<p>EHParent, glad to hear that you, your family and your daughter had a great visit to Hotchkiss and that she has decided to enroll at THS this fall. Excellent decision! I know that my son, my wife and I have enjoyed this school tremendously ever since he made the same decision two years ago. </p>
<p>Welcome to the Hotchkiss family!</p>
<p>Yes, it was an all girl’s class and she does speak spanish! So she has already started to accumulate Peddie gear and has a few now. Now the shopping begins - I’d better check the boarding school supplies thread!</p>
<p>@erlanger re: post#52</p>
<p>You are mistaken about the sink or swim attitude at Peddie/L’ville. Peddie has well-developed procedures to help students, including an academic support group (I think that’s what they called it) for helping struggling students. ditto L’ville.</p>
<p>As for high day student population, there is nothing wrong with it. It only benefits the schools and the students. One good thing is that schools do not have to build more dorms to accept more day students.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you (laughalittle, shakeitoff, others) who are going to Peddie or L’ville. You will come out transformed.</p>
<p>Thanks Dakshina! I have heard that the day population at Peddie is not considered “day”. They simply go home for the night, and stay from dawn until midnight the next day. I heard the gap between L’ville day and boarder is a lot larger, and you miss out on more. As my sibling has survived as a day student, I believe that it is sometimes even more beneficial to be a day student. You have access to everything boarders have, but have a full closet, food, clothes, etc. Parental help is only a phone call or short drive away. When I board senior year (which I’m planning on doing), I will have a distinct advantage (or so I feel) over the boarders that are so far from home.</p>
<p>Sevendad- I really appreciate your posting the description of your revisit to St. Paul’s. I’m currently advising several family members and friends on choosing and applying to prep school. I keep stressing the importance of visits, and revisit day. You will just know if a school is good for you or not. I’m afraid that students who base their opinions on an anonymous chat board, with cheerleaders for certain schools (we all do it, current students and parents) will choose the wrong school for the wrong reason. One of my kids, a couple of years ago, had a visceral “get me out of here” reaction to a well regarded school. She got a very bad vibe from the kids there. We respected her opinion, and quickly moved on! It sounds as if you found one school that you really liked, and in the end, that’s all that matters!</p>
<p>@laughalittle</p>
<p>You’re welcome. Both L’ville and Peddie integrate day students and boarders very well. Of course, beyond that, if a student wants to be left alone, there is not much schools can do. I personally know day students at both Peddie and L’ville and boarders at Peddie. They are all turning out fine. </p>
<p>In fact, during my revisits, in one class, a small discussion broke out among students about whether day students are smarter. Obviously, no conclusions were reached. I bring this up to say that it is not beneficial to anyone to create distinctions between day and boarding students. or between Peddie and L’ville. Consider yourself fortunate because at both schools, more students did not get in than those accepted. Many did not get accepted anywhere. Make the best of this opportunity.</p>
<p>Yep…I sure will! Of course, I’m sure most students would want to be boarders, but the more I think about it, the more a day student appeals to me. Have you reached a decision, Dakshina? I know there were several schools under deliberation in your case :)</p>
<p>Personally, I feel that the knowledge one can gain about a school from the revisit is quite limited, much less than one’s research on the school and the analysis on one’s individual needs from the prospective BS experience, and defininetly not enough to make a decision on a school. Most of the time, it is a chance to confirm what one already knows (or suspects) about the school. It sounds like SAS did a great job in confirming and strengthening 7D’s perceptions of the school while SPS - if 7D told the whole story - simply didn’t provide in-depth enough experience to sway his perceptions either way. Was the revisit a critical factor in their decision making? I think it is only in the sense that SPS lost a chance to confirm or change 7D family’s <em>pre-conceptions</em> of SPS. Had the SPS revisit a great one, 7D family would have a harder time deciding and eventually would have to choose a school based on something other than revisit.</p>
<p>I don’t think SPS lost a chance. I think they are what they are and @SevenDad’s impressions were reasonable (as were his daughter’s) given his and her needs.</p>
<p>I’m firmly in the camp that revisits - when feasible - are vital. There are many people who – no matter what you tell them – will still insist that impersonal statistics on a website or newspaper article touting competitiveness and matriculation trumps first hand experience. It’s kind of like being put into an arranged marriage because someone else tells you the person is a “good catch” even when you’re in love with someone else.</p>
<p>There is a big difference between “adapting” or “suffering” through the 3-4 year boarding school experience, or thriving because of it. Campus impressions and “vibe” are important ways to determine where to go. This thread is a great reminder of that. Clearly one family loved a school, another less so. That’s the whole point of a revisit - is to figure out where a student will be most comfortable - especially since revisits allow students to spend more concentrated time looking at classes and hanging out with existing students.</p>
<p>One person’s paradise will be another persons “hades.” So - having said that - </p>
<p>@SevenDad - you did the CC community a great service by posting this thread. It’s amazing and a great tool for parents who need help comparing “on the ground” observations. Kudos and keep it up. I think we really need that non-HADES thread!</p>
<p>“One person’s paradise will be another person’s Hades” Ah ha ha ha! Best line of the day! I have to remember that one. I also think that we need to consider our teenage children’s sensitive perception of the kids there. If they know that these are NOT their people, then all of our adult “research” and “analysis” means absolutely nothing.</p>
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<p>DAndrew, what? </p>
<p>I’ve researched schools for my children. At some point, one has to step beyond the research. There are no quantitative measurements for school value systems. Only at revisits are families able to meet and interact with the head of school, his administrative team, current students, other admitted students, and the families of admitted students. </p>
<p>The revisits we have attended have not been marketing exercises. Our son has accompanied students to class. Parents have had a chance to ask questions. The schools know they will lose a portion of the admitted students to other options. It’s surely better for students to decide they fit better at School B during revisits than to enroll at School A only to drop out halfway through the year because no one appreciates their taste in music, and they’ve made no friends.</p>
<p>@SevenDad…I’m gasping…audibly…</p>
<p>Wow, somehow I sincerely am feeling disappointed. We never looked at the school for my son because we only wanted to apply to four HADES and somehow we hadn’t known enough about it.</p>
<p>I definitely wanted to put SPS on my list for my daughter…but now I don’t know…having second thoughts. I realize that what may not be a good fit for one could be for another, but even so, …your revisit has me rethinking…</p>
<p>@baystate: “I also think that we need to consider our teenage children’s sensitive perception of the kids there. If they know that these are NOT their people, then all of our adult “research” and “analysis” means absolutely nothing.” Excellent point. We experienced this in a big way this past year and through revisits. Our D’s antennae quickly determined whether the school had the right vibe for her. Unfortunately, it took the more extended exposure of a revisit to accomplish this. </p>
<p>In retrospect I’d suggest trying to attend or observe a school event as part of the pre-application process. This may seem like an effort, but it could save the effort of an application if your child isn’t comfortable. I’d also suggest deciding on whether to apply only after the interview and hopefully an extended tour.</p>
<p>I agree completely with kraordrawoh. I’m 15, I did all of the research for all the schools, filled all the papers out, scheduled and called for all the interviews, etc. I think that if your kid wants to go to boarding school badly enough, they will be willing to do all of this, and in the long run it helps make the decision of which school fits them best a lot easier. </p>
<p>I don’t know if I am the only one who feels this way, but I don’t feel that the revisit confirmed what I want to do. I thought I would feel firmly one way or the other but now I’m just more confused than ever. I revisited Deerfield and I definately liked the school, but I didn’t get a good enough feel of if I would fit in with the kids, and I can’t tell if I’m finding all these positives for the school because it’s Deerfield or stay at public school. </p>
<p>Has anyone else still held mixed feelings after their revisits and how are you dealing with them?</p>
<p>You pretty much summed up my feelings xxDAxx. I feel exactly the same. I went to Choate’s revisit, loved it, but am so confused right now. I was the one in my family who had the idea for me to go to boarding school. I set everything up just like you did too. When I went for my revisit, i thought it was going to be jaw-dropping, but it wasn’t. </p>
<p>If this helps, I’ve decided to attend Choate instead of going to my public school. Since I am a current freshman, i’ll be going in as a new sophomore, and although it will be really hard for me to part with my current school, I know that attending this bs will be a once in a life time opportunity and that going to a bs was my original idea and that I shouldn’t second guess myself.</p>
<p>xxDAxx, ■■■■■ extraordinaire looking to discredit Deerfield. Don’t feed!! Created account in April with all posts today or yesterday. Do I see Andover overtones? :D</p>
<p>Pulsar, i feel he is legit. I applied to Andover, and to be honest it was and still is my first choice.</p>
<p>That was just my take based on personal experience. It must be just me because no one agreed.</p>
<p>No, actually, I had another account but I felt that my posts were getting to identifying of who I am. (stats, my questions, my location, etc)
Also, how am ‘discrediting’ the school? I just said i LIKED deerfield and never once mentioned anything about Andover or any other school for that matter? I think you should read my actual post before trying to say I am a ■■■■■.
Does brandonnnbsc’s confusion make him a ‘■■■■■’ as well? And good to know I’m not the only one feeling the confusion brandonnnbsc (: I guess you’re right though, perhaps even though it will be frightening at first, putting all the hard work in and then just returning to public school would be a bit of a let down.</p>
<p>Not the first one nor the last to be caught.</p>