DS is in 7th grade and looking at applying to the Andover Summer and Exeter Summer (boarding option) in the hopes of increasing BS chances next year.
Just wondering - when does the Exeter Summer application open, historically? Also, when did the Andover Summer application open (DS already started and is almost done)?
On the Andover website it says that Andover Summer spots start to fill up in February. DS is working on the essays with his guidance counselor and english teacher and won’t be done till at least March according to teachers - does he still have a solid chance or will they just flat-out not accept more?
Also, does anyone know what the acceptance rate is for both programs? DS is a great kid and all with strong extracurriculars (which he’ll mention in essays) but not sure if his grades are good enough - he has an unweighted GPA of 3.68.
I’m not really sure about your other questions, but I just wanted to give you a word of warning that boarding school summer programs usually don’t increase chances at being accepted at the school (and I think this is true for colleges as well)
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Thanks for the reply. That’s good to know because we were thinking that it would show more interest in the school
We were enrolled for Exeter last summer. When it went virtually we cancelled because it was too expensive for virtual. We are still debating it for this summer. I thought it was a great chance to spend a prolonged time away from home, work on some academic interests, explore the campus, explore a sport, and to get a feeling for what boarding school would be like. I was focused in the experience for my son but I also thought it would show an interest in the school.
Both Exeter and Choate have perfect summer programs for my son but I don’t think we can consider it until M10
I think the boarding schools consider time away from home as an indicator of readiness, but it doesn’t have to be a BS summer program. Regular summer camp can fit the bill, too, although those can also be very expensive!
@momofquatre
I haven’t personally sent any of my kids to the BS summer programs so I am not speaking from my own experience, but from the experiences of others I have read here: it does not seem to tip the scales in a meaningful way to attend a summer program.
My own take on this is: it won’t, as you suggest, “show your interest” in a particular school but it might help “deepen your interest” in general. Which then means you have a clearer sense of why you want to go to boarding school in general, and perhaps even a particular school. That said, let’s just say kid spends a summer at Exeter – or wherever – and LOVES IT! I would say that chances are this means kid loves the idea of boarding school, and Exeter happens to be the school where this discovery was made. Probably many schools would scratch the itch.
Long story short: I wouldn’t do this thinking you are courting a particular school. While it shows independence and supports the profile of a kid who can succeed away from home (as previous poster mentioned, you could demonstrate that in a number of other ways too), and it will give your family a glimpse into boarding school life, I would only go if you felt great about the summer program all on its own, even if it never leads to anything else.
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Agree that summer programs have no bearing on admissions or demonstrated interest. Often they are not taught by BS faculty and, in some cases, the BS is simply renting out facilities for third-party use as a way to generate income on dormant space. Consider these programs equivalent to any other sleep away camp.