Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School

My granddaughters graduated from Rabun Gap in 2012 and 2014 and had a superb experience. Both were accepted to multiple prestigious colleges and received generous scholarship offers from several. The faculty at Rabun Gap truly care about the students. Starting in Middle School, with outdoor science explorations in area streams and rivers and continuing through Upper School with vigorous AP course loads and Cirque, dance, and drama performances in the beautiful Rearden Theater, their teachers were so much more than teachers -- they were mentors, motivators, role models, and eventually became lifelong friends.

As a person who has now held a diploma from RGNS for over a year, I felt that now would be a good time to review Rabun Gap. I say this because I have had the opportunity to experience life in college after attending a college preparatory school.

When I first came to Rabun Gap, I was amazed by how incredibly beautiful the campus was and felt immediately welcomed by the outstanding middle school faculty. My first semester I struggled in math and made a C, but with the guidance and determination of my math teacher, was able to go on to make a B+ in the course and with the middle school "math award" the next year. This experience is one that I found to be typical at RGNS. I wholly credit my success as a student to a faculty that simply would not give up on a student that was willing to work hard.

Continuing through Rabun Gap, I had the opportunity to study with incredible teachers that encouraged me to stay passionate about learning and helped me to find my calling in life. Teachers like Woody Malot, Gayle Gawlic and Brian Phillips proved to be incredible assets when it came to helping me learn the science that I ultimately plan on using in my career, while I was still afforded outstanding educations in English and History from Kathy Henning and 'Doc' Truslow.

In addition to the typical high school classes, I participated in the Dramatics department and was able to perform in a number of plays, and musicals. I was also able to play on the football, tennis, and golf teams, and participate in the environmental stewardship program. Rabun Gap offered me a huge variety of ways in which to be a well rounded human being and to make a diverse group of friends with different interests.

However, the true test of a college prep school comes when the student is applying for and entering college.

Rabun Gap has an outstanding college counseling service. Mrs. Jones always has free candy, a "Don't Panic" button and helpful advice in her office. Mrs. Barber can always be counted on for input on college essays, and everyone involved leaves this space feeling more prepared on their college search. I credit the college counseling team (especially Mrs. Jones, who is the best ever) with my acceptances to NC State, Colorado School of Mines, and Georgia Tech (I would estimate that I received 5-10 hours of help on each of these applications)

Having been in college for a year now, I cannot stress enough, how well prepared I was for college. In my Freshman English class, I breezed through with an easy A and was amazed at how far ahead I was. While other students were leaning how to cohesively set up math problems and create strong thesis statements, I sat in class and did my homework. I am now a sophomore, and finding that the strong study habits that I developed at RGNS to be an invaluable asset.

In addition to the academic knowledge I gained at Rabun Gap, I was also exposed to a great deal of cultures and ways of thinking that I would not otherwise have had the opportunity to experience. I plan on studying abroad, and felt that I was ready to leave my home state for college by the time I finished with High School.

While there are a hundred more things to be said about Rabun Gap, I think I'll wrap up here with the most appropriate words I can think of (those written on the top of every test next to a signature).

Always Honorable,
Wolfgang Reichard

We'll my son Kevin Miller Jr will be starting school in August 2015 of this year. We wish him all the best.

My sister studies here. It is really an amazing campus