Wow! I’m so excited! I love talking about my school! So I would much rather talk about it more personally with you then post here, so if the mods would give you my email address that would be great, but I could start here.
So, I’m not sure what you call yeshivish, but Ateres is a HUGE mix! If you want a more cookie cutter all the same type seminary, then Ateres is really just not for you. There were so many different types of girls! I will say, even though me as well as many other girls there were more the black and white type, shabbos was a little colorful. They were all bais yaakov girls, but from different places. we had some girls who had gotten into tiferes and hadar, some more bnos chava type, some bya type we had it all!!! No one made me feel uncomfortable in ANY way! It is definitely more on the out of towny side, which I happened to love, for it made everything so warm and sweet, and everyone was yes as you say bffs! We did have a bunch of girls from NY but they were not the superficial type and were very warm so enjoyed the out of town part of it. it went from like 48 girls to 60 and this year is 80 so who knows what it will be for you! I have a feeling it will be somewhere in between 60 and 80. Whatever it is though, it is the warmest place you will find. Every seminary has a maala they are known for, and I believe Ateres is known to have the warmest staff ever!!!! Even though this year is a little bigger then mine, I know it will be just as warm, because that’s just what Ateres is!
About hard/easy: There is a place for everyone! There are 3 tracks. Actually 3 tracks for the more textual subjects and 2 for the more hashkafah subjects so everyone found their places! There were brilliant girls who were put in class 1 and had lots of prep and reports and stuff then there was the middle class (which I was in) had some prep but you had prep class in the day with navi and chumash tutors which was like 4 girls to 1 teacher and this was one of my favorite classes!!! And then there is a 3rd class which is easier you know not as much prep and all tests in English. They are super flexible and work with you wherever you are!!! It’s really great because you feel very cared for! They have an incredible academic adviser who is actually one of the teachers who everyone loves and she understands everyone and is more then happy to give you extensions or modifications if need be!
So about social pressure, I never have seen something so special in my life! There was ZERO negative peer pressure. By saying that I don’t mean that the whole place was nerds and not put together. There were girls that were plenty with it with full face makeup the belts scarves, you know really getting dressed everyday, and then there were girls who were more chilled but everyone was friends with everyone for real!!! I was always amazed and thought I was dreaming because I have never heard of such a thing and just loved it! I don’t want to compare it to other seminaries at least on here, but I would love to give you more information privately! I actually wrote something up for another girl interested in Ateres and would love to email it to you! Sorry I went on a whole tagent. I hope you can read and understand this and please feel free to ask any more questions!