Walnut Hill School for the Arts

In 1893, two Wellesley College graduates founded the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Massachusetts. Walnut Hill was a private boarding school for girls until the 1970s, when it transitioned to a coeducational, independent school for the arts. As an arts-based institution, the school requires all students to major in one of five art disciplines: dance, theater, visual art, music, or writing, film, and media arts. Each day, students take courses in their specialization of choice in the afternoons and early evenings, and spend the mornings taking courses in a range of subjects including mathematics, history, and the sciences. This blend of coursework enables students to engage in intensive pre-professional training led by expert faculty and a rigorous academic curriculum. Throughout its extensive history, Walnut Hill has produced television and Broadway actors, Grammy Award-winners, and published novelists.