Best Boarding Schools

<p>What do you guys think is the most overrated school? Andover? Exeter? Tell me if i'm wrong... I'm only going on guesswork.</p>

<p>Most overrated? Easily the University of Michigan. They always manage a high ranking, go to the Rose Bowl and lose to a Pac-10 school and then their coach, be it Bo Schembechler or Lloyd Carr, whines about how his team was distracted by the nice spring-like weather right after Christmas and they didn't adjust. That's right...they complain about nice weather. If you use nice weather as an excuse for losing, there's only one reason: you were overrated.</p>

<p>I meant prep boarding schools, but yeah... that michagain game was depressing.</p>

<p>excuse me, MICHIGAN. I'm having some spelling problems today!</p>

<p>ya i think it's um Notre Dame,...ya..definitely...but sry it's not a prep school!!</p>

<p>its alright! bearcats, is hotchkiss a good school? I'm not expecting to stroll in and get accepted, but what do you think are the pros and cons of the school?</p>

<p>bearcats...I'm searching through the Microsoft Windows tech support site to see if I can help you with that English paper of yours and, you know, I'm having the darnedest time trying to get a sense of your problem because -- well, maybe it's just me, but -- I'm not finding any technical issues that have "screw around on College Confidential for a while" as part of the resolution. I guess you're on a Linux or Mac OS X system, then?</p>

<p>been writing for 8 hours, 2 hours left, 3 pages to go. i m pretty sure i can finish it now! i think CC definitely kept me awake.</p>

<p>done, haha, an hour late..................</p>

<p>Prep schools are like colleges -- it depends on who you are and what you want. It also depends on what sort of social world you're going to adapt to. Do you want a highly competitive pressure cooker that will propel you into the Harvard (assuming you don't get knocked off the list by the 100 other kids in your class wanting to go there)? Do you have a special interest that you want to pursue - violin, dance, mountain biking? Don't fall for the "best" lists. They are a way for magazines to sell issues and for less intelligent people to form opinions without having to actually do their homework.</p>

<p>The school's you've listed are so different it is difficlut to compare them in any meaningful way. They differ in size, location (rural/urban/proximity to city) and day:boarder ration - - all of which can signif affect both the academ and social experience. </p>

<p>I would advise against attending any school w/ more than 10% day population. The dichotomy b/w day and boarding students is far greater than most students or parents imagine - - most significantly the fact that day students have parents who excuse therm from a host of academ, athletic and other obligations. </p>

<p>At D's school (30%day students) it was not uncommon for parents to write notes excusing their offspring from the mandatory 3 hr atheltic practices. So while D and the boarders were at practice, the day students were at studying. Or after having stayed up late to complete a major assignment, day students would skip first period to sleep-in - - again, courtesy of the parental excuse note. Boarders had no such luxury. This ultimately created a signif achievement gap b/c day students and boarders. Similar probems/issues arose regarding college counseling.</p>

<p>I would also be wary of attending a sch like Choate where boarders from NY (often w/ country homes in CT) desert the campus every weekend.</p>

<p>From your list, I'd pick St. Paul's and maybe Exeter. Maybe add some smaller schools like Westy.</p>

<p>That 10% rule cuts out plenty of fine boarding schools. Cut off points like that sound good, but they miss the point. There are schools with 30% day students that maintain their mission to be oriented to boarding school life. Simple rules -- that one can observe in a handbook if s/he took just a few more moments to examine the school -- can alter the dynamic you're complaining about.</p>

<p>For instance, some schools have rules that limit the number of weekend overnights a student can take per semester. So the problem you mention at Choate (which I have no idea if it's accurate, a personal perception or speculation) need not exist at any boarding school.</p>

<p>Similarly, simple rules do exist at some boarding schools that limit the ability of students to refrain from participating in student life.</p>

<p>There are, of course, limits to the limits. Day students do get to go home and be with family and have that support. You can't neutralize that. Their dinners are going to consist of food they will eat; no mystery meat. And lights out policies can't be enforced with day students. But there are pros and cons to this. And except for the few 100% boarder schools, you'll find this at all boarding schools. </p>

<p>It sounds like your D's school was very much oriented to the day population and the leadership lost sight of their mission and didn't know how to regain control that they let slip away. That sounds like an extreme situation; a huge breakdown in governance.</p>

<p>I think the better advice would be to pay attention and look out for this dynamic. If the administration and trustees are as weak at a 90% boarding school as they apparently were at your D's school, the situation would be just as bad. The 90/10 ratio works no magic to solving the concerns you describe. Instead, one needs to investigate these issues by asking questions about student life and closely perusing the student handbook and permission forms, etc.</p>

<p>Of course without you calling attention to the ways these problems manifest themselves, few here would know to look for such things or ask about them. In that sense, this information you've provided is quite valuable. I just think that the best advice is to encourage personal investigation as opposed to an overly restrictive numeric rule to follow when selecting schools.</p>

<p>I don't know how a prospective parent/student could see the effects of large day pop on the school. When you visit the schools you can't tell whether or how many students have been excused. Regardless of the published rule, if mom calls and says student came home w/ a fever, student is excused from practice (w/o having to spend the afternoon in the infirmary). And certainly no one is going to admit that there's a day/boarder split.</p>

<p>IMO this a merely a matter of governance; a large day population means two distinctive populations on campus. As for "overly restrictive numeric rules," parents rely on them all them time (seeking a school with gender parity is the first example that comes to mind - - can't believe there'd be much outcry if I said I wouldn't send D to sch w 90/10 gender split whether 90% male or 90% female).</p>

<p>Wow. You seem to find cutthroat competition in every shadow and dark crevice. You need to stick to either a 100% boarder or a day school. Some people find the mix to be beneficial.</p>

<p>You're not saying that your D should go to a school with a 50-50 boarder-day split. You're saying 90-10 beats 70-30...as if you have made the case that that 20% swing makes all the difference.</p>

<p>You also seem to be of the mind that day students have an advantage because of parental influence. So why aren't you looking for day schools?</p>

<p>That 90-10 bright line test you've come up with in response to the administration failures at your D's schools just makes no sense.</p>

<p>FYI, D attended day sch throug 8th grade and like many of her classmates chose boarding sch for a change of venue and b/c of on-site sports (tired of getting to the pool or rink at 5am for practice). D's boarding sch is not at all cut-throat, but that doesn't mean that there isn't an real advantage to parental intervention. As for the boarder/day mix, I don't find it particualrly beneficial and I have made a diff choice for D3. </p>

<p>As for my 90/10 "rule," if doesn't work for you, fine - - but it does make sense.</p>

<p>How does it make sense? Can't 10% of the students get notes excusing them? Can't they go off and party after the prom? Can't they do all the things you think give day students such a big advantage over the boarders? If you said, "100%" as being the only acceptable choice, I'd disagree but you'd make sense. Thinking that 90-10 materially changes things from 70-30 doesn't make sense. </p>

<p>Again, your problem is that the school's administration sucks and the handbook apparently doesn't cover some basic points (or they choose not to enforce them). </p>

<p>Looking at numbers is easy to do and very tempting as a parent, but you're passing over plenty of great options where the administration is competent and mission-oriented and where the handbook rules that cover situations that concern you are enforced. 90-10 doesn't guarantee you what you're looking for. 80-20 doesn't preclude what you're looking for. That's why it doesn't make sense.</p>

<p>You need to focus on finding a school where these problems don't exist. You say the due diligence is too hard or even impossible. So instead you've created a somewhat arbitrary numerical guide that has little or no bearing on the problems you've cited and you're substituting that for taking a close look and asking questions. Too bad for your D.</p>

<p>Why so nasty? You may disagree w/ my comments, but "Too bad for your D," that's really uncalled for. I will not stoop to your level.</p>

<p>Sticking my nose into this discussion...</p>

<p>The higher the percentage of boarders, the more "direct control" a school has over enforcing consistent behavior and achieveing 100% participation in activities. Having a "common culture" is easier with more students spending more time together.</p>

<p>I'm not sure that there is a hard and fast rule for any percentage of day/boarder students that will ensure 100% buy-in to the culture. Much of that has to do with how attractive the participation is perceived to be by the day students.</p>

<p>But even when you don't have great buy-in from the day students (and their families), the boarders need to make the best of what they have. If the programs are not satisfactory, then perhaps it is time to move on. Yes, it is annoying when there seems to be 2 competing cultures at a school. And if it is a problem, perhaps moving on is also in order here.</p>

<p>If there is a breakdown in discipline by the day students and their families, it is time to run for the exits, as it will only make for trouble and hard feelings over all. The inmates are running the asylum.</p>

<p>Another good reason for showing up for revisit day!</p>

<p>There are plenty of schools with boarders who might as well be day students. They leave on the weekend to visit the family, permission is regularly granted to leave campus for extracurriculars (music performance, gallery opening, horseback championship), or the big-shot dad just swings by and takes their kid out. There are also day students who only get to leave school at 8 or 10 at night (and sometimes sleep over) and might as well be boarders.</p>

<p>My son is a senior at a school that has about 25% day students. He is a day student, and I NEVER see him!! He comes home to sleep and shower. He eats his three meals there and since they have Saturday classes he is there most of the weekend. I really don't think he is the exception, I think it is that way for most of the day students.
It is probably different at each school, I can only speak about his experience.</p>