest a particular student would benefit from the overall program and have the greatest prospect for success both during and after attendance. The basic criteria for admission to Carlbrook are the intellectual ability and developmental readiness to appreciate and address those issues common to mid and late adolescence. Because the school's founders believe it imperative to maintain maturational consistency within the community and feel that the program will serve its target population most effectively by narrowing its focus to include only older adolescents, the school seeks to enroll high average to bright students aged 15 to 18. This allows the school to offer a broad curriculum specifically tailored to address issues of greater relevance to older adolescents than to younger teens, such as individuation, college and relationships.

Students entering Carlbrook School typically present a history of lackluster performance either in or out of the classroom. Common problems often coexistent with such academic difficulty are diminished self-esteem, impulsivity, increased irritability at home, shifts in peer alignment, experimentation with drugs or alcohol, non-participation in organized extracurricular activities, pervasive irresponsibility, social withdrawal, lack of organizational skills and general apathy. However, while prior academic performance may not be indicative, all students should have the innate ability to eventually handle college-preparatory level coursework.

While the school seeks applicants who are experiencing scholastic underperformance, it is also important to note that it does NOT seek and cannot provide for the needs of students with greater than mild learning disabilities. Carlbrook School is designed to work with the true underachiever, i.e., students whose innate intellectual ability exceeds actual performance. Although experiencing personal or academic difficulties in their present environment, Carlbrook students must possess the cognitive ability and maturity to handle a rigorous academic and character development curriculum. Such students typically have a WISC-III FS-IQ of 105 or higher and most will have completed at least 1 year of high school prior to enrollment.

All candidates for admission to Carlbrook must successfully complete a wilderness experience directly prior to enrollment. By taking advantage of heightened student receptivity and placing them in an unfamiliar environment, replete with demonstrable cause and effect relationships, outdoor programs continue to be highly effective in laying the foundation for enhanced self-esteem, increased student optimism, and energetic participation in subsequent personal development curricula. This affords Carlbrook and each family an opportunity to develop an understanding of the issues that may have been interfering with a student’s performance, and to shape shared expectations for the scope and nature of the work ahead.