Borbesque Academy

Borbesque (Banjatox) Academy Boarding School for Science and the Arts (BABSSA) is a boarding school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA but enrolls students from all over the country. This boarding school program for higher learning was established in 1998 through the cooperation of state and county governments.The Borbesque (Banjatox) Academy is specializes in its unique way of learning and is the only school of its kind.

Admissions and enrollment

Each fall, the BABSSA Admissions Office accepts applications for freshman admission from rising eighth-graders all over the country. After paying a registration fee, all applicants take an admissions test, which consists of a standardized mathematics, science, history, English language and four essay questions. One of the essay questions consists of what they have done pertaining to the arts.

Once the students completed that task, BABSSA Admissions office cuts about 8,000 students, and selects 1,600 students to go on to Round 2 where they will give further information including teacher recommendations, their strengths in the arts, awards received, previous experience in science, and mathematics, and a brief personal essay on goals to be completed at BABSSA and why they should be picked. Four selection panels review this information, along with the student essays written during the admission test, and select the next year's freshman class.

Class Size

While most local high schools base entering class size on the number of rising eighth-graders, Borbesque Academy controls its freshman enrollment through its selective admissions process. Of the approximate 12,000 freshmen who apply, only 450 young men, and 450 young women are selected every year. Each class contains 900 students. As of June 27, 2002, a cumulative GPA of 3.4 is required for students to remain enrolled at the school.

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