Hey everyone. I am looking for some advice on applying to prep schools. I am currently a freshman at a public school. I have missed the deadline to apply for next year because applying to a prep school was never really an idea in my mind. Is it still worth it and how much harder would it be to apply next year to go my junior year?
Absolutely not worth it at this point.
I go to a prep school in New England, and it has been a great experience. I would not have gone anywhere else. HOWEVER, prep schools have a lot of negatives.
For example, there can be massive grade deflation. Since all the students are of high caliber (usually), its harder to stand out. You will get Bs and As and, while at prep school that will be good people, outside of private school world will see you as a slacker.
More importantly, for merit aid in college admissions, GPA is very important. Public HS is better for this. You can go very far at a public high school. Most ‘successful’ people have gone to ‘nobody’ public HS and done very well. College is much more important (and even undergrad is arguably not so important in the long run).
Why do you want to go to prep school?
If you want more challenging classes, you should look at self-learning and taking AP’s that aren’t offered at your school (if this is what you are looking for), interesting academic extracurriculars. It is much more impressive to go out of your way to find challenges than to go to private school and have challenges handed you on a silver platter and have nothing to say of it to colleges because it is part of the curriculum.
Basically, going to private school is good for students who start out bright early. It looks like you are just starting to think about achieving and challenging yourself. I would do well where you are and build relationships with your teachers, etc etc etc.
Thank you for the response. The main reason I want to go to prep school is because my public school is so bad. The teachers let the students misbehave constantly and the classes are unbelievably easy. The reason I didn’t pursue private school earlier is because I was homeschooled for the begging of my education and I didn’t realize how poor public schools could be.
I already do a bit of self learning but where can you find APs outside of my school? That sounds like a great thing to do. I realize that I might still be best making the most of my current school but it so bad that other options seem very appealing.
@PotatoLord I completely disagree with premstudent. I’m a current junior who applied and got into prep school as a new junior. It has been on of the best decisions of my life. I really encourage you to apply, as quite a few people apply as new juniors. Also, I’d be super happy to help you or answer any questions that you have. PM me! 
As do I. Although applying to boarding schools as a junior is tough because there are so few slots available. You might have better luck applying as a repeat sophomore.
If the suggestion to do this is to satisfy some desire to learn about a subject that is not offered in school or to potentially earn college credit, fine. However, note that college admissions will not care if you self study and will certainly not be impressed by it.
Starting as a junior is very tough. You may not want to spend the busiest (and perhaps the most important) year on adjusting to a new environment. Secondly, you may not fully enjoy and experience the boarding school life unless you start as a freshman or sophomore.