i have no idea how the prep school would transfer to a magical setting, i just love the idea of everyone being like "those pretentious tie-wearing mostly-pureblood fuckers. think they're so cool. hmph." the aesthetic is brick buildings and worn-down marble steps and snow. eta: the southern gothic school and the new agey west coast school sound so cool.
I had a character in a Salem Institute RP once. iirc though I think it's a female-only boarding school.
i declare there is the incredibly stressful intellectual new england school (i go to private school in new england, we're like, one of two non preppy schools in the area...)
I really like the idea of a Louisiana school, too. (Because I am a GIANT NERD about nonprofits...during Hurricane Katrina, most of the American schools went to NOLA and helped shore up the levis and provide relief and clean water.)
Also Dear Merlin Yes. Imagine the weird games of keep away you could play on broomsticks with the river monsters. The Wronski Feint - right into water.
quodpot is like, the one thing that everyone is Intensely Fascinated by the one's who don't play it are fascinated by the statistics. the one's who play it are really intense. but the teams are connected to group, since they can change but wait sorting is there sorting?
Entire new variations of Quodpot and Quidditch. Kids testing new and horrific broomstick stunts above the water in the rainy season; the more daring ones testing them year round because the river monsters have an 80% chance of catching you.
Everyone excitedly discusses it in the corners. Teachers give up when there's a game. I thought it was gonna be the, sorta float between and eventually settle down, thing.
Oh hey, what does SCA look like? I've been kinda picturing it built into the sides of the canyon, with invisible bridges stretched between the two sides (if muggles happen to see a kid running to their next class, they just assume it must be a bird of some sort, because how could there be a child running in midair?) Of course, if any kids fall, the river monster/eldritch horror are ready to catch them. (Maybe the river-that-sometimes-is leads into the lake?)
I feel like there's an approximation, but it's left more strongly up to personal choice. And the schedule for personal dorm changes is probably at the start of every year, so they can still have fairly reliable teams The other option would be to have teams made up by choice instead of by dorm, but I worry it would turn more into The Really Good Team, and the Really Good Friends Team and the Team No One Really Wants to Be On... (Just based on my elementary & high school observations)
And possibly broomsticks are more strongly suggested to carry around at all times, in case someone does fall. (I mean, wizarding remedies are insanely good, and wizards seem to be pretty hardy folk) (Also, I think I've heard that the nonbinary term for wizard/witch is wix/wixen)
If we're going with the middle school + high school idea sorting could occur at the beginning of Freshman year as a person's identity/personality settles. They'd have three years of observation/hanging out with the houses to help figure out where they go.
