<ul>
<li><p>Where are you from? (and are you a public school student or private school student?)
I am from the west coast of Canada. I currently attend a public(eek!) day school. </p></li>
<li><p>When did you & what made you decide you wanted to go to boarding school?
I decided to apply around late September. I decided to apply because my current school is really sloppy. Students finish their homework in matter of seconds, teachers are there for the pay, and course choices are VERY, VERY, VERY limited. I am a perfectionist and solely having a great social life is not enough for me; although I am a top student, I would still count as a underachiever at NE BS because of my school, therefore, if I want to be academically successful compared against NE students(one of the most successful pool of students), I would have to move there. Being physically in Canada would never give me the competition and environment suitable for me. </p></li>
<li><p>Will you definitely go if you’re accepted? Why/why not?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Yes I will definitely go. Looking at my “Canadianly-challenged” credentials, any chance of acceptance is slim, so I would not give up the opportunity. Also, I would like to prove a point; other Asian moms in my community frown upon my eminent social life and they are jealous of grades at the same time compared to their own child. They gossip about me and always try to get me in trouble(such low-lives!) and cause distractions. By attending one of the most prestigious BS in NE, I would shut them up, give them nothing to talk about and HELP them by getting rid of THEIR distraction(me), and focus on their own child.</p>
<ul>
<li>What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered during the applications?</li>
</ul>
<p>Really trying to sell myself to the schools. I talked about how my credentials are not great, therefore, I had to think of something to present to them that would really grab their attentions; I had to look for hooks I had that I didn’t know were advantages and apply them tactically in my essays, extra-curricular chart, and interviews.</p>
<ul>
<li>If you go, how are you going to deal with transportation and holidays? (money, long plane flights, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Oh gosh. Regarding $$$, CND is almost 1:1 to USD, so I’d be comfortable spending money in proportion. Of course, there will always be the little tingle on the back of my mind telling me to multiply the price by 7 into Chinese Renminbi so I have a sense of how much it is in Yuan(that’s what I get for living in China for years). </p>
<p>Flying in and out of NE, I’d either have to fly into/out of Boston Logan(Andover), or Hartford/Bradley(Deerfield/Hotchkiss). Either way, I’d have to first fly to Toronto/Montreal/Charlotte/Newark/Detroit/Minneapolis … first, and then transfer. Unfortunately, I cannot fly to any proximate airports with transiting. The leap to the east coast is 5 hours and then another commuter flight is 1 hour. That’s 6 hours in total, so it’s not too bad. HOWEVER, after breaks are done, schools require students to return to campus by around 7~8PM. I wouldn’t be able to make it back to campus by then because of flight schedules, therefore, I would have to take a red eye flight and skip a night of sleep. :(</p>
<p>If I were to go back to China from NE(uh oh!), I’d have to transit TWICE. Once in a major city in the states and another in Beijing/Shanghai because I don’t live in Beijing/Shanghai in China. I did a stimulation of that this Christmas on my trip to China just in case. Instead of flying with only one stop to Dalian, China from Vancouver by myself, I took two stops: San Francisco and Seoul, South Korea. It was exhausting but handleable. Haha that is if you choose a good airline. SINGAPORE AIRLINES. :)</p>
Of course, you can always Cathay yourself to North America by flying to Hong Kong first. That adds another approximate 5 hours to your journey! Ugh.</p>
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