<p>Momofwild - I find it hard to believe that at any school parents never intervene on their child's behalf as I described. And in addit to the academ issues there are, of course the social issues (day students are pemtted cars, boarders are not; senior prom ends at midnight and boarders are due in their respective residences by 12:30am, the day students are planning after-parties, bonfire, etc.; enhanced penalty for drug/alcohol pepossession in one's room as opposed to on school grounds). </p>
<p>I don't see any real diff b/w 25% vs 30% - - at a school of 400, the amounts to a diff of only 20 students or 5 per grade/year. IMO, the threshold is far lower and problems are inevitable if there are two separate populations w/ different priv/responsibilities - - and anything more than a handful approaches a diff/sep population. </p>
<p>Tokyo - Yes, I'm certain that it is increasingly difficult to find a boarding sch w/ only 10% boarders. And certainly, other factors come into play. We had a choice and chose the sch that offer the more generous finaid pkg. We might have made the same decision, but it would have been more well informed. </p>
<p>Having all seniors stay on-site is a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>@ nyc : That school your D is attending sounds like a train wreck. And it would be just as much of a wreck with 95% boarders because the leadership seems to have lost sight of its mission and lost control of the parents and students alike. The problem is not the % of boarders. It's the leadership. You can have an excellent experience with a great leadership team willing to set rules and show a backbone and 75% boarders. Lawrenceville is something like 68% boarders and it's nowhere close to being as abominable as what you're describing. There are ton of excellent schools with 20% boarders that don't have the problems you describe. You've fixated too much on the numbers and statistics when the problem is a people/leadership problem that numbers won't reveal, but a bit of homework and due diligence will.</p>
<p>D'ye - I'm all for due dilligence, but much of this is impossible to learn beforehand and (based on reports from D's former day sch classmates also at boarding sch) D's schools is not particularly uncommon. And certainly no boarding sch (not even L'vlle) would even attempt to enforce a curfew for day students!</p>
<p>I'm sure many would consider D's school to be excellent (small classes, high test scores, good college plcmt) - - still not the experience I had hoped, and I maintain b/c of large day population. I understand that you disagree.</p>
<p>I don't even follow what your complaint is here...</p>
<p>Are you saying that your boarder D is worse off because she can't run around off-campus and unsupervised after the prom? That's supposed to be an advantage for day students?</p>
<p>You've sold me that your D's school has a lousy administration, not 20% too many day students.</p>
<p>A better administration would hold more after-prom activities on campus. There would be a rule about what could happen afterwards. And the rules should already provide that any students who get into trouble afterwards could face expulsion for damaging the school's reputation...which should seriously curb the after-parties. But if all of that (and having a car on campus) is so important, what were you thinking by choosing a boarding experience instead of a day school experience? That's the disconnect. You seem to be very well tuned in to some advantages of being a day student and disconnected from the advantages that you trade for when your child is a boarder.</p>
<p>No, I don't want D running around or causing trouble, but at 18, she understandably views the 12:30am prom curfew as pretty lame. I admit that I wasn't thinking about this when I toured campuses with my then 14 year old D. Also, the diff b/w day/boarding students is far less apparent when the kids are 14-16 when the are 17/18.</p>
<p>I agree w/ you about a better admin, but I maintain that many of these problems are inevitable w/ two populations.</p>
<p>Day students are excluded from more activites than boarders. Hands down. At a boaring school, the life is in the dorms and lounges. Not in your friend's TV room down the street.</p>
<p>"No, I don't want D running around or causing trouble, but at 18, she understandably views the 12:30am prom curfew as pretty lame. I"
just so u know, historically, the after prom parties are what get many kids kicked out right before graduation..happend couple years ago, when 20 kids got busted doing dumb **** right after prom and got kicked out..similar thing happened at exeter..and it happens pretty often</p>
<p>For anyone who wants to avoid the Park Avenue/Greenwich/Nantucket/Hobe Sound, patch-madras & lilly pulitzer crowd at SPS, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, St. Georges and Groton I suggest...Blair, Governor's, Northfield/Mount Hermon, St. Mark's and Tabor.</p>
<p>I've already mentioned this school a couple of times, but if you're not looking for an academic school, are very open minded, aren't dependant on technology, and love the outdoors I would highly recommend l'ecole d'humanite</p>
<p>MDog - Iam so glad to see you mention avon Old Farms. We were very impressed with this school. In the end my son decided he wanted a coed school. We've also heard great things about Cheshire academy.</p>
<p>Millbrook is a very comforting program, and is a great alternative to the high pressure TSAO schools. While it might not be as prestigious, kids go to the Ivys from there too, just not as frequently (but a lot of the great schools have such pumped up scores due to their legacies, not mostly, but some). Millbrook also is the only boarding school with a zoo too, if your into that kind of stuff.</p>