<p>I was astonished last night to hear that one of my D's good friends is leaving our urban public high school (they're rising seniors) and moving to a boarding school in the Northeast for one year. The idea being that it will be easier to get into the elite colleges they're desiring if they apply from the boarding school rather than the public school. The tuition/room&board is $50,000 annually...this is not a wealthy family...but they cite that "100%" of the graduates go to college and "85%" attend their "first choice." And it is true that many of their students do land at the specific LACs they're targeting. But still. Start at a whole new high school for one year? </p>
<p>I’m skeptical of that strategy. Colleges will know she didn’t go there for four years, for starters. The only boost I can see her getting is possibly better admissions resources but that’s not worth $50k.</p>
<p>Not going to help class rank or anything either. Poor choice, IMHO.</p>
<p>We get a handful of new seniors/postgrads every year at my boarding school. They come here for a variety of reasons. Some have exhausted the curriculum at their local school. Some come for the academic challenges. Some are intl students that want the year to adapt culturally to life in the US. Some are athletes that are still growing physically, and are using the year as an alternative to redshirting in college. So coming here for a year is not bad per se.</p>
<p>However, I’ve given tours to many families of prospective students of all ages, and many times I have to physically control myself from rolling my eyes when someone (almost always the parent) inquires about acceptance rates into HYPMS. Boarding schools can be great for many reasons, whether for 1 year or 4. A better shot at getting into a particular university is not one of them.</p>
<p>If that is the only reason, it is a terrible reason. She’s basically fully-baked for college, given that when she applies she will be applying (like everyone she competes with) with a three year track record at her prior school. Colleges will weight this much more than one semester at a boarding school. Maybe if she did something extraordinary there (awesome grades and awesome recommendations by December) there might be a boost, but very rare, as the boarding schools will take care of their own (longer term kids) first. Going to one of those schools as a Senior is extremely rare, so she must have something on the ball – but if her expectatiaons are that the name of the school will somehow give her a boost in the admissions process, then she (and her parents) are deeply, deeply mistaken. The top 20 schools have all the applicants they need from the boarding schools, thank you.</p>
<p>Eye-roll… That’s a terrible strategy for getting into a top college. I know, because i am very familiar w selective east coast boarding schools. </p>
<p>Senior year has to be the WORST possible time to be making a school move while applying to colleges at the same time. </p>
<p>I went to one of these boarding schools many years ago. No one came in as a senior. As for college admissions, since acceptance rates are better if one applies early, it makes no sense to do this to get into a better college. One needs to do ED apps in October but how will there be any grades or recs by that early date? And no matter how good a college counselor is, it is unlikely they could get to know the student well enough to be much help by October. </p>
<p>PG years are a different animal. These can be for students who need an extra year of maturity, an extra year of sports for recruiting reasons, etc. And even then, except for the recruited athletes, these kids mostly have to do RD as the colleges ARE interested in their performance in their PG years (as many of these kids might have issues in their application that sent them to the PG year in the first place). One of my friends who came to my school as a PG came from a poor community, bad HS, and was doing a PG year as a condition for acceptance to the naval academy. The naval academy had concerns about whether he could handle a heavy course load as he had high test scores, but they knew his HS was a joke and could not figure out what #1 in his class meant. He was mostly in classes with juniors and was solidly middle of the pack or lower, and the naval academy waited til he finished most of PG year before confirming his acceptance. Back then, boarding school was only 6K a yr I think, but that was the best 6K his parents ever spent! </p>
<p>Some people think college admissions officers are easily fooled and some boarding schools are willing to take your money in the process of proving that colleges are not easily fooled.</p>
<p>If anything, that will just increase their expectations for her. Terrible idea</p>
<p>Just one year isn’t enough - two at minimum. However, from an urban public school, it will be a big change in scenery. There needs to be a reason other than college placement for this late change such as getting adjusted to living away, less time commuting or better sports programs.</p>
<p>I had a longer talk with the mom and I do think that part of it is a feeling that their daughter needs to grow up, in a way, before she leaves for college…and they believe this boarding school can help her with that transition. And they are convinced its also going to get her into one of her/their top 3 college choices. So we shall all convene 10 months from now and I will let you know how it turned out! </p>
<p>Well, see my post above. If I was the mom, I would have DD stay at current school and apply to college. If she gets in, she can defer, and take a gap year to grow up more. If she does not get in anywhere “good” then she can do a PG year and reapply to top colleges as a PG student, which is a special category that colleges understand. (12th graders who switch to boarding school for 12th grade? that is not a category that will make sense to colleges!) This way might save her 50K (prep school tuition) if she gets into an acceptable college this year, and if DD gets good paying job during gap year that will also boost the coffers for college. </p>
<p>@Barbfam1 That’s what I would do too! But who knows…if they want to spend $50,000, well, there ya go! </p>
<p>New England prep schools are a lot like LAC’s. The more mature students forgo more of the same at a small insular LAC for private universities especially Ivy League ones.</p>
<p>Often PG’s are athletic recruits. I’d do sixth form and forget about PG.</p>
<p>The statement that “85% attend their first-choice” sounds impressive until you become aware that nationwide, 76% of college applicants attend their first-choice school <a href=“http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/neighbors/bradshaw/17235050-452/76-percent-of-freshmen-get-in-first-choice-college.html”>http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/neighbors/bradshaw/17235050-452/76-percent-of-freshmen-get-in-first-choice-college.html</a> .</p>
<p>Success in getting into a first-choice school depends far more in having a well-thought-out list of schools to which an applicant applies than on what high school they attend. Perhaps it is the college counseling that is a bit (85% v. 76%) better at that high school. The parents could have gotten that advice on college confidential for free and saved themselves $50,000…</p>
<p>Don’t know anyone who has done that for senior year, but I know a couple of kids who went to boarding/prep school for a year after HS. They often did this to improve on academics or in one person’s case to increase his chances of being recruited for football by playing for a top prep school program. For the people I know, this was worthwhile as they got into better schools than they could have directly out of HS.</p>
<p>Seems a shame to miss senior year with friends.</p>
<p>Well, want to hear the rest of the story?</p>
<p>To recap, D’s friend leaves our urban public high school to attend elite boarding school for one year with the goal of attending her “dream” school.</p>
<p>And…it worked. She was accepted ED to Williams yesterday afternoon.</p>
<p>now you’re thinking what i’m thinking – hey she would have gotten in anyway. But who knows…our school hasn’t sent anyone there in years…and the school she attends is known for its Williams grads…so there you go! one more bit of data that likely means nothing in the end. 
</p>
<p>It could be the student would have been in the running and is going to the bs on aid and strengthening her preparation for college. My dd did have a student come to her bs as a day student Sr year and that girl was accepted to Harvard and Carleton–attended Carleton. Probably went to a good school before though.</p>
<p>@southernhope, the logical next question is whether the student will withdraw from the BS and finish her senior year with her friends; attend graduation, prom, etc. at her “Home” school. Or is the name on the diploma also important? Or maybe, the maturing/growing up is still something that is ongoing, and she is more holistic than goal-driven?</p>
<p>I’m glad she was accepted, but leaves me wondering why with 3 years at her public school when students with 4 years at the public school aren’t getting admitted. I would doubt that the academics for one year at the boarding school would make her a significantly stronger applicant. Is it just the name? I wonder if as a need blind college they assume that boarding school students will be full pay and that gives them a boost in admissions. I know Williams does admit students who need a full ride, but wondering all the same. </p>