Accepting applications for fall 2024. Limited spaces available, Apply Now!
Sora students are ambitious! They are business owners, game designers and semi-pro gamers, professional DJs, actors, and elite athletes, including equestrians, a junior league hockey player, and even a race car driver!
Sora students come to us from a variety of schooling backgrounds ranging from public, private, charter, virtual, and homeschool. At Sora, we value maintaining a diverse student body and are proud to have expansive representation in our school with regard to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geography. For a majority of our students, they are attending an independent school (and online school!) for the very first time.
Sora students have diverse backgrounds and interests and are encouraged to be actively involved in their local communities.
Marley, 8th Grader, Dallas, TX
Former School: Private
Passionate about: STEM, art, practicing traditional Kung Fu (currently a brown belt), playing classical piano, club swim team, volunteering at the homeless shelter, and playing outside with my standard poodle.
Why Sora? Sora is a very interesting school to me because it focuses on the future to help create tomorrow’s change-makers. They have lots of options in curriculum and supportive staff and students with common interests.
JT, 10th Grader, Nashville, TN
Former School: Online
Passionate about: playing AAA ice hockey for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes, electrical engineering, statistics (especially sports stats), learning French, reading about leadership, group dynamics/facilitation, and taking pride in setting an example for others.
Why Sora? When I think about the characteristics I like for my school - academic excellence, inclusive community, dedicated teachers, and flexible online learning (which is the type of environment in which I excel), Sora checks all those boxes. I believe Sora provides me with the ideal environment to pursue my educational and personal goals while also fostering my overall development as a well-rounded individual.
Quinn, 9th Grader, New Orleans, LA
Former School: Public
Passionate about: Listening to and making music, hiking, designing and coding video games (then playing them!), rock climbing, trying new foods through cooking, and learning about the history of the world.
Why Sora? The sense of unity and acceptance among students and instructors alike, a unique form of community only Sora schools provide. Also its project-based learning approach, a form of education not many other schools utilize.
Elisabeth, 7th Grader, Farmington, NM
Former School: Homeschool
Passionate about: Writing, art - especially drawing and illustration, listening to new and different music, singing and performing improv, world languages, poetry, and learning about Japanese culture through anime, manga, and J-Pop.
Why Sora? I’m interested in enhancing and improving my skills with hands-on projects. I was also delighted to see what an incredible and impressive curriculum Sora has to offer. I’m attending my second year of middle school, so I wanted to make 7th grade a time of progress and improvement within myself, and see where this experience could take me.
Each student at Sora Schools is unique and has their own strengths and opportunities, which we consider throughout our application process. Every application is reviewed thoroughly and holistically by a committee of admission staff and school administrators. Below are the five key traits we consider and look for evidence of as part of our admission application process.
“I love Sora because you just can be yourself. It's a safe place for you to just be and I've made so many friends.”
Current Sora Student
Sora’s middle and high school families represent over 45 states and 7 countries (and growing!), and students come from a variety of schooling backgrounds, including public, private, homeschool, and charter schools. One of the benefits of a Sora education is the opportunity to attend a school with an incredible and diverse peer community in a transformational and unique learning environment with young people from all over the world.
Sora families also have the flexibility to learn from practically anywhere, whether at home or on the road. One student studied French and European history while his parents were in Nice, and another traveled the country in an RV with his family visiting National Parks and creating an app that provided helpful information for other visitors. What’s even better is that both of these students earned Sora credit for their place-based and experiential learning on the road.
Learning Differences
Our school’s model and curriculum is designed to support a variety of learners, and some students with learning differences find great success in our program. While Sora is a supportive learning environment, we are not a remedial or therapeutic program, nor are we a specialized school for students with learning differences.
As an independent school, we do not provide IEPs, 504s, or other specialized learning plans outside of our typical individualization. However, our model does innately address many standard plan accommodations such as small class sizes, audio/visual challenges, breaks between classes, and the ability to “go at your own pace.” We utilize mastery-based learning and assessment in place of traditional tests. We have supportive faculty who are available to work with all students during drop-in office hours, but we are unable to support students who require ongoing one-on-one tutoring or instruction (either executive functioning or subject-specific). If enrolled, families are welcome to engage outside support or tutoring for their student’s continued success.
We recognize that every student is unique, with or without a learning difference, and welcome students who identify as neurodivergent. Therefore, the admissions process is designed to help identify if Sora can adequately accommodate a student with our resources. We encourage you to connect with a member of our admissions team to tell us more about your student’s learning difference(s), as well as any resources or accommodations that have been helpful. We also encourage you to share previous and existing learning plan(s) and/or applicable testing in advance of submitting your student’s admission application. If you have any questions about the admission application or learning support options, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Character Skills Snapshot and SSAT
Developed to standardize admissions, the SSAT measures students' verbal, math, and reading skills that students develop over time, both in and out of school. The SSAT is designed to offer objective insights to reduce inherent biases and quantify student success. This test is offered six times over the academic year and families should schedule in advance.
The Character Skills Snapshot fills the gaps to help admission teams gain a holistic appreciation for who a candidate is in addition to what they know. Snapshot is a 20-30 minute online assessment designed to measure eight essential character skills: resilience, open-mindedness, responsibility, teamwork, social awareness, self-control, intellectual curiosity, and initiative. Unlike the SSAT, this test may be taken at any time.
Families are welcome to submit either of these tests as part of their application process. Any material submitted will be considered as supplemental to your already existing admission application. While any applicant to Sora has the option to take these assessments, we highly encourage homeschooled students, students with learning differences, and any student who has historically not presented well in traditional academic settings to take the SSAT or Character Skills Snapshot. These tests are not required, but are designed to identify your student’s strengths and skills beyond the traditional grading system, and will be considered holistically. Our SSAT/Character Skills school code is 2903.
Our application is now open for August 2024 enrollment. The Regular Decision deadline is April 12, 2024. We utilize a rolling admissions process, which means the sooner an application is complete, the sooner Sora provides an admissions decision. Otherwise, Sora's admissions process adheres to the deadlines and notification dates listed on our website.
