A prep school student: Ask me any question!

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Did you know any boys that went to Junior Boarding Schools? If so, can you provide any input on how they (JBS) were regarded? And did you know enough to speak to the personality of different JBS?

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<p>Yes, I met some boys who attended all-boys JBS's in addition to those who went to Rumsey, Fay, IMS, etc. I'm probably most familiar with Eaglebrook and Cardigan, and it's been my impression that it was overall a positive experience. While most kids seem to absolutely hate their schools when they are there, I think they secretly love them too and look back upon it all nostalgically. You know, there are so many things to complain about for these 11 through13-year-old boys like the food, teachers, and school rules, but they're away from home and they're in this together, so it all ends up being great memories and thick bonding experience. I'm not sure if I'm making sense...? Anyways, I've also heard that the social network these kids build at their JBS go way far in their lives.</p>

<p>Honestly, I don't thikn I know enough to comment on the different personalities of junior boarding schools. But here are some things I noticed in all my friends who attended JBS:
They are always new sophomores or repeat freshmen(happens a lot more than you think), JBS graduates kids in 9th grade.
They adjust to the school life faster than anyone, because well... they've been done the whole living with classmates, dealing with teachers, waking up on your own, taking care of laundry thing for years.
They are all athletic. </p>

<p>Oh, couple other things I heard.
Eaglebrook has far better food than Cardigan(this coming from Cardigan boys).
Fay and Fessey are near Boston, and this proximity can be advantageous both in transportation and their admission to nearby secondary boarding schools.</p>

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... do you get an email or real mail on exactly march 10th... if an email around what time? and i saw that some schools actually giv you a password and you go on their website and it lists who made it.

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<p>As I'm not an admission officer, I don't think I'm qualified to answer these specific admission details lol. However, I would recommend you or your parents sending a quick email or calling the admission office of each school. They are mostly friendly and quite informative, and it's not so much trouble as it might seem. I'm sure hearing from them would get you the most accurate answers!</p>

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could you comment on day students at Middlesex? How well were they intergrated, what special challenges / advantages do you see them having?

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<p>About 30% of mx students are day students, so they are a minority at the campus. However, they ARE extremely integrated within the school, because they really do spend a heck lot of time on campus. A lot of the day students I knew loved to stay until 10 pm at night(the usual check-in time for borders), because there is just so much stuff going on at the campus that's worth staying for, and day students would have the opportunity to participate in everything just as any border would. Really, you can practically eat all three meals -breakfast, lunch, and dinner- on campus everyday if you want to. I never felt much distinction between the borders and the day students. When it comes to those fun social events or monthly meetings you do with your dorms, day students was considered a dorm themselves(Day Girls and Day Boys). Many day students also stay over in their border friends' dorms for sleepovers on weekends, and they also spend a lot of time in their rooms during the day in between classes and breaks. </p>

<p>The most obvious advantage of day students is their cars.:D Boarding school students aren't allowed to have cars at school, so any method of usual transportation is less convenient than that of day students who can commute in their own cars. </p>

<p>I cannot think of a big disadvantage that day students would have... other than perhaps missing out on those good times from living in dorms(staying up late with friends, getting in trouble with dorm faculties, having roommates, etc).</p>

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can you party on the weekends?

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I'm not sure what kind of parties you mean. Like off-campus parties? sleepover parties? parties with illegal substance? </p>

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you talked about getting caught with drugs, but how much to people actually drink and smoke on campus?

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Depends. Kids who DO participate in these exploits do it so stealthily that you will never see them in action unless you are doing it with them. I'd say the party atmosphere wanes and grows throughout the years, depending on how hard the deans decide to push the school rules, what kinda kids are in each grade, how many students have been caught that past year... Drinking occurs most frequently on weekend nights when you would have dances and such..</p>

<p>Although there is a big pressure, you CAN choose not to participate in those things if you do not wish to. There is always a proportion of school who frequently break school rules, and there is a lot of talk/gossip centered around these substance abuse. But you can say no. Kids eventually grow out of it and stop thinking it's such the coolest thing they can do. Also, staying in the school without getting kicked out is probably the smartest decision you could make.</p>

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what's sunday like?

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<p>Did you know that there are classes on Saturday? And away games if you play sports? In that case, sunday would be the only day in the week you could rest peacefully without having to wake up early for class, deal with your friends, other usual chores. Because most playing/fun social events/"parties" happen on Saturday and Friday night, I think the overall student population uses sunday to stay in their rooms and just chill. Everyone most likely wakes up around 1-3pm. Definitely catch up on school work and hang out with your friends. You can also go off-campus for some shopping, lunch, whatever fits your taste. You can lurk around campus sketchily without any specific purpose on mind. I guess weekends are really up to you. You can make it out to be crazy and busy and all social madness or you don't have to take one step out of your room.</p>

<p>yeh, sounds good.... what is studying and homework like. im good with normal homeork, but im the biggest procrastinator in the world when it comes to projects, will that effect me?</p>

<p>are most of the boarding students rich and stuck up?
i heard that the rich students try to "downplay" themselves, is that true?</p>

<p>Do courses on saturday make it like a full 6 day week or is it more like a half day?</p>